Bramah

Bramah, JOSEPH, inventor, was born at Stainbrough, near Barnsley, Yorkshire, April 13, 1748. A farmer's son, he was incapacitated in his sixteenth year for agricultural labours by an accidental lameness, so was apprenticed to the village carpenter, and afterwards obtained employment with a London cabinetmaker. Subsequently, he established himself in business in the metropolis, and became distinguished for the number, value, and ingenuity of his mechanical inventions, such as safety-locks, and improvements in water-closets (his first patent, 1778), which have continued in use till the present time; in pumps and fire-engines, in the construction of boilers for steam-engines, in the processes of making paper, in the construction of main-pipes, wheel-carriages, the beer-machine used at the bar of public-houses, and many others. In the year 1796 he patented the hydrostatic press known by his name, which ranks as his most important contribution to mechanical science (see HYDRAULIC PRESS). He patented a very ingenious machine for printing bank-notes in 1806, and was one of the first to propose the application of the screw-propeller. In all, he took out eighteen patents. It has been remarked that the germs of all his inventions may be found in the work of others, but that he possessed the genius of improving upon and practically applying the work of previous inventors. He died 9th December 1814.