Summary Information
Marshell W. Hanks Papers
1898-1939
- Hanks, Marshall W., 1875-1952
Mss 754
0.4 c.f. (1 archives box)
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Papers, mainly 1898-1904, of Marshall W. Hanks, an electrical engineer and inventor, primarily concerning his work for the George Westinghouse Company on the development of the Nernst Lamp, an unsuccessful street light. Included are papers on the history and development of the lamp; correspondence with George Westinghouse and fellow employees and associates; advertising material; experimental data, charts, and reports; theses; patents; and some World War I engineering reports concerning his work on standardization and specifications for the U.S. Navy Aircraft Division.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00754 ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
Engineer Marshall W. Hanks, a member of a prominent pioneer Madison, Wisconsin family, was born in 1875, educated in Madison, and graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in electrical engineering in 1897. After graduation, Hanks was employed in the private laboratory of George Westinghouse, founder of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation. In the Westinghouse lab, Hanks worked on the development of the Nernst Lamp--an early electric street light invented by Walter Nernst, a leading expert on electricity in Germany. This lighting device used a porcelain-like rod made of a rare earth mineral rather than a filament. Nernst Lamps were more efficient, brighter, and more color true than existing carbon filament bulbs, but they were also complex and expensive to produce. In 1898 the invention was taken over by the Westinghouse Company, with Alexander J. Wurts in charge of experimentation. Wurts gathered around him some of the most practical electrical engineers of the era, including Hanks, Edward Bennett, and Murray C. Beebe (an 1897 graduate of the University of Wisconsin and a native of Racine).
During his time with the company Hanks became chief engineer of the Nernst Lamp Company, a Westinghouse subsidiary, and later operated the Barringer Mine in Texas which mined gadlonite, the rare mineral used in the lamp. Hanks' health failed and he left the company about 1904. In 1908 tungsten filament bulbs which had all the advantages of the Nernst Lamp and which were cheaper to produce were placed on the market. In 1912 the Nernst system was abandoned.
In 1905 Hanks became the president of the Hankscraft Boat Company of Reedsburg, remaining in that position for seven years. In 1912 he was made western manager of the automotive division of Westinghouse Electric. In 1928 Hanks invented and patented the principle of the liquid conductor heater, and he later founded the Hankscraft Company in Madison for the manufacture of the first automatic baby bottle warmer and other products which utilized the liquid conductor principle. He remained president of the Hankscraft Co., which later relocated at Reedsburg, Wisconsin, until 1949 at which time he became chairman of the board.
During his lifetime Hanks obtained patents on some fifty inventions. Other activities in Hanks' life included his position as director of the Dane County Title Company, membership on the Madison Water Board, and membership in (and presidency of) the Professional Men's Club and the Technical Club. He also held memberships in several national engineering societies and served as standards manager for the Society of Automotive Engineers.
Hanks' first wife, the former Martha Pound of Madison, died in 1909. Four years later he married Mildred Belle Davis of St. Louis, Missouri. Hanks died on May 9, 1952, survived by his wife, his son Marshall B. Hanks, and three grandchildren.
Scope and Content Note
The Marshall W. Hanks Papers is a small collection with very complete documentation on the interesting but unsuccessful work done on the Nernst Lamp. Unfortunately there is virtually no personal information about Hanks or his family. Also missing is any information about his professional career for the years between his work with the Nernst Lamp Company and his work with the U.S. Navy Aircraft Division during World War I and for his career after that time. Some of his activities can be gleaned, however, from a list of patents which he held prior to 1939.
The collection consists of general information about the development of the Nernst lamp, business and technical correspondence, reports, theses, experimental data, and miscellany. The collection is organized as Background Information, Westinghouse Company Correspondence, Experimental Data, Patents, and Navy Material. In addition to the archival collection, the Historical Museum Museum holds several Nernst Lamps and lamp parts and an electric boat controller invented by Hanks.
The Background Information consists of pamphlets, clippings, a history, a catalog and price list, publications of the Nernst Lamp Company, and a clipping from a Madison newspaper about Hanks' association with the company.
The Westinghouse Company Correspondence is divided into five subject categories and then arranged chronologically. The personal business file includes incoming and outgoing correspondence relating to salary and personnel matters, a 1900 contract, and information on Hanks' health. The file of general reports includes exchanges of information between Hanks and other developers about their work and some instructions from Westinghouse for a trip Hanks made to Europe in regard to patents and technical matters in 1900. Also included here are several narrative papers and reports by Hanks. The Canadian factory file contains letters concerning costs and equipment needed for starting a Canadian factory for Nernst Lamps. The Texas Mine subdivision contains a 1915 request for information about this mine which Hanks operated for the company (1903-1904) and his reply and related data concerning drilling results and the chemical composition of Yttrium and Zirconium compounds. The miscellaneous file contains a short note dated May 26, 1903 from Nernst himself, several cartoons, and two 1905 letters from Edward Bennett.
The Experimental Data is divided into two categories: raw data, papers, graphs, and charts and a second file of related papers and theses. The experimental data dates from 1898 to 1903 and deals with all aspects of the lamp, its parts, production, efficiency, and characteristics. This file has not been weeded or rearranged in the Archives. The second file contains papers concerning the Nernst lamp, several of which concern experimentation done at the University of Wisconsin and which appear to have been edited by Hanks.
The Patent files are divided into two categories: those of Marshall W. Hanks and related patents held by others. Hanks' file contains a list of patents issued to him between 1898 and 1939, plus twenty-four numerically arranged patent papers (three complete with seals). The related patents, which pertain to several of his colleagues at the Nernst Lamp Company, are arranged alphabetically by inventor.
Navy Material consists of chronologically-arranged reports and letters, 1918-1919, concerning Hanks' work with aircraft material standards and specification for the Bureau of Construction and Repair of the U.S. Navy. They chiefly concern the importance of developing standard sized equipment and standards in manufacturing.
Administrative/Restriction Information
Presented by Marshall B. Hanks, Mountain View, California, June 20, 1964. Accession Number: M64-349
Processed by Christine M. Long (Intern), 1988.
Contents List
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Box
1
Folder
1
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Background Information, 1899-1908, undated
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Westinghouse Company Correspondence
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Box
1
Folder
2
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Personal business, 1899-1903
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Box
1
Folder
3
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Reports on Nernst Lamp development, 1899-1904
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Box
1
Folder
4
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Canadian factory, 1903-1904
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Box
1
Folder
5
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Texas mine, 1903-1915
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Box
1
Folder
6
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Miscellany, 1903-1905, undated
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Experimental Data
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Box
1
Folder
7-9
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Raw data, papers, graphs, and charts, 1898-1917
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Box
1
Folder
10
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Related papers and theses, 1900-1908, undated
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Patents
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Box
1
Folder
11
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Marshall W. Hanks, 1898-1939
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Box
1
Folder
12
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Related patents, 1899-1900
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Box
1
Folder
13
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Navy Material, 1918-1919
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