George Herman Babcock (June 17, 1832 – December 16, 1893) was an American inventor. He and Stephen Wilcox co-invented a safer water tube steam boiler, and founded the Babcock & Wilcox boiler company. Biography Babock was born in Unadilla Forks, New York in a family of inventors. As a boy he started his career in the woolen mill industry. When he was still in his teens he started a printing office in Westerly, Rhode Island. Here he founded the Literary Echo journal, which was later renamed The Narragansett and was continued until the end of the 19th century. Through his interest in photography he started a printing-press manufacture, for which he invented a polychromatic press for printing in several colors. After moving to New York Babcock taught mechanical drawing at the Cooper Institute. He was a draughtsman for the Mystic Iron Company and the Hope Iron Company in Providence. Here with Stephen Wilcox he developed the Babcock and Wilcox engine, which was taken into production. They eventually founded the Babcock & Wilcox boiler company. From 1886-1887 Babcock served as president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Babcock's water tube steam boiler provided a safer and more efficient production of steam, and was built to work better under higher pressures than earlier boilers. In 1881 their company was incorporated, with Babcock as president and Wilcox as vice president. He died in Plainfield, New Jersey on December 16, 1893. In 1997, Babcock was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. References External links Biography from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers National Inventors Hall of Fame citation 1832 births 1893 deaths 19th-century American inventors Presidents of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers American mechanical engineers People from Plainfield, New York Burials in Rhode Island Engineers from New York (state) Inventors from New York (state)