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VIVIAN FITZGEORGE ESTCOURT
1897-1985
BY JAMES N. LANDIS
VIVIAN FITZGEORGE ESTCOURT cTied in San Francisco on May
~ I, 1985. He was one of many Stanford University engineer-
ing graduates who have attained distinction. In 1963 he was
macle an honorary life member of the American Society of
Mechanical Engineers "for distinguished engineering lead-
ership in plant design, operation, organization, anc} manage-
ment of modern electric power generating facilities."
Three years later the Franklin Institute awarcled him the
Newcomen GoIc! Medal in Steam and the Newcomen Society
macle him an honorary life member. During his long profes-
sional life, he declicated his highly analytic abilities to improv-
ing the quality and cost-effectiveness of steam electric plants.
His brother, a public accountant eleven years his junior,
says of Mr. Estcourt, "Without the guidance of a wise father
and the loving and tender care of a wonclerful mother, none
of us couIct have done what we have done." Mr. Estcourt's
father was an English barrister-at-law; at the time of Vivian~s
birth in the Hammersmith section of Lonclon on May 3l,
IS97, the family also included two daughters, ages seven and
three.
Vivian's early education took place at King Edwarcl's
School, a prestigious English public school in Birmingham.
On his arrival in the United States in 1912, he attenclecl Low-
ell High School in San Francisco, where he was a member of
157
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158
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
the Debating Society in ~ 9 ~ 3. He later entered Stanford Uni-
versity to study engineering and while there participated in
soccer, figure skating, and hiking in the High Sierras with the
younger of his sisters anct her friends.
Vivian joined the U.S. Army Mectical Corps, driving am-
bulances in France anc! training other cirivers for the job. He
was discharged on November 5, 1921, and became a U.S.
citizen on December 29, 1921. Because of his army service,
he did not graduate from Stanford until 1922; he finisher!
with two bachelor of arts degrees—one in mechanical engi-
peering and one in electrical engineering.
After graduation, he worked for seven months as a design
ciraftsman for the Nevada Consolidated Copper Company
ant] then joined the Pacific Gas and Electric Company
(PG&E), an affiliation that was to last from 1923 to 1964. In
1923 PG&E was a hyciro company that tract a single small
steam plant, although its steam plant capacity would eventu-
ally undergo a perio(1 of major expansion. After a short time,
Mr. Estcourt became an efficiency engineer in charge of
power plant betterment work, a post he retained for eight
years.
Thereafter, he rose through several successive positions of
responsibility and finally became manager of the Steam Gen-
eration Department. As manager he was in charge of a sys-
tem of more than four million kilowatts produced by thermal
power plants burning gas, oil, delayed coke, fluid coke, sul-
fonated tar, pitch, and acid sludge, and including the very
early Vallecitos and Humboldt Bay nuclear stations, the Gey-
sers geothermal plant, ant! a city business area steam heating
plant.
A major responsibility he assumed early in his utility ca-
reer was that of manning several steam plants (luring a time
when the San Francisco area had almost no steam plant per-
sonne] on which to draw. For years in his operation of the
plants, Mr. Estcourt required that the log sheets be made in
triplicate, with one copy coming to his office.for personal
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VIVIAN FITZGEORGE ESTCOURT
159
review. Significant verbal reports were required to be con-
firmed in writing. As one station-operating subordinate re-
ports, "Estcourt ran the show ... did not tolerate short-
comings in people ... wanted to know everything ... was
extremely interested in personnel training . . . kept aloof . . .
was very perceptive and always agreeable to making changes
to aid operation no matter who might suggest them." Today,
this is caller! hands-on management.
He wrote seven papers from 1936 to 1953 that illustrate
the very wicie range of his mechanical, chemical, and electri-
cal interests. One in particular dealt with generator end-iron
heating and stability when operating large generators in the
unclerexcitecl region for control of system voltage, thereby
extending the load range for this type of operation. Using
much firsthand personal experience, he prepared two addi-
tional papers: "Manpower and Other Factors Affecting Op-
erating Costs in Generating Stations" (ASME 53-A-95) and
"Plant Management and Other Factors Affecting Mainte-
nance Costs" (ASME 55-A-871. These two papers received
the 1955 Prime Movers Award of the American Society of
Mechanical Engineers for best international contribution on
power plant operations.
