Inventor Name
Bailey, E. G. (Ervin George),
Repository
Hagley Museum & Library
Manuscripts & Archives Department
P.O. Box 3630
Wilmington, DE 19807-0630
302-658-2400
https://www.hagley.org/research
Physical Description
8 linear ft.
Summary
Ervin George Bailey was born in Damascus, Ohio on December 25, 1880. He was mechanically precocious as a child and invented a number of mechanisms while working in his father's sawmill and farm. He studied mechanical engineering at Ohio State under E. A Hitchcock and was a classmate and friend of Charles F. Kettering, later of General Motors. After five years in the test dept. of the Consolidation Coal Company, Bailey was recruited by Arthur D. Little of Boston to establish a coal department in 1907. Two years later he established the Fuel Testing Company with two college friends. In 1915 Bailey invented the Bailey boiler meter, the first device to accurately measure boiler inputs and steam output. The Bailey Meter Company was organized in Boston on January 1, 1916, and moved to Cleveland three years later. In 1922 Bailey produced the Bailey automated control system which regulated the air and fuel supply to boilers. The Bailey meters were part of the culmination of traditional steam technology, achieving maximum efficiency from coal-fired boilers. Bailey sold the controlling interest in the company to the Babcock & Wilcox Company in 1925. He became president of another B&W subsidiary, the Fuller-Lehigh Company, a manufacturer of coal-pulverizing equipment, and moved to Easton, Pa. He also served as a B&W vice president from 1931 to 1951 and became B&W's largest individual stockholder. In 1927, B&W sold a one-third interest in the Bailey Meter Company to General Electric in return for GE's flow-meter business. GE sold its shares back to B&W in the early 1950s. However, the purchase gave Bailey Meter access to GE's expertise and enabled it to expand into the field of electrical and electronic process controls and cultivate the chemical and nuclear industries as traditional steam technology became obsolete. B&W was absorbed by McDermott International in 1975, and the Bailey Meter Company was renamed the Bailey Controls Company. On Nov. 1, 1989, Bailey was sold to Elsag, a subsidiary of an Itallian conglomerate. E. G. Bailey retired as chairman of the Bailey Meter Company in 1956. He continued active in consulting work and engineering education until shortly before his death at Easton on December 18, 1974. Bailey held 141 patents and was the recipient of many engineering honors, including the Fritz Medal (1952). The E. G. Bailey papers are a personal collection of materials Bailey retained in his home after his retirement. The papers document Bailey's work as a combustion engineer, a corporate leader and a promoter of engineering education. His personal papers include correspondence and articles on subjects relating to combustion engineering, and information about awards and honors Bailey received and conferences he participated in. Bailey's papers include copies of numerous speeches and publications on combustion engineering and engineering education. They include official copies of Bailey's patents, other patents in his interest areas, and deeper nformation including blueprints, drawings, reports and correspondence about patents developed in retirement. The papers include Bailey Meter Company publications: a series of the company magazine, BAILEY METER RECORD, and Bailey Meter Company bulletins and trade catalogs. The papers document Bailey's involvement in engineering research and company management in both Bailey Meter Company and Babcock & Wilcox. They document his involvement with ASME, and his efforts to work through that organization to promote engineering as a profession
