DAYTON — Think about Dayton native James A. Parsons Jr. the next time you fly, drive, use energy sources, take drug therapies, or hear about how our food supply is protected.
>> I-TEAM: Lawmakers demand answers from Social Security Administration about Covid-19 relief money
The late metallurgist who in the 1930s invented Durimet 20 -- a stainless steel allow also known as Alloy 20 -- has been named an inductee to the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
Parsons, born in Dayton, May 30, 1900, might have been headed to the U.S. Naval Academy, but never fulfilled his appointment. That move was not because he didn’t want to be a Navy man or because he wasn’t patriotic, it was because his father, his high school guidance counselor and his father’s employer, Duriron Co. founder Pierce Schenck, feared for his safety at the institution because he was black, according to his biography found on the National Inventors Hall of Fame web site.
All three people persuaded Parsons to attend Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, New York, instead. Schenck paid for his studies and in exchange, Parsons spent summers working at Duriron, a Dayton manufacturer of pumps and valves for chemical processes, joining the company full time as an analytical chemist soon after earning his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from RPI in 1922.
He worked on alloy compositions and metal processing methods. Parsons then turned to researching and developing corrosion-resistant, stainless steel alloys and high-silicon alloys.
In 1929, he received the first of eight patents involving the development and application of noncorrosive metals and then began developing the steel formulation known as Durimet 20.
In 1935, Duriron produced the first commercial castings from Durimet 20, which became the basis for a family of stainless steel alloys used extensively in all industries involving the handling of corrosives. In 1948, Duriron licensed Parsons’ Durimet 20 patents to Carpenter Steel, which introduced Carpenter 20 stainless steel, also called Alloy 20.
On Oct. 26, we will be welcoming the newest class of Inductees into the National Inventors Hall of Fame®. Learn more about these world-changing innovators and stay tuned for updates from our Induction Ceremony later this month! https://t.co/Md0tAoeWlt #NIHF2023 pic.twitter.com/nmqBEsAchr
— Inventors HOF (@InventorsHOF) October 2, 2023
Parsons rose to become Duriron’s chief metallurgist and lab manager.
When he retired in 1953, Duriron was likely the only company of its kind with a lab fully staffed by Black employees, according to a report in the Dayton Daily News.
Parsons, in retirement, organized the metallurgy program at Tennessee A&I State University -- now Tennessee State University -- believed to be the first of its kind at any historically Black college or university. Not only did he organize the program, he served as professor, department head and dean of the engineering school during his tenure from 1953-66.
>> Community honor going to longtime WHIO-TV reporter
Other local things to know about Parsons:
◊ In 1941, Wilberforce University granted him an honorary doctorate
◊ In 1957, the Harmon Foundation Award went to him for his first invention, an aluminum/bronze alloy called Alcumite. Hall of Fame inductee Orville Wright presented Parsons his gold medal and Hall of Fame inductee Charles Kettering delivered the address for the event.
◊ From 1967-71, he was an adjunct professor at Ohio State University
◊ From 1973-1980 he was an instructor at Garfield Skills Center, an occupational training center in Dayton.
◊ In 1983, the Dayton Urban League honored him with the Distinguished Community Service Award
◊ In 2007, his name was added to the Dayton Walk of Fame.
◊ In 2021, he was memorialized among other area inventors on Dayton’s Peace Bridge.
Duriron, known as Durco International, merged with BW/IP in 1997 to form Flowserve Corp. Flowserve manufactures and sells Durimet 20, which remains widely used today in a range of industries, including the production of detergents, soaps, fertilizers, plastics, synthetic rubber and fibers.
Under various trade names, Durimet 20 is extensively used in the petrochemical and refinery, marine, nuclear, aerospace, automotive, pharmaceutical, textile, and chemical and food processing industries.
Parsons, who died March 4, 1989, is one of 16 inductees for 2023 being added to the hall at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 26.
©2023 Cox Media Group
