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1 Macintosh, Charles
[br]b. 29 December 1766 Glasgow, Scotlandd. 25 July 1843 Dunchattan, near Glasgow, Scotland[br]Scottish inventor of rubberized waterproof clothing.[br]As the son of the well-known and inventive dyer George Macintosh, Charles had an early interest in chemistry. At the age of 19 he gave up his work as a clerk with a Glasgow merchant to manufacture sal ammoniac (ammonium chloride) and developed new processes in dyeing. In 1797 he started the first Scottish alum works, finding the alum in waste shale from coal mines. His first works was at Hurlet, Renfrewshire, and was followed later by others. He then formed a partnership with Charles Tennant, the proprietor of a chemical works at St Rollox, near Glasgow, and sold "lime bleaching liquor" made with chlorine and milk of lime from their bleach works at Darnley. A year later the use of dry lime to make bleaching powder, a process worked out by Macintosh, was patented. Macintosh remained associated with Tennant's St Rollox chemical works until 1814. During this time, in 1809, he had set up a yeast factory, but it failed because of opposition from the London brewers.There was a steady demand for the ammonia that gas works produced, but the tar was often looked upon as an inconvenient waste product. Macintosh bought all the ammonia and tar that the Glasgow works produced, using the ammonia in his establishment to produce cudbear, a dyestuff extracted from various lichens. Cudbear could be used with appropriate mordants to make shades from pink to blue. The tar could be distilled to produce naphtha, which was used as a flare. Macintosh also became interested in ironmaking. In 1825 he took out a patent for converting malleable iron into steel by taking it to white heat in a current of gas with a carbon content, such as coal gas. However, the process was not commercially successful because of the difficulty keeping the furnace gas-tight. In 1828 he assisted J.B. Neilson in bringing hot blast into use in blast furnaces; Neilson assigned Macintosh a share in the patent, which was of dubious benefit as it involved him in the tortuous litigation that surrounded the patent until 1843.In June 1823, as a result of experiments into the possible uses of naphtha obtained as a by-product of the distillation of coal tar, Macintosh patented his process for waterproofing fabric. This comprised dissolving rubber in naphtha and applying the solution to two pieces of cloth which were afterwards pressed together to form an impermeable compound fabric. After an experimental period in Glasgow, Macintosh commenced manufacture in Manchester, where he formed a partnership with H.H.Birley, B.Kirk and R.W.Barton. Birley was a cotton spinner and weaver and was looking for ways to extend the output of his cloth. He was amongst the first to light his mills with gas, so he shared a common interest with Macintosh.New buildings were erected for the production of waterproof cloth in 1824–5, but there were considerable teething troubles with the process, particularly in the spreading of the rubber solution onto the cloth. Peter Ewart helped to install the machinery, including a steam engine supplied by Boulton \& Watt, and the naphtha was supplied from Macintosh's works in Glasgow. It seems that the process was still giving difficulties when Thomas Hancock, the foremost rubber technologist of that time, became involved in 1830 and was made a partner in 1834. By 1836 the waterproof coat was being called a "mackintosh" [sic] and was gaining such popularity that the Manchester business was expanded with additional premises. Macintosh's business was gradually enlarged to include many other kinds of indiarubber products, such as rubber shoes and cushions.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsFRS 1823.Further ReadingG.Macintosh, 1847, Memoir of Charles Macintosh, London (the fullest account of Charles Macintosh's life).T.Hancock, 1957, Narrative of the Indiarubber Manufacture, London.H.Schurer, 1953, "The macintosh: the paternity of an invention", Transactions of the Newcomen Society 28:77–87 (an account of the invention of the mackintosh).RLH / LRD -
2 Brindley, James
SUBJECT AREA: Canals[br]b. 1716 Tunstead, Derbyshire, Englandd. 27 September 1772 Turnhurst, Staffordshire, England[br]English canal engineer.[br]Born in a remote area and with no material advantages, Brindley followed casual rural labouring occupations until 1733, when he became apprenticed to Abraham Bennett of Macclesfield, a wheelwright and millwright. Though lacking basic education in reading and writing, he demonstrated his ability, partly through his photographic memory, to solve practical problems. This established his reputation, and after Bennett's death in 1742 he set up his own business at Leek as a millwright. His skill led to an invitation to solve the problem of mine drainage at Wet Earth Colliery, Clifton, near Manchester. He tunnelled 600 ft (183 m) through rock to provide a leat for driving a water-powered pump.Following work done on a pump on Earl Gower's estate at Trentham, Brindley's name was suggested as the engineer for the proposed canal for which the Duke of Bridge water (Francis Egerton) had obtained an Act in 1759. The Earl and the Duke were brothers-in-law, and the agents for the two estates were, in turn, the Gilbert brothers. The canal, later known as the Bridgewater Canal, was