Joseph Palmer Frizell

{{short description|American engineer}}

File:Frizell trompe patent US199819.png

Joseph Frizell (13 March 1832 – 4 May 1910) was an American engineer. He is notable for having independently derived the fundamental equations to describe the velocity of a shock wave (Water hammer equations) in 1898,{{Cite journal|last=Frizell|first=Joseph Palmer|date=1898|title=Pressures resulting from changes of velocity of water in pipes. Paper 819 presented 6 October 1897.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZlNDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1 |journal=Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers|volume=39|pages=1–18|doi=10.1061/TACEAT.0001315}} and for his book Water-Power{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/waterpowerout00frizrich|title=Water-power, an outline of the development and application of the energy of flowing water|last=Frizell|first=Joseph Palmer|publisher=J. Wiley & sons|year=1901|location=New York}} published in 1901. Water-power was the first practical book on hydraulics in the USA.{{Cite book|title=Hydraulicians in the USA 1800-2000 : A biographical dictionary of leaders in hydraulic engineering and fluid mechanics|last=Hager|first=Willi|publisher=CRC Press|year=2015|isbn=9781315680125|pages=2058|oclc=933441891}} This was a major milestone in propagation of engineering knowledge in USA, as Schutze wrote ″As an hydraulic engineer, Frizell was prominent, and his book, Waterpower, filled a definitive need in the technology of that day.″{{Cite book|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015078460238;view=1up;seq=5|title=Hydraulic Air Compressors|last=Schulze|first=Leroy E.|publisher=United States Department of Interior|date=May 1954|page=6}} Nevertheless, Frizell's description of the Water hammer was criticized by American contemporaries and his contribution to the field is under-recognised.{{Cite book |last=Wood |first=F. M. |title=History of Water-hammer |year=1970 |series=C.E. Research Report No. 65 |location=Kingston, Ontario}}