William Murdoch
Encyclopedia
William Murdoch (21 August 1754 – 15 November 1839) was a Scottish
engineer and long-term inventor.
Murdoch was employed by the firm of Boulton and Watt
and worked for them in Cornwall
, as a steam engine
erector for ten years, spending most of the rest of his life in Birmingham
, England.
He was the inventor of the oscillating steam engine, and gas lighting
is attributed to him in the early 1790s, also the term "gasometer
". However, Archibald Cochrane, ninth Earl of Dundonald, had already in 1789 used gas for lighting his family estate. Murdoch also made innovations to the steam engine, including the sun and planet gear
and D slide valve
. He invented the steam gun and the pneumatic tube
message system, and worked on one of the first British
paddle steamer
s to cross the English Channel
. Murdoch built a prototype
steam locomotive
in 1784 and made a number of discoveries in chemistry
.
He remained an employee and later a partner of Boulton & Watt until the 1830s, and his reputation as an inventor has been obscured by the reputations of Boulton and Watt and the firm they founded.
near Cumnock
, East Ayrshire
, Scotland
, the third of seven children and the first son to survive beyond infancy. A son of John Murdoch, a former Hanoverian
artillery
gunner and a Millwright
and tenant of Bello Mill
on the estate of James Boswell
in Auchinleck
, he was educated until the age of ten at the Old Cumnock Kirk
School before attending Auchinleck school under William Halbert, author of a highly regarded arithmetic
textbook. Murdoch excelled in mathematics
.
He also learned the principles of mechanics
, practical experimentation and working in metal and wood by assisting in his father's work. Together with his father, he built a "wooden horse" about 1763. Murdoch's "Wooden Horse on Wheels" was a tricycle propelled by hand cranks. There are reports that in his youth Murdoch was responsible for the construction of one of the bridges over the River Nith
; this possibly derives from his father's work in building the Craikston Bridge over Lugar Water
in 1774, which William would have been involved in. He is also said to have carried out experiments in natural gas, using coal
heated in a copper kettle in a small cave near his father's mill. However, there is no contemporary documentation.
, a distance of over 300 miles (482.8 km), to ask for a job with James Watt
, the steam engine
manufacturer. Both Watt and Murdoch were probably aware of each other because of their connections with James Boswell
, who had made several visits to Watt's workshop at Soho. Watt's partner Matthew Boulton
was so impressed by Murdoch's wood
en hat, made on a lathe of his own design, that he hired him. Murdoch began his career with Boulton and Watt in the pattern
workshop of their Soho Foundry
, making patterns for the casting of machine parts. By 1778 Watt wrote:
He Anglicised
his name to "Murdock" when he settled in England. Murdoch progressed to work in fitting and erecting steam engines and was often sent from Soho for this purpose.
By 1779 Boulton was writing to Watt:
On his first solo job erecting an engine at Wanlockhead
Mine, Murdoch made the first of many improvements to the standard Boulton and Watt engine
by rearranging the gears to enable the steam valve
to be worked automatically by the action of the exhaust shaft.
in Cornwall
as a senior engine erector, responsible for the erection, maintenance & repair of Boulton & Watt engines. These were used for pumping water out of the Cornish Tin
mines, and therefore the efficiency and efficacy
of the engines was an important factor in the amount of tin, and money, which could be extracted from a mine. At that time steam engines were not simply sold to customers but operated, and maintained by the builders for groups or individuals known as 'adventurers' (shareholders). The engine manufacturers were paid not for a completed engine but through a complex formula calculated on the basis of that engine's performance, as Watt described:
Therefore Murdoch's skill in getting the most out of his engines directly impacted upon Boulton and Watts profits. This he did so successfully that by 1782 Boulton was writing:
Due to the frequent problems which could occur with steam engines Murdoch was kept busy traveling around the area repairing and attempting to improve the performance of the engines under his care.
s went on, often through the reporting of casual conversations between engineers and practical observations of engine modifications. The risk of his patents being infringed upon was something which particularly exercised Watt, and so Murdoch was, in addition to his other activities, called upon to make reports and swear out affidavit
s for legal actions against Boulton and Watts competitors. In the close knit and clannish Cornwall of the time this was sometimes at his own risk. As one of his colleagues stated to Watt:
This early industrial espionage did not operate all in one direction and Murdoch was often required to undertake inspections of competitors' engines, either to determine whether patents had been infringed or to assess the effectiveness of those engines.
of his employers, and frequently it was they who filed, and benefited from, patent
s on these inventions.
One of Murdoch's most significant inventions, for which evidence exists to attribute it to him, was the sun and planet gear
which allowed steam power to be used to "produce a continued Rotative or Circular Motion round an Axis or Centre, and thereby to give Motion to the Wheels of Mills or other Machines". This gear converted the vertical motion of a beam, driven by a small steam engine, into circular motion using a 'planet', a cogwheel fixed at the end of the pumping rod (connected to the beam) of the engine. With the motion of the beam this revolved around, and turned, the 'sun' a larger rotating cog
which turned the drive shaft. This system of achieving rotary motion was patented in his own name by James Watt in October 1781 although Samuel Smiles, biographer of Boulton and Watt, attributes this to Murdoch and there also exists a drawing of the sun and planet system in Murdoch's hand dated August 1781. Other evidence attributing this invention to William Murdoch takes the form of a letter from Boulton to a colleague concerning Watt's forthcoming October patents in which he writes:
Another innovation of Murdoch's was his 1799 invention of a much simplified and more efficient steam wheel than those in use at the time. A precursor of the steam turbine
, the steam wheel allowed the wheel to be directly turned by the pressure of the steam moving through it. By this time Murdoch's contract had been amended and he was able to patent this device in his own name.
Murdoch also carried out a number of experiments with compressed air
and developed the first pneumatic message system which worked by using compressed air to propel a message in a cylinder through a tube to its intended destination. This system was developed by the London Pneumatic Despatch Company
and became widely used; Harrods
in particular used this system until at least the 1960s. Murdoch also used compressed air to ring a bell at his home to announce visitors.
Some of Murdoch's other minor inventions and experiments were: a machine developed in 1784 or 1785 in Cornwall for drilling wooden pipes, (in 1810 this was further developed and patented for stone
pipes), a steam cannon
which he attempted to use in 1803 to knock down a wall at Soho, a steam gun in the same year which fired 3 cm lead bullets, and machinery to grind and compress peat moss
under great pressure to produce a material with "the appearance of the finest Jet
".
An important invention for which William Murdoch's name is little known is Britain's first working model of a steam carriage, or road locomotive, in 1784. French engineer Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot
had already demonstrated the utility of such a device by building (from 1769) two full-sized working steam vehicles, one of which was designed to carry 4-5 tonne
s. All that was needed was a more effective design.
The earliest mention of Murdoch's thoughts and plans for this method of transport was in March 1784 when his colleague in Cornwall, Thomas Wilson, wrote to Watt on Murdoch's "new scheme":
Replies from Watt made it clear that he thought there was no future in such an idea and, fearful of losing Murdoch's services in Cornwall, attempted to dissuade him from the scheme.
A later letter from Boulton disclosed more details of Murdoch's ideas
In the same letter Boulton also secretly urged Watt to include a scheme for a steam powered carriage in his patent application, which Watt did shortly thereafter.
By this time Murdoch had already built a working model of his steam carriage, which was held in the Museum of Science and Industry
, Birmingham until its closure in 1997 and is now at Thinktank, Birmingham's new science museum; accounts exist from witnesses who "saw the model steam carriage run around Murdoch's living room in Redruth in 1784". This is the first recorded example in Great Britain of a man-made machine moving around completely under its own power.
Murdoch's working model was a three wheeled vehicle about a foot in height with the engine and boiler placed between the two larger back wheels with a spirit lamp underneath to heat the water and a tiller at the front turning the smaller front wheel. The mechanics of the model locomotive incorporated a number of innovations, such as a boiler safety valve
, having the cylinder partly immersed in the boiler and using a new valve system on the lines of the D-slide valve.
