Richard Elihu Dickinson
Richard Elihu Dickinson (1849-1895)
1896 Obituary [1]
RICHARD ELIHU DICKINSON, born in Liverpool on the 16th of April, 1849, began his engineering career as an apprentice in the works of Torres, Quiggan and Co, shipbuilders, of that city.
He then entered the service of Alexander Stephens and Co, of Glasgow, in whose drawing-office he remained for some time.
In 1871 he proceeded to Bolivia, where he was engaged on the construction of a mole and piers at Tocopilla, and of a railway to that port from some copper mines in the interior. On returning to England Mr. Dickinson commenced business on his own account at the Cleveland Engine Works, Birkenhead, where he constructed cranes and other machinery. About that time he spent several months in Portugal in erecting machinery for some mines in which he was interested.
In 1879 Mr. Dickinson closed the Cleveland Engine Works and accepted the post of manager to the Savile Street Foundry and Engineering Co, of Sheffield. At those works there were constructed, under his supervision, compound-engines and pumps, as well as some steam-tramcars, for which absence of smoke and small fuel-consumption were claimed.
In 1885 Mr. Dickinson was appointed manager of the Vulcan Steel and Iron Works at Barrow-in-Furness.
Two years later he removed to Jarrow-on-Tyne as manager of the Rolling Mills and Steel Works belonging to Palmer’s Shipbuilding and Iron Co. There he remained until 1891, when he was appointed managing director to the Bowling Iron Co, of Bradford. During the four years Mr. Dickinson was at Jarrow he was responsible for the laying out of new steel works for Palmer’s Shipbuilding and Iron Company.
At the Bowling Iron Company’s Works he installed a new hydraulic press; and erected at one of their largest collieries a new engine-house, air-compressors and coal-cutting machines, coal-washing plant and plant for the manufacture of steel casks welded by electricity.
Mr. Dickinson died at Bradford, after a brief illness, on the 12th May, 1895, only six weeks after his election as a Member of the Institution, which took place on the 2nd April. He was also connected with the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and with the Iron and Steel Institute.
1895 Obituary [2]
RICHARD ELIHU DICKINSON was born in Liverpool on 16th April 1849.
He was there apprenticed to a shipping firm which is now merged into the White Star line; and received a good commercial grounding. His tastes however inclined to mechanical engineering, which he studied both theoretically and practically.
At the age of twenty-two he commenced business as an engineer and ironfounder at the Cleveland Engine Works, Birkenhead, where he constructed overhead cranes and special machinery. At that time he became connected with some Portuguese mines, and was resident abroad for a time, erecting the necessary machinery Turning his attention early to the application of steam power to tramway cars, he built a considerable number, which were used in Dublin, Wigan, and elsewhere; their advantage lay in the absence of smoke, and the small consumption of fuel.
Closing the Birkenhead works he removed to the Saville Street Engineering Works in Sheffield, where in connection with the Clay Cross Co. these steam tramcars were constructed. While in Sheffield he was greatly interested in the manufacture of steel, as well as in general engineering work; and was appointed manager of a new concern started at Barrow-in-Furness, in which the late Mr. Daniel Adamson was interested. There he remained until 1887, when he became manager of the steel and ironworks department of Messrs. Palmer's Shipbuilding and Iron Co. at Jarrow-on-Tyne, where he put up several large steel-smelting furnaces and a 36-inch bar mill.
In 1891 he became managing director of the Bowling Iron Co., Bradford, where he remained until his death, which took place after a brief illness on the 12th May 1895, at the age of forty-six.
He became a Member of this Institution in 1892; and was also a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers and of the Iron and Steel Institute.
1895 Obituary [3]