Inventions

HENRY MAUDSLAY (1771-1831)

In 1797 Henry Maudslay created a precision machine that allowed identical screws to be mass-produced - and thus helped Britain become the
workshop of the world

A screw-cutting lathe might not sound the sexiest of

inventions, but Henry Maudslays device revolutionised
industry and hes rightly regarded as the father of machinetool technology. Until Maudslay came along, screws were
handmade and their quality depended on the skills of the
craftsman. In other words, but for him, buying off-the-shelf
flatpack furniture from somewhere like Ikea and assembling
it yourself would be damn near impossible. The son of a
wheelwright, Maudslay became a skilled apprentice to a
London lockmaker, but set up on his own after his boss
refused him a pay rise. His first commission was to build
woodworking machines to produce wooden rigging blocks
for the Navy. In 1797 he created a precision machine that
allowed identical screws to be mass-produced and thus
helped Britain become the workshop of the world. He was a

true perfectionist, and his screw-cutting lathe allowed the

standardisation of screw thread sizes for the first time. In
doing so, he sparked a quantum leap forward in machine
tools. The company went on to produce everything from
lathes to marine engines, and made him rich. Without him,
the world would be a very different place.

2. CHRISTOPHER COCKERELL (1910-99)

Christopher Cockerell developed his first full-scale craft, the Saunders-Roe Nautical One (SR-N1), which was capable of carrying four men and made a
successful crossing of the Channel in 1959

The brilliant Christopher Cockerell came up with one of the

greatest British inventions of the second half of the 20th
century: the hovercraft. A Cambridge-educated engineer, he
conceived the idea in the Fifties, first experimenting with a
hairdryer and tin cans. He developed his first full-scale craft,
the Saunders-Roe Nautical One (SR-N1), which was
capable of carrying four men and made a successful
crossing of the Channel in 1959. His big idea was to pump
air into a narrow tunnel around the circumference of the
craft, which built up a high-pressure cushion that supported
its weight, enabling it to hover above the ground. Hovercraft

can travel across wetlands and swamps, and have been put
to a variety of uses, both military and civilian.

3. JOHN LOGIE BAIRD (1888-1946)

It was in his rooms in Soho, London, that in 1925 John Logie Baird made a technical breakthrough: successfully transmitting a 30-line vertically
scanned image of the head of a ventriloquist's dummy

A Scottish engineer, Baird is considered to be the inventor of

the television. One things pretty certain: it was he who
produced a live, moving, greyscale television image from
reflected light. It was in his rooms in Soho, London, that in
1925 he made a technical breakthrough: successfully
transmitting a 30-line vertically scanned image of the head
of a ventriloquists dummy. He went on to demonstrate the
worlds first colour transmission in July 1928, and from 1929
to 1932 BBC transmitters broadcast TV programmes using
the 30-line Baird system before later switching to a rival
electronic system.

4. FRANK WHITTLE (1907-96)

It was only with the outbreak of World War II that the Air Ministry fully got behind Frank Whittle and placed a contract for an aircraft to flight-test his
engine, the Gloster E.28/39

Determined to be a pilot, Whittle was accepted into the RAF,

and while on its officer training course formulated the ideas
that led to the creation of the jet engine. In the late Twenties
he sounded out the Air Ministry to see if his would be of
interest to them but the men in suits rejected it as
impracticable. Fools. It was only with the outbreak of World
War II that the Ministry fully got behind him and placed a
contract for an aircraft to flight-test his engine, the Gloster
E.28/39. The government went on to order a full-production
model, the Gloster Meteor. Whittle was subsequently given
a knighthood and recognised for his enormous contribution
to the post-war revolution in air travel.

5. JOHN HARRISON (1693-1776)

The British government offered 20,000 to anyone who could establish the longitude at sea to an accuracy of 0.5 degrees. John Harrison finished his
first chronometer in 1735

A dogged individual, Harrison invented the marine

chronometer, a device that changed the face of sea travel.
Until then, ships risked getting lost at sea because there
was no way to determine their longitude position. In
desperation, the British government offered 20,000 to
anyone who could establish the longitude at sea to an

accuracy of 0.5 degrees. Harrison, a Yorkshire carpenter

who mended clocks in his spare time, believed an accurate
clock was the answer. Such a clock would first have to
eliminate the effect of the ships motion. After finishing his
first chronometer in 1735, he made two more before, in
1759, aged 66, he completed his winning sea watch (H4). It
was carried to Jamaica on board HMS Deptford in 1761,
and was just five seconds out at the end of the journey. At
first, the government refused to cough up, insisting on a
second trial, and then it tried to fob Harrison off with a muchreduced sum.

