Clement S. Schifreen

Biography

Clement S. Schifreen was born in Catasauqua, Pa., on September 23, 1901, and was graduated in 1923 with first honors in Electrical Engineering from Lehigh University. In 1932 he received his LL.B. degree from Temple University and in 1935 a diploma in Electronics from Drexel Institute of Technology. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Tau Beta Pi, Eta Kappa Nu, Sigma Alpha Mu (social), Lambda Sigma Kappa (law), Pennsylvania Society of Professional Engineers, Philadelphia Engineers' Club, International Conference on Large Electric High-Tension Systems (CIGRE), Franklin Institute, American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Scientific Affiliation, and other technical groups.

Employed continuously by the Philadelphia Electric Company since 1923, except during 1937-1938 when he practiced law in Philadelphia, Mr. Schifreen worked on station and substation control and auxiliary projects until 1940, successively in the company's Electrical Construction, Drafting, and Electrical Engineering Divisions. From 1940 to 1956, he supervised the engineering development of the company's new high-voltage, high-capacity cable systems. During this period, he developed his widely accepted method for evaluation of cable sheath life which led to the adoption of triplex cable construction for applicable cables as standard for his and other companies. He also directed his company's researches leading to identifying a type of sand as an inexpensive and effective heat dissipating material for underground cable environment. Since 1956, as the company's cable and insulation research engineer, he has been investigating means to ameliorate or by-pass thermal limitations in present a-c bulk-power cable transmission and directing his company's evaluation of bulk-power high-voltage d-c transmission.

Mr. Schifreen was the author of numerous technical papers, presented many talks on underground power transmission before college groups and various technical meetings, and was one of the editors of the revised Edison Electric Institute (EEI) Underground Systems Reference Book. He served as treasurer (1945-1949), on the Board of Managers (1942-1945) and as member and chairman of many committtees of the Philadelphia Section of the Institute. He also served on the AIEE Research Committee (1947-1952) and the Insulated Conductors Committee (1954-1964 presently Member-Emeritus). He was on the IEEE Electrical Insulation Group Administrative Committee, a member at large of the IEEE Power Division Committee, and on the Board of Managers of the IEEE-NEMA Sponsored Conference on Electrical Insulation. He is also a member of the Joint EEI Task Force on D-C Transmission, and of the EEI Steering Committee on Synthetic Insulation Research for EHV Cable. Continuing his membership on the Cable Engineering Section of the Association of Edison Illuminating Companies (AEIC), after serving as its chairman (1960-1961), Mr. Schifreen is on its Steering Committee for the Cornell 345-Kv Cable System Field Testing Project, and was a member of its 1957 European Visiting Committee on EHV Cable. He also is functioning as Acting Chairman of a Study Group on High-Voltage D-C Cable Research, and on an AEIC Cable Engineering Section Study Group on 500-kv A-C Cable Systems Research.

Mr. Schifreen found time for extra-technical activities, including stereotape-recording of operas, concertos and symphonies, and giving technical talks at dinners and study groups on the correlation of scientific thought, Bible textual philology, and scriptural teachings. He was a past-chairman of the chapters in Philadelphia of the International Christian Business Men's Committee, Hebrew-Christian Alliance of America, and the American Technion Society. He claimed as his chief avocation the teaching of an adult Bible class every Sunday morning.