Jacob Perkins
Encyclopedia
Jacob Perkins was an Anglo-American inventor, mechanical engineer and physicist
. Born in Newburyport, Massachusetts
, Perkins was apprenticed to a goldsmith
. He soon made himself known with a variety of useful mechanical inventions and eventually had twenty-one American and nineteen English patent
s.
Jacob married on Nov. 11, 1790 to Hannah Greenleaf of Newbury and they had nine children.
in Amesbury, Massachusetts
.
He created some of the best steel plates (as noted from English Engravers) for engraving, and started a printing business with engraver Gideon Fairman. They started with school books (The Running Hand, eight pages long), and also made currency that was not being forged.
In 1809 he bought the stereotype technology (prevention of counterfeit bills) from Asa Spencer, and registered the patent, and then employed Asa Spencer.
During the War of 1812
he worked on machinery for boring out cannons. He also started working on water compression and invented a bathometer or piezometer
to measure the depth of the sea by its pressure.
In 1816 he moved to Philadelphia and worked on steam power with Oliver Evans
, and concurrently set up a printing shop and bid on the printing of currency for the Second National Bank in Philadelphia.
With his printing business partner, Gideon Fairman, they employed Asa and went to England at Charles Heath
's urging in an attempt to win the £20,000 reward for "unforgable notes". They set up shop in England, and spent months on example currency, still on display today. Unfortunately for them, Sir Joseph Banks
thought that "unforgable" also implied that the inventor should be English by birth. Sir Joseph Banks successors awarded future contracts to the English printing company started with Charles Heath
. They made some books and later currency and stamps. Their stamps were the first known preglued stamps. Also concurrently, Jacob's brother ran the American printing business, and they made money on important fire safety patents. Charles Heath and Jacob Perkins worked together and indepentently on some concurrent projects. Jacob Perkins bought some technology, and patented it himself in multiple countries, and employed the true inventors (as was the case with Asa Spencer and Oliver Evans).
He also has patents for Heating and Air Conditioning technology.
.
His quality American bank currency attracted attention of the Royal Society
who were busy addressing the problem of massively forged English notes. In 1819 he went to England
with a plan for engraving banknote
s on steel. Example notes were shown to the Royal Society
president Sir Joseph Banks
. Printing English notes ultimately proved a success and was carried out by Perkins in partnership with the English engraver-publisher Charles Heath
and his associate Gideon Fairman. Together they formed the partnership Perkins, Fairman and Heath. Heath and Perkins also had support from their brothers. Perkins, Fairman and Heath was later renamed, when his son-in-law, Joshua Butters Bacon, bought out Charles Heath and the company was then known as Perkins, Bacon
. Perkins Bacon
provided banknotes for many banks, and foreign countries with postage stamp
s. Stamp production started for the British government in 1840 with the 1d black
and the 2d blue postage stamps, which incorporated an anti-forgery measure in the form of a complicated background produced by means of the rose engine, an invention of Perkins.
working at pressures up to 2000 psi, but these were not practical for the manufacturing technology of the time, though his concepts were revived a century later. In 1827 he became the first person in England to use a Uniflow steam engine
. A locomotive on the South Eastern Railway
was converted to the Uniflow system in 1849, although it is not known whose idea this was.
Perkins applied his Hermetic tube system (see below) to steam locomotive
boiler
s and a number of locomotives using this principle were made in 1836 for the London and South Western Railway
. This was a very early example of a high pressure steam locomotive
.
lay in the experiments by which he proved the compressibility of water and measured it by a piezometer
of his own invention. He became involved in lawsuit
s and had to close his engine manufactory, 1829–30, going into partnership with his second son (see below), manufacturing and installing central heating
systems using his hermetic tube principle. He also investigated refrigeration
machinery after discovering from his research in heating that liquified ammonia
caused a cooling effect.
. This was devoted to showing modern inventions. A popular feature was his steam gun, which did not find favour with the military.
cycle, assigned on August 14, 1834 and titled, "Apparatus and means for producing ice, and in cooling fluids." The idea had come from another American inventor, Oliver Evans
, who conceived of the idea in 1805 but never built a refrigerator. The Perkins patent, X6662, was granted just prior to a fire at the USPTO, so the text of the patent may not be extant. The same patent was granted in both Scotland and England separately.
