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61 Budding, Edwin Beard
SUBJECT AREA: Domestic appliances and interiors[br]b. c.1796 Bisley (?), Gloucestershire, Englandd. 1846 Dursley, Gloucestershire, England[br]English inventor of the lawn mower.[br]Budding was an engineer who described himself as a mechanic on his first patent papers and as a manager in later applications.A rotary machine had been developed at Brimscombe Mill in Stroud for cutting the pile on certain clothes and Budding saw the potential of this principle for a machine for cutting grass on lawns. It is not clear whether Budding worked for the Lewis family, who owned the mill, or whether he saw the machines during their manufacture at the Phoenix Foundry. At the age of 35 Budding entered into partnership with John Ferrabee, who had taken out a lease on Thrupp Mill. They reached an agreement in which Ferrabee would pay to obtain letter patent on the mower and would cover all the development costs, after which they would have an equal share in the profits. The agreement also allowed Ferrabee to license the manufacture of the machine and in 1832 he negotiated with the agricultural manufacturer Ransomes, allowing them to manufacture the mower.Budding invented a screw-shifting spanner at a time when he might have been working as a mechanic at Thrupp Mill. He later rented a workshop in which he produced Pepperbox pistols. In the late 1830s he moved to Dursley, where he became Manager for Mr G.Lister, who made clothing machinery. Together they patented an improved method of making cylinders for carding engines, but Budding required police protection from those who saw their jobs threatened by the device. He made no fortune from his inventions and died at the age of 50.[br]Further ReadingH.A.Randall, 1965–6 "Some mid-Gloucestershire engineers and inventors", Transactions of the Newcomen Society 38:89–96 (looks at the careers of both Budding and Ferrabee).AP -
62 Cowper-Coles, Sherard Osborn
SUBJECT AREA: Metallurgy[br]b. 8 October 1866 East Harting, Sussex, Englandd. 9 September 1936[br]English inventor of the sherardizing process for metal protection.[br]He was the son of Captain Cowper- Coles, Royal Navy, the inventor of the swivelling turret for naval guns. He inherited his father's inventive talents and investigated a variety of inventions in his workshop at his home at Sunbury-on-Thames, assisted by a number of scientific workers. He had been educated by governesses, but he lacked a sound scientific background. His inventions, rarely systematically pursued, ranged from electrolytic processes for making copper sheets and parabolic reflectors to a process for inlaying and decorating metallic surfaces. Overall, however, he is best known for the invention of "sherardizing", the process for producing a rustproof coating of zinc on small metallic articles. The discovery came by chance, when he was annealing iron and steel packed in zinc dust to exclude air. The metal was found to be coated with a thin layer of zinc with some surface penetration. The first patent for the process was obtained in 1900, and later the American rights were sold, with a company being formed in 1908 to control them. A small plant was set up in Chelsea, London, to develop the process to the point where it could be carried out on a commercial scale in a plant in Willesden. Sherardizing has not been a general protective finish, but is restricted to articles such as nuts and bolts which are then painted or finished. The process was still in use in 1977, operated by the Zinc Alloy Company (London) Ltd.[br]Further ReadingC.A.Smith, 1978, "Sherard Cowper-Coles: a review of the inception of sherardizing", Transactions of the Newcomen Society 49:1–4.LRDBiographical history of technology > Cowper-Coles, Sherard Osborn
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63 Craufurd, Henry William
