BIOGRAPHY

From The National Cyclopædia of American Biography, Vol. 2, published 1899.

SEE, Horace, engineer and naval architect, was born at Philadelphia, Pa., July 17, 1835. His ancestors were Hueguenots, who settled near New Castle, Del. He received an academic education, and learned the trade of a machinist with I. P. Morris & Co., of Philadelphia, the time of his apprenticeship being divided between the machine-shop and drawing office. Mr. See has been connected with a number of ship-building establishments, notably that of Wm. Cramp & Sons, of Philadelphia, where as superintendent engineer he did much in placing them in the prominent position they occupy as builders of high-speed vessels, through the improvements introduced by him into the design and manufacture of the machinery employed. He not only led the advance in the introduction of the triple and quadruple expansion engines into this country, but also had much to do with the indroduction of the former into the vessels of our navy. The engines of the cruisers Yorktown, Concord, Bennington, Philadelphia, Newark and Vesuvius; of the yachts Atalanta, Corsair, Stranger and Peerless; of the steamer Monmouth; of the steamships Mariposa, Queen of the Pacific, Caracus, Olivette, El Sol and others, were designed by him. In this work his labors were not confined to designing, but included the manufacture and trial of the machinery when completed. He has introduced many improvements into the manufacture of the steam-engine that have facilitated not only the work, but have also raised the standard of workmanship. The cylindrical face-plate, if it may be so called, is one of these. This has made it possible to produce with certainty perfectly true bearings and crank-shafts, and has been followed by the elimination of the trouble of the heating of these parts during the first trial of the engine--an evil which had heretofore been considered inevitable. In 1889 Mr. See established himself in New York city, where he is consulting engineer and naval architect for the Southern Pacific Co., and other corporations, as well as acting in a similar capacity for individuals. He is past President of the Society of Mechanical Engineers, Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Science, Member of the British Institution of Naval Architects, Member of the Institute of Mining Engineers, Member of the Franklin Institute of Pennsylvania, and others.

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