Knight of Saint Gregory and Knight of Malta; inventor; born Albany, New York, 1860; died Long Island, New York, 1929. At an early age he was an expert machinist and showed signs of inventive genius which culminated in his obtaining patents for 1100 inventions, more than any other inventori except Thomas Edison. Besides maintaining general supervision of his own corporations, he effected combinations of all the electric companies in Brooklyn and New York, which resulted in the formation of the New York Edison Company, the United Electric Light and Power Company, and the Brooklyn Edison Company. The designer of more electrical plants than any engineer in the country, he won the Longstreth Medal of Merit for his numerous inventions of safety appliances and high commendation from the War Department for his invention of an electric welding process for the manufacture of 9.4 inch mortar shells.