- William Brunton
William Brunton (1777–1851), engineer and inventor, was the eldest son of Robert Brunton of
Dalkeith , where he was born on26 May 1777 . He studied mechanics in his father's watch and clock making shop, and engineering under his grandfather, who was acolliery viewer in the neighborhood.Early career
In
1790 he commenced work in the fitting shops of thecotton mill s atNew Lanark built byDavid Dale and SirRichard Arkwright .In
1796 , he migrated south toBirmingham , being attracted by the fame of theSoho Foundry , obtaining employment withBoulton and Watt . He remained at Soho until he was made foreman and superintendent of the engine manufactory. Still only twenty one, he would be sent alone to rectify problems on customers premises.Leaving Soho in
1808 he joined the Butterley Works ofBenjamin Outram andWilliam Jessop , and being deputed to represent his master in many important missions he made the acquaintance ofJohn Rennie ,Thomas Telford , and other eminent engineers.In
1815 he returned to Birmingham, having became a partner in and the mechanical manager of the Eagle Foundry, where he remained ten years, during which time he designed and executed a great variety of important works.From
1825 to1835 he appears to have been practising in London as a civil engineer, but quitting the metropolis at the latter date he took a share in the Cwmafan Tin Works,Glamorganshire , where he erected copper smelting furnaces and rolling mills. He became connected with theMaesteg Works in the same county, and with a brewery atNeath in1838 ; here a total failure ensued, and the savings of his life were lost.Inventions
As a mechanical engineer his works were various and important; many of them were in the adaptation of original and ingenious modes of reducing and manufacturing metals, and the improvement of the machinery connected therewith. In the introduction of steam navigation he had a large share; he made some of the original engines used on the Humber and the Trent, and some of the earliest on the Mersey, including those for the vessel which first plied on the Liverpool ferries in
1814 . He fitted out the "Sir Francis Drake" at Plymouth in1824 , the first steamer that ever took a man-of-war in tow.Brunton took out nine patents in all, three of them while he was in Birmingham. His first was for a steam boiler furnace with a revolving bed and a vibrating hopper which distributed the fuel evenly. [Prosser, R.B. (1881) "Birmingham Inventors and Inventions" Privatepublication, reprinted 1970 Wakefield: S.R.Publishers.] His calciner was used on the works of most of the tin mines in Cornwall, as well as at the silver ore works in Mexico, and his fan regulator was also found to be a most useful invention.
At the Butterley works he applied the principle of a rapid rotation of the mould in casting iron pipes, and incurred great expense in securing a patent, only to find that a foreigner, who used the same process in casting terra cotta, had recited in his specifications that the same mode might be applied to metals.
The most novel and ingenious of his inventions was the walking machine called the Steam Horse, which he made at Butterley in
1813 for use on the company'stramway atCrich . A second one was built for theNewbottle colliery, which worked with a load up a gradient of 1 in 36 during all the winter of1814 . Early in1815 , through some carelessness, this machine exploded, and most unfortunately killed thirteen persons. [WOOD, Treatise on Rail Roads, 1825, pp. 131–5, with a plate]In the course of his career he obtained many patents, but derived little remuneration from them, although several of them came into general use. Latterly he turned his attention to the subject of improved ventilation for collieries, and sent models of his inventions to the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park. He was intimate with all the engineers of the older school, and was almost the last of that celebrated set of men.
Later life
After his experience at Neath, he occasionally reappeared in his profession, but was never again fully embarked in business. He was a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, but the date of his admission has not been found.
Brunton died at the residence of his son, William Brunton, at Camborne, Cornwall, 5 Oct. 1851, having married, 30 Oct. 1810, Anne Elizabeth Button, adopted daughter of John and Rebecca Dickinson of Summer Hill, Birmingham. She died at Eaglesbush, Neath, Glamorganshire, 1845, leaving sons, who have become well known as engineers.
References
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