Fred H. Colvin

Fred Herbert Colvin (1867–1965) was an American machinist, technical journalist, author, and editor.

He wrote, co-wrote, edited, or co-edited many periodical articles, handbooks, and textbooks related to engineering, machining, and manufacturing.

Over the years, Colvin worked on both Alexander Luchars's journal Machinery (of which he was chief editor from its beginning in 1894 until 1897) and John A. Hill's journal American Machinist (which he worked on from 1907 until retirement in 1937, having been co-editor for many years).

He came to the Hill Publishing Company (soon to become McGraw-Hill) in 1907 to work on the American Machinist, and in the subsequent decades, besides his work on the journal, he authored or coauthored dozens of McGraw-Hill monographs, textbooks, and reference books in the field of machining.

Near the end of his life, Colvin worked on a history of the American machine tool industry, but he died before finishing.

glass plate negative showing machine diagram pinned on wall
Glass plate negative showing Colvin's design for an arbor press, July 1, 1900. From the digitized Fred H. Colvin Papers at Kelvin Smith Library, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH.