David Crosthwait
David Crosthwait, Jr. was born on this date in 1898. He was a Black electrical and mechanical engineer.
Born in Nashville, TN, David Nelson Crosthwait, Jr. received a B.S. from Purdue University in 1913 and a Master of Engineering in 1920. He was considered an authority on heat transfer, ventilation, and air conditioning. From 1925 to 1930, he was a Research Engineer and Director of Research Laboratories for C.A. Dunham Company in Marshalltown, Iowa. He was the Technical Advisor of Dunham-Bush, Inc., from 1930 to 1971. He served as the past president of Michigan City Redevelopment.
Crosthwait designed the heating systems for Radio City Music Hall and Rockefeller Center in New York City. He also wrote an instruction manual on heating and cooling with water and guides, standards, and codes for heating, ventilation, refrigeration, and air conditioning systems. Crosthwait received patents on 39 inventions relating to the design, installation, testing, and service of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) power plants.
After retiring from business in 1969, David Crosthwait taught a course on steam heating theory and control systems at Purdue University. He died in 1976.
The African American Desk Reference
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Copyright 1999 The Stonesong Press Inc. and
The New York Public Library, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Pub.
ISBN 0-471-23924-0
