Albert F. Shore

Albert Ferdinand Shore (September 4, 1876 – January 17, 1936) was born in New York City, and was an American metallurgist. Shore was the Founder, President, Treasurer, and Director of the Shore Instrument and Manufacturing Company, Inc. of New York City. The Shore Instrument Co. was located in the Jamaica area of New York City. In 1915, Shore invented the first quadrant type hardness gauge to measure the hardness of polymers and other elastomers.

Shore’s name became synonymous with the device and today, the readings of the Shore Hardness Gauge (which some erroneously refer to the device as a durometer) are specified in Shore in degrees of 1 to 100, however, when referring to squeegees a hardness of 55 Shore A is considered the minimum hardness.

It is interesting to note that the many patents that Shore registered never referred to the squeegee hardness level as durometer. The durometer was the test process used to find the hardness of a material, i.e., duro = level of hardness, and meter =  to measure.

Shore was succeeded by his son Fred Shore, who was responsible for introducing a round style hardness gauge in 1941. The family eventually lost control of the company and after a number of owners it became a part of The Instron Corporation in 1995, and they also erroneously refer to the Shore Hardness Gauge as a Durometer.

Shore died at the age of 60 on January 17, 1936 at Wickersham Hospital in Manhattan of a stroke. He was buried in Trinity Roman Catholic Cemetery in North Amityville, New York.