death_date years_active birth_place birth_date known_for spouse article_title name occupation
24 december 1915 1866-1908 budapest 25 june 1839 inclines , machinery for the ferris wheel caroline endres samuel diescher
 samuel diescher civil and mechanical engineer
samuel diescher

samuel diescher , a prominent civil and mechanical engineer , was born in budapest , educated at karlsruhe polytechnique and at the university of zurich .
coming to the united states in 1866 , he settled in cincinnati , where he built his first inclined plane .
he came to pittsburgh and was associated with john endres , the builder of the monongahela incline .
he married endres daughter , caroline endres , who was one of the first female engineers in the united states .
thereafter , the dieschers made their home on mount washington .
his sons entered into partnership with him in 1901 , under the name of samuel diescher & sons .
diescher designed water works , industrial buildings and plants , coal handling equipment , furnaces for the steel industry , and miscellaneous machinery for tasks ranging from soap making to steel fabrication to sugar beet processing .
he also designed the majority of inclined planes in the united states , including numerous inclines in pittsburgh and southwestern pennsylvania .
the most notable of these is the duquesne incline which has become a popular tourist attraction in the city of pittsburgh .
other works included the castle shannon incline , the castle shannon south incline , penn incline , fort pitt incline , troy hill incline , nunnery hill incline , clifton incline , ridgewood incline and the johnstown inclined plane ; as well as inclines in wheeling , wv , cleveland , oh , duluth , mn , orange , nj , hamilton , ontario , canada , and girardot and camboa , colombia .
he was the chief engineer for the pittsburgh and castle shannon railroad .
he also designed the machinery for the famous ferris wheel at the 1893 columbian exposition in chicago , and an energy generating plant for the u. s. wave power company in atlantic city , new jersey .
he was active in highway engineering and street-railway construction , and he was well known for designing and building coal-washing plants , coke works , water works , machine shops , and rolling mills .
he retired in 1908 and died on december 24 , 1915 .
