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Joseph Bramah was an extremely prolific inventor, whose lifelong inventions included a fire engine, a beer pump, a quill cutter for making pens, a printing machine for bank notes, and a number of machine tools, as well as improvements to many existing tools. Bramah was the oldest son of a Yorkshire farmer. He attended school for part of his childhood, but was soon needed to help out on the family farm. In his few hours of spare time, the boy developed a skill for woodworking, building musical instruments to amuse himself.
At the age of 16, Bramah injured his leg, and was unable to continue as a farm hand. Confined to the house, he spent more time developing his woodworking skills. His father decided to apprentice him to a mechanic, since the boy was no longer any use on the farm. Bramah developed his skills working under the mechanic, making devices such as ploughs, window-frames, and continuing to work on musical instruments, especially fiddles and violoncellos.
After finishing his apprenticeship, Bramah decided to try his luck in London. Despite his lame leg, he made the journey on foot. He found work with a cabinetmaker at first, but eventually set up his own business. Part of that business was installing water closets designed by a Mr. Allen. Bramah found himself dissatisfied with their design, but he lacked the time to work on improving it. After being injured in a fall, Bramah had a long convalescence, which allowed him to work on modifying the existing water closet design. His design, which he patented in 1778, featured a hinged valve on the bottom of the bowl, and was widely used on ships.
Next, Bramah got into lockmaking. Bramah needed some very precise machine tools to make his locks, and this led him to employ 18-year-old Henry Maudslay, who showed a genius for making the necessary tools for the job. With the help of Maudslay, Bramah patented a new type of lock, which he claimed had 500 million possible variations. He was so confident of this claim that he offered 200 pounds (an enormous sum in those days) to the first person who could pick it. For 67 years, nobody was able to do it. The successful lockpick was an American locksmith who used very specialized tools, and it took him 51 hours. Photos of the lock are at left and right.
Bramah invented his Hydrostatic Machine in 1785, based on the theory of equilibrium of pressure in fluids. This machine led in turn to the invention of a hydraulic press, which Bramah patented in 1795. This press featured a piston within a massive cylinder. By the operation of a hand pump, water was forced beneath the piston, and it was able to compress materials. It was commonly used as a packing press, but also used to hoist massive objects, such as the tubes of the Britannia Bridge.
Bramah remained interested in hydraulics throughout his life, and he made many improvements to existing pumping machinery. He also developed hydraulic machines for cutting timber and stone. While supervising the use of one of his presses to uproot 300 trees in Hampshire, Bramah caught a cold, which turned into a fatal case of pneumonia.
Sources:
GSN Machine Tools Group. “Pioneers of the Machine Tool Industry: Joseph Bramah.” http://www.gsn.uk.com/bramah.html
Smiles, Samuel. Industrial Biography: Iron Workers and Tool Makers. Seattle: World Wide School, 1997 (Originally published in 1863).http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/hst/biography/IndustrialBiography/toc.htmVauxhall Society. "Bramah, Joseph, 1748-1814." http://www.vauxhallsociety.org.uk/Bramah.html
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