Richard H. Rice

Richard Henry Rice (January 9, 1863 – February 10, 1922) was an American mechanical engineer and inventor who is known for many patents related to improvements to the Corliss steam engine, and his partnership in founding the Rice & Sargent Engine Company of Providence, Rhode Island.

Early life and family Richard Henry Rice was born January 9, 1863, in Rockland, Maine, to Albert Smith Rice and Frances Weston (Baker) Rice. He received his Masters of Engineering degree from Stevens Institute of Technology in 1885. He was first married on April 6, 1887, to Mary Sue Durgin, daughter of William B. Durgin, a silversmith and clock-maker from Concord, New Hampshire, and they had three children. After the 1897 death of his first wife, Rice married Alice Woodman Kimball of New York March 26, 1898. Rice was also an owner of the Providence Engineering Works, also in Providence. Starting in 1903 he was a consultant on steam engineering and in charge of turbine development at the General Electric Company in Lynn, Massachusetts. In recognition of over 50 patents relating to steam, air and water apparati, he received an honorary Ph.D. in Engineering from the Stevens Institute in 1921. He died a year later on February 10, 1922, in Bolton, New York.

Selected patents During his career Rice received over 50 U.S. and international patents, mostly for improvements to the Corliss steam engine and steam turbine technology. Some of his most significant patents are as follows:

Cut-Off Valve Gear, April 19, 1892 Valve Gear, September 18, 1894. Vacuum Activated Dash Pot, April 27, 1895 Stop-Motion for Governors May 21, 1895 Stop-Motion for Governors, May 19, 1895 Cylindrical Rotary Valve, November 17, 1896 Steam Activated Dash Pot for Engines, May 16, 1898 Valve-Gear for Steam Engines, August 25, 1903. Step Bearing, November 14, 1905 Portable Fire Engine Pump, May 17, 1910. Valve Gear, June 29, 1917 Maneuvering Valve for Ship Engines, January 30, 1919 Bearing Shaft Seal Assembly, March 23, 1918

Genealogy Richard Henry Rice was a direct descendant of Edmund Rice, an English immigrant to Massachusetts Bay Colony, as follows:

Richard Henry Rice, son of Albert Smith Rice (1837 – ?), son of Richard D. Rice (1810 – ?), son of Nathan Drury Rice (1784 – ?), son of James Rice (1758 – 1829), son of Richard Rice (1730 – 1793), son of Ezekiel Rice (1700 – ?), son of Jonathan Rice (1654 – 1725), son of Henry Rice (1617 – 1711) Edmund Rice (1594 – 1663)