SUBJECT AREA: Metallurgy[br]fl. 1830s[br]English patentee of the process of coating iron with zinc (galvanized iron).[br]Although described as Commander of the Royal Navy, other personal details of Craufurd appear to be little known. His process for coating sheet iron with a protective layer of zinc, conveyed as a communication from abroad, was granted a patent in 1837. The details closely resembled, indeed are believed to have been based upon, those developed and patented in France in 1836 by Sorel, who had worked in collaboration with Ledru. There had been French interest in substituting zinc for tin as a coating for iron from 1742 with work by Malouin. Zinc-coated iron saucepans were produced in Rouen in the 1780s, but the work was later abandoned. Craufurd's patent directed that iron objects should be dipped into molten zinc, protected from volatilization by a layer of sal ammoniac (ammonium chloride, NH4Cl which also served as a flux. The quite misleading term "galvanizing" had already been introduced by Sorel for his process. Later its pro-tective properties were discovered to depend for effectiveness on the formation of a thin layer of zinc-iron alloy between the iron sheet and its zinc coating. Craufurd's patent was infringed in England soon after being granted, and was followed by several improvements, particularly those of Edmund Morewood, collaborating with George Rogers in five patents, of which four referred to methods of corrugation. The resulting production of zinc-coated iron implements, together with corrugated iron sheeting quickly adopted for building purposes, developed into an important industry of the West Midlands, Bristol, London and other parts of Britain.[br]Bibliography1837, British patent no. 7,355 (coating sheet iron with zinc).Further ReadingH.W.Dickinson, 1943–4, "A study of galvanised and corrugated sheet metal", Transactions of the Newcomen Society 24:27–36 (the best and most concise account).JDBiographical history of technology > Craufurd, Henry William
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64 Hancock, Thomas
SUBJECT AREA: Chemical technology[br]b. 8 May 1786 Marlborough, Wiltshire, Englandd. 26 March 1865 Stoke Newington, London, England[br]English founder of the British rubber industry.[br]After education at a private school in Marlborough, Hancock spent some time in "mechanical pursuits". He went to London to better himself and c.1819 his interest was aroused in the uses of rubber, which until then had been limited. His first patent, dated 29 April 1820, was for the application of rubber in clothing where some elasticity was useful, such as braces or slip-on boots. He noticed that freshly cut pieces of rubber could be made to adhere by pressure to form larger pieces. To cut up his imported and waste rubber into small pieces, Hancock developed his "masticator". This device consisted of a spiked roller revolving in a hollow cylinder. However, when rubber was fed in to the machine, the product was not the expected shredded rubber, but a homogeneous cylindrical mass of solid rubber, formed by the heat generated by the process and pressure against the outer cylinder. This rubber could then be compacted into blocks or rolled into sheets at his factory in Goswell Road, London; the blocks and sheets could be used to make a variety of useful articles. Meanwhile Hancock entered into partnership with Charles Macintosh in Manchester to manufacture rubberized, waterproof fabrics. Despite these developments, rubber remained an unsatisfactory material, becoming sticky when warmed and losing its elasticity when cold. In 1842 Hancock encountered specimens of vulcanized rubber prepared by Charles Goodyear in America. Hancock worked out for himself that it was made by heating rubber and sulphur, and obtained a patent for the manufacture of the material on 21 November 1843. This patent also included details of a new form of rubber, hardened by heating to a higher temperature, that was later called vulcanite, or ebonite. In 1846 he began making solid rubber tyres for road vehicles. Overall Hancock took out sixteen patents, covering all aspects of the rubber industry; they were a leading factor in the development of the industry from 1820 until their expiry in 1858.[br]Bibliography1857, Personal Narrative of the Origin and Progress of the Caoutchouc or Indiarubber Manufacture in England, London.Further ReadingH.Schurer, 1953, "The macintosh: the paternity of an invention", Transactions of the Newcomen Society 28:77–87.LRD -
65 Huntsman, Benjamin
