Category:James Henry Carpenter

James Henry Carpenter 

American Civil War, Founder of Carpenter Technology Corporation  image   plaque image
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Date of birth	14 September 1846 Brooklyn
Date of death	6 March 1898 Reading
Country of citizenship	United States of America
Residence	Paterson Brooklyn Hartford Reading
Occupation	military officer
Work location	Reading Chicago
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James Henry Carpenter attended but did not graduate from the USNA. Going to sea as a cabin boy at age 14, he joined the Navy at age 15 at the outbreak of hostilities in 1861. His first ship, the Santee, immediately went into harms way along the southern coast of the Confederacy. Carpenter acquired such a reputation as a Navy fighting man over the next year in several engagements, being wounded once, that he rose rapidly through the enlisted ranks and then was recommended for the Academy. He was on the Santee as a training ship, but when the brigade went back to Annapolis, from which it had temporarily been removed for safety, he found he could not abide or obey the new strict regulations. His record of disclipinary actions grew very large and his confrontational attitude worse until in 1865 he resigned. Studying engineering he became at last a metallurgist. On the strength of a new technique for hardening steel, patented by him, he founded Carpenter Steel Company, a government contractor providing armor and armor-piercing shells to the military. Demand was so great during the Spanish-American War that he borrowed money to increase production and worked so hard that his health declined and he died of pneumonia. After the war the government cancelled all its contracts. Having failed to diversify, and having no other markets, the company went into bankruptcy, and Carpenter's family into penury. It came back under receivership as a successful and diverse metallurgical company, bearing the name today of Carpenter Technology Corporation.