6. BARNES WALLIS (1887-1979)

The cylindrical-shaped bomb Barnes Wallis duly devised was inspired by the naval gunners of days gone by, who had seen how a cannonball's range
could be extended by skimming it over the water

The Derbyshire-born Barnes Wallis

A brilliant aeronautical engineer, Wallis famously invented

the bouncing bomb used in the Dambusters raid on the
Ruhr Valley. After the outbreak of World War II, Churchills
government saw the need for strategic bombing to destroy
the enemys ability to wage war. But how to destroy Hitlers
hydroelectric plants? Step forward the Derbyshire-born
Wallis, who began experimenting with skipping marbles over
water tanks in his garden. The cylindrical-shaped bomb he
duly devised was inspired by the naval gunners of days
gone by, who had seen how a cannonballs range could be
extended by skimming it over the water. Despite being
starved of funding, Barnes concluded that a bomb bouncing
off the water at a seven-degree angle would achieve a
reliable bound. Typically, the authorities were unconvinced,
but following a successful test run on a disused dam in
Wales, in 1943 the Dambusters raid was given the goahead. Both the Mhne and Eder dams were breached,
damaging German factories and disrupting hydroelectric
power. Wallis had proved the sceptics wrong and a
grateful nation gave thanks.

7. PERCY SHAW (1890-1976)

Percy Shaw had a eureka moment, instantly realising that if he could create a gadget that replicated the effect, he could make driving at night safer.
And so reflecting road studs were born

I love the story of how Percy Shaw got the idea for his
invention after driving home late one night and seeing his
car headlights reflected in a cats eyes. A road contractor
from the West Riding in Yorkshire, he had a eureka moment,
instantly realising that if he could create a gadget that
replicated the effect, he could make driving at night safer.
And so reflecting road studs were born. Sales of cats eyes
were initially slow, but Ministry of Transport approval,
followed by wartime blackout regulations, sent demand
rocketing. Soon, more than a million road studs a year were
being made. In later life, old Percy became something of an
eccentric by all accounts. Still, its a reminder that even the
simplest of ideas can have a profound and lasting
significance.

8. ROBERT WATSON-WATT (1892-1973)

Robert Watson-Watt argued that radio waves could be bounced off an aircraft as it travelled with a view to determining its position. He showed the
technology worked, and the government got behind it

In the Thirties, with war looming, the government asked

Scottish physicist Robert Watson-Watt to design a death
ray that could be used against the enemy. It sounds like the
stuff of science fiction, and he proved that it was a pie-inthe-sky idea. But Watson-Watt a descendant of the
engineer James Watt argued that radio waves could be
bounced off an aircraft as it travelled with a view to
determining its position. He showed the technology worked,
and the government got behind it naming it RDF, short for

range and direction finding (the acronym RADAR, short for

radio detection and ranging, originated with the U.S. Navy
in 1940). A string of radar stations were built along the south
and east coasts of England, and these played a vital part in
the defence of the country during the Battle of Britain.
Without Watson-Watt, and the other brilliant scientists who
developed the concept further, the outcome could have
been very different.

9. RICHARD TREVITHICK (1771-1833)

Richard Trevithick invented a high-pressure steam engine which was so successful that in 1799 he built a full-scale model for hoisting ore

Everyone knows about George and Robert Stephensons

famous Rocket steam engine but it was Richard Trevithick
who built the first railway steam locomotive. Hailing from
mining stock, he invented a high-pressure steam engine
which was so successful that in 1799 he built a full-scale
model for hoisting ore. Spurred on, the mining engineer
proceeded to build a couple of demonstration steam
vehicles before coming up with his breakthrough
Penydarren locomotive, which in 1804 pulled five wagons,

70 passengers and ten tons of iron down a south Wales

railway. In due course the Stephensons built a better railway
engine and its that which became famous, even if it was
inspired in part by this Cornishmans earlier design.

10. ROWLAND HILL (1795-1879)

Rowland Hill had written a pamphlet in the 1830s explaining why Britain's postal system was so in need of reform. Costs could be reduced dramatically
if the sender prepaid the postage, he argued

The father of the modern postal service, Hill invented the

worlds first adhesive postage stamp. Before that, prepaying
the postage had been voluntary. The result? Chaos. Much
of the time the poor postie was left trying to find the
addressee in order to redeem the cost. Hill, a schoolmaster
and civil cervant, had written a pamphlet in the 1830s
explaining why Britains postal system was so in need of
reform. Costs could be reduced dramatically if the sender
prepaid the postage, he argued. Some people opposed his
wild scheme, but in 1840 the Penny Black was born and
within a dozen or so years, the number of letters being sent
had rocketed from 76 million to nearly 400 million.