Edward Wilson Davis (May 8, 1888 – December 3, 1973) was an American

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

and

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

famous for pioneering early research into taconite. As a researcher at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

, Davis developed an engineering process to economically extract

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the f ...

from hard taconite rocks, making taconite valuable as iron ore for the

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

and

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

industries. He worked closely with industrial firms such as the Mesabi Iron Company and the Reserve Mining Company to transform his research into a working industry on northeast

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

's Iron Range. Davis was known as "Mr. Taconite" for his efforts.

History

Davis was born on May 8, 1888, in Cambridge City, Indiana. He pursued courses in science and engineering and received a degree in

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

from

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

in 1911. In 1912, Davis began working as a

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

instructor at the University of Minnesota. In 1913, Davis began working on taconite. Over the next four decades, Davis devised a process to crush the hard rock, separate the iron from the crushed rock using magnets, and roll the iron into pellets suitable for transport and use in a

blast furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being supplied above atmospheric pressure. In a ...

. Davis earned 19

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

s for his many innovations. In the 1950s, Davis's research was used to create several taconite processing plants in northeast Minnesota. The Reserve Mining Company honored Davis by naming its Silver Bay, Minnesota, facility the E. W. Davis Works. In addition to his taconite research, Davis was active in Minnesota politics and history. He published an account of his research, ''Pioneering With Taconite'', with the

Minnesota Historical Society The Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS) is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit Educational institution, educational and cultural institution dedicated to preserving the history of the U.S. state of Minnesota. It was founded by the Minnesota Terr ...

in 1964.Edward W. Davis, ''Pioneering With Taconite'' (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1964.)

References

External links

A Basic Explanation of Taconite Mining and Processing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Edward W. Scientists from Minnesota Mining in Minnesota People from Cambridge City, Indiana 1973 deaths 1888 births 20th-century American inventors