William J. Keep was an American mechanical engineer who worked with molten metals in foundries. He mixed aluminum and other elements with iron to come up with new alloys with different characteristics that were used for stoves and heaters. He was known as a consulting engineer to the Michigan Stove Company that was founded by Jeremiah Dwyer.
Early life
Keep was born in Oberlin, Ohio on June 3, 1842. He was son of Theodore John Keep and his wife Mary Ann Thompson. Keep was a genealogist and he traced his paternal line from his earliest American ancestor who came from England, John Keep. John settled at Longmeadow, Massachusetts in 1660. His wife was Sarah Leonard. John and Sarah had a son, Ensign Samuel. His wife was Sarah Colton and they had one child, Samuel. Samuel's wife was Sabrina Cooley and they had one child, John. He and his wife Lydia Hale, were the grandparents of William John Keep. Keep went to the Oberlin public schools when he grew up. After graduating from high school he first attended Oberlin College for the freshman and sophomore years. He later attended Union College in Schenectady, New York. There he graduated with a degree in civil engineering in 1865. Keep's natural ability was as a mechanic and before entering Union College to learn mechanical engineering he became a machinist at Globe Iron Works in Cleveland.
Keep was a first corporal in the Oberlin company of the Squirrel Hunters under martial law of Union General Lew Wallace. He was in charge of forces to repel an invasion into southern Ohio led by Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith in September 1862.
Mid life
Keep in 1865 became a foreman at Hubbell & Brothers Stove Works in Buffalo, New York and was there from 1865 to 1868. In 1868 he became superintendent of the stove manufacturing plant of Fuller Warren & Co in Troy, New York. Keep was there for nearly eight years. Keep gave lectures on the steam engine to the senior class at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute during the time he lived at Troy from 1872 to 1877. In 1875 he started manufacturing stoves himself and did that until 1884. Keep in 1884 moved to Detroit, Michigan. There he became the general superintendent of Michigan Stove Company. He was in this capacity until 1910 when he was promoted to consulting engineer for the company. He continued in this capacity until his death. During the time he worked for the company he caused a major improvement in the way they constructed stoves. Keep in 1872 patented the base burning stove. It had two rows of mica windows, one above the top of the fire-pot and one below. He patented in 1887 the baseburner with a reflector above the fire. That became standard for the stove industry. Keep innovated a new process of making malleable iron castings using a secret mix of iron ore, aluminum and other elements. Michigan Stove Company used his patented mixes to make their stoves. Keep received many patents during his thirty-five years with the company. He was deeply interested in metallurgical research and wrote articles for the American Institute of Mining Engineers for nearly a decade starting in 1888. He also wrote articles for the ASME starting in 1894 and did that for the rest of his life. Keep in 1885 figured out the relationship between shrinkage and chemical composition of cast iron in a testing process. He did this through an assessment that was referred to as "Keep's Test." This later was named "Mechanical Analysis" and became the worldwide industrial measure instead of chemical analysis. Keep devised this analysis as a result of thousands of tests, which he described in detail in his 1893 pamphlet he wrote titled Keep's test for cast iron. The pamphlet chronicled his tests and outlined the influence of aluminum, silicon, phosphorus, sulfur, and manganese on cast iron. This was also reported in his paper "Keep's Cooling Curves" that showed shrinkage and strength impact to cast iron mixes of various formulas of these elements. Keep devised and invented many testing machines and methods that were used in the foundry industry.
As the Michigan Stove Company factory superintendent, Keep designed the World's Largest Stove for the 1893 Chicago's World Fair. The vice president of the company George Harrison Barbour came up with the idea of making a giant stove and had woodcarvers construct and carve the mammoth 15 ton replica according to Keep's designs.
Memberships and affiliations
Keep was a Republican. He belonged to the following.
Keep was married to Sarah Frances Henderson in Oberlin on May 22, 1866. They had two children that lived to adulthood. Helen Elizabeth who was a Michigan state chairwoman and member National League for Women's Service. Henry who worked in the engineering field. During World War I he was a lieutenant colonel in charge of construction in France serving as assistant to the chief engineer of the American Expeditionary Forces. Keep died in a street accident in Detroit on September 30, 1918, aged 76. He was knocked to the pavement in an accident by either a street car or automobile. He died a few hours later.