(1799–1881), also born at Newburyport, went to England in 1827, and was in partnership with his father (later taking over the business on the latter's death). His grandson, Loftus Perkins
(1834–1891), most of whose life was spent in England, experimented with the application to steam engines of steam at very high pressures, constructing in 1880 a yacht, the Anthracite.
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
. Born in Newburyport, Massachusetts
Newburyport, Massachusetts
Newburyport is a small coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, 35 miles northeast of Boston. The population was 21,189 at the 2000 census. A historic seaport with a vibrant tourism industry, Newburyport includes part of Plum Island...
, Perkins was apprenticed to a goldsmith
Goldsmith
A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Since ancient times the techniques of a goldsmith have evolved very little in order to produce items of jewelry of quality standards. In modern times actual goldsmiths are rare...
. He soon made himself known with a variety of useful mechanical inventions and eventually had twenty-one American and nineteen English patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
s.
Early life
Jacob went to school in Newburyport till he was 12 and then was apprenticed to a goldsmith in Newburyport named Davis. Mr. Davis died three years later and Jacob (only fifteen) continued the business of making gold beads and added the manufacture of shoe buckles. When he was twenty-one he was employed by the master of the Massachusetts mint to make a die for striking copper coins, this was the cent bearing an eagle and an Indian.Jacob married on Nov. 11, 1790 to Hannah Greenleaf of Newbury and they had nine children.
Innovations
In 1790 at the age of 24 in Byfield, he created machines for cutting and heading nails. In 1795 he was granted a patent for his improved nail machines and started a nail manufacturing business on the Powwow RiverPowwow River
The Powwow River is a river located in New Hampshire and Massachusetts in the United States. It is a tributary of the Merrimack River, part of the Gulf of Maine watershed.-River course:...
in Amesbury, Massachusetts
Amesbury, Massachusetts
Amesbury is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. Though it officially became a city in 1996, its formal name remains "The Town of Amesbury." In 1890, 9798 people lived in Amesbury; in 1900, 9473; in 1910, 9894; in 1920, 10,036; and in 1940, 10,862. The population was 16,283 at...
.
He created some of the best steel plates (as noted from English Engravers) for engraving, and started a printing business with engraver Gideon Fairman. They started with school books (The Running Hand, eight pages long), and also made currency that was not being forged.
In 1809 he bought the stereotype technology (prevention of counterfeit bills) from Asa Spencer, and registered the patent, and then employed Asa Spencer.
During the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
he worked on machinery for boring out cannons. He also started working on water compression and invented a bathometer or piezometer
Piezometer
A piezometer is either a device used to measure static liquid pressure in a system by measuring the height to which a column of the liquid rises against gravity, or a device which measures the pressure of groundwater at a specific point...
to measure the depth of the sea by its pressure.
In 1816 he moved to Philadelphia and worked on steam power with Oliver Evans
Oliver Evans
Oliver Evans was an American inventor. Evans was born in Newport, Delaware to a family of Welsh settlers. At the age of 14 he was apprenticed to a wheelwright....
, and concurrently set up a printing shop and bid on the printing of currency for the Second National Bank in Philadelphia.
With his printing business partner, Gideon Fairman, they employed Asa and went to England at Charles Heath
Charles Heath
Charles Theodosius Heath was an English engraver, currency and stamp printer, book publisher and illustrator.-Life and work:...
's urging in an attempt to win the £20,000 reward for "unforgable notes". They set up shop in England, and spent months on example currency, still on display today. Unfortunately for them, Sir Joseph Banks
Joseph Banks
Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, GCB, PRS was an English naturalist, botanist and patron of the natural sciences. He took part in Captain James Cook's first great voyage . Banks is credited with the introduction to the Western world of eucalyptus, acacia, mimosa and the genus named after him,...
thought that "unforgable" also implied that the inventor should be English by birth. Sir Joseph Banks successors awarded future contracts to the English printing company started with Charles Heath
Charles Heath
Charles Theodosius Heath was an English engraver, currency and stamp printer, book publisher and illustrator.-Life and work:...
. They made some books and later currency and stamps. Their stamps were the first known preglued stamps. Also concurrently, Jacob's brother ran the American printing business, and they made money on important fire safety patents. Charles Heath and Jacob Perkins worked together and indepentently on some concurrent projects. Jacob Perkins bought some technology, and patented it himself in multiple countries, and employed the true inventors (as was the case with Asa Spencer and Oliver Evans).
He also has patents for Heating and Air Conditioning technology.
Financial Problems Detailed
Jacob Perkins and Charles Heath had many business successes, but also had financial difficulties, but usually not at the same time. The accounting records for their printing business shows the two borrowed from the business, and sold shares back and forth when necessary in any and all business ventures, and kept detailed records. This professional relationship ended when Jacob's son-in-law, Joshua Butters Bacon, bought out Charles Heath's share of their shared printing business, which then became Perkins BaconPerkins Bacon
Messrs. Perkins, Bacon & Co was a printer of books, bank notes and postage stamps, most notable for printing the Penny Black, the world's first adhesive postage stamps, in 1840.- Origins :...
.
Engraving
Perkins made several important new innovations in printing technology, including new steel engraving plates. Using these plates he made the first known steel engraved USA books (The Running Hand, school books, 8 pages each). He then made currency for a Boston Bank, and later for the National Bank.His quality American bank currency attracted attention of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
who were busy addressing the problem of massively forged English notes. In 1819 he went to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
with a plan for engraving banknote
Banknote
A banknote is a kind of negotiable instrument, a promissory note made by a bank payable to the bearer on demand, used as money, and in many jurisdictions is legal tender. In addition to coins, banknotes make up the cash or bearer forms of all modern fiat money...
s on steel. Example notes were shown to the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
president Sir Joseph Banks
Joseph Banks
Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, GCB, PRS was an English naturalist, botanist and patron of the natural sciences. He took part in Captain James Cook's first great voyage . Banks is credited with the introduction to the Western world of eucalyptus, acacia, mimosa and the genus named after him,...
. Printing English notes ultimately proved a success and was carried out by Perkins in partnership with the English engraver-publisher Charles Heath
Charles Heath
Charles Theodosius Heath was an English engraver, currency and stamp printer, book publisher and illustrator.-Life and work:...
and his associate Gideon Fairman. Together they formed the partnership Perkins, Fairman and Heath. Heath and Perkins also had support from their brothers. Perkins, Fairman and Heath was later renamed, when his son-in-law, Joshua Butters Bacon, bought out Charles Heath and the company was then known as Perkins, Bacon
Perkins Bacon
Messrs. Perkins, Bacon & Co was a printer of books, bank notes and postage stamps, most notable for printing the Penny Black, the world's first adhesive postage stamps, in 1840.- Origins :...
. Perkins Bacon
Perkins Bacon
Messrs. Perkins, Bacon & Co was a printer of books, bank notes and postage stamps, most notable for printing the Penny Black, the world's first adhesive postage stamps, in 1840.- Origins :...
provided banknotes for many banks, and foreign countries with postage stamp
Postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
s. Stamp production started for the British government in 1840 with the 1d black
Penny Black
The Penny Black was the world's first adhesive postage stamp used in a public postal system. It was issued in Britain on 1 May 1840, for official use from 6 May of that year....
and the 2d blue postage stamps, which incorporated an anti-forgery measure in the form of a complicated background produced by means of the rose engine, an invention of Perkins.
High pressure steam
He made an experimental high pressure steam engineSteam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
working at pressures up to 2000 psi, but these were not practical for the manufacturing technology of the time, though his concepts were revived a century later. In 1827 he became the first person in England to use a Uniflow steam engine
Uniflow steam engine
The uniflow type of steam engine uses steam that flows in one direction only in each half of the cylinder. Thermal efficiency is increased in the compound and multiple expansion types of steam engine by separating expansion into steps in separate cylinders; in the uniflow design, thermal efficiency...
. A locomotive on the South Eastern Railway
South Eastern Railway (UK)
The South Eastern Railway was a railway company in south-eastern England from 1836 until 1922. The company was formed to construct a route from London to Dover. Branch lines were later opened to Tunbridge Wells, Hastings, Canterbury and other places in Kent...
was converted to the Uniflow system in 1849, although it is not known whose idea this was.
