Amos Whitney
Who was Amos Whitney?
American businessman (1832–1920)
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Amos Whitney (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Amos Whitney was born on October 8, 1832, in Biddeford, Maine, to Aaron and Rebecca (Perkins) Whitney. He went to local schools in Saccarappa, Maine, and Exeter, New Hampshire. When he was 14, his family moved to Lawrence, Massachusetts. There, he began his career in mechanics as an apprentice at the Essex Machine Company, which started his long career in precision manufacturing and mechanical engineering.
In 1852, Whitney moved to Hartford, Connecticut, to work at the Colt Armory, a leading manufacturing facility in the U.S. at that time. While there, he met Francis A. Pratt, a skilled machinist and his future business partner. Pratt later moved to Phoenix Iron Works as a superintendent and brought Whitney with him. At Phoenix, Whitney showed his inventive side by designing the Lincoln milling machine, which was significant in the field of precision machining.
In 1860, Whitney and Pratt started the Pratt and Whitney company while still at Phoenix Iron Works. Their first product was a thread winder for the Willimantic Linen Company, but they quickly began making machine tools for guns, sewing machines, bicycles, and typewriters. The Civil War boosted the company's growth as the demand for gun-making machinery increased. Pratt and Whitney became a top manufacturer of precision machine tools in the U.S., setting standards for American industrial production.
Whitney moved up in the company, becoming vice-president in 1893 and president from 1898 to 1901. After Niles-Bement-Pond Company bought Pratt and Whitney, he stayed on as a director. He also served as president and director of the Gray Telephone Pay Station Company, director of the Pratt and Cady Co., director of the Co-operative Savings Bank, and treasurer of the Whitney Manufacturing Company, started by his son Clarence.
Amos Whitney died on August 5, 1920, in Poland Spring, Maine, and was buried at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Hartford, Connecticut. His career lasted nearly seven decades, influencing major developments in American precision manufacturing, from gun production during the Civil War to the growth of the machine tool industry in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Before Fame
Amos Whitney grew up in Maine and New Hampshire during a time when American manufacturing was changing fast. His education was basic, from common schools, but he learned a lot from practical experience. As a teenager, he moved to Lawrence, Massachusetts, and apprenticed at the Essex Machine Company when New England was the industrial center of the United States. Machine shops like this were training a generation of engineers and inventors.
When he moved to Hartford in 1852, he found himself in the middle of American arms manufacturing, working at the Colt Armory with some of the best machinists in the country. The interchangeable parts systems being developed at places like Colt's were shaping modern manufacturing methods worldwide. Whitney's exposure to these techniques, and his meeting with Francis Pratt at Colt, put him on the path to founding one of the most important machine tool companies in American industrial history.
Key Achievements
- Co-founded the Pratt and Whitney company in 1860, which became one of the foremost precision machine tool manufacturers in the United States
- Designed the Lincoln milling machine during his tenure at the Phoenix Iron Works
- Served as president of Pratt and Whitney from 1898 to 1901
- Helped expand Pratt and Whitney's production to supply gun-making machinery during the American Civil War, significantly scaling the company's operations
- Held leadership roles across multiple industrial and financial institutions, including the Gray Telephone Pay Station Company and the Co-operative Savings Bank
Did You Know?
- 01.Whitney designed the Lincoln milling machine while working at the Phoenix Iron Works in Hartford, Connecticut, before co-founding Pratt and Whitney.
- 02.The first product ever made by the Pratt and Whitney company was a thread winder manufactured for the Willimantic Linen Company, not a firearm or machine tool.
- 03.Whitney and Francis Pratt formally established their company in 1860, but both men were still employed at Phoenix Iron Works at the time of its founding.
- 04.Whitney served as president of Pratt and Whitney for only three years, from 1898 to 1901, having spent decades at the company before assuming its top leadership role.
- 05.He was a member of the prominent Whitney family and was interred at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Hartford, Connecticut, the same city where he had built most of his career.