born Oct. 8, 1832, Biddeford, Maine, U.S.
died Aug. 5, 1928, Portland, Maine
U.S. manufacturer.
He was apprenticed at age 13. In 1860, with Francis Pratt , he founded the firm of Pratt & Whitney, originally to manufacture thread spoolers. It later diversified into the manufacture of innovative designs of guns, cannons, sewing machines, and typesetting machines; instruments for measurement developed there proved of great value to science and industry. Today a separate company, formed from the toolworks in 1925, produces aircraft engines and space-propulsion systems as part of the United Technologies Corporation.