Charles Fayette Taylor papers
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Scope and Contents of the Collection
The Charles Fayette Taylor Papers document his work as a researcher and teacher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and as a consultant to government and industry. The papers fall into three broad categories: correspondence, teaching materials, and a technical reprint file. The latter makes up the largest part of the collection. Topics include material related to the design of combustion engines in both automobiles and aircraft, as well as information about the Sloan Automotive Laboratory at MIT. Papers added to the collection in 1990 contain sketches and information about his art and sculpture work. Papers added to the collection in 2015 include drafts of the textbook The Internal Combustion Engine. The book was first published in 1938, but these drafts were written during the 1940s and include papers labelled "extra material" or "discarded." It is unclear exactly what edition the drafts are for, or if they correspond to one or multiple rewrites of the text.
Dates
- Creation: 1912 - 1990
Creator
- Taylor, Charles Fayette, 1894-1996 (Person)
Access note
This collection is open.
Conditions Governing Use
Access to collections in the Department of Distinctive Collections is not authorization to publish. Please see the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy for permission information. Copyright of some items in this collection may be held by respective creators, not by the donor of the collection or MIT.
Biography
Charles Fayette Taylor, professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Instiute of Technology (MIT), was born in New York City in 1894. He enrolled in the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale in 1912 and received the bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1915. During World War I Taylor first served as a civilian inspector of aircraft material for the US Signal Corps. After three months he was appointed Ensign in the Naval Reserve Corps and placed in charge of the Navy’s Aeronautical Engine Laboratory in Washington, DC, a position he held for the duration of the war. In 1919 Taylor resigned from active service to return to Yale, and in 1920 he was awarded the master’s degree in mechanical engineering.
From 1920 to 1923, Taylor was the civilian engineer in charge of the US Army’s Air Service Laboratory at McCook Airfield in Dayton, Ohio. There he supervised numerous engine endurance tests, aircraft flight tests, and fuel anti-knock tests. Taylor next went to work for the Wright Aeronautical Corporation. He was in charge of airplane engine design and development from 1923 to 1926, when the Wright Corporation was developing the air-cooled “Whirlwind” engine used on the historic flights of Lindbergh, Byrd, and Chamberlain.
In 1926 Taylor began his long association with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was first employed by the Institute as an associate professor of aeronautical engineering. By 1929 he had been promoted to professor and made acting head of the course in aeronautical engineering. He was formally placed in charge of the course in 1931 and continued in that position for the next two years.
In 1933 Taylor left the aeronautical engineering department to become professor of mechanical engineering and director of the new Sloan Automotive Laboratory, a position he held until his retirement in 1960. While he was director of the Sloan Laboratory, Taylor was active in basic research on the internal combustion engine, for both the airplane and the automobile. His studies included experiments on detonation, combustion, fuel composition, friction, air capacity, piston/valve ratios, high speed diesel engines, and engine thermodynamics. Throughout his career at MIT Taylor was teacher as well as researcher. He taught undergraduate courses, conducted graduate seminars, and supervised theses in aeronautical, chemical, and mechanical engineering. With his brother, Edward Story Taylor, who also taught at the Institute and directed its Gas Turbine Laboratory, he co-authored the text The Internal Combustion Engine (1938, revised 1961). In 1960 C. F. Taylor published another text, The Internal Combustion Engine in Theory and Practice.
During this period, Taylor’s activity was not limited to MIT. He traveled frequently as a guest lecturer to universities in Europe, the Orient, and South America. He was an instructor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in 1949, the Danish Technical Institute in 1960, and Cambridge University in 1962. As a Fulbright Scholar, he lectured at Delft Technical Institute, Holland, in 1955, and at the University of the Republic of Uruguay in 1965. While at MIT Taylor also served as consultant to several engine manufacturers, among them the Ethyl Corporation, General Electric, Ingersoll Rand, Westinghouse, and the Wright Aeronautical Corporation.
Upon his retirement, Taylor became a professional artist. He is most noted for his work in metal sculpture, but he also produced paintings, etchings, and wall pieces. He had works commissioned by civic groups and companies and exhibited at galleries throughout the Northeast and in Florida.
Charles Fayette Taylor died June 22, 1996.
Extent
43 Cubic Feet (36 record cartons, 8 manuscript boxes, 2 oversize boxes, 1 flat box, 1 cassette box)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Charles Fayette Taylor, 1894-1996 , BS 1915, MS in mechanical engineering,1920, Yale University, was an ensign in the Naval Reserve Corps during World War I, in charge of the Navy's Aeronautical Engine Laboratory in Washington, DC. From 1920 to 1923 he managed the U.S. Army's Air Service Laboratory at McCook Airfield in Dayton, Ohio, where he supervised engine endurance tests, aircraft flight tests, and fuel anti-knock tests. He directed airplane engine design and development at the Wright Aeronautical Corporation from 1923 to 1926, when the Wright Corporation was developing the air-cooled "Whirlwind" engine used on the flights of Lindbergh, Byrd, and Chamberlain. Taylor came to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1926 as an associate professor of aeronautical engineering; he was made professor and acting head of the course in engineering in 1931. In 1933 he left the aeronautical engineering department to become professor of mechanical engineering and director of the new Sloan Automotive Laboratory, a position he held until his retirement in 1960.
His research on the internal combustion engine, both for the airplane and the automobile, included experiments on detonation, combustion, fuel composition, friction, air capacity, piston/valve ratios, high speed diesel engines, and engine thermodynamics. With his brother, Edward Story Taylor, director of the Gas Turbine Laboratory at MIT, he was co-author of the text The Internal Combustion Engine (1938, revised 1961), and in 1960 he published another text, The Internal Combustion Engine in Theory and Practice. Upon retirement in 1960, he pursued his career as a professional artist noted for his metal sculptures.
Arrangement note
Organized into four series: Series 1. Correspondence; Series 2. Lecture Notes and Class Materials; Series 3. Technical File; and Series 4. Additional Materials. 5. The Internal Combustion Engine
Location
Materials are stored off-site. Advance notice is required for use.
Source of Acquisiton
Material in boxes 1 to 34 was given to the Department of Distinctive Collections (formerly the Institute Archives and Special Collections) in 1977 by Charles F. Taylor. Material received subsequently is not fully processed.
Subject
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemical Engineering (Organization)
- Sloan Automotive Laboratory (Organization)
- Taylor, Charles Fayette, 1894-1996 (Person)
- United States. National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (Organization)
- Wiggins Airways (Organization)
Topical
- Aircraft industry -- History
- Airplanes -- Design and construction
- Airplanes -- History
- Airplanes -- Motors -- History
- Art and science
- Automobiles -- Motors -- History
- Consulting engineers
- Government consultants
- Internal combustion engines -- Research.
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology -- Faculty
- Metal sculpture -- History.
- Title
- Preliminary Inventory to the Papers of Charles Fayette Taylor
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Partially processed by Roland Madany and Rowland Aertker
- Date
- Copyright 1981
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Sponsor
- The processing of a portion of the collection was funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Repository Details
Part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Libraries. Department of Distinctive Collections Repository
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries
Building 14N-118
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge MA 02139-4307 US
distinctive-collections@mit.edu