American Society of Mechanical Engineers

Overview

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) was founded in 1880 in New York City — by Alexander Lyman Holley, Henry Rossiter Worthington, John Edison Sweet, and Matthias N. Forney — because steam boilers kept exploding and killing people, and no rules existed anywhere in the United States for building them (ValveMan). The association was officially chartered on April 7, 1880, in an assembly hall of the Edwin A. Stevens Building at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, with Stevens professor Robert Thurston — the first professor of mechanical engineering at America’s first college of mechanical engineering — as its inaugural president (Stevens). Its answer became the Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (BPVC): first issued in 1914 as a single 114-page book, now 32 books and more than 19,500 pages, adopted into law by every Canadian province and 49 of the 50 U.S. states (ASME). By its own 2024 figures the society has 75,000+ members in 130+ countries and maintains about 570 standards used in more than 100 countries — and it was one of the seven societies that founded the Engineers’ Council for Professional Development, now ABET, in 1932 (ABET).

The founding: four engineers against the exploding boilers

American industry was expanding faster than its safety knowledge. “Innovation was hard-pressed to keep up with demand,” and boiler explosions were becoming increasingly frequent — with no construction codes for boilers anywhere in the country, and ASME’s early recommendations “largely ignored” (ValveMan). Holley (a pioneering steelmaker), Worthington, Sweet, and Forney called the first meeting in New York in 1880 to give mechanical engineers a forum for standardizing boilers and similar equipment. The society’s stated mission today is “to advance engineering for the benefit of humanity,” and it calls itself one of the oldest standards-developing organizations in the world (ASME).

The Grover Shoe Factory disaster and the birth of the Code

The catastrophe that proved the need for boiler law came on March 10, 1905: a boiler explosion at the Grover Shoe Factory in Brockton, Massachusetts, killed 58 people, injured 117, and “completely leveled the factory” (ASME). In the 19th century there had been “literally thousands of boiler explosions in the United States and Europe,” most receiving minimal national attention — Grover was the one that could not be ignored. In 1908 Massachusetts established the Board of Boiler Rules, and in 1911 the BPVC was conceived “out of a need to protect the safety of the public.”

The first Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (1914 edition) was published in 1915: one book, 114 pages, each 5 by 8 inches. The mission ASME states for it is unchanged — “to provide protection of life and property while assuring a long, useful service life” to pressure components. The Code’s growth is a physical record of industrial complexity:

Edition	Size	Scope
1914 (publ. 1915)	1 book, 114 pages	Rules for power boilers
2001	16,000+ pages	Full pressure-equipment universe
2024	32 books, 19,500+ pages	Incl. 12 books on nuclear power plant components

The Code is written by volunteers — over 800 active at any time, tens of thousands across its history — drawn not only from mechanical engineering but from materials science, structures, physics, and chemistry. Its legal force is what sets it apart from most standards: the BPVC’s sections have been adopted by law across Canada and nearly all U.S. states, and more than a quarter of ASME-accredited pressure-parts manufacturers sit outside the U.S. and Canada (ASME).

ASME and ABET: the accreditation pipeline

Like its fellow 1932 ECPD founders — the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers (now AIME), the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE), the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education (now the American Society for Engineering Education), the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and the National Council of State Boards of Engineering Examiners (now NCEES) — ASME helped build the accreditation system that became ABET (ABET). The relationship is operational, not just historical: ASME holds lead-society responsibility in ABET accreditation for 96 mechanical-engineering and engineering-technology degree programs in 29 countries (ASME) — the pipeline through which its standards culture reaches the classroom.

Timeline

• 1880 — Holley, Worthington, Sweet, and Forney found ASME in New York City.
• 1884 — ASME publishes its first standard.
• 1905 — The Grover Shoe Factory boiler explosion kills 58 in Brockton, Massachusetts.
• 1911 — The Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code is conceived.
• 1914 — First BPVC issued (published 1915): one 114-page book.
• 1932 — ASME co-founds the Engineers’ Council for Professional Development (now ABET).

Frequently asked questions

What is the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code? A standard providing rules for the design, fabrication, and inspection of boilers and pressure vessels, first issued in 1914 and now spanning 32 books and 19,500+ pages. Its sections have been adopted into law by all Canadian provinces and 49 of 50 U.S. states.

Why was ASME founded? In 1880, four engineers — Alexander Lyman Holley, Henry Rossiter Worthington, John Edison Sweet, and Matthias Forney — founded it in New York to standardize boilers and pressure equipment after a wave of deadly boiler explosions. The 1905 Grover Shoe Factory disaster (58 dead) later galvanized the campaign for binding boiler law.

How big is ASME? By its own 2024 figures: 75,000+ members in 130+ countries (including 19,000+ students), 377 staff, about 570 standards, 67 standards committees, and 6,400+ volunteers. Its U.S. offices are in New York, Little Falls (NJ), Stamford (CT), Washington D.C., and Houston.

What is ASME’s connection to ABET? ASME was one of seven societies that founded ABET’s predecessor (the Engineers’ Council for Professional Development) in 1932, and it serves as the lead society for ABET accreditation of 96 mechanical-engineering and engineering-technology programs in 29 countries.

Where is ASME headquartered? Two Park Avenue, New York, NY — the society never left the city where it was founded.

What this profile does not claim

This profile does not state the exact founding date or meeting venue, which rest only on the lead-index chain. It does not use the higher Wikipedia membership figures; it uses ASME’s own 2024 numbers. It does not name current officers, which no fully-read source verified. The founding narrative’s trade-press source is disclosed as such in the sourceNote.