Samuel Diescher

Samuel Diescher (June 25, 1839 – December 24, 1915) was a prominent Hungarian-American civil and mechanical engineer who had his career in the United States. After being educated at universities in Karlsruhe and Zurich in Europe, he immigrated to the United States in 1866 and settled in Cincinnati, Ohio. There he supervised construction of his first inclined plane. He later moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he worked with John Endres on the Monongahela Incline (1870), the first passenger incline in the city.

Diescher designed the Duquesne Incline (1877). He is believed to have designed the majority of inclined planes in the United States, including numerous projects in Pennsylvania. He also designed a wide range of industrial projects, particularly those related to the coal and steel industries. His three sons also became engineers and in 1901 he set up a business with them: S. Diescher and Sons. These two early inclines in Pittsburgh are the only passenger inclines still in use there. Both are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and, in 1977, were also designated as Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmarks by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.