This model was not the only one made by Murdoch as he continued experimenting with the design and by August 1786 had made at least one other model, of a different size, which we know of. Apart from this Murdoch does not appear to have worked much on his ideas from 1784 to 1786, because of the continuing high volume of work for Boulton and Watt, his marriage in 1785, and the birth of his and his wife's twins
in the same year. Shortly after this birth, and with a second model already built, Murdoch took steps to patent his steam locomotive. However, at Exeter
on the way to London he was met by Boulton who persuaded him to return to Cornwall without registering the patent. As Boulton wrote to Watt on 2 September 1795:
This demonstration of his steam carriage in Rivers Great Room, at the King's Head hotel, Truro
, was the first public demonstration in Britain given of steam locomotion in action.
Although after 1786 there is no further mention of Murdoch's work on Steam Carriages in Watt's or Boulton's correspondence, a volume of evidence exists that he continued to work on it without his employers' support, and some argue that a full size version was built.
One story often told, both in respect of a full size carriage & one of his models, is that one night Murdoch decided to test his carriage outside on the open road and it soon outpaced him, leaving him to chase after it. Whilst chasing it he encountered a local clergyman in a state of considerable distress who had mistaken his carriage, with its billowing smoke and fire burning under the boiler, for the devil
. This story may be accurate, however is more likely to relate to a model than to a full-size steam carriage.
Another story often told, this one almost certainly apocryphal, is of Murdoch travelling from "mine to mine in a steam chaise lit by gas", given the state of the roads at that time this can be discounted. However, it is argued by John Griffiths that Murdoch may have built a full-size steam carriage some time in the 1790s, which could be the source of this story.
A fact important to the later development of the steam locomotive by others was that, in 1797 and 1798, Richard Trevithick
came to live in Redruth next door to the house where William Murdoch lived (1782 to 1798). Trevithick would have seen and been influenced by Murdoch's experiments, and would certainly have been aware of his work in this area. There is also a story told by Murdoch's son John of a visit by Trevithick and Andrew Vivian
to see a model engine in 1794:
In any event without the support of Boulton and Watt, who appear to have opposed Murdoch's work due to the need to use high pressure steam which Watt distrusted, Murdoch was unable to develop or gain publicity for his invention and it was left to Trevithick and others to develop it commercially later.
Trevithick's 1801 "Puffing Devil" and 1803 "London Steam Carriage" look similar to Murdoch's model Steam Carriages made in the 1780s and 1790s.
cement
made from sal ammoniac
, or ammonium chloride
and iron filings, apparently discovered when Murdoch observed that these 2 components had accidentally mixed in his tool bag and formed a solid mass. This iron cement was used to fix and harden the joints of steam engines, thus creating a hard durable seal.
Another discovery, and the first for which Murdoch took out a patent was that of
This patent was filed in 1791 and although it was not developed at the time this can be seen as the first step in the development of aniline dyes and coatings.
, a precipitate made from sturgeon
used in the clarifying of beer to remove impurities, which had to be imported from Russia
at great expense. Murdoch's replacement was made from dried Cod
and was much cheaper than the 25 shilling
s a pound
which isinglass cost. This cost saving was so attractive that the Committee of London Brewers paid £2000 for the right to use his invention.
Murdoch's isinglass replacement was so effective that in a court case brought by the British Customs and Excise
Authorities, the noted Chemist, Sir Humphry Davy
in answer to a question on whether it was "proper to be used for the purpose of fineing beer" testified that:
Use of Murdoch's "Isinglass made of British fish" continued and played an important role in reducing British brewers' reliance on imported raw materials.
as a replacement for oil
and tallow
produced light. It was in 1792 that he first began experimenting with the use of gas
, derived from the heating of coal and other materials, for lighting. There is some uncertainty as to when he first demonstrated this process in practice, however most sources identify this as between 1792 and 1794.
In order to use gas for practical purposes it was first necessary to develop a working method for the production and capture of the gas. There is considerable doubt as to the date by which this process was perfected. However, numerous accounts exist that by 1794 Murdoch was producing coal gas from a small retort
containing heated coals with a three or four foot iron
tube attached, through which he piped the gas before sending it through an old gun
barrel and igniting it to produce light.
Murdoch's house at Redruth was the first domestic residence to be lit by gas.
Over the next few years Murdoch performed "a series of experiments upon the quantity and quality of the gasses contained in different substances" and upon the best way of transporting, storing, purifying and lighting these. It is known, by the account of William Fairbairn
that Murdoch occasionally used his gas as a portable lantern
.
In 1798 Murdoch returned to Birmingham to work in the Soho foundry and continued his experiments with gas, as part of which he lit the interior of the Soho main building, although it is likely that it was lit only in part and not (at this time) permanently. In 1802 as part of the public celebrations of the Peace of Amiens he made a public exhibition of his lighting by illuminating the exterior of the Soho Foundry. The first industrial factory to be illuminated by gas was the Philips and Lee cotton
mill in Manchester
which was fully lit by Murdoch in 1805, four years after the idea was first broached. Initially this mill contained 50 gas lights, although this soon grew to 904. The length of time taken to complete this project was partly due to experimentations and improvements in the process developed by Murdoch to make the lighting of a large factory by gas practicable and cost effective - such as purifying the gas with lime
to remove the smell and determining the best temperature
to heat coal to obtain the maximum quantity of gas - although Murdoch continued to be involved in other engine work for Boulton and Watt, which took up much of his time.
Despite his pioneering work with gas Murdoch never made any money from this invention due to his failure to obtain a patent. This may have been partly a result of the advice of James Watt, Junior, that the discovery was not patentable, and partly a result of the commercial failure of his earlier patent of 1791 for an early form of aniline dye. This failure to apply for a patent, despite the commercial participation of Boulton and Watt in this field, left the fledgling industry of gas production and lighting open for exploitation by other commercial interests, such as his former assistant Samuel Clegg
and Friedrich Winzer. In large part this was due to the failure of Boulton and Watt to make sufficient effort to expand from the factory and mill lighting market which they dominated by 1809 into the street and domestic lighting market. This reason for this lassitude is unknown but can be attributed to lack of interest, a failure to appreciate the size of the potential market, and a lack of desire to be involved in smaller, less prestigious projects. By May 1809 Boulton and Watt faced little competition in any gas market due to their success in lobbying
Parliament
to block the granting of a charter for the National Heat and Light Company, their only real competitor in this field. However, despite blocking the charter until 1812 this advantage was squandered as Boulton and Watt did not develop the gas market, or technology, and in 1814 abandoned the gas business. A few decades later most towns in Britain were lit by gas and most had their own gasworks
.
Apart from the benefits of gas lighting and heating, the process for producing coal gas yielded a number of other substances which were subsequently successfully exploited. Among these were coke
; ammonia
; phenol
(carbolic acid), a disinfectant and one of the components of bakelite the first synthetic plastic invented in 1910; and coal tar
, which contained a number of organic chemicals
. Coal tar was subsequently used to produce the first synthetic dye
, mauve
, by William Henry Perkin in 1856 and in 1853 was found, by Charles Gerhardt
to contain the chemical acetylsalicylic acid, now known as aspirin
.
the engine for North River Steamboat
, the first steamboat to run on the Hudson river
, (the boat later referred to as the Clermont). Murdoch was primarily responsible for designing and building this engine and for agreeing technical details and designs with Fulton, who also worked on the design of the engine. Boulton and Watt also provided engines for a number of other marine vessels. However, it wasn't until the purchase of The Caledonia by James Watt Jr. in 1817 that they became seriously involved in the marine engineering business. The task of refitting The Caledonia, building and installing new engines and boilers and making her seaworthy and efficient in fuel consumption was a difficult process and Murdoch, although frequently suffering from fever
and Rheumatism
, directed this. By August the vessel was able to be tested on its intended route, from Surrey Commercial Docks
, London to Gravesend
and at first made 8 miles per hour (mph). During its sea trials Murdoch carried out experiments on The Caledonia to measure the effect on fuel consumption and speed on changes in the depth of the paddles and whether one or both engines was used. This resulted in an increase of speed to 12 mi/h.
