Hugo Pratt origin, his maternal grandfather was of Marrano (Jewish) descent, and his grandmother was of Turkish origin. He was also related to actor Boris Karloff (né William Henry Pratt). In 1937, Pratt moved with his mother to Abyssinia (Ethiopia), joining his father who was working there following the conquest of that country by Benito Mussolini's Italy. Pratt's father, a professional Italian soldier, was captured in 1941 by British troops and in late 1942, died from disease as a prisoner of war. The same year, Hugo Pratt and his mother were interned in a prison camp at Dirédaoua, where he would buy
Henry Pratt Co coal, ash water, etc., under low pressures.” At the height of the Depression, Pratt became a prime mechanical contractor for the Century of Progress Exposition, the 1933 World’s Fair held in Chicago. Some of the projects that Pratt manufactured for the fair included: Henry Pratt Company then designed a 30” water butterfly valve for Duquesne Light & Power in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, after which Pratt targeted other utility companies and the waterworks industry. The American Water Works Association issued a specification for the butterfly valve, AWWA C-504, in 1954. In 1956 Henry Pratt Company manufactured butterfly valves for the world’s largest