Perkins applied his Hermetic tube system (see below) to steam locomotive
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
boiler
Boiler
A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications.-Materials:...
s and a number of locomotives using this principle were made in 1836 for the London and South Western Railway
London and South Western Railway
The London and South Western Railway was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Its network extended from London to Plymouth via Salisbury and Exeter, with branches to Ilfracombe and Padstow and via Southampton to Bournemouth and Weymouth. It also had many routes connecting towns in...
. This was a very early example of a high pressure steam locomotive
High pressure steam locomotive
A high-pressure steam locomotive is a steam locomotive with a boiler that operates at pressures well above what would be considered normal. In the later years of steam, boiler pressures were typically...
.
Hermetic tube
His chief contribution to physicsPhysics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
lay in the experiments by which he proved the compressibility of water and measured it by a piezometer
Piezometer
A piezometer is either a device used to measure static liquid pressure in a system by measuring the height to which a column of the liquid rises against gravity, or a device which measures the pressure of groundwater at a specific point...
of his own invention. He became involved in lawsuit
Lawsuit
A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
s and had to close his engine manufactory, 1829–30, going into partnership with his second son (see below), manufacturing and installing central heating
Central heating
A central heating system provides warmth to the whole interior of a building from one point to multiple rooms. When combined with other systems in order to control the building climate, the whole system may be a HVAC system.Central heating differs from local heating in that the heat generation...
systems using his hermetic tube principle. He also investigated refrigeration
Refrigeration
Refrigeration is a process in which work is done to move heat from one location to another. This work is traditionally done by mechanical work, but can also be done by magnetism, laser or other means...
machinery after discovering from his research in heating that liquified ammonia
Ammonia
Ammonia is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . It is a colourless gas with a characteristic pungent odour. Ammonia contributes significantly to the nutritional needs of terrestrial organisms by serving as a precursor to food and fertilizers. Ammonia, either directly or...
caused a cooling effect.
National Gallery of Practical Science
In 1832 Perkins established the National Gallery of Practical Science on Adelaide Street, West Strand, LondonStrand, London
Strand is a street in the City of Westminster, London, England. The street is just over three-quarters of a mile long. It currently starts at Trafalgar Square and runs east to join Fleet Street at Temple Bar, which marks the boundary of the City of London at this point, though its historical length...
. This was devoted to showing modern inventions. A popular feature was his steam gun, which did not find favour with the military.
Refrigeration
Perkins is credited with the first patent for the vapor-compression refrigerationVapor-compression refrigeration
Vapor-compression refrigeration is one of the many refrigeration cycles available for use. It has been and is the most widely used method for air-conditioning of large public buildings, offices, private residences, hotels, hospitals, theaters, restaurants and automobiles...
cycle, assigned on August 14, 1834 and titled, "Apparatus and means for producing ice, and in cooling fluids." The idea had come from another American inventor, Oliver Evans
Oliver Evans
Oliver Evans was an American inventor. Evans was born in Newport, Delaware to a family of Welsh settlers. At the age of 14 he was apprenticed to a wheelwright....
, who conceived of the idea in 1805 but never built a refrigerator. The Perkins patent, X6662, was granted just prior to a fire at the USPTO, so the text of the patent may not be extant. The same patent was granted in both Scotland and England separately.
Death
He retired in 1843 and died in London on 30 July 1849, at 84 years of age. He was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery, London.Family
His second son, Angier March PerkinsAngier March Perkins
]Angier March Perkins was a U.S. engineer who worked most of his career in the UK and was instrumental in developing the new technologies of central heating.-Life:...
(1799–1881), also born at Newburyport, went to England in 1827, and was in partnership with his father (later taking over the business on the latter's death). His grandson, Loftus Perkins
Loftus Perkins
Loftus Perkins was an English engineer, particularly involved in developing the practical technologies of central heating and refrigeration.-Life:...
(1834–1891), most of whose life was spent in England, experimented with the application to steam engines of steam at very high pressures, constructing in 1880 a yacht, the Anthracite.
External links
- Mr Perkins' Extraordinary Steam Gun of 1824 Illustrated account of the Perkins steam gun
- National Gallery of Practical Science - also known as The Adelaide Gallery
- Uniflow Steam Engines
- Heat Pipes