Acheson, Edward

Acheson, Edward (Goodrich)

(1856–1931) inventor, metallurgist, electrical engineer; born in Washington, Pa. With little formal schooling, he invented a rock-boring machine for coal mines and by 1880 was working in Thomas Edison's lab. In the late 1880s he helped install electrical plants in Europe. Back in America, he made several inventions (including electrical wire insulation), discovered Carborundum, and founded several companies that produced products he pioneered in developing for the electrothermal process—an electric furnace, artificial graphite, lubricants.