For several years Mr. Estcourt was chairman of the Edison
Electric Institute Prime Movers Equipment Availability Sub-
committee. The extremely important committee work that
he spearheaded consisted of collecting and analyzing power
plant steam generator anct turbine generator equipment
availability statistics as reported by nearly all the companies
that were members of the Edison Electric Institute.
Mr. Estcourt also became active in power station stack dis-
charge research, which at that time was of great concern to
public authorities ant! the utility industry. He was soon se-
lectecI as the chairman of the Edison Electric Institute/U.S.
Public Health Service Joint Steering Committee for Stack
Plume Opacity Measurement and Evaluation Research.
For a period of six or more years, Mr. Estcourt devotee! a
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MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
great deal of his time to encouraging graduating engineers
to work in the utility industry. He wrote three papers in con-
nection with this industry recruitment activity while serving
as the American Society for Mechanical Engineers represen-
tative on the Engineers Council for Professional Develop-
ment Accreditation Team for Engineering Colleges.
From 1962 through 1964 Mr. Estcourt continued nits as-
sociation with PG&E as a consulting engineer in thermal
power production. Late in 1963 he joined the Bechte! Power
Corporation as a consulting engineer. He remained! with
Bechte] through 1984, completing many assignments to im-
prove plant availability, reduce capital and operating costs,
and develop a means of reducing stack emissions.
The unsatisfactory performance of electrostatic precipita-
tors in collecting ash from low-sulfur coals lecl him to intro-
cluce the "European Design" electrostatic precipitator in this
country for high-efficiency performance with western low-
sulfur coals. Mr. Estcourt recognized the need to standardize
the measuring ant! reporting of electrical fly ash character-
istics to permit the proper sizing of precipitators, and he
formed and chaired an Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers committee to address this matter. In the field of
sulfur dioxide emission control, he combined the spray dryer
and baghouse concepts and was a driving force in the clevel-
opment and application of this dry sulfur dioxide control
system, an approach that is now widely accepted. He pro-
ducecl four papers in his eightieth and eighty-first years.
Although Mr. Estcourt was a distinctive individual who cir-
culatec! broadly, he was also a very private person and never
cliscussect his background and experiences. In 1929 he mar-
ried Helen Grant, a lovely California lady and companion.
The two traveled extensively; their trips included a safari to
Africa and travels to many other locales outside the Uniter!
States.
Mr. Estcourt was elected to the National Academy of En-
gineering in 1981. He was a member of numerous other so-
cieties throughout his professional life, serving on many
.
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VIVIAN FITZGEORGE ESTCOURT
161
committees and generally ascending to the chairmanship of
the committees in which his interest was greatest. He always
attended conventions alone. He would sometimes surprise
associates at the convention social gatherings by dancing very
ably with their wives behavior that seemed completely out
of character for the man associates thought him to be: that
is, someone possessing solely technical interests.
Some of his personal character traits are revealer} by the
statements of several individuals who worked closely with
him. From a secretary of many years: "He appeared to use
every moment in a disciplined way." An office technical asso-
ciate noted these characteristics: "His inquisitive nature pro-
pelled him into investigating a subject of interest until he
understood it fully; and he tenaciously followed through on
any program until his objectives were achieved. He had little
patience with ignorance or stupidity but was always ready to
take an interest in and assist young, promising, eager engi-
neers."
One of two manufacturers' representatives who dealt a lot
with him sail: "He was always on the look-out for a 'snow-
job'; he demanded honesty and appreciated it!" The other
observed: "My discussions with him were very enlightening
to me. ~ felt he was my friend. He gave willingly of his time
when questioned but answers were not expansive."
Mr. Estcourt was never able to enjoy, except in brief antic-
ipation, the Santa Barbara home he had purchased for re-
tirement. His last seven ant} a half years were spent alone in
his San Francisco home, as a widower, which may account for
his continuation of technical activity. In addition to being a
Mason for fifty-five years' he is known to have had three
other nontechnical interests, which he very rarely ctiscussed:
football, the Theosophical Society in America, and the Com-
monwealth Club of San Francisco. Soon after Mrs. Estcourt's
death, he flew around the world, stopping at many places,
including several stops in Inctia, which his brother believes
were connected with Mr. Estcourt's theosophical beliefs.
It can be said that Vivian Fitzgerald Estcourt appeared to
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MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
live his life as he wished, little affected by others, always in-
vestigating something, with the accomplishment of his objec-
tives as his reward. He has left an enduring written record of
many technical contributions to the utility industry in which
he spent a long and very active professional life.
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
vivian fitzgeorge
