Albert Marsh
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Albert Leroy Marsh, (1877-1944) in 1905 invented chromel, the first metallic combination to serve as a heating element. For this, Marsh was acclaimed as "father of the electrical heating industry."
Made of four parts nickel and one part chromium, it is The patent was acquired February 1906.
Marsh was born Aug. 16, 1877 in Pontiac, Illinois, the oldest of three children. The family moved to Pana, Illinois in 1884. Marsh went to University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 1901, Albert received his bachelor of science degree in Chemical Engineering. The same year, he married Minnie Haywood in Massachusetts.
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[edit] Career Beginnings
While working with an electric storage battery and doing technical writing, he began experimenting with nickel and chromium alloys during his spare time. In 1904, in need of better place to work on his wiring project and more funding, he made a business arrangement with William Hoskins of Chicago; Hoskins was with Mariner & Hoskins, a leading firm of consulting chemists. He hired Marsh at a small salary -- while giving Albert permission to work on the alloy project during his spare time. (When later formed as Hoskins Manufacturing Company, the business relocated in Detroit.)
[edit] Success
When perfected, the new alloy was 300 times stronger than other types at that time. Toasters, dental furnaces and chromel wire for appliance manufacturers were the first focus of Hoskins Manufacturing. The first two were unprofitable and were later dropped. The company concentrated on manufacturing the chromel wire.
Marsh served as chief engineer and general manager of Hoskins Manufacturing Co. in Detroit, Michigan. He was named president of the firm in 1915.
[edit] Awards
In 1936, Marsh was awarded the John Price Wetherill Medal for "significant and timely contribution to the science of automotive engineering" and "for outstanding discoveries in the physical sciences."
In 1941, the American Metals Congress bestowed upon Marsh with The Sauveur Award for outstanding metallurgical achievement.
