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Robert Dunbar was a mechanical engineer. He is notable for designing the first steam-powered grain elevator in the world. He designed the majority of the first grain elevators in Buffalo, New York City, and Canada.
Early life
Dunbar was born in Carnbee, Scotland. His birth is recorded as December 13, 1812.[1] His father was William Dunbar, a mechanical engineer, came from an family line of engineers. Dunbar immigrated with his family to Pickering, Ontario, while a boy of 12.[2] He went to high school and college in Canada.[1] He took up an interest in mechanics and learned mechanical engineering.[3]
Career
Dunbar took charge of the ship yard at Niagara, Ontario, in 1832. He renovated the docks and its machinery. Dunbar later settled in Black Rock, Buffalo, New York, in 1834. He associated himself with Charles W. Evans and constructed flourmills.[2] Dunbar designed and built at Buffalo in 1842 the first steam-powered grain elevator in the world that was financed by entrepreneur Joseph Dart.[1][4][5][6] He built nearly all the grain elevators in Buffalo which put the city as one of the largest grain markets in the United States.[7][8] Dunbar built and designed the majority of the first grain elevators in Canada and New York City.[7] He constructed other grain elevators in Liverpool and Hull in England and in Odessa, Russia.[7] He constructed grain elevators in many other grain shipping ports around the world.[7] Dunbar's grain elevator innovations are still in use. Dunbar was senior partner in a firm called Robert Dunbar & Son. They were grain elevator architects, engineers, and contractors. Dunbar became a wealthy man because of his innovations in grain elevators.[9]
Family
Dunbar married Sarah M. Howell on August 26, 1840. Two of his sons were William J. Dunbar and Robert Dunbar. A third son, George H. Dunbar, became proprietor of The Eagle Iron Works of Buffalo. He also had two daughters, Mary G. Dunbar and Emma G. Dunbar.[9]
Death
Dunbar died September 18, 1890.[1]
Legacy
He is known as "the father of the great grain elevator system."[1][3][10]
Reference
- ^ a b c d e Dixon 2008, p. 264.
- ^ a b Brown 2009, p. 109.
- ^ a b Hall 1896, p. 265.
- ^ Alchin, Linda (2015). "Grain Elevators". Siteseen Ltd. Retrieved October 1, 2015.
Grain elevators were invented in 1842 by Joseph Dart and Robert Dunbar in Buffalo, New York to address the problem of unloading and storing grain transported via the Erie Canal.
- ^ Green, H.J. (1888). "Buffalo's First Elevators and Mills". The Northwestern Miller. 26. Miller Publishing Company: 437. Retrieved October 1, 2015.
To Joseph Dart is due the honor of erecting the first storage and transfer steam-powered elevator in the world.
- ^ Kane 1997, p. 4.
- ^ a b c d Tarbet 2015, p. 8.
- ^ Zimmer 1922, p. 720.
- ^ a b Hall 1896, p. 266.
- ^ Welch 1891, p. 154.
Source
- Brown, William J. (2009). American Colossus: The Grain Elevator, 1843 to 1943. Lulu.com. ISBN 978-0-578-01261-2.
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- Dixon, Laurinda S. (2008). Twenty-first-century Perspectives on Nineteenth-century Art: Essays in Honor of Gabriel P. Weisberg. Associated University Presse. ISBN 978-0-87413-011-9.
In 1842, Dart financed the construction of the first steam-powered grain elevator, the name by which these new structures for storing, weighing, and shipping grain came to be called.
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- Hall, Henry (1896). America's Successful Men of Affairs: The United States at large. New York tribune.
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- Kane, Joseph Nathan (1997). Famous First Facts, Fifth Edition. The H. W. Wilson Company. ISBN 0-8242-0930-3.
The first grain elevator operated by steam to transfer and store grain for commercial purposes was designed by Robert Dunbar and made by Jewett and Root for Joseph Dart, Buffalo, NY, in 1842. The first cargo of corn was unloaded on June 22, 1843, from the South America.
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- Tarbet, David W. (26 June 2015). Grain Dust Dreams. SUNY Press. ISBN 978-1-4384-5818-2.
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- Welch, Samuel Manning (1891). Home History: Recollections of Buffalo During the Decade from 1830 to 1840, Or, Fifty Years Since : Descriptive and Illustrative, with Incidents and Anecdotes. Peter Paul & Bro.
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- Zimmer, George Frederick (1922). The Mechanical Handling and Storing of Material: Being a Treatise on the Automatic and Semi-automatic Handling and Storing of Commercial Products. C. Lockwood and Son.
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