SUBJECT AREA: Metallurgy[br]b. 1704 Barton-on-Humber, Lincolnshire, Englandd. 21 June 1776 Sheffield, England[br]English inventor of crucible steelmaking.[br]Of Dutch descent, Hunstman was apprenticed to a clockmaker at Epworth, Lincolnshire. In 1725 he set up in Doncaster as a maker of clocks, locks and roasting jacks. He made improvements in his tools but found himself hampered by the poor quality of the steel available, then made by the cementation process, which yielded a steel with a non-uniform carbon content. Around 1740, Huntsman moved to Handsworth, now part of Sheffield, and began experimenting by heating varying compositions of fuel and flux with crude steel in a crucible, to obtain a steel of uniform composition. During the years 1745 to 1750 he attained his object, but not without many unsuccessful "heats", as excavations of the site of his works now reveal. Although his steel was far better than that previously available, however, the conservative cutlers of Sheffield rejected it, claiming it was too hard to work; therefore Huntsman exported his product to France, where the cutlers promptly worked it into high-quality knives and razors that were exported to England. The Sheffield cutlers' attempts to prevent Huntsman from exporting his steel proved unsuccessful. Huntsman did not patent his process, preferring to retain his advantage by shrouding his work in secrecy, carrying out his melting at night to escape observation, but a rival cutler, Samuel Walker, gained admittance to Huntsman's works disguised as a tramp seeking food. As a result, Walker was able to make crucible steel at a handsome profit. Huntsman fought back and earned success through the sheer quality of his steel, and had to move to.a larger site at Attercliffe in 1770. Crucible steelmaking remained important through the nineteenth century although, as it was a small-scale process, its application was restricted to engineers' cutting tools and the cutting edges of certain tools.[br]Further ReadingE.W.Hulme, 1945, "The pedigree and career of Benjamin Huntsman, inventor in Europe of crucible steel", Transactions of the Newcomen Society 24:37–48.W.K.V.Gale, 1969, Iron and Steel, London: Longman.LRD -
66 Jervis, John Bloomfield
[br]b. 14 December 1795 Huntingdon, New York, USAd. 12 January 1885 Rome, New York, USA[br]American pioneer of civil engineering and locomotive design.[br]Jervis assisted in the survey and construction of the Erie Canal, and by 1827 was Chief Engineer of the Delaware \& Hudson Canal and, linked with it, the Carbondale Railroad. He instructed Horatio Allen to go to England to purchase locomotives in 1828, and the locomotive Stourbridge Lion, built by J.U. Rastrick, was placed on the railway in 1829. It was the first full-size locomotive to run in America, but the track proved too weak for it to be used regularly. In 1830 Jervis became Chief Engineer to the Mohawk \& Hudson Rail Road, which was the first railway in New York State and was opened the following year. In 1832 the 4–2–0 locomotive Experiment was built to his plans by West Point Foundry: it was the first locomotive to have a leading bogie or truck. Jervis was subsequently associated with many other extensive canals and railways and pioneered economic analysis of engineering problems to enable, for example, the best choice to be made between two possible routes for a railroad.[br]Bibliography1861, Railway Property, New York.Further ReadingJ.H.White Jr, 1979, A History of the American Locomotive-Its Development: 1830–1880, New York: Dover Publications Inc.J.K.Finch, 1931, "John Bloomfield Jervis, civil engineer", Transactions of the Newcomen Society, 11.PJGRBiographical history of technology > Jervis, John Bloomfield
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67 Krauss, Georg
[br]b. 25 December 1826 Augsburg, Germanyd. 5 November 1906 Munich, Germany[br]German locomotive engineer, founder of the locomotive builders Krauss \& Co.[br]Krauss entered the Maffei locomotive works, Munich, as a fitter and subsequently worked successively for the Bavarian State Railways and the Swiss North Eastern Railway, which he left in 1866 to found Locomotivfabrik Krauss in Munich. The firm became one of the most important locomotive builders in Germany. A second factory was established in Munich in 1872 and a third at Linz, Austria, in 1880: by the time of Krauss's death, these factories had built more than 5,500 locomotives. The second Munich factory was predominantly for small locomotives, and to increase the sales of these Krauss promoted the construction of many local railways in south Germany and Austria. The firm survived to amalgamate with Maffei and take the name Krauss-Maffei AG in 1940.[br]Further ReadingJ.Marshall, 1978, A Biographical Dictionary of Railway Engineers, Newton Abbot: David \& Charles.Biographical note, 1985–6, Transactions of the Newcomen Society 57:46.PJGR -
68 Riggenbach, Niklaus
