Background
Snelling, Walter Otheman was born on December 13, 1880 in Washington, District of Columbia. Son of Walter Comonfort and Alice Lee (Hornor) Snelling.
Snelling, Walter Otheman was born on December 13, 1880 in Washington, District of Columbia. Son of Walter Comonfort and Alice Lee (Hornor) Snelling.
Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, Columbian (now George Washington University, 1904. Bachelor of Science in Science, Harvard, 1905. Master of Science, Yale, 1906.
Doctor of Philosophy, George Washington University, 1907.
Doctor of Science (honorary), Lehigh University, 1963.
Began in educational and scientific work, United States Bureau of Mines, 1907-1912, consulting chemist, same, January-September, 1912. Consultant to Atomic Energy Commission. Inventor of waterproof detonator, continuous high-pressure oil-cracking process, sand-test method of testing detonators and explosives, densimeter used in testing dynamite, improved centrifuge test for explosives, a liquid gas (L.P.G.) made from waste natural gas (left Government service to develop this and other patents).
Granted more than 200 patents covering inventions in fields of chemical products and explosives.
Director research, Trojan Powder Company 1917-1954. Gave many inventions to the United States Government without reserve (estimated that the waterproof detonator saved Government more than $500,000 a year in Panama Canal work).
Member American Institute Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, American Chemical Society, American Electrochemical Society, Army Ordnance Association, Society of America Military Engineers, Engineers. Club: Chemists’ (New York).
Married Marjorie Gahring Snelling, an adopted daughter, May 5, 1919. Children: William Augustus, Robert Fulton, Constance Charlotte, Richard Arkwright, Marilyn Verna (adopted), Charles Darwin, Thomas Edison, Priscilla Cottrell, Walter Preston.