Charles Ethan Billings (1834–1920) was an American mechanical engineer, inventor, superintendent, and businessman.

[4] Robbins & Lawrence was a factory and armory that was an important early node in the social network of the 19th century machine tool industry.

[5] In 1856, at the age of 21, he worked at the Colt armory in Hartford, Connecticut, as a die sinker and tool maker and became their expert on the drop forging process.

[4] At the end of the American Civil War, he returned to Hartford as the superintendent of the Weed Sewing Machine Company, which had taken over the old Sharps Rifle Works, built by Robbins & Lawrence.

Billings perfected a drop hammer for metal forging in the 1870s and designed the copper commutator which was central to the operation of electrical generators and motors.