Paul Rapsey Hodge

Paul Rapsey Hodge (15 July 1808 – 21 October 1871) was an English-American inventor and mechanical engineer. He invented technological improvements used by railroad companies. He also invented a device that ground wheat and other grains into flour that could then be used by bakers, as well as a machine that turned vegetable pulp into paper that could be used by printers. His innovations were useful to many industries. He was a writer of technical manuals in both the United States and England.

Biography

Hodge was born on 15 July 1808, at St. Austell in Cornwall, South West England. He immigrated to the United States around 1836 and worked initially as a draftsman for the locomotive builder Thomas Rogers in Paterson, New Jersey.

Under the sponsorship of an insurance company, in 1840–1841, Hodge designed and built the first steam-powered fire engine in the United States.efn-ua|Antedating this steam fire engine by a decade, in England the Braithwaite and Ericsson company had built a firetruck that weighed two tons, and put out 40 tons of water per hour to a height of . The horizontal cylinders lined up with the pump cylinders and worked with a pair of driving wheels. At the front axle, ahead of the smoke-box, was an air vessel that activated a bell. In 1896 the fire engine was reported to have weighed around seven or eight tons, and was long. The large back wheels of the fire engine were lifted off the ground by a built-in jackscrew when pumping water for use on a fire, whereupon they served as flywheels for the engine as it pumped.

Hodge's fire engine was unpopular with the firefighters of the Pearl Hose Company #28 in New York City because its weight made it unwieldy to move down the streets. It was ultimately sold to another fire department and used as a stand-alone pumping engine that was not self-propelled. In 1856, he invented a device for grinding wheat and other farinaceous grains and in the treatment of the flour made. In 1859, he invented papermaking machinery that turned vegetable pulp into paper material. In 1861, he patented a hydraulic press for pressing of hay, straw, hops, hemp, flax, cotton, and animal wool for making vegetable and animal oils. He made a hop separator for breweries. He invented machinery for processing felted cloth, machinery that produced dinnerware, and improvements in machinery technology for the smelting of glass, metal, and porcelain. He also made improvements to machinery that made pigments for ink, gas lighting, and waterproofing fabrics.

Personal life Hodge was a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Hodge died on October 21, 1871, and is buried in St Giles' Church courtyard at Camberwell in South London.