Los Angeles County
Biographies
WALTER
GLENN MACOMBER
MACOMBER, WALTER GLENN, President and General Manager of the Macomber Rotary Engine Company, Los Angeles, Cal., was born at Battle Creek Mich., June 30, 1871, the son of Zebedee Macomber and Clara (Wright) Macomber. He married Mabel Godsmark, June 14, 1894, at Bedford, Michigan. Mr. Macomber has one daughter, Ina L. Macomber.
Mr. Macomber was educated in the common schools of Bedford, Michigan, and studied in his home town until 18 years of age. Between the ages of 29 and 33 years he studied mechanical engineering and qualified in that profession.
Mr. Macomber comes by his inventive genius naturally, his father before him having been a practical engineer who contributed largely to the origination of the first traction engine, a mechanical vehicle that has practically revolutionized agricultural methods, and today is one of the most important tools used in farming.
Mr. Macomber’s bent displayed itself when he was a boy going to school, and he spent most of the hours when he was not studying in the workshop of his father. These were the hours that other boys usually spent at play, but the young inventor got more pleasure from “making things” than he did from games. At 12 years of age he was as well versed in mechanics and mechanical appliances as numerous men who follow those vocations in life.
His first invention came when he was 14 years of age. At that time he constructed a miniature steam engine, complete in every detail. He used an ordinary teakettle for a boiler, and even with the meager power developed from this was able to get great speed out of his invention. Within a year after his initial production he had built, with his own hands and without any assistance, a self-inking printing press, running with remarkable accuracy. This accomplishment surprised and delighted the boy and his father, and the latter then taught his son all he could about the mechanical arts.
When he was 21 years of age he started in the photographic business at Augusta, a suburb of Battle Creek, Michigan, and remained in it three years. Although this line of work was attractive to Mr. Macomber, he fully realized that his real life work lay within the mechanical arts. Therefore at an opportune time he accepted a position with the Croesus Mining Company at Johannesburg, California, as engineer. This position he held for over two years.
From the Croesus Mining Company Mr. Macomber changed to the Radcliffe Mines, near Ballarat, California, where he was given the superintendency in the mechanical department. This position Mr. Macomber held for three years. He next became affiliated with the Randburg Water Company, at Randsburg, California. It was while here that his ability in mechanics became manifest. Three pumping plants were operated by gas engines, the wells being some three miles apart, and each formerly necessitated an engineer. By an invention of his own Mr. Macomber operated the three by telephone. He could sit in his office and instantly tell how any plant was working, and stop it if not working properly.
It was while operating the wells near Randsburg that Mr. Macomber invented the rotary engine, an absolutely new idea in engineering construction, and one which was destined to make him one of the leading inventors of his time. This engine, which is known as the Macomber Rotary, is a fine application of the science of equilibrium and has created wonderment in the world of engineering. It proved a valuable addition to the development of aviation and is looked upon as a solution of the problem of aerial vibration, which in the past had thrown many aeroplanes off their balance and caused disaster to the man and the machine. The Macomber Rotary is set in perfect balance and so constructed that every part of the appliance revolves except the frame.
Following the perfecting of his engine Mr. Macomber patented it in all its parts, and going to Los Angeles in 1909, organized a company for its manufacture.
Since that time he has devoted all his energies to the concern, and is now reaping the reward of ability and endeavor, while at the same time making plans for a greater future.
Owing to the busy and studious life he has led, Mr. Macomber never became a clubman or lodge member, and all the spare moments he can take from his business he devotes to his home and his family.
Transcribed 3-5-11
Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: Press
Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 605, International News Service, New York, Chicago, San
Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta.
1913.
© 2011 Marilyn R. Pankey.
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