While carrying out trials The Caledonia was challenged to a race by their competitors for the London to Gravesend route, the Sons of Commerce. Actually there were 2 races to Gravesend, both of which were won by the Boulton and Watt vessel, by a greater margin on the second attempt. The result was that the proprietors of the Sons of Commerce placed an order with Boulton and Watt for a new steamboat engine. There were also a number of other orders for steamboat engines, both for commercial customers and the Royal Navy
and Murdoch was in effect the head of this branch of the business, being referred to and deferred to on all aspects of their marine business. It is estimated that from 1813 until 1825 over 3000 hp of marine engines were made by Boulton and Watt, around 40 to 60 vessels.
Shortly after the trials were completed The Caledonia carried out a crossing of the English Channel
when Watt Jr. took it to Rotterdam
and up the Rhine to Koblenz
.
in 1808. In that year he was awarded their Rumford Gold Medal
for "both the first idea of applying, and the first actual application of gas to economical purposes".
In 1817 Murdoch moved into a large new house he had built outside Birmingham. The house incorporated a number of curiosities and innovations he has designed including gas lighting, a doorbell
worked by compressed air and an air conditioning
system: described by Joshua Field
as "He has a good stove for heating the rooms with hot air which enters the rooms and staircases at convenient places."
In 1815 he designed and installed the first gravity fed piped hot water system since classical times at Leamington Spa
Baths.
In September 1830, in declining health at age 76, Murdoch's partnership with Boulton & Watt which began in 1810 came to an end, at which point he was receiving £1,000 per year. The reasons for this appear to be both the increasing unprofitability of Boulton and Watt and Murdoch's increasing ill health
Murdoch died in 1839, aged 85. He was buried at St. Mary's Church, Handsworth
.
At the celebration of the centenary of gas lighting in 1892, a bust of Murdoch was unveiled by Lord Kelvin in the Wallace Monument
, Stirling
, and there is also a bust of him by Sir Francis Legatt Chantrey
at St. Mary's Church
.
His life and works are commemorated by the Moonstones
; a statue of him, Boulton and Watt
, by William Bloye
; and Murdock Road, all in Birmingham
. There is also a Murdoch House in Rotherhithe
, London.
The town of Redruth has an Annual Murdoch Day in June. The 2007 event included a parade of schoolchildren with banners on the theme "Earth, Wind, Fire and Water" and the first public journey of a full-size, working reproduction of Murdoch's Steam Carriage.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
engineer and long-term inventor.
Murdoch was employed by the firm of Boulton and Watt
Boulton and Watt
The firm of Boulton & Watt was initially a partnership between Matthew Boulton and James Watt.-The engine partnership:The partnership was formed in 1775 to exploit Watt's patent for a steam engine with a separate condenser. This made much more efficient use of its fuel than the older Newcomen engine...
and worked for them in Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
, as a steam engine
Steam 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...
erector for ten years, spending most of the rest of his life in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, England.
He was the inventor of the oscillating steam engine, and gas lighting
Gas lighting
Gas lighting is production of artificial light from combustion of a gaseous fuel, including hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, or natural gas. Before electricity became sufficiently widespread and economical to allow for general public use, gas was the most...
is attributed to him in the early 1790s, also the term "gasometer
Gasometer
A gas holder is a large container where natural gas or town gas is stored near atmospheric pressure at ambient temperatures. The volume of the container follows the quantity of stored gas, with pressure coming from the weight of a movable cap...
". However, Archibald Cochrane, ninth Earl of Dundonald, had already in 1789 used gas for lighting his family estate. Murdoch also made innovations to the steam engine, including the sun and planet gear
Sun and planet gear
The sun and planet gear was a method of converting reciprocal motion to rotary motion and was utilised in a reciprocating steam engine....
and D slide valve
D slide valve
The slide valve is a rectilinear valve used to control the admission of steam into, and emission of exhaust from, the cylinder of a steam engine.-Use:...
. He invented the steam gun and the pneumatic tube
Pneumatic tube
Pneumatic tubes are systems in which cylindrical containers are propelled through a network of tubes by compressed air or by partial vacuum...
message system, and worked on one of the first British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
paddle steamer
Paddle steamer
A paddle steamer is a steamship or riverboat, powered by a steam engine, using paddle wheels to propel it through the water. In antiquity, Paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses were wheelers driven by animals or humans...
s to cross the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
. Murdoch built a prototype
Prototype
A prototype is an early sample or model built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from.The word prototype derives from the Greek πρωτότυπον , "primitive form", neutral of πρωτότυπος , "original, primitive", from πρῶτος , "first" and τύπος ,...
steam locomotive
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
in 1784 and made a number of discoveries in chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
.
He remained an employee and later a partner of Boulton & Watt until the 1830s, and his reputation as an inventor has been obscured by the reputations of Boulton and Watt and the firm they founded.
Early life
William Murdoch was born in LugarLugar, East Ayrshire
Lugar is a small village in East Ayrshire, southwest Scotland. Lugar is in Auchinleck Parish, Kyle District, Ayrshire. It is ENE of Cumnock, and about from Cronberry and from Gasswater. Lugar is a station on the Mauchline and Muirkirk branch of the Glasgow and South Western Railway...
near Cumnock
Cumnock
Cumnock is a town in East Ayrshire, Scotland. The town sits at the confluence of the Glaisnock Water and the Lugar Water...
, East Ayrshire
East Ayrshire
East Ayrshire is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders on to North Ayrshire, East Renfrewshire, South Lanarkshire, South Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, the third of seven children and the first son to survive beyond infancy. A son of John Murdoch, a former Hanoverian
House of Hanover
The House of Hanover is a deposed German royal dynasty which has ruled the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg , the Kingdom of Hanover, the Kingdom of Great Britain, the Kingdom of Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
gunner and a Millwright
Millwright
A millwright is a craftsman or tradesman engaged with the construction and maintenance of machinery.Early millwrights were specialist carpenters who erected machines used in agriculture, food processing and processing lumber and paper...
and tenant of Bello Mill
Bello Mill
Bello Mill was a mill dating from the 18th century on the river called the Lugar Water, on the estate of James Boswell in Ayrshire, in Scotland. Before being rebuilt in the 1940s, it had three different sets of mill stones...
on the estate of James Boswell
James Boswell
James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck was a lawyer, diarist, and author born in Edinburgh, Scotland; he is best known for the biography he wrote of one of his contemporaries, the English literary figure Samuel Johnson....
in Auchinleck
Auchinleck
Auchinleck ; is a village five miles south-east of Mauchline, and a couple of miles north-west of Cumnock in East Ayrshire, Scotland.Near the village is Auchinleck House, past home of the lawyer, diarist and biographer James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck.Auchinleck has much been associated...
, he was educated until the age of ten at the Old Cumnock Kirk
Kirk
Kirk can mean "church" in general or the Church of Scotland in particular. Many place names and personal names are also derived from it.-Basic meaning and etymology:...
School before attending Auchinleck school under William Halbert, author of a highly regarded arithmetic
Arithmetic
Arithmetic or arithmetics is the oldest and most elementary branch of mathematics, used by almost everyone, for tasks ranging from simple day-to-day counting to advanced science and business calculations. It involves the study of quantity, especially as the result of combining numbers...
textbook. Murdoch excelled in mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
.
He also learned the principles of mechanics
Mechanics
Mechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the behavior of physical bodies when subjected to forces or displacements, and the subsequent effects of the bodies on their environment....
