Walter Gordon Clark, engineer, was born in Utah and attended universities in the United States and Germany. He spent the early years of the 20th century in Seattle, where, sometime between 1900 and 1910, he and E. C. Kilbourne founded Kilbourne & Clark, an engineering firm and agency for Eastern electrical companies. By 1915, with Clark in New York, the Seattle-based company had numerous contracts to manufacture radio telegraph equipment for Great Lakes and ocean-going ships as well as for the Australian post office.
Clark participated in the development of incandescent lighting, notably the Helion lamp. Following his death in Los Angeles, his December 1950 obituary also credits him with the invention of the pulmotor, a type of resuscitator.
Embossed on recto of mount: Curtis Studio Seattle.
Caption information sources: The Seattle Daily Times, “Seattle Men Get Many Wireless Contracts”, October 19, 1915; The New York Times, “Walter Clark, 74, Engineer, is Dead,” December 19, 1940; The Seattle Times, “Clark, Inventor of Pulmotor, Dies”, December 19, 1950.
Physical Description: 1 photographic print mounted on cardboard : b&w ; 3.75 x 5.25 in.
Additional Information: Digital copy of this item available thanks to funding from a 2016 Institute for Museum and Library Services grant. Metadata updated as part of a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services administered by the Library Services and Technology Act, through the Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State.
