Curated playlist
Machine tool builders
- James Fox (engineer)James Fox started out as a butler in a Staffordshire country house. His machines later reached France and Russia.
- Thomas Blanchard (inventor)Inventor Thomas Blanchard patented a steam-powered horseless carriage in 1825. Fire destroyed many patent records.
- Richard Roberts (engineer)Before Richard Roberts built his planer in 1817, fitters made flat metal surfaces by hand.
- Henry MaudslayA lock built by Henry Maudslay resisted every attempt to pick it for 47 years. It carried a 200 guinea reward.
- Joseph ClementA weaver's son taught himself metalwork and built a lathe. Joseph Clement later machined parts for Babbage's engine.
- Marc Isambard BrunelWithin 15 weeks of its opening, one million people had walked through the Thames Tunnel, the first tunnel ever built under a river. Its builder was Sir Marc Isambard Brunel, a French-British engineer best known for the work he did in…
- Eli WhitneyEli Whitney's cotton gin made him famous but left him near bankruptcy. Lawsuits over the 1793 patent drained him.
- Joseph BramahJoseph Bramah's lock sat unpicked in a London shop window for more than 67 years. An American opened it in 1851.
- Joseph WhitworthSir Joseph Whitworth was an English engineer, entrepreneur, inventor and philanthropist. At the Great Exhibition of 1851, he demonstrated a measuring system precise to one millionth of an inch. That is about 25 nanometres, a distance no…
- Matthew MurrayMatthew Murray built the first commercially successful steam locomotive in 1812.
- John Wilkinson (industrialist)John Wilkinson, an English ironmaster, had several coffins made of iron.