[br]b. 21 May 1817 Gebweiler, Alsaced. 25 July 1899 Olten, Switzerland[br]Swiss locomotive engineer and pioneer of mountain rack railways.[br]Riggenbach came from a Basle family and was educated in Basle, Lyons and Paris, where he was so impressed by the new railway to Saint-Germain that he decided to devote himself to work in that field. He worked for Kessler's locomotive works in Karlsruhe, which built the first locomotives for the Zurich-Baden Railway. This was the first railway in Switzerland and when it was opened in 1847 Riggenbach drove the first train. He subsequently became Locomotive Superintendent of the Swiss Central Railway, and the problems of operating a steeply graded line solely by adhesion led him to develop a rack railway which incorporated a ladder rack similar to that of Sylvester Marsh. However, it was only after the Swiss Consul in Washington had reported enthusiastically on the Mount Washington Cog Railway that Riggenbach and associates were able to get a concession for their first line, which was laid up the Rigi mountain and was opened in 1871. That same year Riggenbach opened a quarry railway operated for the first time by a mixture of rack and adhesion. From this start, rack railways were built widely in Switzerland and to a lesser extent in many other parts of the world. His Rigi railway continues to operate.[br]BibliographyRiggenbach patented his rack railway in 1863.Further ReadingRiggenbach's type of counter-pressure brakes is described in Transactions of the Newcomen Society 55:13.M.Dietschy, 1971, "Le Chemin de fer du Rigi à 100 ans", Chemins defer régionaux eturbains 106.O.J.Morris, 1951, The Snow don Mountain Railway, Ian Allan.See also: Abt, RomanPJGR -
69 Sickels, Frederick Ellsworth
[br]b. 20 September 1819 Gloucester County, New Jersey, USAd. 8 March 1895 Kansas City, Missouri, USA[br]American inventor of a steam-inlet cut-off valve mechanism for engines and steam steering apparatus for ships.[br]Sickels was educated in New York City, where his father was a practising physician. As he showed mechanical aptitude, at the age of 16 he joined the Harlem Railroad as a rod man, and a year later became a machinist in the Allaire Works in New York, studying physics and mechanics in his spare time. He perfected his cut-off mechanism for drop valves in 1841 and patented it the following year. The liberating mechanism allowed the valve to fall quickly onto its seat and so eliminated "wire-drawing" of the steam, and Sickels arranged a dashpot to prevent the valve hitting the seat violently. Through further improvements patented in 1843 and 1845, he gained a considerable fortune, but he subsequently lost it through fighting patent infringements because his valve gear was copied extensively.In 1846 he turned his attention to using a steam engine to assist the steering in ships. He filed a patent application in 1849 and completed a machine in 1854, but he could not find any ship owner willing to try it until 1858, when it was fitted to the August. A patent was granted in 1860, but as no American ship owners showed interest Sickels went to England, where he obtained three British patents; once again, however, he found no interest. He returned to the United States in 1867 and continued his fruitless efforts until he was financially ruined. He patented improved compound engines in 1875 and also contributed improvements in sinking pneumatic piles. He turned to civil engineering and engaged in railway and bridge construction in the west. In about 1890 he was made Consulting Engineer to the National Water Works Company of New York and in 1891 became Chief Engineer of its operations at Kansas City.[br]Further ReadingDictionary of American Biography, 1935, Vol. XVII, New York: C.Scribner's Sons. C.T.Porter, 1908, Engineering Reminiscences, reprinted 1985, Bradley, Ill.: Lindsay Publications (comments on his cut-off valve gear).H.G.Conway, 1955–6, "Some notes on the origins of mechanical servo systems", Transactions of the Newcomen Society 29 (comments on his steam steering apparatus).RLHBiographical history of technology > Sickels, Frederick Ellsworth
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70 Somerset, Edward, 2nd Marquis of Worcester