, practical experimentation and working in metal and wood by assisting in his father's work. Together with his father, he built a "wooden horse" about 1763. Murdoch's "Wooden Horse on Wheels" was a tricycle propelled by hand cranks. There are reports that in his youth Murdoch was responsible for the construction of one of the bridges over the River Nith
River Nith
The River Nith is a river in South West Scotland.-Source, flow and mouth:The Nith rises in the Carsphairn hills of East Ayrshire, more precisely between Prickeny Hill and Enoch Hill, 7 km East of Dalmellington...
; this possibly derives from his father's work in building the Craikston Bridge over Lugar Water
Lugar Water
The Lugar Water, or River Lugar, is created by the confluence of Bello Water and Guelt Water, both of which flow from the hills of the Southern Uplands in East Ayrshire, Scotland....
in 1774, which William would have been involved in. He is also said to have carried out experiments in natural gas, using coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
heated in a copper kettle in a small cave near his father's mill. However, there is no contemporary documentation.
Birmingham
In 1777, at age 23, Murdoch walked to BirminghamBirmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, a distance of over 300 miles (482.8 km), to ask for a job with James Watt
James Watt
James Watt, FRS, FRSE was a Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer whose improvements to the Newcomen steam engine were fundamental to the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution in both his native Great Britain and the rest of the world.While working as an instrument maker at the...
, the steam engine
Steam 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...
manufacturer. Both Watt and Murdoch were probably aware of each other because of their connections with James Boswell
James Boswell
James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck was a lawyer, diarist, and author born in Edinburgh, Scotland; he is best known for the biography he wrote of one of his contemporaries, the English literary figure Samuel Johnson....
, who had made several visits to Watt's workshop at Soho. Watt's partner Matthew Boulton
Matthew Boulton
Matthew Boulton, FRS was an English manufacturer and business partner of Scottish engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century the partnership installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engines, which were a great advance on the state of the art, making possible the...
was so impressed by Murdoch's wood
Wood
Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
en hat, made on a lathe of his own design, that he hired him. Murdoch began his career with Boulton and Watt in the pattern
Pattern (casting)
In casting, a pattern is a replica of the object to be cast, used to prepare the cavity into which molten material will be poured during the casting process.Patterns used in sand casting may be made of wood, metal, plastics or other materials...
workshop of their Soho Foundry
Soho Foundry
Soho Foundry was a factory created in 1795 by Matthew Boulton and James Watt at Smethwick, West Midlands, England , for the manufacture of steam engines.-History:...
, making patterns for the casting of machine parts. By 1778 Watt wrote:
if William Murdoch is not at home he should be sent for immediately as he understands the patterns and care must be taken to avoid mistakes of which our engine shop has been too guilty.
He Anglicised
Anglicisation
Anglicisation, or anglicization , is the process of converting verbal or written elements of any other language into a form that is more comprehensible to an English speaker, or, more generally, of altering something such that it becomes English in form or character.The term most often refers to...
his name to "Murdock" when he settled in England. Murdoch progressed to work in fitting and erecting steam engines and was often sent from Soho for this purpose.
By 1779 Boulton was writing to Watt:
I think Wm. Murdock a valuable man and deserves every civility and encouragement.
On his first solo job erecting an engine at Wanlockhead
Wanlockhead
Wanlockhead is a village in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland nestling in the Lowther Hills one mile south of Leadhills at the head of the Mennock Pass, which forms part of the Southern Uplands...
Mine, Murdoch made the first of many improvements to the standard Boulton and Watt engine
Engine
An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert energy into useful mechanical motion. Heat engines, including internal combustion engines and external combustion engines burn a fuel to create heat which is then used to create motion...
by rearranging the gears to enable the steam valve
Valve
A valve is a device that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically pipe fittings, but are usually discussed as a separate category...
to be worked automatically by the action of the exhaust shaft.
Cornwall
In September 1779 Murdoch was sent to RedruthRedruth
Redruth is a town and civil parish traditionally in the Penwith Hundred in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It has a population of 12,352. Redruth lies approximately at the junction of the A393 and A3047 roads, on the route of the old London to Land's End trunk road , and is approximately west of...
in Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
as a senior engine erector, responsible for the erection, maintenance & repair of Boulton & Watt engines. These were used for pumping water out of the Cornish Tin
Tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...
mines, and therefore the efficiency and efficacy
Efficacy
Efficacy is the capacity to produce an effect. It has different specific meanings in different fields. In medicine, it is the ability of an intervention or drug to reproduce a desired effect in expert hands and under ideal circumstances.- Healthcare :...
of the engines was an important factor in the amount of tin, and money, which could be extracted from a mine. At that time steam engines were not simply sold to customers but operated, and maintained by the builders for groups or individuals known as 'adventurers' (shareholders). The engine manufacturers were paid not for a completed engine but through a complex formula calculated on the basis of that engine's performance, as Watt described:
Our profits arise not from making the engine, but from a certain proportion of the savings in fuel which we make over any common engine, that raises the same quantity of water to the same height.
Therefore Murdoch's skill in getting the most out of his engines directly impacted upon Boulton and Watts profits. This he did so successfully that by 1782 Boulton was writing:
We want more Murdocks, for of all others he is the most active man and best engine erector I ever saw...When I look at the work done it astonishes me & is entirely owing to the spirit and activity of Murdoch who hath not gone to bed 3 of the nights.
Due to the frequent problems which could occur with steam engines Murdoch was kept busy traveling around the area repairing and attempting to improve the performance of the engines under his care.
Industrial espionage
In Cornwall at that time there were a number of engine erectors competing with each other, each with different technical methods of achieving the same ends. As such a great deal of copying of mechanical innovations, and violation of patentPatent
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 went on, often through the reporting of casual conversations between engineers and practical observations of engine modifications. The risk of his patents being infringed upon was something which particularly exercised Watt, and so Murdoch was, in addition to his other activities, called upon to make reports and swear out affidavit
Affidavit
An affidavit is a written sworn statement of fact voluntarily made by an affiant or deponent under an oath or affirmation administered by a person authorized to do so by law. Such statement is witnessed as to the authenticity of the affiant's signature by a taker of oaths, such as a notary public...
s for legal actions against Boulton and Watts competitors. In the close knit and clannish Cornwall of the time this was sometimes at his own risk. As one of his colleagues stated to Watt:
If he makes an Affidavit against Carpenter or Penandrea, there will be no safety for him in Redruth.
This early industrial espionage did not operate all in one direction and Murdoch was often required to undertake inspections of competitors' engines, either to determine whether patents had been infringed or to assess the effectiveness of those engines.
Mechanical improvements and inventions
While based in Cornwall Murdoch had to deal with a wide range of mechanical problems related to steam engines, and this led him to make practical improvements to the basic steam engine designs used by Boulton and Watt. From 1782 there is evidence that Murdoch was discussing and collaborating with Watt on a number of inventions and improvements. There is, however, a dearth of letters from Murdoch to Watt from 1780 until 1797 in the Watt archive, possibly, as argued by John Griffiths, due to an attempt by Watt's son, James Watt Junior, to uphold his father's reputation by removing any evidence of the origin of some of the inventions he patented. It is almost certain that Murdoch's contract of employment, in common with those for other employees of Boulton and Watt, specified that anything he invented would be the intellectual propertyIntellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
of his employers, and frequently it was they who filed, and benefited from, 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 on these inventions.
