Tech Directions - February 2009 - (Page 10)

technology’s past Dennis Karwatka d.karwat@morehead-st.edu Joseph Bramah and His Challenge Lock and Hydraulic Press Hydraulics is a popular modern Bramah became fascinated power source used in construction with making a secure padlock that equipment, robotics, and other couldn’t be picked. He patented a industrial applicavery complex one tions. It is difﬁcult that required highly to identify the accurate work with precise date when new specialized mapower hydraulics chine tools. He hired entered the techniHenry Maudslay cal arena. A good (1771-1831) to assist argument can be him in the effort. made for 1795, Maudslay later bewhen Joseph Bracame a notable mamah patented his chine tool innovator hydraulic press in in his own right. The Great Britain. locks Bramah made Bramah was were among the best born in 1749 in in world, and the Joseph Bramah north-central Englock-manufacturing land near Shefﬁeld. One of ﬁve chilpart of his company is still in busidren in a farming family, he attended ness after over 200 years. The most local schools. He continued his edufamous lock that Bramah constructcation by working as an apprentice ed was his 1787 Challenge Lock. to a cabinetmaker. After successfully completing his seven-year apprenticeship, Bramah wanted to expand his opportunities in a more populated area. At the age of 24, he decided to walk 175 miles to London. He brought letters of recommendation and found employment with a master cabinetmaker. Some of his work involved wooden enclosures for ﬂush toilets, which were just beginning to make their appearance. Those early toilets were shaped metal with a sliding water valve, which Bramah viewed as not very effective. He invented a hinged one-way valve that sealed better. This was his introduction to hydraulics, and he patented his design in 1778. Bramah opened a workshop to construct and sell his ﬂush toilets. Bramah’s Challenge Lock is disThe business prospered and Braplayed at London’s Science Museum. mah’s design remained in production for many years. He earned enough He displayed it in his front window money to marry Mary Lawton in and offered £200 to any person who 1784. They had ﬁve children and could pick it open. The money went lived for a time near London’s Picaunclaimed for over 60 years. After dilly Circus. Bramah’s death and during London’s Reproduced by permission of the trustees of the Science Museum 1851 world’s fair, an American locksmith opened it. After an effort that took 51 hours over 16 sessions, he collected the reward. Bramah’s most signiﬁcant invention was his 1795 hydraulic press, which worked like a hydraulic jack. One of his early designs used a handle connected to a small piston. Pumping the handle pressurized water in a line connected to a larger nearby cylinder. The piston in that larger cylinder was attached to a metal plate that could move toward another stationary plate to ﬂatten maps and other papers. Those early presses often compressed materials for packing. They were popular for squeezing raw cotton into smaller dense bales for easier transportation. Bramah’s most powerful press might have been a 1799 model that exerted a force of 400 tons. His presses were soon used in industrial applications like bending and shaping metal, forcing bearings into place, and lifting heavy objects. His press was once part of a clamping device used to pull trees out of the ground. Bramah was supervising such an operation one cold winter day in 1814 when he contracted pneumonia. He died a short time later. Bramah was described as a cheerful and talkative person. He received a total of 18 patents. His other inventions included a wood planer, a device for numbering bank notes, and a machine to make ink pens. But none matched the signiﬁcance of his hydraulic press. It was among the most important inventions of the Industrial Revolution. References Day, Lance, & McNeil, Ian. (1996). Biographical dictionary of the history of technology. Routledge Press. Jarvis, Adrian. (1985). Hydraulic machines. Shire Publications. Roe, Joseph Wickham. (1916). English and American tool builders. Yale University Press. Dennis Karwatka is professor emeritus, Department of Industrial and Engineering Technology, Morehead (KY) State University. 10 techdirections ◆ FEBRUARY 2009

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Tech Directions - February 2009

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