Edward G. Watkins

Edward G. Watkins, Class of 1886, invented and patented one of the first practical time clocks while he was in charge of the engineering department of Haywood Brothers & Wakefield Co. in Gardner, Mass., a maker of chairs and school furniture. Watkins started a company to make the clocks, which eventually became the Simplex Time Recorder Co.

From the WPI Journal

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Edward G. Watkins III

Former owner, Simplex Time Recorder, Gardner.

The Watkins family has always known that time is money. From 1894, when Watkins's grandfather patented the "Simplex" time clock, until the 1980s, Simplex held a virtual monopoly. After punching in at the helm in 1967, Watkins III diversified into fire alarms and security systems. He also went to work as a philanthropist, giving some of his estimated $900 million to local hospitals and sitting on the boards of various charities. In January 2000, just before the economic slowdown, he sold Simplex for $1.2 billion to Tyco International, which sold it to Kronos two years later.

From the Boston Magazine Online