One of Murdoch's most significant inventions, for which evidence exists to attribute it to him, was the sun and planet gear
Sun and planet gear
The sun and planet gear was a method of converting reciprocal motion to rotary motion and was utilised in a reciprocating steam engine....
which allowed steam power to be used to "produce a continued Rotative or Circular Motion round an Axis or Centre, and thereby to give Motion to the Wheels of Mills or other Machines". This gear converted the vertical motion of a beam, driven by a small steam engine, into circular motion using a 'planet', a cogwheel fixed at the end of the pumping rod (connected to the beam) of the engine. With the motion of the beam this revolved around, and turned, the 'sun' a larger rotating cog
Gear
A gear is a rotating machine part having cut teeth, or cogs, which mesh with another toothed part in order to transmit torque. Two or more gears working in tandem are called a transmission and can produce a mechanical advantage through a gear ratio and thus may be considered a simple machine....
which turned the drive shaft. This system of achieving rotary motion was patented in his own name by James Watt in October 1781 although Samuel Smiles, biographer of Boulton and Watt, attributes this to Murdoch and there also exists a drawing of the sun and planet system in Murdoch's hand dated August 1781. Other evidence attributing this invention to William Murdoch takes the form of a letter from Boulton to a colleague concerning Watt's forthcoming October patents in which he writes:
He has another rotative scheme to add, which I could have told him of long ago when first invented by William Murdock but I do not think it a matter of much consequence.
Another innovation of Murdoch's was his 1799 invention of a much simplified and more efficient steam wheel than those in use at the time. A precursor of the steam turbine
Steam turbine
A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884....
, the steam wheel allowed the wheel to be directly turned by the pressure of the steam moving through it. By this time Murdoch's contract had been amended and he was able to patent this device in his own name.
Murdoch also carried out a number of experiments with compressed air
Pneumatics
Pneumatics is a branch of technology, which deals with the study and application of use of pressurized gas to effect mechanical motion.Pneumatic systems are extensively used in industry, where factories are commonly plumbed with compressed air or compressed inert gases...
and developed the first pneumatic message system which worked by using compressed air to propel a message in a cylinder through a tube to its intended destination. This system was developed by the London Pneumatic Despatch Company
London Pneumatic Despatch Company
The London Pneumatic Despatch Company was formed on 30 June 1859, to design, build and operate an underground railway system for the carrying of mail, parcels and light freight between locations in London...
and became widely used; Harrods
Harrods
Harrods is an upmarket department store located in Brompton Road in Brompton, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London. The Harrods brand also applies to other enterprises undertaken by the Harrods group of companies including Harrods Bank, Harrods Estates, Harrods Aviation and Air...
in particular used this system until at least the 1960s. Murdoch also used compressed air to ring a bell at his home to announce visitors.
Some of Murdoch's other minor inventions and experiments were: a machine developed in 1784 or 1785 in Cornwall for drilling wooden pipes, (in 1810 this was further developed and patented for stone
Rock (geology)
In geology, rock or stone is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock. In general rocks are of three types, namely, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic...
pipes), a steam cannon
Steam cannon
A steam cannon is a cannon that launches a projectile using only heat and water. The first steam cannon was designed by Archimedes during the Siege of Syracuse. Leonardo da Vinci was also known to have designed one ....
which he attempted to use in 1803 to knock down a wall at Soho, a steam gun in the same year which fired 3 cm lead bullets, and machinery to grind and compress peat moss
Sphagnum
Sphagnum is a genus of between 151 and 350 species of mosses commonly called peat moss, due to its prevalence in peat bogs and mires. A distinction is made between sphagnum moss, the live moss growing on top of a peat bog on one hand, and sphagnum peat moss or sphagnum peat on the other, the...
under great pressure to produce a material with "the appearance of the finest Jet
Jet (lignite)
Jet is a geological material and is considered to be a minor gemstone. Jet is not considered a true mineral, but rather a mineraloid as it has an organic origin, being derived from decaying wood under extreme pressure....
".
Steam powered locomotion
Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot
Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot was a French inventor. He is believed to have built the first self-propelled mechanical vehicle...
had already demonstrated the utility of such a device by building (from 1769) two full-sized working steam vehicles, one of which was designed to carry 4-5 tonne
Tonne
The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...
s. All that was needed was a more effective design.
The earliest mention of Murdoch's thoughts and plans for this method of transport was in March 1784 when his colleague in Cornwall, Thomas Wilson, wrote to Watt on Murdoch's "new scheme":
It is no less than drawing carriages upon the road with steam engines...he says that what he proposes, is different from anything you ever thought of, and that he is positively certain of its answering and that there is a great deal of money to be made by it.
Replies from Watt made it clear that he thought there was no future in such an idea and, fearful of losing Murdoch's services in Cornwall, attempted to dissuade him from the scheme.
A later letter from Boulton disclosed more details of Murdoch's ideas
He proposes to catch most of the condensed Steam by making it strike against broad Copper plates & the condensed part trickling down may be caught and returned into its Boiler or other reservoir. This may do some good in rain or frosty weather & he proposes to have different sized revolvers to apply at every hill & every vale according to their angle with ye Horizon... I verely believe he would sooner give up all his cornish business & interest than be deprived of carrying the thing into execution.
In the same letter Boulton also secretly urged Watt to include a scheme for a steam powered carriage in his patent application, which Watt did shortly thereafter.
I have given such descriptions of engines for wheel carriages as I could do in the time and space I could allow myself; but it is very defective and can only serve to keep other people from similar patents.
By this time Murdoch had already built a working model of his steam carriage, which was held in the Museum of Science and Industry
Science Museum, Birmingham
The now defunct Birmingham Science Museum, or Museum of Science and Industry, previously the Elkington Silver Electroplating Works, is a building on Newhall Street in Birmingham, England....
, Birmingham until its closure in 1997 and is now at Thinktank, Birmingham's new science museum; accounts exist from witnesses who "saw the model steam carriage run around Murdoch's living room in Redruth in 1784". This is the first recorded example in Great Britain of a man-made machine moving around completely under its own power.
Murdoch's working model was a three wheeled vehicle about a foot in height with the engine and boiler placed between the two larger back wheels with a spirit lamp underneath to heat the water and a tiller at the front turning the smaller front wheel. The mechanics of the model locomotive incorporated a number of innovations, such as a boiler safety valve
Safety valve
A safety valve is a valve mechanism for the automatic release of a substance from a boiler, pressure vessel, or other system when the pressure or temperature exceeds preset limits....
, having the cylinder partly immersed in the boiler and using a new valve system on the lines of the D-slide valve.
This model was not the only one made by Murdoch as he continued experimenting with the design and by August 1786 had made at least one other model, of a different size, which we know of. Apart from this Murdoch does not appear to have worked much on his ideas from 1784 to 1786, because of the continuing high volume of work for Boulton and Watt, his marriage in 1785, and the birth of his and his wife's twins
TWINS
Two Wide-Angle Imaging Neutral-Atom Spectrometers are a pair of NASA instruments aboard two United States National Reconnaissance Office satellites in Molniya orbits. TWINS was designed to provide stereo images of the Earth's ring current. The first instrument, TWINS-1, was launched aboard USA-184...
in the same year. Shortly after this birth, and with a second model already built, Murdoch took steps to patent his steam locomotive. However, at Exeter
Exeter
Exeter is a historic city in Devon, England. It lies within the ceremonial county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. Currently the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district, and is therefore under the administration of the...
on the way to London he was met by Boulton who persuaded him to return to Cornwall without registering the patent. As Boulton wrote to Watt on 2 September 1795:
He said He was going to London to get Men but I soon found he was going there with his Steam Carg to shew it & to take out a patent. He having been told by Mr W. Wilkn what Sadler had said & he had likewise read in the news paper Simmingtons puff which had rekindled all Wms fire & impations to make Steam Carriages. However, I prevailed upon him readily to return to Cornwall by the next days diligence & he accordingly arivd here this day at noon, since which he hath unpacked his Carg & made Travil a Mile or two in Rivers's great room in a Circle making it carry the fire Shovel, poker & tongs.
This demonstration of his steam carriage in Rivers Great Room, at the King's Head hotel, Truro
Truro
Truro is a city and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The city is the centre for administration, leisure and retail in Cornwall, with a population recorded in the 2001 census of 17,431. Truro urban statistical area, which includes parts of surrounding parishes, has a 2001 census...
, was the first public demonstration in Britain given of steam locomotion in action.
