Joseph Whitworth
Sir Joseph Whitworth | |
---|---|
Born | Stockport, Cheshire, England, United Kingdom | 21 December 1803
Died | 22 January 1887 Monte Carlo, Monaco | (aged 83)
Occupation | Engineer |
Engineering career | |
Institutions | Royal Society Institution of Mechanical Engineers |
Significant advance | Whitworth standardised screw threads |
Awards | Albert Medal (1868) |
Sir Joseph Whitworth, 1st Baronet
Whitworth was created a
Whitworth's company merged with the W.G. Armstrong & Mitchell Company to become Armstrong Whitworth in 1897.
Biography
Early life
Whitworth was born in John Street,
Career
After leaving school Whitworth became an
Whitworth developed great skill as a mechanic while working for Maudslay, developing various precision machine tools and also introducing a box casting scheme for the iron frames of machine tools that simultaneously increased their rigidity and reduced their weight.
Whitworth also worked for Holtzapffel & Co (makers of lathes used primarily for ornamental turning) and Joseph Clement. While at Clement's workshop he helped with the manufacture of Charles Babbage's calculating machine, the Difference engine. He returned to Openshaw, Manchester, in 1833 to start his own business manufacturing
Whitworth received many awards for the excellence of his designs and was financially very successful. In 1850, then a President of the
A strong believer in the value of technical education, Whitworth backed the new
Death
In January 1887 at the age of 83, Sir Joseph Whitworth died in Monte Carlo where he had travelled in the hope of improving his health. He was buried at St Helen's Church, Darley Dale, Derbyshire. A detailed obituary was published in the American magazine The Manufacturer and Builder.[12] He directed his trustees to spend his fortune on philanthropic projects, which they still do to this day.
Work
Accuracy and standardisation
Whitworth popularised a method of producing accurate flat surfaces (see Surface plate) during the 1830s, using engineer's blue and scraping techniques on three trial surfaces. Up until his introduction of the scraping technique, the same three-plate method was employed using polishing techniques, giving less accurate results. This led to an explosion of development of precision instruments using these flat-surface generation techniques as a basis for further construction of precise shapes.
His next innovation, in 1840, was a measuring technique called "end measurements" that used a precision flat plane and measuring screw, both of his own invention. The system, with a precision of one millionth of an inch (25 nm), was demonstrated at the Great Exhibition of 1851.
In 1841 Whitworth devised a standard for screw threads with a fixed thread angle of 55° and having a standard pitch for a given diameter. This soon became the first nationally standardised system; its adoption by the railway companies, who until then had all used different screw threads, led to its widespread acceptance. It later became a
Whitworth rifled musket
Whitworth was commissioned by the
Whitworth rifled cannon breech-loading artillery
Whitworth also designed a large
While trying to increase the bursting strength of his gun barrels, Whitworth patented a process called "fluid-compressed steel" for casting steel under pressure and built a new steel works near Manchester. Some of his castings were shown at the Great Exhibition in Paris c. 1883.
Legacy
Scholarships
One of the most prominent forms of his generosity was his development of the Whitworth Scholarships with the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Still running to this day, this provides financial opportunities for young engineers with a strong blend of academic and practical abilities. The Whitworth Scholarship programmes still exist with 10-15 scholarships being awarded each year.
Memorials
The university's
Whitworth Society
In 1923, the
References
Citations
- ^ a b "Fellowship of the Royal Society 1660-2015". London: Royal Society. Archived from the original on 15 October 2015.
- ^ Seccombe 1900.
- ^ Roe 1916, p. 101.
- ^ "No. 23544". The London Gazette. 8 October 1869. p. 5446.
- ^ Whitworth 1873.
- ^ Anon. 1869, p. 23.
- ^ Bradshaw 1985, pp. 57–58.
- ^ Edkins 2009.
- ^ Whitworth & Wallis 1854.
- ^ "Honorary Members and Fellows". IESIS. Archived from the original on 3 October 2020.
- ^ "Scholarships and Awards". imeche.org. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
- ^ "Scientific: Sir Joseph Whitworh". The Manufacturer and Builder. Vol. 19, no. 6. June 1887. pp. 133–134.
- YouTube
- ^ Atkinson 1996.
- ^ Bradshaw 1985.
- ^ Kilburn 1987.
- ^ Kilburn 1990.
- ^ Lea 1948.
- ^ a b "Whitworth Scholarship". whitworthsociety.org. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
- ^ "Whitworth Scholarship Awards (Undergraduate & Masters) - Details". whitworthscholarships.org.uk. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
- ^ "Whitworth Scholarship Awards". imeche.org. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
- ^ Ward & Curthoys 2004.
Sources
- Anon. (1869). The Illustrated London Almanack 1869. London: Illustrated London News.
- ISBN 0-7509-1211-1.
- Bradshaw, L.D. (1985). Origins of Street Names in the City Centre of Manchester: A Selection. Richardson. ISBN 978-0-907511-87-8.
- Edkins, Jo (2009). "Small units". Imperial Measures of Length. Retrieved 23 September 2009.
- Kilburn, Terence (1987). Joseph Whitworth: Toolmaker. ISBN 0907758223.
- Kilburn, Terrence (1990). Darley's 'Lady Bountiful': Lady Mary Louisa Whitworth, 1829-1896. Higham Press.
- Lea, Frederick Charles (1948). Sir Joseph Whitworth, a Pioneer of Mechanical Engineering. London: Longman.
- Roe, Joseph Wickham (1916). "Ch. IX Whitworth". English and American Tool Builders. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
- Ward, A. W.; Curthoys, M. C. (23 September 2004). "Christie, Richard Copley (1830–1901)". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/32408. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- Seccombe, Thomas (1900). Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 61. London: Smith, Elder & Co. . In
- Whitworth, Joseph; Wallis, George (1854). The Industry of the United States in Machinery, Manufactures, and Useful and Ornamental Arts. Compiled from the Official Reports of Messrs. Whitworth and Wallis. London, England: G. Routledge & Co. .
- Whitworth, Joseph (1873). Miscellaneous Papers on Mechanical Subjects: Guns and Steel. Longmans, Green, Reader, & Dyer.