Thomas Robins Jr. (September 1, 1868 – November 4, 1957) was an American inventor and manufacturer.

Biography

He was born on September 1, 1868, in

West Point, New York West Point is the oldest continuously occupied military post in the United States. Located on the Hudson River in New York, West Point was identified by General George Washington as the most important strategic position in America during the Ame ...

to Thomas Robins Sr. He attended

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

Career

In 1891, Robins began work on a

conveyor belt A conveyor belt is the carrying medium of a belt conveyor system (often shortened to belt conveyor). A belt conveyor system is one of many types of conveyor systems. A belt conveyor system consists of two or more pulleys (sometimes referred t ...

for carrying coal and ore for

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventi ...

and his

Edison Ore-Milling Company The Edison Ore-Milling Company was a venture by Thomas Edison that began in 1881. Edison introduced some significant technological developments to the iron ore milling industry but the company ultimately proved to be unprofitable. Towards the end ...

in Ogdensburg, New Jersey. His conveyor belt received the grand prize at the Paris Exposition in 1900, and first prizes at the

Pan-American Exposition The Pan-American Exposition was a World's Fair held in Buffalo, New York, United States, from May 1 through November 2, 1901. The fair occupied of land on the western edge of what is now Delaware Park, extending from Delaware Avenue to Elmwood ...

and

Saint Louis Exposition The Saint Louis Exposition or St. Louis Expo was a series of annual agricultural and technical fairs held in St. Louis' Fairgrounds Park, from the 1850s to 1902. In 1904, the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, a major World's Fair, was held in St. ...

. Based on his invention, Robins started the Robins Conveying Belt Company and of the Robins New Conveyor Company (now ThyssenKrupp Robins). In 1915 he was appointed to the

Naval Consulting Board The Naval Consulting Board, also known as the Naval Advisory Board (a name used in the 1880s for two previous committees), was a US Navy organization established in 1915 by Josephus Daniels, the Secretary of the Navy at the suggestion of Thomas A ...

Personal life

On April 26, 1894, Robins married Winifred Hamilton Tucker (1868–1952) in Boston, Massachusetts. They lived together at 40 East 66th Street in New York City and had a home in

Stamford, Connecticut Stamford () is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 202 ...

, called Saddle Rock House designed by prominent New York City architects, Hunt and Hunt. Together with his wife, he had: *Thomas Robins III "Jr" (1897–1977), who in 1939 married Louisa Winslow Cogswell (1899–1962), an artist. She was the daughter of Cullen Van Rensselaer Cogswell and Agnes Eugenia Nickerson. Her paternal grandparents were Andrew Kirkpatrick Cogswell (1839–1900) and Mary Van Rensselaer Cogswell (1839–1871). After her death, he married Eileen Burden Maynard (1910–1970), daughter of

Cynthia Roche The Hon. Cynthia Burke Roche (10 April 1884 – 18 December 1966) was a British-American socialite and art collector from Newport, Rhode Island. Life and work She was born on 10 April 1884 in London to James Roche, 3rd Baron Fermoy (1852–192 ...

(1884–1966) and the granddaughter of James Roche, 3rd Baron Fermoy (1852–1920) and Frances Ellen Work (1857–1947) **Louisa Robins (1920–1992), who married Austin Goodyear (1920–2005) in 1939. After their divorce, Goodyear married Sara Suleri *** Grace Rumsey Goodyear (b. 1941), who in 1962 married

Franklin Delano Roosevelt III Franklin Delano Roosevelt III (born July 19, 1938) is an American retired economist and academic. Through his father, he is a grandson of 32nd U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt, and through his mother, he is related to th ...

(b. 1938), grandson of

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

and

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...

****Phoebe Louisa Roosevelt (b. 1965) ****Nicholas Martin Roosevelt (b. 1966) ****Amelia "Amie" Roosevelt (b. 1966) *** Cullen Goodyear, a noted

triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the ...

athlete *** Thomas R. Goodyear, who was married to Barbara Marshall (1946–2007) **Mary Van Rensselaer Robins (1919–2006), who married Dr. Stephen Goodyear (1915–1998). They divorced in 1963 and in 1964, Mary married Julian McKee (1918–2006) **Anne Davis Robins, who married Evan W. Thomas II in 1943, son of

Norman Thomas Norman Mattoon Thomas (November 20, 1884 – December 19, 1968) was an American Presbyterian minister who achieved fame as a socialist, pacifist, and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America. Early years Thomas was the ...

and Frances Violet Stewart. *** Evan Welling Thomas III (b. 1951) *Samuel Davis Robins, who married Emma Lawrence Jacob in 1925. She was the daughter of Bartholomew Jacob. One of Robin's groomsmen was Frederic W. Lincoln IV Jacob later married Joseph R. Busk in 1937 **Samuel Davis Robins, Jr. (1926–2010) who was married to Winifred Anne Willis in 1950 and Ruth R. McCollester, in 1979; both of whom he divorced. His companion at the time of his death was Mary Hooker Judson ***Samuel Davis Robins III ***Leah Anne Robins (b. 1956) ***Abigail Cope Robins He died on November 4, 1957, at the Nestledown Convalescent Home in

, aged 89.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robins, Thomas (inventor) 1868 births 1957 deaths Princeton University alumni 19th-century American inventors 20th-century American inventors Naval Consulting Board People from West Point, New York People from Old Saybrook, Connecticut