Electron Beam Eng. founder Trillwood dies

Electron Beam Eng. Inc., an electron beam and laser beam welding company in Anaheim, Calif., has announced that its founder, Richard Trillwood, died on Dec. 6, 2016.

Trillwood began his career as an apprentice engineer in England in the 1950s, earning a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. He worked for Pye Unicam Ltd. in Cambridge, where he obtained industrial experience, and then for Torvac Ltd., where he learned about electron beam technology, vacuum engineering, and welding.

Trillwood and two partners started their own manufacturing business, Wentgate Engineers Ltd., in Cambridgeshire in 1968, for which he designed the world’s first small-chamber electron beam welding machine. In 1973 he and his colleagues started Vacuum Thermal Processing Ltd., a job shop specializing in electron beam welding, heat treating, vacuum brazing, and laser cutting services. After relocating to the U.S., Trillwood founded Electron Beam Eng Inc. in 1991.

Trillwood is survived by his wife Patricia Trillwood; their four children and their spouses: Mark and Kate Trillwood, Grant and Chantal Trillwood, Hilary and Tom Hurt, and Frances Trillwood; and seven grandchildren.