Babcock, George

Lead Author: Cutler J. Cleveland (other articles)
Article Topics: Energy people and Energy efficiency
This article has been reviewed and approved by the following Topic Editor: Tom Lawrence (other articles)
Last Updated: December 4, 2006

George Babcock (1832-1893), an American inventor and mechanic who, along with Stephen Wilcox, invented an improved water tube steam boiler in 1867 that was capable of providing a much safer and more efficient production of steam. This boiler was able to withstand very high pressures and ensured a high standard of protection against explosions. Babcock's steam boiler paved the way for the development of large, high-pressure and high-temperature steam power plants, still in use today throughout the world. The boiler was first manufactured in Providence, Rhode Island and then in New York where the firm of Babcock and Wilcox (B&W) was incorporated in 1881. The firm remains today as a multinational energy corporation. In 1882, four Babcock and Wilcox boilers powered Thomas Edison’s Pearl Street station in New York City, the first public utility. Edison once wrote that a B&W boiler was "the best boiler God has permitted man yet to make."


Further Reading
Inventor Profile: George Babcock (National Inventors Hall of Fame)
George Babcock and Stephen Wilcox named to National Inventors Hall of Fame (The Babcock and Wilcox Company)

Citation
Cleveland, Cutler (Lead Author); Tom Lawrence (Topic Editor). 2006. "Babcock, George." In: Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. Cutler J. Cleveland (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment). [First published in the Encyclopedia of Earth June 16, 2006; Last revised December 4, 2006; Retrieved August 29, 2008]. <http://www.eoearth.org/article/Babcock,_George>
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