Thomas Jackson Rodman - Rock Island IL - Grave of a Famous Person on Waymarking.com

He is buried in Rock Island National Cemetery. From Wikipedia-
The Rodman gun and Civil War service-Starting in 1844-Rodman began running experiments to overcome the size limitations of cast iron cannon due to the way they were made. Up to that time, all cannon barrels made of iron were cast solid and then cooled only on their outside, resulting in uneven cooling when the metal contracted toward the barrel's outer surface. This process also "created internal strains and structural irregularities," and these problems were even more prevalent in large bore castings, especially on any actual openings in the cannon that were designed. Made in this way, the cannons could crack during the cooling process, break apart during shipment, or worse burst as they were fired. Although it took him years, Rodman developed a way to solve these drawbacks. He found that if he cast the iron around a hollow core and then applied a steady stream of water within the barrel for cooling, a much more reliable and stronger product was made. His method, and the result, has been described as: "Water circulating through the tube cooled the bore while coals were piled against the mold to keep the outer surface hot. Rodman's manufacturing method, now known as the 'wet chill process', forced the impurities outward while the outer metal shrank against the hardened interior." Doing this forced the thickest material toward the center of the barrel, and Rodman would then patent this invention.

Description: From Find A Grave: Civil War Union Brevet Brigadier General. An 1841 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, he was a noted ordnance inventor and designer of several types of heavy cannon used by the Union Army during the Civil War. He invented the "wet chill", hollow-core system of cannon founding, which resulted in the strongest cast iron cannon ever made. He also invented prismatic and perforated-cake gunpowder, which allowed more consistent ignition in large cannon. His 15-inch Rodman Guns were the primary Union coast defense weapons not only during the Civil War, but throughout the last half of the 19th century. In 1867, after serving during the war as commander of the Watertown, Massachusetts Arsenal, he was appointed commander of Rock Island Arsenal, a post he retained until his death as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1871. He was brevetted Brigadier General, US Regular Army on March 13, 1865 for "faithful, meritorious and distinguished services in the Ordnance Date of birth: 07/31/1816 Date of death: 06/07/1871 Area of notoriety: Military Marker Type: Monument Setting: Outdoor Visiting Hours/Restrictions: None Fee required?: No Web site: [Web Link]

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Date Logged Log   10/09/2021 Don.Morfe visited it