Kenneth S. Wyatt Papers
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Date
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
Abstract
Kenneth S. Wyatt (1900-1967) was a research engineer who worked to develop extra-high voltage cables, capable of insulating 500,000 volts. His papers contain articles, drafts, technical reports, conference proceedings, photographs, blueprints, and product samples.
Biographical / Historical
Kenneth Sapwell Wyatt was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1900. After two years of engineering studies at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, Canada, he majored in physical chemistry and graduated in 1921 with a B.A. He earned a B.Sc. with honors in chemistry in 1922. After a year of graduate work at Harvard University, he became an assistant research chemist for the Carborundum Company in Niagara Falls, New York. He received a scholarship from the National Research Council of Canada and attended the University of Toronto in 1923. In 1961, Mount Allison University awarded him the degree of doctor of science, Honoris Causa.
Wyatt joined the research department of the Detroit Edison Company in 1928 and specialized in the study of the deterioration of high voltage insulation. During the 1930s, Wyatt was the technical director of Enfield Cable Works in London. In 1941, he became a consultant to the Phelps Dodge Copper Products Company of New York; a position that would last until his retirement in 1964.
Over the course of his career, Wyatt worked with polymer scientists, such as Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute's Herman Mark and Frederick Eirich, and electrical engineers to develop extra-high voltage cables, capable of insulating 500,000 volts. He was a member of the Edison metal committee of the Institute, the American Chemical Society (ACS), and the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE). In 1933, Wyatt and his co-authors W.E. Spring and C.H. Fellows, were awarded the A.I.E.E. national prize for initial paper for the contribution "A New Method of Investigating Cable Deterioration and Its Application to Service Aged Cable."
Wyatt died in Dobbs Ferry, NY on January 15, 1967.
Sources:
"Colleges Honor AIEE Fellows for Their Services in Engineering Field." Institute Activities. July 1961; 551.
"Personal Items." Electrical Engineering. Vol. 53, No. 7. July 1934; 1137.
"Kenneth S. Wyatt, at 66." Newsday, Nassau ed. 16 January 1967; 56.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into six series, by genre. Items within each series are arranged by subject, then chronologically.
Scope and Contents
The collection, comprised mostly of articles and reports, spans Wyatt's active years in the electric cable industry. Companies such as Enfield Cable Works and Phelps Dodge are heavily represented. Although Wyatt's connection to Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute is noted through collaborative papers and presentations with professors Herman Mark and Frederick Eirich, there are no documents from Poly in the collection.
Besides articles, the collection contains photographs, product manuals and guides, conference proceedings, blueprints, and product samples.
Subjects
Genres
Conditions Governing Access
Open for research without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Permission to publish materials must be obtained from:
Poly Archives & Special Collections Bern Dibner Library of Science and Technology 5 MetroTech Center Brooklyn, NY 11201
Phone: (718) 260-3943 Fax: (718) 260-3756 E-mail: archives@library.poly.edu
Some items may be subject to outside copyright not held by the Poly Archives.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Kenneth S. Wyatt Papers; RG 023; box number; folder number or item identifier; Poly Archives at Bern Dibner Library of Science and Technology, New York University.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Materials found in collection; there is no documentation concerning the provenance of these materials.
About this Guide
Revisions to this Guide
Repository
Series I: Biographical Information, 1934-1967, inclusive
Scope and Contents
The biographical materials include industry publications noting Wyatt's achievements and Wyatt's obituary.