SUBJECT AREA: Mechanical, pneumatic and hydraulic engineering[br]b. 1601d. 3 April 1667 Lambeth (?), London, England[br]English inventor of a steam-operated pump for raising water, described in his work A Century of…Inventions.[br]Edward Somerset became 6th Earl and 2nd Marquis of Worcester and Titular Earl of Glamorgan. He was educated privately and then abroad, visiting Germany, Italy and France. He was made Councillor of Wales in 1633 and Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire in 1635. On the outbreak of the Civil War, he was commissioned to levy forces against the Scots in 1640. He garrisoned Raglan Castle for the King and was employed by Charles I to bring troops in from Ireland. He was declared an enemy of the realm by Parliament and was banished, remaining in France for some years. On the Restoration, he recovered most of his estates, principally in South Wales, and was able to devote most of his time to mechanical studies and experiments.Soon after 1626, he had employed the services of a skilled Dutch or German mechanic, Caspar Kaltoff, to make small-scale models for display to interested people. In 1638 he showed Charles I a 14 ft (4.3m) diameter wheel carrying forty weights that was claimed to have solved the problem of perpetual motion. He wrote his Century of the Names and Scantlings of Such Inventions as at Present I Can Call to Mind to have Tried and Perfected in 1655, but it was not published until 1663: no. 68 describes "An admirable and most forcible way to drive up water by fire", which has been claimed as an early steam-engine. Before the Civil War he made experiments at Raglan Castle, and after the war he built one of his engines at Vauxhall, London, where it raised water to a height of 40 ft (12 m). An Act of Parliament enabling Worcester to receive the benefit and profits of his water-commanding engine for ninety-nine years did not restore his fortunes. Descriptions of this invention are so vague that it cannot be reconstructed.[br]Bibliography1655, Century of the Names and Scantlings of Such Inventions as at Present I Can Call to Mind to have Tried and Perfected.Further ReadingH.Dircks, 1865, The Life, Times and Scientific Labours of the Second Marquis of Worcester.Dictionary of National Biography, 1898, Vol. L, London: Smith Elder \& Co. (mainly covers his political career).H.W.Dickinson, 1938, A Short History of the Steam Engine, Cambridge University Press (discusses his steam engine invention).W.H.Thorpe, 1932–3, "The Marquis of Worcester and Vauxhall", Transactions of the Newcomen Society 13.RLHBiographical history of technology > Somerset, Edward, 2nd Marquis of Worcester
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71 Smeaton, John
SUBJECT AREA: Civil engineering, Mechanical, pneumatic and hydraulic engineering, Steam and internal combustion engines[br]b. 8 June 1724 Austhorpe, near Leeds, Yorkshire, Englandd. 28 October 1792 Austhorpe, near Leeds, Yorkshire, England[br]English mechanical and civil engineer.[br]As a boy, Smeaton showed mechanical ability, making for himself a number of tools and models. This practical skill was backed by a sound education, probably at Leeds Grammar School. At the age of 16 he entered his father's office; he seemed set to follow his father's profession in the law. In 1742 he went to London to continue his legal studies, but he preferred instead, with his father's reluctant permission, to set up as a scientific instrument maker and dealer and opened a shop of his own in 1748. About this time he began attending meetings of the Royal Society and presented several papers on instruments and mechanical subjects, being elected a Fellow in 1753. His interests were turning towards engineering but were informed by scientific principles grounded in careful and accurate observation.In 1755 the second Eddystone lighthouse, on a reef some 14 miles (23 km) off the English coast at Plymouth, was destroyed by fire. The President of the Royal Society was consulted as to a suitable engineer to undertake the task of constructing a new one, and he unhesitatingly suggested Smeaton. Work began in 1756 and was completed in three years to produce the first great wave-swept stone lighthouse. It was constructed of Portland stone blocks, shaped and pegged both together and to the base rock, and bonded by hydraulic cement, scientifically developed by Smeaton. It withstood the storms of the English Channel for over a century, but by 1876 erosion of the rock had weakened the structure and a replacement had to be built. The upper portion of Smeaton's lighthouse was re-erected on a suitable base on Plymouth Hoe, leaving the original base portion on the reef as a memorial to the engineer.The Eddystone lighthouse made Smeaton's reputation and from then on he was constantly in demand as a consultant in all kinds of engineering projects. He carried out a number himself, notably the 38 mile (61 km) long Forth and Clyde canal with thirty-nine locks, begun in 1768 but for financial reasons not completed until 1790. In 1774 he took charge of the Ramsgate Harbour works.On the