Category:Thomas Willson

**Thomas Willson**
	Canadian inventor (1860–1915)
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Date of birth	14 March 1860; Princeton
Date of death	20 December 1915; New York City
Country of citizenship	Canada;
Occupation	entrepreneur; inventor;
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	Q7795218; ISNI: 0000000073987935; VIAF ID: 13559108; Library of Congress authority ID: n77007580
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English: Thomas Leopold "Carbide" Willson (March 14, 1860 – December 20, 1915) was a Canadian inventor. Born on a farm near Princeton, Ontario, he had designed and patented the first electric arc lamps used in Hamilton, Ontario by the age of 21. Moving to the United States, he discovered an economically efficient process for creating calcium carbide, for which he sold the patent to Union Carbide in 1895. Moving back to Canada, he eventually settled in Ottawa and opened carbide plants both in Ontario (Merritton & Ottawa) and Quebec (Shawinigan). In 1911, he founded the International Marine Signal Company in Ottawa to manufacture marine buoys and lighthouse beacons. He was the first person to own a car in Ottawa. In 1907, he built a summer house on Meech Lake (notable years later for being the site of negotiations on the Meech Lake Accord.)