Henry S. Parmelee

Henry S. Parmelee or Parmalee (c. 1846 – 1902), was president of the Fair Haven and Westville Street Railway Company and was a piano maker from New Haven, Connecticut. He invented the first automatic fire sprinkler system in 1874, to protect his piano factory. While other patents for fire sprinklers predated Parmelee's work, he is credited with the first automated sprinkler head. His piano company, Mathushek Piano Manufacturing, is credited as being the first building in the United States to be equipped with a fire suppression system.

Biography

He was born in about 1846 in Ohio to Spencer F. Parmalee or Parmelee (born c. 1805) and his wife Zeriah A. (born c. 1812). He died in 1902.