Henry Maudslay (1771-1831)

Category: Straight-line mechanisms

Item Number: S33

Description: Straight-line Linkage of Maudslay

A search through various historical records reveals three Maudslays to which Reuleaux may have been referring. Henry Maudslay[1] (1771-1831) and his two sons, Thomas (1792-1864) and Joseph (1801-1861), were all engineers and they all had extensive careers in building machines. Henry was born in Woolwich, the son of an artificer who worked in the Royal Arsenal. It is unclear whether or not Henry attended school, but by the time he was twelve, he was in the employ of the Arsenal as well. Although he began as a powder monkey, making and filling cartridges, he soon moved on to the carpentry and blacksmith sections of the Arsenal where he developed a great proficiency with tools and machines. At the age of eighteen he joined the firm of Joseph Bramah, a pioneer of hydraulics and the inventor of the press and lock, and assisted in the construction of a self-tightening leather collar for a hydraulic press. But not long after joining the firm, Henry got into a dispute with Bramah over pay and subsequently quit in 1798.

Leaving Bramah was probably the best opportunity for Henry. He established his own engineering business, and started creating new machines for various purposes. The first major contract he received was for developing machinery for making ships’ blocks[2] used in the rigging of sails for Mark Brunel. At the same time, Henry developed a new machine to cut the thread on screws, a process formerly done by hand. This machine tool, the metalworking lathe,[3] greatly increased the accuracy, replication, and interchangeability of screws, nuts and bolts. In 1805 Henry also took out patents for printing calico. As his business grew and prospered, Maudslay expanded his company[4] and changed the name to Henry Maudslay and Sons.[5] Although it appears that his sons were heavily involved with the development of new machines, most of the patents taken out were in Henry’s name (except Joseph’s patent on an oscillating engine in which the slide valves were worked by an eccentric, and one for a double-cylinder marine engine). Throughout his life Henry recognized the need for standardization in making goods of all sorts, and he improved the micrometer by a factor of ten so that it was capable if accurately measuring down to one ten-thousandths of inch. Henry and his company also developed a new type of slide rule and a method of desalinating seawater for marine boilers. Henry Maudslay and Sons manufactured equipment for flourmills, sawmills, minting equipment and for shaping metal.[6] One of their most successful tools to be developed was a machine that could automatically punch holes into boilerplates, a mortising machine.[7] This resulted in the company receiving a contract to supply the Royal Navy with iron plates for ships tanks. The company also moved into manufacturing steam engines[8] and marine engines.[9]

The quality and range and of products made the Henry Maudslay and Sons an excellent training ground for great engineers. Some of the men who worked their were Richard Roberts, inventor of the planing machine, Joseph Clement inventor of the water tap, James Nasmyth of steam hammer fame as well as Whitworth, Lewis and Muir.

Sources for Further Information on Maudslay:

1. Gilbert K, R., Henry Maudslay Machine Builder, London: Science Museum, 1971
2. Roy Porter and Marilyn Ogilvie (eds.). The Biographical Dictionary of Scientists. V. 2 (Lebedev to Zworykin). New York: Oxford University Press, 2000: 659-60.
3. Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee (eds.). The Dictionary of National Biography. V. XIII. London: Oxford University Press, 1917: 81-2.
4. http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/on-line/blockmaking/index.asp
5. http://www.tilthammer.com/bio/maud.html
6. http://www.vauxhallsociety.org.uk/Maudslay.html