Henderson, William M., fl. 1850-1893.

William M. Henderson was a mechanical engineer and inventor who spent most of his career in Philadelphia.

Henderson appears to have been born in Birmingham, England, his first recorded employment being as a mechanical engineer for the London & North Western Railway in 1847. By 1857, he had emigrated to America and was working at the Union Works of Baltimore. Here he patented a slide valve and a force pump. There followed a few years building railroad bridges and similar works in Chile, but by 1865 he had settled in Philadelphia and formed the partnership of Brinton & Henderson, pump manufacturers, doing business as the Philadelphia Hydraulic Works. This firm was succeeded by William M. Henderson & Co. Henderson invented a hydraulic brake for railroads around 1873 and formed a separate company to manufacture it, although it quickly lost out to the Westinghouse air brake. By the late 1870s, Henderson's interest had turned to steel-making, particularly in the blowing engines used in the Bessemer process and the engines and other machinery of rolling-mills.

From the description of Papers, 1847-1893. (Hagley Museum & Library). WorldCat record id: 81163966