Although after 1786 there is no further mention of Murdoch's work on Steam Carriages in Watt's or Boulton's correspondence, a volume of evidence exists that he continued to work on it without his employers' support, and some argue that a full size version was built.
One story often told, both in respect of a full size carriage & one of his models, is that one night Murdoch decided to test his carriage outside on the open road and it soon outpaced him, leaving him to chase after it. Whilst chasing it he encountered a local clergyman in a state of considerable distress who had mistaken his carriage, with its billowing smoke and fire burning under the boiler, for the devil
Devil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
. This story may be accurate, however is more likely to relate to a model than to a full-size steam carriage.
Another story often told, this one almost certainly apocryphal, is of Murdoch travelling from "mine to mine in a steam chaise lit by gas", given the state of the roads at that time this can be discounted. However, it is argued by John Griffiths that Murdoch may have built a full-size steam carriage some time in the 1790s, which could be the source of this story.
A fact important to the later development of the steam locomotive by others was that, in 1797 and 1798, Richard Trevithick
Richard Trevithick
Richard Trevithick was a British inventor and mining engineer from Cornwall. His most significant success was the high pressure steam engine and he also built the first full-scale working railway steam locomotive...
came to live in Redruth next door to the house where William Murdoch lived (1782 to 1798). Trevithick would have seen and been influenced by Murdoch's experiments, and would certainly have been aware of his work in this area. There is also a story told by Murdoch's son John of a visit by Trevithick and Andrew Vivian
Andrew Vivian
Andrew Vivian was a British mechanical engineer, inventor, and mine captain of the Dolcoath mine in Cornwall, England.In partnership with his cousin Richard Trevithick, the inventor of "high pressure" steam engines, and the entrepreneur Davis Giddy, Vivian financed the production of the first...
to see a model engine in 1794:
The model of the wheel carriage engine was made in the summer of 1792 and was then shown to many of the inhabitants of Redruth – about two years after Trevithick and A. Vivian called at my father's house in Redruth... My father mentions that... on that day they asked him to show his model of the wheel carriage engine which worked with strong steam and no vacuum. This was immediately shown to them in a working state.
In any event without the support of Boulton and Watt, who appear to have opposed Murdoch's work due to the need to use high pressure steam which Watt distrusted, Murdoch was unable to develop or gain publicity for his invention and it was left to Trevithick and others to develop it commercially later.
Trevithick's 1801 "Puffing Devil" and 1803 "London Steam Carriage" look similar to Murdoch's model Steam Carriages made in the 1780s and 1790s.
Chemistry discoveries
In addition to his mechanical work Murdoch also experimented in the field of chemistry and made a number of discoveries. One such was the discovery, first recorded in 1784, of ironIron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
cement
Cement
In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...
made from sal ammoniac
Sal ammoniac
Sal ammoniac is a rare mineral composed of ammonium chloride, NH4Cl. It forms colorless to white to yellow-brown crystals in the isometric-hexoctahedral class. It has very poor cleavage and a brittle to conchoidal fracture. It is quite soft, with a Mohs hardness of 1.5 to 2, and has a low specific...
, or ammonium chloride
Ammonium chloride
Ammonium chloride NH4Cl is an inorganic compound with the formula NH4Cl. It is a white crystalline salt that is highly soluble in water. Solutions of ammonium chloride are mildly acidic. Sal ammoniac is a name of natural, mineralogical form of ammonium chloride...
and iron filings, apparently discovered when Murdoch observed that these 2 components had accidentally mixed in his tool bag and formed a solid mass. This iron cement was used to fix and harden the joints of steam engines, thus creating a hard durable seal.
Another discovery, and the first for which Murdoch took out a patent was that of
The art or method of making from the same materials and by the same processes entirely new copperas, vitriol, and different sorts of dye or dying stuff, paints and colours, and also a composition for preserving the bottoms of all kinds of vessels and all wood required to be immersed in water, from worms, weeds, barnacles, and every other foulness which usually does or may adhere thereto.
This patent was filed in 1791 and although it was not developed at the time this can be seen as the first step in the development of aniline dyes and coatings.
British isinglass
In 1795 Murdoch developed a replacement for isinglassIsinglass
Isinglass is a substance obtained from the dried swim bladders of fish. It is a form of collagen used mainly for the clarification of wine and beer. It can also be cooked into a paste for specialized gluing purposes....
, a precipitate made from sturgeon
Sturgeon
Sturgeon is the common name used for some 26 species of fish in the family Acipenseridae, including the genera Acipenser, Huso, Scaphirhynchus and Pseudoscaphirhynchus. The term includes over 20 species commonly referred to as sturgeon and several closely related species that have distinct common...
used in the clarifying of beer to remove impurities, which had to be imported from Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
at great expense. Murdoch's replacement was made from dried Cod
Cod
Cod is the common name for genus Gadus, belonging to the family Gadidae, and is also used in the common name for various other fishes. Cod is a popular food with a mild flavor, low fat content and a dense, flaky white flesh. Cod livers are processed to make cod liver oil, an important source of...
and was much cheaper than the 25 shilling
Shilling
The shilling is a unit of currency used in some current and former British Commonwealth countries. The word shilling comes from scilling, an accounting term that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times where it was deemed to be the value of a cow in Kent or a sheep elsewhere. The word is thought to derive...
s a pound
Pound (mass)
The pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in the Imperial, United States customary and other systems of measurement...
which isinglass cost. This cost saving was so attractive that the Committee of London Brewers paid £2000 for the right to use his invention.
Murdoch's isinglass replacement was so effective that in a court case brought by the British Customs and Excise
Her Majesty's Customs and Excise
HM Customs and Excise was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government in the UK. It was responsible for the collection of Value added tax , Customs Duties, Excise Duties, and other indirect taxes such as Air Passenger Duty, Climate Change Levy, Insurance Premium Tax, Landfill Tax and...
Authorities, the noted Chemist, Sir Humphry Davy
Humphry Davy
Sir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet FRS MRIA was a British chemist and inventor. He is probably best remembered today for his discoveries of several alkali and alkaline earth metals, as well as contributions to the discoveries of the elemental nature of chlorine and iodine...
in answer to a question on whether it was "proper to be used for the purpose of fineing beer" testified that:
I believe it is if properly prepared - it is the same substance as Isinglass.
Use of Murdoch's "Isinglass made of British fish" continued and played an important role in reducing British brewers' reliance on imported raw materials.
Gas lighting
The key invention for which Murdoch is best known is the application of gas lightingGas lighting
Gas lighting is production of artificial light from combustion of a gaseous fuel, including hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, or natural gas. Before electricity became sufficiently widespread and economical to allow for general public use, gas was the most...
as a replacement for oil
Oil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....
and tallow
Tallow
Tallow is a rendered form of beef or mutton fat, processed from suet. It is solid at room temperature. Unlike suet, tallow can be stored for extended periods without the need for refrigeration to prevent decomposition, provided it is kept in an airtight container to prevent oxidation.In industry,...
produced light. It was in 1792 that he first began experimenting with the use of gas
Gas
Gas is one of the three classical states of matter . Near absolute zero, a substance exists as a solid. As heat is added to this substance it melts into a liquid at its melting point , boils into a gas at its boiling point, and if heated high enough would enter a plasma state in which the electrons...
, derived from the heating of coal and other materials, for lighting. There is some uncertainty as to when he first demonstrated this process in practice, however most sources identify this as between 1792 and 1794.
In order to use gas for practical purposes it was first necessary to develop a working method for the production and capture of the gas. There is considerable doubt as to the date by which this process was perfected. However, numerous accounts exist that by 1794 Murdoch was producing coal gas from a small retort
Retort
In a chemistry laboratory, a retort is a glassware device used for distillation or dry distillation of substances. It consists of a spherical vessel with a long downward-pointing neck. The liquid to be distilled is placed in the vessel and heated...
containing heated coals with a three or four foot iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
tube attached, through which he piped the gas before sending it through an old gun
Gun
A gun is a muzzle or breech-loaded projectile-firing weapon. There are various definitions depending on the nation and branch of service. A "gun" may be distinguished from other firearms in being a crew-served weapon such as a howitzer or mortar, as opposed to a small arm like a rifle or pistol,...
barrel and igniting it to produce light.
