Amos Whitney

American manufacturer
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Share
Share to social media
URL
https://mainten.top/biography/Amos-Whitney
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

Quick Facts
Born:
Oct. 8, 1832, Biddeford, Maine, U.S.
Died:
Aug. 5, 1928, Portland, Maine (aged 95)

Amos Whitney (born Oct. 8, 1832, Biddeford, Maine, U.S.—died Aug. 5, 1928, Portland, Maine) was a U.S. manufacturer. He was apprenticed at age 13. In 1860, with Francis Pratt, he founded the firm of Pratt & Whitney, originally to manufacture thread spoolers. It later diversified into the manufacture of innovative designs of guns, cannons, sewing machines, and typesetting machines; instruments for measurement developed there proved of great value to science and industry. Today a separate company, formed from the toolworks in 1925, produces aircraft engines and space-propulsion systems as part of the United Technologies Corporation.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.