William Clark (inventor)

William Clark (17 March 1821 – 22 January 1880) was an

.

Life

Born at

, and devised a complete system of drainage for that town.

In 1854 he entered the service of the

. Clark devoted himself with zeal to his work, and very soon proposed a complete scheme for the drainage of the city, only imperfectly carried out owing to the expense. He also devised a system of waterworks, comprising three large pumping stations, with their filter beds and settling tanks.

He returned to England in 1874, when he entered into partnership with W. F. Batho, M. Inst. C.E., and in the same year received the appointment of consulting engineer to the

.

Among Clark's inventions was his tied brick arch, of which examples exist in Calcutta and in other places in India; and he was joint patentee with William F. Batho of the well-known steam road roller. Among his schemes was a proposal for reclaiming the salt-water lakes in the neighbourhood of Calcutta. He was elected a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers on 2 February 1864, and a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1867.

He died from liver disease, at Surbiton, on 22 January 1880. He was the writer of The Drainage of Calcutta, 1871.^[1]

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Clark, William (1821-1880)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.