Forrest Eugene Ricketts

Biography

Forrest Eugene Ricketts was born on February 18, 1878, in Montgomery County, MD, and attended George Washington University and Bliss Electrical School. After employment with the Los Angeles Pacific Railway Company and the Philadelphia Mining Company, he joined the Potomac Electric Power Company, Washington, D. C. In 1905 he was employed by the Consolidated Gas Electric Light and Power Company as an electrician and worked his way up successively as chief operator, superintendent of electric stations, and director of intersystem power-utilization bureau, and eventually became vice-president in 1938. He worked on the development of electrical testing methods, and safety and control equipment, and invented devices relating to electric-arc extinguishers, automatic electric regulators, and relay systems.

Forrest E. Ricketts served on the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE, now IEEE) committees on protective devices and transmission and distribution. He was presented a Modern Pioneer award in 1940 from the National Association of Manufacturers and was awarded the Lamme Medal from the AIEE in 1941 “for his contribution to the high reliability of power-supply systems especially in the design of apparatus for selective relative and circuit reclosure." He died in 1953.