David Crosthwait

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David Crosthwait was an African-American mechanical and electrical engineer, inventor, and writer. He was born on May 27, 1898 in the city of Nashville, Tennessee. He grew up in Kansas City, Missouri. Once he completed high school he received a Bachelor of Science (1913) and a Masters of Engineering (1920) from Purdue University. Years later Crosthwait was granted an honorary doctoral degree in 1975.

[edit] Employment

In 1913, Crosthwait moved to Marshalltown, Iowa. He worked for the Durham Company where he designed heating installations. While at the C.A. Durham Company he was a Research Engineer and was also the Director of Research Laboratories from 1925 to 1930. He then became the Technical Advisor of Durham-Bush, Inc. from 1930 to 1971. Crosthwait also served as the past president of the Michigan City Redevelopment.

[edit] Accomplishments

Crosthwait’s expertise was on air ventilation, central air conditioning, and heat transfer systems. With this knowledge he created many different heating systems, refrigeration methods, temperature regulating devices, and vacuum pumps. For these inventions he holds thirty nine United States patents as well as eighty international patents. In the 1920s and 1930s Crosthwait invented a vacuum pump, a boiler, and a thermostat control, all for more effective heating systems for larger buildings. Some of his greatest accomplishments were for creating the heating systems for the Rockefeller Center and New York’s Radio City Music Hall.

He wrote an instruction manual and guides for heating and cooling with water and guides, standards, and codes that dealt with heating, air conditioning, and ventilation systems. After Crosthwait retired in 1969, he taught courses on control the stream heating theory at Purdue University. He died in 1976 aged 78.

[edit] References