JOSEPH

See also:

• JOSEPH BRAMAH (1748-1814)

BRAMAH (1748-1814)  , English engineer and inventor, was the son of a farmer, and was born at Stainborough, Yorkshire, on the 13th of April 1748 . Incapacitated for agricultural labour by an accident to his ankle, on the expiry of his indentures he worked as a cabinet-maker in London, where he subsequently started business on his own account . His first patent for some improvements in the mechanism of water-closets was taken out in 1778 . In 1784 he patented the lock known by his name, and in 1795 he invented the hydraulic press . For an important part of this, the collar which secured water-tightness between the plunger and the cylinder in which it st To Brake Cylinder U worked, he was indebted to Henry Maudslay, one of his workmen, who also helped him in designing machines for the manufacture of his locks . In 18o6 he devised for the Bank of England a numerical printing machine, specially adapted for bank-notes . Other inventions of his included the beer-engine for drawing beer, machinery for making aerated waters, planing machines, and improvements in steam-engines and boilers and in paper-making machinery . In 1785 he suggested the possibility of screw propulsion for ships, and in 1802 the hydraulic transmission of power; and he constructed waterworks at Norwich in 1790 and 1793 . He died in London on the 9th of December 1814 .