BABBITT, ISAAC

born July 26, 1799, Taunton, Mass., U.S. died May 26, 1862, Somerville, Mass. American inventor of a tin-based alloy (now known as babbitt) widely used for bearings. Trained as a goldsmith, Babbitt made the first britannia ware in the United States (1824) to compete with imports of utensils manufactured from this tin-based alloy, which was similar to pewter and then very popular. Ten years later he went to Boston as superintendent of the South Boston Iron Company, and, in addition to making the first brass cannon in the United States, in 1839 he produced the first babbitt metal. This alloy consisted of hard particles of copper and antimony, which supported the load, in a soft matrix of tin, which wore down and left channels for supply of lubricant. For his invention, the U.S. Congress awarded him $20,000. He then became a manufacturer of this alloy and of soap.