Miles Lowell Edwards: History of pumps and valves in industry and medicine

Abstract

nt matter & 2012 .2012.01.004 190. n.sochman@ike This year is associated with 30 year death anniversary of one of pivotal inventors playing his role in technical aspect of mechanical heart valve creation. Miles Lowell Edwards, who would be known as ‘‘Lowell’’ only was born on January 18, 1898 near Oregon City in a family of Clarence J. Edwards. All the Edwards family was interested in engineering: Clarence purchased an electricity generator, powered it with a steam engine, and illuminated the streets of Newberg for the first time. It was in 1904. In 1913 Clarence moved the family to Tillamook, where he found an electric power generation plant and made it profitable. All these technical activities deeply influenced young Miles on his study growth. Edwards graduated technical school of engineering in Corvallis and further was involved in General Electric Research Laboratory in Schenectady, New York. In 1927, Edwards returned to Tillamook, Oregon. He became a respected authority in issues of electrical matters, circuits, hydraulics as well as pumps performance. Startlingly Edwards well invested in pump industry, and this action helped him to survive in a difficult times of the Depression. At this time he was involved in the improvement of wood pulp–paper and lumber mills. Edwards invented a new type of a special centrifugal pump eliminating boiling water bubbles with their destructive influence on the fluid flow. In 1942 he solved successfully the problem, which was a real nightmare of Boeing Aircraft Company engineers with their new B-17 bomber. The aircrafts’ engines’ lost performance during an ascent to over 20,000 feet due to fuel vapor