mechanical side, Smeaton undertook a systematic study of water-and windmills, to determine the design and construction to achieve the greatest power output. This work issued forth as the paper "An experimental enquiry concerning the natural powers of water and wind to turn mills" and exerted a considerable influence on mill design during the early part of the Industrial Revolution. Between 1753 and 1790 Smeaton constructed no fewer than forty-four mills.Meanwhile, in 1756 he had returned to Austhorpe, which continued to be his home base for the rest of his life. In 1767, as a result of the disappointing performance of an engine he had been involved with at New River Head, Islington, London, Smeaton began his important study of the steam-engine. Smeaton was the first to apply scientific principles to the steam-engine and achieved the most notable improvements in its efficiency since its invention by Newcomen, until its radical overhaul by James Watt. To compare the performance of engines quantitatively, he introduced the concept of "duty", i.e. the weight of water that could be raised 1 ft (30 cm) while burning one bushel (84 lb or 38 kg) of coal. The first engine to embody his improvements was erected at Long Benton colliery in Northumberland in 1772, with a duty of 9.45 million pounds, compared to the best figure obtained previously of 7.44 million pounds. One source of heat loss he attributed to inaccurate boring of the cylinder, which he was able to improve through his close association with Carron Ironworks near Falkirk, Scotland.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsFRS 1753.Bibliography1759, "An experimental enquiry concerning the natural powers of water and wind to turn mills", Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.Towards the end of his life, Smeaton intended to write accounts of his many works but only completed A Narrative of the Eddystone Lighthouse, 1791, London.Further ReadingS.Smiles, 1874, Lives of the Engineers: Smeaton and Rennie, London. A.W.Skempton, (ed.), 1981, John Smeaton FRS, London: Thomas Telford. L.T.C.Rolt and J.S.Allen, 1977, The Steam Engine of Thomas Newcomen, 2nd edn, Hartington: Moorland Publishing, esp. pp. 108–18 (gives a good description of his work on the steam-engine).LRD -
72 Sorocold, George
SUBJECT AREA: Public utilities[br]b. probably Ashton-in-Makerfield, England fl. c. 1685–1715[br]English civil engineer who set up numerous water-driven pumping plants.[br]He began to practise in Derbyshire and South Yorkshire and later moved to London, where his most important work was carried out. Little is known of his birth or, indeed, of the date of his death, although it is thought that he may have been born in Ashton-in- Makerfield.His first known work was a water-driven pumping plant in Derby erected in 1693 to supply water to houses and to points in the town through pipes from the pumps by the river Derwent. These water-driven pumping plants and the delivery of water to various towns were the result of entrepreneurial development by groups of "adventurers". Sorocold went on to set up many more pumping plants, including those at Leeds Bridge (1694–5), Macclesfield, Wirksworth, Yarmouth, Portsmouth, Norwich and King's Lynn.His best-known work was the installation of a pumping plant at the north end of London Bridge to replace a sixteenth-century plant. This consisted of four water-wheels placed between the starlings of the bridge. As the bridge is situated on the tidal Thames, the water-wheels were contrived so that their shafts could be raised or lowered to meet the state of the tidal flow. Whilst the waterworks designed by Sorocold are well known, it is clear that he had come to be regarded as a consulting engineer. One scheme that was carried through was the creation of a navigation between the river Trent and Derby on the line of the river Derwent. He appeared as a witness for the Derwent Navigation Act in 1703. He also held a patent for "A new machine for cutting and sawing all sorts of boards, timber and stone, and twisting all kinds of ropes, cords and cables by the strength of horses of water": this illustrates that his knowledge of power sources was predominant in his practice.[br]Further ReadingR.Jenkins, 1936, "George Sorocold. A chapter in the history of public water supply", The Collected Papers of Rhys Jenkins, Newcomen Society.H.Beighton, 1731, article in The Philosophical Transactions (provides details of the London Bridge Waterworks).KM
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