Albert Edward Shorter
Albert Edward Shorter (c1885-1944), managing director of the Shorter Process Co
1944 Obituary [1]
Mr. A. E. Shorter, managing director of the Shorter Process Company, Ltd., died at his home in Sheffield on November 18, 1944, aged 59 years.
Mr. Shorter received his general education at the Central School, Darlington, and in 1900 was apprenticed to the Darlington Railway Plant and Foundry Company, Ltd., meanwhile continuing his scientific education at Darlington Technical College. On the conclusion of his apprenticeship, he was employed in the drawing office of this firm and subsequently had charge of contracts for the Admiralty and for foreign railways.
In 1907, Mr. Shorter was appointed engineer and draughtsman on the staff of the North Eastern Railway Company, at York, and was engaged on the design of permanent-way materials. Subsequently he carried out research work connected with the wear of rails and other materials during service.
In December, 1915, Mr. Shorter was appointed assistant inspector, and in November, 1917, senior assistant inspector, of Munitions Areas, Sheffield, and for his services while with the Ministry of Munitions was awarded the M.B.E. In 1918, Mr. Shorter joined the staff of Messrs. C. P. Sandberg, consulting engineers, London, but in the following year was appointed works and contracts manager, and later a director, of the Scholey Construction Company, Ltd., London, where he was engaged on rail hardening and on electric and acetylene welding.
In 1924, he originated the Shorter process for hardening steel surfaces, and two years later was one of the founders of the Patent Gear Hardening Company, Ltd., a firm established in London to exploit the process. Mr. Shorter was managing director of the Company from its inception. The name of the firm was afterwards changed to the Patent Gear and Metal Hardening Company, Ltd., and, some years later, to the Shorter Process Company, Ltd. The firm was transferred from London to Sheffield in 1935. Mr. Shorter was a past-president of the Institute of Welding and a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
He was elected a member of the Institute of Metals in 1932.
1946 Obituary [2]
ALBERT EDWARD SHORTER, M.B.E., was managing director of the Shorter Process Company, Ltd., of Sheffield, and was the patentee and inventor of a system of surface metal hardening. He served his apprenticeship with the Darlington Railway Plant and Foundry Company from 1900 to 1907 and at the same time attended the Darlington Technical College.
After being employed in the service of the North Eastern Railway as draughtsman and permanent way engineer for eight years, he was attached to the Ministry of Munitions as inspector of munitions areas with subsequent promotion to the post of senior inspector. He was awarded the M.B.E. for his services in this capacity during the 1914-18 war. In 1918 he was appointed works and contracts manager to the Scholey Construction Company, Ltd., London, and later joined the board of directors. To develop his patents he formed the Patent Gear and Metal Hardening Company of Westminster, in 1926.
Subsequently he established the Shorter Process Company, which since 1935 has been located in Sheffield. Mr. Shorter, whose death in his fifty-ninth year occurred on 18th November 1944, was elected an Associate Member of the Institution in 1918 and was transferred to Membership in 1931.
He was also a founder member and past-president of the Institute of Welding, and was the author of numerous technical publications.