Amos Whitney (October 8, 1832 – August 5, 1920) was a mechanical engineer and inventor who co-founded the Pratt & Whitney company. He was a member of the prominent Whitney family.
He was born in Biddeford, Maine, to Aaron and Rebecca (Perkins) Whitney[1] and educated at the common schools in Saccarappa, Maine, and Exeter, New Hampshire.[2] He moved at the age of 14 with his parents to Lawrence, Massachusetts, and apprenticed at the Essex Machine Company.
In 1852, he moved to Hartford, Connecticut, and worked at the Colt Armory. At Colt, he met Francis A. Pratt who soon left to become superintendent at the Phoenix Iron Works and took Whitney with him. While working at Phoenix Iron Works, Whitney designed the Lincoln milling machine.[3]
In 1860, while still working at the Phoenix Iron Works, Pratt and Whitney formed the