{{short description|British civil engineer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}} {{Infobox engineer |image = |image_width = |caption = |name = Asa Binns |birth_date = 3 October 1873 |birth_place = [[Keighley, Yorkshire]] |death_date = {{death date and age|1946|07|02|1873|10|03|df=y}} |death_place = [[Newbury, Berkshire]] |education = [[Park Lane College Leeds|Technical College, Keighley]] and [[Yorkshire College]] |spouse = Annie Ogden & Sarah Lord |parents = |children = |discipline = [[Mechanical engineering|Mechanical]] & [[civil engineering]] |institutions = *[[Institution of Engineers-in-Charge]] (president 1936–1937) *[[Institution of Mechanical Engineers]] (president 1940) *[[Institution of Civil Engineers]] (elected president 1946) |practice_name = |significant_projects = |significant_design = |significant_advance = |significant_awards = George Stephenson Gold Medal }}
'''Asa Binns''' (3 October 1873{{spnd}}2 July 1946) was a British mechanical and civil engineer. He trained with hydraulic pump and engine makers before becoming a draughtsman. Binns worked for a period at [[Chatham Dockyard|HMS Chatham Dockyard]] and rose to become head of their civil engineering works. He later worked on the construction of several major docks in London, including for the [[Port of London Authority]]. Binns served as president of the [[Institution of Engineers-in-Charge]] (1936–1937) and the [[Institution of Mechanical Engineers]] (1940). He was elected president of the [[Institution of Civil Engineers]] in 1946 but died before he could take office.
== Early life and career == [[File:Whitworth Medal.jpg|thumb|Medal of the Whitworth scholarship]] Asa Binns was born on 3 October 1873 in [[Keighley, Yorkshire]]. He was educated at [[Keighley Grammar School]], the [[Park Lane College Leeds|Technical College, Keighley]], and [[Yorkshire College]], Leeds.<ref name=ice/> Binns afterwards undertook a three-year engineering [[pupillage]] with the Leeds hydraulic pump maker [[Tannett, Walker & Company]] and the Bradford engine maker [[Cole, Marchent, and Morley Ltd]].<ref name=ice/><ref name=imeche/> During his pupillage he was awarded a [[Whitworth Society|Whitworth scholarship]].<ref name=ice/>
After qualifying Binns was employed as a [[Drafter|draughtsman]] by the Ipswich agricultural machinery manufacturer [[Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies]] and the [[North Eastern Railway (United Kingdom)|North Eastern Railway]]'s [[Port of Hull|Hull dockyard]].<ref name=ice/><ref name=imeche/> He was appointed draughtsman in the [[British Admiralty|Admiralty]] Works Department in 1898 and became their chief draughtsman at [[Chatham Dockyard|HM Dockyard Chatham]] in 1901.<ref name=ice/> Binns was promoted to assistant civil engineer of the dockyard in 1902, the same year he was elected a member of the [[Institution of Mechanical Engineers]] (IMechE).<ref name=imeche>{{cite journal |title=Presidency of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers |journal=Nature |date=1 March 1941 |volume=147 |issue=3722 |pages=262 |doi=10.1038/147262a0 |language=en |issn=1476-4687|doi-access=free |bibcode=1941Natur.147Q.262. }}</ref><ref name=ice/> In 1903 he was elected an associate member of the [[Institution of Civil Engineers]] (ICE) and was later given charge of all civil engineering works at the dockyard.<ref name=ice>{{cite journal |title=Obituary, Asa Binns, 1873–1946. |journal=Journal of the Institution of Civil Engineers |date=October 1946 |volume=26 |issue=8 |pages=541 |doi=10.1680/ijoti.1946.13703 |language=en |issn=0368-2455|doi-access=free }}</ref>
== London docks work == [[File:Royal Albert Dock 1908.jpg|thumb|Map showing the Royal Albert Dock southern extension]] Binns left the admiralty and was appointed [[resident engineer]] for the works at [[London Docks]] and [[St Katharine Docks]] in 1906. He worked for the [[Port of London Authority]] (PLA, established 1909) from 1910 as resident engineer at the [[Surrey Commercial Docks]] from 1910 and the £2 million [[Royal Albert Dock, London|Royal Albert Dock southern extension]] from 1912. Binns was elected a member of the ICE on 21 January 1913 and in 1914 sat on the IMechE's refrigeration committee, which met to establish new standards for measuring the efficiency of refrigeration machines.<ref>{{cite book |title=Refrigeration Engineering |date=1914 |publisher=U.S. Office of Technical Services. |page=102 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vaspAQAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref> He worked on the construction of the [[King George V Dock, London|King George V Dock]] which was completed in 1921 and was awarded the IMechE's George Stephenson Gold Medal for a paper on the project.<ref name=ice/>
Binns was appointed a major in the [[Engineer and Railway Staff Corps]], a volunteer unit providing advice to the British Army, on 25 July 1925 and later rose to lieutenant-colonel.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=33073|date=7 August 1925|page=5285}}</ref><ref name=ice/> He was appointed chief engineer to the PLA in 1928 and was elected to the council of the ICE in 1932.<ref name=ice/> Binns served as president of the [[Institution of Engineers-in-Charge]] for the 1936–37 session.<ref name=pres>{{cite web |title=1940: Asa Binns |url=https://archives.imeche.org/archive/institution-history/president-gallery/593779-1940-asa-binns |website=Institution of Mechanical Engineers |date=March 2016 |accessdate=8 June 2020}}</ref> He retired from the PLA in 1938, entering private practice with the engineering design firm [[Rendel, Palmer and Tritton]], though he continued to work for the PLA on a consultancy basis.<ref name=ice/>
== Later life == Binns became president of the IMechE in 1940 and vice-president of the ICE in 1942.<ref name=pres/><ref name=ice/> He served on numerous ICE committees and was inaugural chairman of the Maritime and Waterways Engineering Division, founded in 1944.<ref name=ice/><ref>{{cite journal |title=New Division of the Institution of Civil Engineers |journal=Nature |date=1 October 1944 |volume=154 |issue=3912 |pages=511 |doi=10.1038/154511a0 |language=en |issn=1476-4687|doi-access=free |bibcode=1944Natur.154Q.511. }}</ref> Binns was elected president of the ICE on 4 June 1946 but died before the session started in November that year.<ref name=ice/> [[William Halcrow]] was appointed president in his stead.<ref>{{cite book | first = Garth | last = Watson| title = The Civils |location = London | publisher = Thomas Telford Ltd | page = 253 | year = 1988 | isbn = 0-7277-0392-7}}</ref>
Binns died in [[Newbury, Berkshire]] on 2 July 1946. He was married twice, first to Annie Ogden with whom he had two sons and a daughter and later to Sarah Lord.<ref name=ice/>
== References == {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-npo|pro}} {{s-bef|before=[[E. Bruce Ball]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[President (corporate title)|President]] of the [[Institution of Mechanical Engineers]] |years=1940}} {{s-aft|after=[[William Stanier]]}} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Binns, Asa}} [[Category:1873 births]] [[Category:1946 deaths]] [[Category:British civil engineers]] [[Category:British mechanical engineers]] [[Category:People from Keighley]] [[Category:Engineer and Railway Staff Corps officers]]