to be constructed to carry coal from the Duke's mines at Worsley into Manchester. Brindley advised on the details of its construction and recommended that it be carried across the river Irwell at Barton by means of an aqueduct. His proposals were accepted, and under his supervision the canal was constructed on a single level and opened in 1761. Brindley had also surveyed for Earl Gower a canal from the Potteries to Liverpool to carry pottery for export, and the signal success of the Bridgewater Canal ensured that the Trent and Mersey Canal would also be built. These undertakings were the start of Brindley's career as a canal engineer, and it was largely from his concepts that the canal system of the Midlands developed, following the natural contours rather than making cuttings and constructing large embankments. His canals are thus winding navigations unlike the later straight waterways, which were much easier to traverse. He also adopted the 7 ft (2.13 m) wide lock as a ruling dimension for all engineering features. For cheapness, he formed his canal tunnels without a towpath, which led to the notorious practice of legging the boats through the tunnels.Brindley surveyed a large number of projects and such was his reputation that virtually every proposal was submitted to him for his opinion. Included among these projects were the Staffordshire and Worcestershire, the Rochdale, the Birmingham network, the Droitwich, the Coventry and the Oxford canals. Although he was nominally in charge of each contract, much of the work was carried out by his assistants while he rushed from one undertaking to another to ensure that his orders were being carried out. He was nearly 50 when he married Anne Henshall, whose brother was also a canal engineer. His fees and salaries had made him very wealthy. He died in 1772 from a chill sustained when carrying out a survey of the Caldon Canal.[br]Further ReadingA.G.Banks and R.B.Schofield, 1968, Brindley at Wet Earth Colliery: An Engineering Study, Newton Abbot: David \& Charles.S.E.Buckley, 1948, James Brindley, London: Harrap.JHB -
3 Edwards, Humphrey
SUBJECT AREA: Steam and internal combustion engines[br]fl. c.1808–25 London (?), Englandd. after 1825 France (?)[br]English co-developer of Woolf s compound steam engine.[br]When Arthur Woolf left the Griffin Brewery, London, in October 1808, he formed a partnership with Humphrey Edwards, described as a millwright at Mill Street, Lambeth, where they started an engine works to build Woolf's type of compound engine. A number of small engines were constructed and other ordinary engines modified with the addition of a high-pressure cylinder. Improvements were made in each succeeding engine, and by 1811 a standard form had been evolved. During this experimental period, engines were made with cylinders side by side as well as the more usual layout with one behind the other. The valve gear and other details were also improved. Steam pressure may have been around 40 psi (2.8 kg/cm2). In an advertisement of February 1811, the partners claimed that their engines had been brought to such a state of perfection that they consumed only half the quantity of coal required for engines on the plan of Messrs Boulton \& Watt. Woolf visited Cornwall, where he realized that more potential for his engines lay there than in London; in May 1811 the partnership was dissolved, with Woolf returning to his home county. Edwards struggled on alone in London for a while, but when he saw a more promising future for the engine in France he moved to Paris. On 25 May 1815 he obtained a French patent, a Brevet d'importation, for ten years. A report in 1817 shows that during the previous two years he had imported into France fifteen engines of different sizes which were at work in eight places in various parts of the country. He licensed a mining company in the north of France to make twenty-five engines for winding coal. In France there was always much more interest in rotative engines than pumping ones. Edwards may have formed a partnership with Goupil \& Cie, Dampierre, to build engines, but this is uncertain. He became a member of the firm Scipion, Perrier, Edwards \& Chappert, which took over the Chaillot Foundry of the Perrier Frères in Paris, and it seems that Edwards continued to build steam engines there for the rest of his life. In 1824 it was claimed that he had made about 100 engines in England and another 200 in France, but this is probably an exaggeration.The Woolf engine acquired its popularity in France because its compound design was more economical than the single-cylinder type. To enable it to be operated safely, Edwards first modified Woolf s cast-iron boiler in 1815 by placing two small drums over the fire, and then in 1825 replaced the cast iron with wrought iron. The modified boiler was eventually brought back to England in the 1850s as the "French" or "elephant" boiler.[br]Further ReadingMost details about Edwards are to be found in the biographies of his partner, Arthur Woolf. For example, see T.R.Harris, 1966, Arthur Woolf, 1766–1837, The Cornish Engineer, Truro: D.Bradford Barton; Rhys Jenkins, 1932–3, "A Cornish Engineer, Arthur Woolf, 1766–1837", Transactions of the Newcomen Society 13. These use information from the originally unpublished part of J.Farey, 1971, A Treatise on the Steam Engine, Vol. II, Newton Abbot: David \& Charles.RLH
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