Leopold Katzenstein

Leopold Katzenstein (July 23, 1843) Rhina (today Haunetal), former Kreis Hünfeld, Hessen, Germany – December 4, 1915 New York City) was a successful Naval Architect and Marine engineer.

Katzenstein may have been raised in an orphanage after his father Abraham died. This may have been the Kassel Jüdisches Waisenhaus (translate: The Jewish Orphanage of Kassel) . He immigrated to the United States between 1868–1869 and founded L Katzenstein & Sons at 358 West Street in New York City.^[1] His company were general machinists and sold engineer’s supplies including flexible tubular metallic packing for slipjoints and on steam pipes and highest grade anti-friction metal for bearings. He was also a successful inventor who held a number of patents; amongst others these included: -

• Improvement In Packing, US Pat. No. 105,462^[2] dated 19 July 1870.
• Metallic Packing For Piston-Rods &c., US Pat. No. 228,200^[3] dated 1 June 1880.
• Metallic Rod-Packing, US Pat. No. 267,750^[4] dated 21 November 1882.
• Rod-Packing, US Pat. No. 301,998^[5] dated 15 July 1884.
• Water-Tight Bulkhead-Door, US Pat. No. 432,070^[6] dated 15 July 1890.
• Stuffing-Box, US Pat. No. 538,681^[7] dated 7 May 1895.
• Water-Tight Bulkhead-Door, US Pat. No. 539,953^[8] dated 28 May 1895.

For more information on his inventions, Google ininventor:"Leopold Katzenstein".

Katzenstein married Sarah Hecht whose uncle Samuel Hecht, Jr founded Hecht's in Baltimore. Katzenstein was one of the founders of Temple Israel,^[9] which was first located at 210 West 91st Street on Manhattan's West Side and is currently located on 75th Street between Lexington and Park Avenues.

His obituary^[10] in the New York Times 4 December 1915 read:

Leopold Katzenstein, head of the firm of Leopold Katzenstein & Co., 358 West Street, and for the last forty-five years an inventor and manufacturer of attachments for steam engines, died yesterday at his home, 72 West Ninety-first Street. in his seventy-sixth year. He was born in Germany and received his education in the universities of his native country. Mr. Katzenstein came here forty-five years ago, and immediately commenced working on improvements for handling steam. Many of his inventions are used by ocean steamers all over the world.

Mr Katzenstein was a member of the Society of Naval Architects, the Society of Marine Engineers, the Railroad Club, the Society of Naval Engineers of Washington, D. C.; the Technischer Verein of Germany, and a number of charitable organizations. His wife, three sons, and a daughter survive him.

He also had a professional obituary in the Transactions - The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers^[11]

References

1. ↑ "L . KATZENSTEIN & CO.". Flickr. 
2. ↑ "Patent US105462 - Leopold katzenstein". google.com. 
3. ↑ "Patent US228200 - Leopold katzenstein". google.com. 
4. ↑ "Patent US267750 - Leopold katzenstein". google.com. 
5. ↑ "Patent US301998 - Rod packing". google.com. 
6. ↑ "Patent US432070 - paterson". google.com. 
7. ↑ "Patent US538681 - Leopold katzenstein". google.com. 
8. ↑ "Patent US539953 - katzenstein". google.com. 
9. ↑ http://www.templeisraelnyc.org/about-the-temple.html
10. ↑ Obituary in the New York Times, dd. December 4th, 1915 (PDF)
11. ↑ "Transactions". google.com.