Joseph Bramah (13 April 1748 – 9 December 1814), born Stainborough Lane Farm,
Stainborough, in
Barnsley
Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough ha ...
,
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
, was an English
inventor
An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...
and
locksmith. He is best known for having improved the
flush toilet and inventing the
hydraulic press. Along with
William Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong
William George Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong, (26 November 1810 – 27 December 1900) was an English engineer and industrialist who founded the Armstrong Whitworth manufacturing concern on Tyneside. He was also an eminent scientist, inventor ...
, he can be considered one of the two fathers of hydraulic engineering.
Early life
Joseph Bramah was the second son in the family of Joseph Bramma (note the different spelling of the surname), a farmer, and his wife, Mary Denton. He was educated at the local school in
Silkstone
Silkstone is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, between the towns of Barnsley and Penistone. The parish includes the village of Silks ...
and on leaving school he was apprenticed to a local carpenter. On completing his apprenticeship he moved to
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, where he started work as a cabinet-maker. In 1783 he married Mary Lawton of
Mapplewell, near
Barnsley
Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough ha ...
, and the couple set up home in London. They subsequently had a daughter and four sons. The couple lived first at 124 Piccadilly, but later moved to Eaton Street, Pimlico.
Improved water closet
In London, Bramah worked for a Mr Allen, installing water closets (
toilets) which were designed to a patent obtained by
Alexander Cumming in 1775. He found that the current model being installed in London houses had a tendency to freeze in cold weather. Although it was Allen who improved the design by replacing the usual slide valve with a hinged flap that sealed the bottom of the bowl,
Bramah obtained the patent for it in 1778,
[ and began making toilets at a workshop in Denmark Street, St Giles. The design was a success and production continued well into the 19th century.
His original water closets are still working in Osborne House, ]Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...
's home on the Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Is ...
.
Bramah Locks company
After attending some lectures on technical aspects of locks, Bramah designed a lock of his own, receiving a patent for it in 1784. In the same year he started the Bramah Locks company at 124 Piccadilly, which is today based in Fitzrovia, London and Romford, Essex.
The locks produced by his company were famed for their resistance to lock picking and tampering, and the company famously had a " Challenge Lock" displayed in the window of their London shop from 1790 mounted on a board containing the inscription:
''The artist who can make an instrument that will pick or open this lock shall receive 200 guineas the moment it is produced.''
The challenge stood for over 67 years until, at the Great Exhibition of 1851, the American locksmith Alfred Charles Hobbs was able to open the lock and, following some argument about the circumstances under which he had opened it, was awarded the prize. Hobbs' attempt required some 51 hours, spread over 16 days.
The Challenge Lock is in the Science Museum
A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in ...
in London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
. An examination of the lock shows that it has been rebuilt since Hobbs picked it. Originally it had 18 iron slides and 1 central spring; it now has 13 steel slides, each with its own spring.
Bramah received a second patent for a lock design in 1798.
Machine tools
Partly due to the precision requirements of his locks, Bramah spent much time developing machine tool
A machine tool is a machine for handling or machining metal or other rigid materials, usually by cutting, boring, grinding, shearing, or other forms of deformations. Machine tools employ some sort of tool that does the cutting or shaping. Al ...
s to assist manufacturing processes. He relied heavily on the expertise of Henry Maudslay
Henry Maudslay ( pronunciation and spelling) (22 August 1771 – 14 February 1831) was an English machine tool innovator, tool and die maker, and inventor. He is considered a founding father of machine tool technology. His inventions were ...
whom he employed in his workshop from the age of 18. Between them they created a number of innovative machines that made the production of Bramah's locks more efficient, and were applicable to other fields of manufacture.
Just before Bramah died, his workshops also employed Joseph Clement who among other things made several contributions in the field of lathe design.
Hydraulic press
Bramah's most important invention was the hydraulic press. The hydraulic press depends on Pascal's principle, that pressure change throughout a closed system is constant. The press had two cylinders and pistons of different cross-sectional areas. If a force was exerted on the smaller piston, this would be translated into a larger force on the larger piston. The difference in the two forces would be proportional to the difference in area of the two pistons. In effect the cylinders act in a similar way that a lever is used to increase the force exerted. Bramah was granted a patent for his hydraulic press in 1795.