Over the next few years Murdoch performed "a series of experiments upon the quantity and quality of the gasses contained in different substances" and upon the best way of transporting, storing, purifying and lighting these. It is known, by the account of William Fairbairn
William Fairbairn
Sir William Fairbairn, 1st Baronet was a Scottish civil engineer, structural engineer and shipbuilder.-Early career:...
that Murdoch occasionally used his gas as a portable lantern
Lantern
A lantern is a portable lighting device or mounted light fixture used to illuminate broad areas. Lanterns may also be used for signaling, as 'torches', or as general light sources outdoors . Low light level varieties are used for decoration. The term "lantern" is also used more generically to...
.
It was a dark winter's night and how to reach the house over such bad roads was a question not easily solved. Mr Murdoch, however, fruitful in resource, went to the gasworks where he filled a bladder which he had with him, and, placing it under his arm like a bagpipe, he discharged through the stem of an old tobacco pipe a stream of gas which enabled us to walk in safety to Medlock Bank.
In 1798 Murdoch returned to Birmingham to work in the Soho foundry and continued his experiments with gas, as part of which he lit the interior of the Soho main building, although it is likely that it was lit only in part and not (at this time) permanently. In 1802 as part of the public celebrations of the Peace of Amiens he made a public exhibition of his lighting by illuminating the exterior of the Soho Foundry. The first industrial factory to be illuminated by gas was the Philips and Lee cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
mill in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
which was fully lit by Murdoch in 1805, four years after the idea was first broached. Initially this mill contained 50 gas lights, although this soon grew to 904. The length of time taken to complete this project was partly due to experimentations and improvements in the process developed by Murdoch to make the lighting of a large factory by gas practicable and cost effective - such as purifying the gas with lime
Lime (mineral)
Lime is a general term for calcium-containing inorganic materials, in which carbonates, oxides and hydroxides predominate. Strictly speaking, lime is calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide. It is also the name for a single mineral of the CaO composition, occurring very rarely...
to remove the smell and determining the best temperature
Temperature
Temperature is a physical property of matter that quantitatively expresses the common notions of hot and cold. Objects of low temperature are cold, while various degrees of higher temperatures are referred to as warm or hot...
to heat coal to obtain the maximum quantity of gas - although Murdoch continued to be involved in other engine work for Boulton and Watt, which took up much of his time.
Despite his pioneering work with gas Murdoch never made any money from this invention due to his failure to obtain a patent. This may have been partly a result of the advice of James Watt, Junior, that the discovery was not patentable, and partly a result of the commercial failure of his earlier patent of 1791 for an early form of aniline dye. This failure to apply for a patent, despite the commercial participation of Boulton and Watt in this field, left the fledgling industry of gas production and lighting open for exploitation by other commercial interests, such as his former assistant Samuel Clegg
Samuel Clegg
Samuel Clegg was a British civil engineer.Clegg was born at Manchester on 2 March 1781, received a scientific education under the care of Dr. Dalton. He was then apprenticed to Boulton and Watt, and at the Soho Manufactory witnessed many of William Murdoch's earlier experiments in the use of coal...
and Friedrich Winzer. In large part this was due to the failure of Boulton and Watt to make sufficient effort to expand from the factory and mill lighting market which they dominated by 1809 into the street and domestic lighting market. This reason for this lassitude is unknown but can be attributed to lack of interest, a failure to appreciate the size of the potential market, and a lack of desire to be involved in smaller, less prestigious projects. By May 1809 Boulton and Watt faced little competition in any gas market due to their success in lobbying
Lobbying
Lobbying is the act of attempting to influence decisions made by officials in the government, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying is done by various people or groups, from private-sector individuals or corporations, fellow legislators or government officials, or...
Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
to block the granting of a charter for the National Heat and Light Company, their only real competitor in this field. However, despite blocking the charter until 1812 this advantage was squandered as Boulton and Watt did not develop the gas market, or technology, and in 1814 abandoned the gas business. A few decades later most towns in Britain were lit by gas and most had their own gasworks
Gasworks
A gasworks or gas house is a factory for the manufacture of gas. The use of natural gas has made many redundant in the developed world, however they are often still used for storage.- Early gasworks :...
.
Apart from the benefits of gas lighting and heating, the process for producing coal gas yielded a number of other substances which were subsequently successfully exploited. Among these were coke
Coke (fuel)
Coke is the solid carbonaceous material derived from destructive distillation of low-ash, low-sulfur bituminous coal. Cokes from coal are grey, hard, and porous. While coke can be formed naturally, the commonly used form is man-made.- History :...
; 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...
; phenol
Phenol
Phenol, also known as carbolic acid, phenic acid, is an organic compound with the chemical formula C6H5OH. It is a white crystalline solid. The molecule consists of a phenyl , bonded to a hydroxyl group. It is produced on a large scale as a precursor to many materials and useful compounds...
(carbolic acid), a disinfectant and one of the components of bakelite the first synthetic plastic invented in 1910; and coal tar
Coal tar
Coal tar is a brown or black liquid of extremely high viscosity, which smells of naphthalene and aromatic hydrocarbons. Coal tar is among the by-products when coal iscarbonized to make coke or gasified to make coal gas...
, which contained a number of organic chemicals
Organic chemistry
Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, composition, reactions, and preparation of carbon-based compounds, hydrocarbons, and their derivatives...
. Coal tar was subsequently used to produce the first synthetic dye
Dye
A dye is a colored substance that has an affinity to the substrate to which it is being applied. The dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution, and requires a mordant to improve the fastness of the dye on the fiber....
, mauve
Mauve
Mauve is a pale lavender-lilac color, one of many in the range of purples. The color mauve is named after the mallow flower....
, by William Henry Perkin in 1856 and in 1853 was found, by Charles Gerhardt
Charles Frédéric Gerhardt
Charles Frédéric Gerhardt was a French chemist.-Biography:He was born in Strasbourg, where he attended the gymnasium. He then studied at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, where Friedrich Walchner's lectures first attracted his interest to chemistry...
to contain the chemical acetylsalicylic acid, now known as aspirin
Aspirin
Aspirin , also known as acetylsalicylic acid , is a salicylate drug, often used as an analgesic to relieve minor aches and pains, as an antipyretic to reduce fever, and as an anti-inflammatory medication. It was discovered by Arthur Eichengrun, a chemist with the German company Bayer...
.
The Caledonia paddle steamer
Boulton and Watt had been involved in a minor way with attempts to apply steam power to boats, providing in 1807 for Robert FultonRobert Fulton
Robert Fulton was an American engineer and inventor who is widely credited with developing the first commercially successful steamboat...
the engine for North River Steamboat
North River Steamboat
The North River Steam Boat or Clermont was the first commercially successful steamship of the paddle steamer design. It operated on the Hudson River between New York and Albany...
, the first steamboat to run on the Hudson river
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
, (the boat later referred to as the Clermont). Murdoch was primarily responsible for designing and building this engine and for agreeing technical details and designs with Fulton, who also worked on the design of the engine. Boulton and Watt also provided engines for a number of other marine vessels. However, it wasn't until the purchase of The Caledonia by James Watt Jr. in 1817 that they became seriously involved in the marine engineering business. The task of refitting The Caledonia, building and installing new engines and boilers and making her seaworthy and efficient in fuel consumption was a difficult process and Murdoch, although frequently suffering from fever
Fever
Fever is a common medical sign characterized by an elevation of temperature above the normal range of due to an increase in the body temperature regulatory set-point. This increase in set-point triggers increased muscle tone and shivering.As a person's temperature increases, there is, in...
and Rheumatism
Rheumatism
Rheumatism or rheumatic disorder is a non-specific term for medical problems affecting the joints and connective tissue. The study of, and therapeutic interventions in, such disorders is called rheumatology.-Terminology:...
