Samuel Hall (baptised 1782 – 21 November 1863) was an English inventor and engineer.
Life
Hall was the eldest son of Robert Hall,
a cotton manufacturer and bleacher, of
Basford, Nottingham
Basford is a northerly suburb of Nottingham, in Nottinghamshire, England, incorporated into the city in 1877. It gave its name to Basford Rural District, which existed from 1894 to 1974. The ward population at the 2011 census was 16,207, est ...
, where he was baptised on 17 March 1782.
He was an elder brother of
Marshall Hall, the physiologist. He took out patents in 1817 and 1823 for "gassing" lace and net, which consisted in passing the fabric rapidly through a row of gas flames, all the loose fibres being thus removed without damage to the lace. The process exercised an important influence upon the lace trade of Nottingham. It brought much wealth to the inventor, but he unfortunately dissipated his fortune in bringing out other inventions.
Urban planner
In 1825, taking advantage of a sale of land to the north of Nottingham in
Sherwood
Sherwood may refer to:
Places Australia
*Sherwood, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane
* Sherwood, South Australia, a locality
*Shire of Sherwood, a former local government area of Queensland
* Electoral district of Sherwood, an electoral district fr ...
— then a hamlet — Hall laid out the grid street pattern to the north-east of
Mansfield Road, including Hall Street and Marshall Street, the latter named after his brother, Marshall.
Steam condenser
In 1838 Hall patented his "surface condenser", in which the steam is condensed by passing it through a number of small tubes cooled on the outside. It was chiefly intended for use at sea, and it was hoped that the difficulties attending the presence of salt in boilers would be obviated by charging them with fresh water at the start of a voyage and then recycling it. The invention was extensively tried out.
[ In 1842 ]Sir Edward Parry
Sir William Edward Parry (19 December 1790 – 8 July 1855) was a Royal Navy officer and explorer best known for his 1819–1820 expedition through the Parry Channel, probably the most successful in the long quest for the Northwest Passa ...
reported on behalf of the Admiralty that six of Hall's condensers had been fitted in steam packets; that they had given two to six years' service, but had then been removed, because their complexity made them difficult to keep in order.[ However, the principle of tubular condensers has subsequently been used generally for cooling purposes. His other patents, which number twenty in all, relate chiefly to steam engines and boilers.][
]
Death and recognition
Hall died on 21 November 1863 in very reduced circumstances, in Tredegar Square, Bow.[ Hall's inventions have become largely unknown, but in 2010 a ]pub
A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...
, in a former electric tram shed on the A60 road, in Sherwood, was named ''The Samuel Hall'' after him.[
]
Notes
References
Attribution
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Samuel
1782 births
1863 deaths
People from Basford, Nottinghamshire
English inventors