CREAGER

CREAGER 21.09. 1878 Baltimore MD/USA 04.04. 1953 Buffalo NY/USA William Pitcher Creager graduated in 1901 as a civil engineer from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He was until 1904 a provincial supervisor for the Philippine Government, then a designer of the New York State Barge Canal until 1906, a draughtsman to the chief hydraulic engineer of the White Engineering Company until 1922, and then chief engineer of the New York Power Corporation. From 1931, Creager was consultant at Baltimore MD. He served as a member of the Advising Engineering Council, Princeton University. He was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers ASCE, and the American Institute of Consulting Engineers. Creager is particularly known for his books Engineering for masonry dams published in 1917, and the Hydro-electric handbook published ten years later with Joel Justin (18811950). He also published other books and chapters of larger works, besides a number of technical articles in professional journals. Creager’s name is known for the spillway surface profile geometry ensuring practically atmospheric pressure conditions under design discharge. Whereas up to 1900, the spillway crest profile was almost abrupt in geometry, Richard Muller (-1944) was the first to propose a crest profile of which the curvature change was continuous, to avoid local sub-pressures resulting in cavitation damage. Currently, Creager’s name is retained for this feature because he referred to this effect in his book, thereby overlooking Muller’s earlier proposal. Both designs were based on detailed observations of the lower nappe profile of sharp-crested weir flow made by Henry Bazin (1829-1917) in France. Apart from this work, Creager otherwise was a successful general engineer not involved in detailed hydraulic computations. His books may be regarded as excellent examples prior to World War II having had a large influence on the golden years in dam engineering. Anonymous (1950). William P. Creager. Civil Engineering 20(1): 46-47. P Anonymous (1951). Creager, William P. Who’s who in America 26: 596. Marquis: Chicago. Anonymous (1953). William P. Creager. Civil Engineering 23(5): 329-330. P Anonymous (1953). William P. Creager dies, hydraulics authority. Engineering News-Record 150(Apr.16): 106. Creager, W.P. (1917). Engineering for masonry dams. Wiley: New York. Creager, W.P. (1923). La construction des grands barrages en Amérique. Gauthier-Villars: Paris. Creager, W.P., Justin, J.D. (1927). Hydro-electric handbook. Wiley: New York.