William Dixie Hoxie

Background

William was born in Brooklyn, N. Y. in 1866. He was the son of John and Isabelle (Dickinson) Hoxie; his father, a sea captain, had commanded several of the crack clipper ships.

Education

He was educated in the public schools of that city and at Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, N. J. , from which he graduated in 1889 with the degree of mechanical engineer.

Career

He entered the employ of the Babcock & Wilcox Company and spent the rest of his life in its service, being vice-president 1897-1919, president, 1919-24, and vice-chairman thereafter until his death. He became interested in adapting the Babcock & Wilcox boiler for marine use and in furthering its adoption for that purpose and organized the marine department of the company. The first installations were in steamers on the Great Lakes, and in 1896 the first in the United States Navy were made in the gunboats Annapolis and Marietta; the latter accompanied the Oregon in her famous trip from San Francisco to Florida via the Straits of Magellan at the beginning of the war with Spain. The exigencies of that war showed the superiority of water-tube boilers, and since then they have been used almost exclusively for war vessels.

For many years it could be said that every United States battleship and a great many foreign ones were fitted with boilers of Hoxie's design. He had great engineering aptitude and ability and made improvements in the boiler from time to time. Since the Babcock & Wilcox boiler was not adapted to the extremely light weights necessary in torpedo craft and other very highly powered vessels, Hoxie selected a well-known foreign boiler of the express type, made some radical changes and improvements, and produced the Babcock & Wilcox express type boiler.

During the World War, he presented to the Shipping Board the plan which was approved for manufacturing Babcock & Wilcox boilers with great rapidity. It involved some enlargement of the works and the manufacture of new tools and equipment. The output was increased to three boilers per day for the Shipping Board and one express boiler per day for the navy; besides other work for that service. This rate of production involved having under construction at one time, in various stages of completion, fifty-four Babcock & Wilcox boilers for the Shipping Board and nineteen express boilers for the navy. There were ordered more than 1, 200 boilers for the Shipping Board and more than 300 express boilers for naval destroyers. The output was so rapid as to exceed the rate at which the ships were building in the great assembly yards at Hog Island, Bristol, and Newark, so that orders for some were cancelled after the Armistice. This is probably the only case on record of the "manufacture" of marine boilers. Each of the 1, 200 was like every other, a fact which contributed to the rapidity of output. Hoxie was thoroughly progressive; an earnest advocate of high-pressure superheating, and other elements of increased economy and efficiency.

He was an enthusiastic yachtsman and held certificates as master and engineer. He utilized his yacht, the Idalia, for experiments with superheat, oil-burning, and other problems. He was very generous in charitable benefactions, but always with the stipulation that his name should not be mentioned. He was a trustee of Stevens Institute of Technology, of Webb Institute of Naval Architecture, and of the Wilcox Memorial Library of Westerly, R. I. His death occurred aboard the Southern Cross. on the way to Rio de Janeiro.

Achievements

• He is remembered as marine engineer and inventor.

Personality

He was a man of attractive personality, with a wide circle of friends.

Connections

In 1892 he married Lavinia Brown of Westerly, who with one daughter survived him.

Father:

John Hoxie

Mother:

Isabelle (Dickinson) Hoxie

Spouse:

Lavinia Brown