, directed this. By August the vessel was able to be tested on its intended route, from Surrey Commercial Docks
Surrey Commercial Docks
The Surrey Commercial Docks were a large group of docks in Rotherhithe on the south bank of the Thames in South East London. The docks operated in one form or another from 1696 to 1969...
, London to Gravesend
Gravesend, Kent
Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, on the south bank of the Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. It is the administrative town of the Borough of Gravesham and, because of its geographical position, has always had an important role to play in the history and communications of this part of...
and at first made 8 miles per hour (mph). During its sea trials Murdoch carried out experiments on The Caledonia to measure the effect on fuel consumption and speed on changes in the depth of the paddles and whether one or both engines was used. This resulted in an increase of speed to 12 mi/h.
While carrying out trials The Caledonia was challenged to a race by their competitors for the London to Gravesend route, the Sons of Commerce. Actually there were 2 races to Gravesend, both of which were won by the Boulton and Watt vessel, by a greater margin on the second attempt. The result was that the proprietors of the Sons of Commerce placed an order with Boulton and Watt for a new steamboat engine. There were also a number of other orders for steamboat engines, both for commercial customers and the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
and Murdoch was in effect the head of this branch of the business, being referred to and deferred to on all aspects of their marine business. It is estimated that from 1813 until 1825 over 3000 hp of marine engines were made by Boulton and Watt, around 40 to 60 vessels.
Shortly after the trials were completed The Caledonia carried out a crossing of the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
when Watt Jr. took it to Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
and up the Rhine to Koblenz
Koblenz
Koblenz is a German city situated on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Moselle, where the Deutsches Eck and its monument are situated.As Koblenz was one of the military posts established by Drusus about 8 BC, the...
.
Later years
Murdoch wrote a paper, "Account of the Application of Gas from Coal to Economical Purposes" which was presented to the Royal SocietyRoyal 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"...
in 1808. In that year he was awarded their Rumford Gold Medal
Rumford Medal
The Rumford Medal is awarded by the Royal Society every alternating year for "an outstandingly important recent discovery in the field of thermal or optical properties of matter made by a scientist working in Europe". First awarded in 1800, it was created after a 1796 donation of $5000 by the...
for "both the first idea of applying, and the first actual application of gas to economical purposes".
In 1817 Murdoch moved into a large new house he had built outside Birmingham. The house incorporated a number of curiosities and innovations he has designed including gas lighting, a doorbell
Doorbell
A doorbell is a signaling device typically placed near a door. Most doorbells emit a ringing sound to alert the occupant of the building to a visitor's presence, when the visitor presses a button. Many modern doorbells are electric — they are actuated by an electric switch...
worked by compressed air and an air conditioning
Air conditioning
An air conditioner is a home appliance, system, or mechanism designed to dehumidify and extract heat from an area. The cooling is done using a simple refrigeration cycle...
system: described by Joshua Field
Joshua Field (engineer)
Joshua Field was a British civil engineer and mechanical engineer.Field was born in Hackney in 1786, his father was John Field a corn and seed merchant who was later to become Master of the Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors...
as "He has a good stove for heating the rooms with hot air which enters the rooms and staircases at convenient places."
In 1815 he designed and installed the first gravity fed piped hot water system since classical times at Leamington Spa
Leamington Spa
Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or Leamington or Leam to locals, is a spa town in central Warwickshire, England. Formerly known as Leamington Priors, its expansion began following the popularisation of the medicinal qualities of its water by Dr Kerr in 1784, and by Dr Lambe...
Baths.
In September 1830, in declining health at age 76, Murdoch's partnership with Boulton & Watt which began in 1810 came to an end, at which point he was receiving £1,000 per year. The reasons for this appear to be both the increasing unprofitability of Boulton and Watt and Murdoch's increasing ill health
Murdoch died in 1839, aged 85. He was buried at St. Mary's Church, Handsworth
St. Mary's Church, Handsworth
St. Mary's Church, Handsworth, also known as Handsworth Old Church, is an Anglican church in Handsworth, Birmingham, England. Its ten-acre grounds are contiguous with Handsworth Park and it is just off the Birmingham Outer Circle and south of a cutting housing the site of the former Handsworth...
.
At the celebration of the centenary of gas lighting in 1892, a bust of Murdoch was unveiled by Lord Kelvin in the Wallace Monument
Wallace Monument
The National Wallace Monument is a tower standing on the summit of Abbey Craig, a hilltop near Stirling in Scotland. It commemorates Sir William Wallace, the 13th century Scottish hero....
, Stirling
Stirling
Stirling is a city and former ancient burgh in Scotland, and is at the heart of the wider Stirling council area. The city is clustered around a large fortress and medieval old-town beside the River Forth...
, and there is also a bust of him by Sir Francis Legatt Chantrey
Francis Legatt Chantrey
Sir Francis Legatt Chantrey was an English sculptor of the Georgian era. He left the Chantrey Bequest or Chantrey Fund for the purchase of works of art for the nation, which was available from 1878 after the death of his widow.-Life:Francis Leggatt Chantrey was born at Norton near Sheffield ,...
at St. Mary's Church
St. Mary's Church, Handsworth
St. Mary's Church, Handsworth, also known as Handsworth Old Church, is an Anglican church in Handsworth, Birmingham, England. Its ten-acre grounds are contiguous with Handsworth Park and it is just off the Birmingham Outer Circle and south of a cutting housing the site of the former Handsworth...
.
His life and works are commemorated by the Moonstones
Lunar Society Moonstones
The Moonstones are a set of eight carved sandstone memorials to various members of the Lunar Society. Made in 1998, they can be viewed in the grounds of the Asda supermarket in Queslett, Great Barr, Birmingham, England...
; a statue of him, Boulton and Watt
Boulton, Watt and Murdoch
The gilded bronze statue of Matthew Boulton, James Watt and William Murdoch by William Bloye and Raymond Forbes-Kings stands on a plinth of Portland stone, outside the old Register Office on Broad Street in Birmingham, England....
, by William Bloye
William Bloye
William James Bloye was an English sculptor, active in Birmingham either side of World War II.He studied, and later, taught at the Birmingham School of Art , where his pupils included Gordon Herickx, Raymond Mason and Ian Walters...
; and Murdock Road, all in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
. There is also a Murdoch House in Rotherhithe
Rotherhithe
Rotherhithe is a residential district in inner southeast London, England and part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is located on a peninsula on the south bank of the Thames, facing Wapping and the Isle of Dogs on the north bank, and is a part of the Docklands area...
, London.
The town of Redruth has an Annual Murdoch Day in June. The 2007 event included a parade of schoolchildren with banners on the theme "Earth, Wind, Fire and Water" and the first public journey of a full-size, working reproduction of Murdoch's Steam Carriage.
Bibliographic References
- Carnegie, AndrewAndrew CarnegieAndrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...
, James Watt University Press of the Pacific (2001) (Reprinted from the 1913 ed.), ISBN 0-89875-578-6. - John Griffiths; The Third Man, The Life and Times of William Murdoch 1754-1839 Illustrated with Black-and-white photographic plates and diagrams with Bibliography and Index; Andre Deutsch; 1992; ISBN 0-233-98778-9
- Janet Thomson; The Scot Who Lit The World, The Story Of William Murdoch Inventor Of Gas Lighting; 2003; ISBN 0-9530013-2-6
External links
- Murdoch Flyer Project A project to build a replica of Murdoch's steam powered carriage
- Murdoch's locomotive (on the Birmingham Stories website)
- Revolutionary Players website
- Documentary evidence and discussion of Murdoch's "wooden horse"
- Illustrated biography from birthplace: Cumnock