Bramah's hydraulic press had many industrial applications and still does today. At the time Bramah was bringing his concepts to fruition, the field of hydraulic engineering was an almost unknown science. Bramah and William Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong
William George Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong, (26 November 1810 – 27 December 1900) was an English engineer and industrialist who founded the Armstrong Whitworth manufacturing concern on Tyneside. He was also an eminent scientist, inventor ...
were the two pioneers in the field.
The hydraulic press is still known as the Bramah Press after its inventor.
Other inventions
Bramah was a very prolific inventor, though not all of his inventions were as important as his hydraulic press. They included: a beer engine (1797), a planing machine (1802), a paper-making machine (1805), a machine for automatically printing bank notes with sequential serial numbers (1806), and a machine for making quill pen nibs (1809). He also patented the first extrusion
Extrusion is a process used to create objects of a fixed cross-sectional profile by pushing material through a die of the desired cross-section. Its two main advantages over other manufacturing processes are its ability to create very complex c ...
process for making lead pipes and also machinery for making gun stocks (Patent No. 2652).
His greatest contribution to engineering was his insistence on quality control. He realised that for engines to succeed, they would have to be machined to a much better standard than was the practice. He taught Arthur Woolf to machine engines to a close tolerance. This enabled Cornish engines to run with high-pressure steam, vastly increasing their output. Woolf became the leading Cornish steam engineer and his designs were adopted by all the engine designers of the day. The 15-HP engines of Watt and others of circa 1800 gave way to 450-HP engines by 1835. Bramah can be viewed as a founding father in industrial quality control.
Death and legacy
One of Bramah's last inventions was a hydrostatic press capable of uprooting trees. This was put to work at Holt Forest in Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...
. While superintending this work Bramah caught a cold, which developed into pneumonia. He died at Holt Forest on 9 December 1814. He was buried in the churchyard of St Mary's, Paddington
Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Padd ...
.
The Brazilian Brahma beer
Brahma is a Brazilian beer, originally made by the Companhia Cervejaria Brahma, which was founded in 1888. In 1914, Brahma produced their national Malzbier. After that, the company began expanding internationally. The company bought the license ...
brand is named for him. In 2006, a pub in Barnsley
Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough ha ...
town centre was opened named the Joseph Bramah in his memory.
Patents
Bramah was a prolific inventor, and obtained 18 patents for his designs between 1778 and 1812.[Skempton (2002), p.70]
; 1778
: Flushing toilet
A flush toilet (also known as a flushing toilet, water closet (WC) – see also toilet names) is a toilet that disposes of human waste (principally urine and feces) by using the force of water to ''flush'' it through a drainpipe to another lo ...
(Pat. No. 1177)
; 21 August 1784
: Bramah lock (Pat. No. 1430)
; 9 May 1785
: Beer pump
; 1785
: Hydrostatical machine and boiler, propelling vessels, carriages, etc. (Pat. No. 1478)
; 1790
: Rotary engines (with Thomas Dickinson) (Pat. No. 1720)
; 1793
: Fire engines (Pat. No. 1948)
: Beer engines and brewing (Pat. No. 2196)
; 1795
: Hydraulic press (Pat. No. 2045)
; 1796
: First Pumper Fire Truck
; 1798
: Locks (Pat. No. 2232)
; 1802
: A planing machine for making gun stocks (Pat. No. 2652)
; 1805
: Improvements to paper manufacture and printing (Pat. No. 2840)
; 1806
: Printing and numbering of banknotes (Pat. No. 2957)
: Improvements to paper manufacture and printing (Pat. No. 2977)
; 1809
: Pens (Pat. No. 3260)
: Carriages (Pat. No. 3270)
; 1812
: Public water mains and high-pressure hydraulic mains (Pat. No. 3611)
: Carriages (Pat. No. 3616)
References
Bibliography
*
Spear, Brian. "Joseph Brahmah–Engineer, inventor and prolific patentee." World Patent Information 40 (2015): 51-53.
External links
Bramah.co.uk
Hygra.com
Crypto.com
Oxforddnb.com
Mr. Bramah's Patent Lock
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bramah, Joseph
1748 births
1814 deaths
Locksmiths
English inventors
English engineers
Hydraulic engineers
Machine tool builders
People from Wentworth, South Yorkshire
History of firefighting