Thomas Wharton Ford
Thomas Wharton Ford (1868-1917). M. Inst. C.E., M. I. Mech. E.
1917 Obituary [1]
THOMAS WHARTON FORD was born in London on 28th May 1868.
His early education was received at Ashby-de-la-Zouch Grammar School, after which he was at University College, London, for a time.
In 1886 he began an apprenticeship under Mr. James Holden at the Great Eastern Railway Locomotive Works, Stratford, and in 1889 he was employed as draughtsman on the staff, subsequently being engaged on experimental work on the footplate.
From 1892 to 1896 he superintended the railway carriage wheel and axle shops, and then was appointed one of the Company's inspectors and testers in the manufacturing districts for the locomotive department.
In 1897 he commenced work on his own account in Westminster as a consulting engineer, and took a very active part in the introduction of portable pneumatic tools and compressed-air machinery generally throughout the railway and general engineering workshops and shipyards of Great Britain, visiting the United States on several occasions in this connexion.
He was for some time Managing Director of the late International Pneumatic Tool Co., Ltd., and was subsequently connected with the Pneumatic Engineering Appliances Co., Ltd., from its formation, being appointed a Director in 1907, which position he held up to the time of his death.
In 1904 he was appointed a Director of the British Pneumatic Railway Signal Co., Ltd., and in 1910 took up a similar position on the Board of Cravens, Limited, of Darnall, Sheffield, railway carriage and wagon builders, recently becoming Managing Director.
His death took place in London on 8th July 1917, at the age of forty-nine.
He was elected a Member of this Institution in 1899.