John L. Harrington

John Lyle Harrington (Dec. 7, 1868 – 1942) was an American civil engineer, and consulting engineer, known as co-founder of Waddell & Harrington in 1907, and President of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1922-23.

Born in Lawrence, Kansas to Robert Charles and Angeline Virginia, Harrington obtained his AB, BS and CE from the University of Kansas in the 1890s. Later at McGill University he obtained another BS in 1906, and his MS in 1908.

Harrington became known for inventing "three types of vertical lift bridges, and designed many important structures, and has written various published addresses. He has also designed some thirty million dollars worth of machinery and bridges."

Harrington was resident of Kansas City. In 1907 he co-founder of Waddell & Harrington. In 1922 he was elected president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers for the year 1922-23. Under Herbert Hoover presidency (1929–1933), he was member of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation.

• Harrington, John Lyle (ed.). The principal professional papers of Dr. J.A.L.Waddell, civil engineer, 1905.
• John Alexander Low Waddell & John Lyle Harrington. Addresses to Engineering Students. Waddell & Harrington, 1911.