Babcock, George Herman (1832–1893)

US co-inventor of a high-pressure water-tube boiler. He devised the Babcock–Wilcox steam boiler 1867 with his partner, Stephen Wilcox.

Babcock was born near Otego, New York. He went to work with his father, Asher Babcock, in daguerreotype and job printing for newpapers. Some time before 1854 Babcock and his father invented the polychromatic printing press. The father-and-son team also invented a job printing press which was still manufactured in the 1980s.

Employed at the Hope Iron Works, Providence, Rhode Island, Babcock and Stephen Wilcox designed a sectionally headed steam boiler with automatic cut-off, based on a safety water tube patented by Wilcox 1856. This boiler was able to withstand very high pressures and ensured a high standard of protection against explosions. It was first manufactured in Providence and then in New York, where the firm of Babcock and Wilcox was incorporated 1881. More than 100 years later, the firm was still manufacturing high-quality steam boilers.