Henry M. Richardson
General Electric's Plastics Division
Inducted 1982
Henry Richardson (1902 – 1989) was an American engineer who served as Chief Engineer for General Electric’s Plastics Division and became co-founder of DeBell & Richardson, Incorporated. He developed various material processing techniques and applications for plastics, covering an extraordinary range of products, many still in use today.
Richardson graduated from the University of Colorado in 1925 as an Electrical Engineer and worked at the General Electric Company from 1925 to 1943. From 1925 to 1928, he was given advanced training while pursuing research work in electrical machinery and statistical methods of business analysis. In 1928, he was appointed as a chief engineer at General Electric in charge of developing applications for molded and laminated plastic products. In 1936, he was appointed chief engineer in charge of all engineering, development, and research work conducted at five General Electric plants.
In 1943, Richardson joined John M. DeBell in founding the engineering consulting company DeBell & Richardson, Inc. in Hazardville, Connecticut.
Richardson received the Naval Ordinance Development Award in 1945 and was co-author of the textbook “Fundamentals of Plastics,” (published by McGraw-Hill, NY, 1946). He was appointed Chairman of the Rubber and Plastics Division of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (A.S.M.E.) in 1947.
Areas of Expertise:
Plastic processing, Plastic materials