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JOHN WILKINSON (1728-1808)

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 648 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JOHN See also:WILKINSON (1728-1808)  , " the See also:great See also:Staffordshire See also:iron-See also:master," was See also:born in 1728 at See also:Clifton, See also:Cumberland, where his See also:father had risen from See also:day labourer to be overlooker in an iron See also:furnace . A See also:box-iron, patented by his father, but said to have been invented by the son, helping laundresses to gratify the frilled See also:taste of the dandies of the day, was the beginning of their fortunes . This they made at Blackbarrow, near See also:Furness . When he was about twenty, See also:John moved to Staffordshire, and built, at See also:Bilston, the first furnace there, and, after many exPeriments, succeeded in utilizing See also:coal instead of See also:wood-See also:charcoal in puddling and smelting . The father, who now had See also:works at Bersham, near See also:Chester, was again joined by his son, who constructed a new See also:boring See also:machine, of an accuracy heretofore unequalled . See also:James See also:Watt found that the See also:work of this machine exactly filled his requirements for his " See also:fire-See also:engine " for cylinders bored with greater precision . See also:Wilkinson, who now owned the Bersham works, resolved to start the manufacture of wrought iron at See also:Broseley on a larger See also:scale, and the first engine made by See also:Boulton and Watt was for him to See also:blow the See also:bellows there . Heretofore bellows were worked by a See also:water See also:wheel or, when See also:power failed, by horses . His neighbours in the business, who were contemplating installing See also:Newcomen engines, waited to see how his would turn out . Great care was taken in all its parts, and Watt himself set it up See also:early in 1776 . Its success made thereputation of Boulton and Watt in the Midland counties . Wilkinson now found he had the power alike for the nicest and the most stupendous operations .

The See also:

steam See also:cylinder suggested to him the See also:plan of producing blast now in use . He was near coal; he surrounded himself with capable men, whom he fully trusted; he made a See also:good See also:article, and soon obtained large orders and prospered . In 1786 he was making 32-pounders, howitzers, swivels, mortars and shells for See also:government . The difficulty of getting See also:barges to carry his See also:war material down the See also:Severn led him, in 1787, to construct the first iron See also:barge—creating a wonderful sensation among owners and builders . Wilkinson taught the See also:French the See also:art of boring See also:cannon from the solid, and See also:cast all this tubes, cylinders and iron work required for the See also:Paris water-works, I See also:long one . In Shakespearian characters he was- very popular the most formidable undertaking of the day . He also erected in the provinces . In 1766 he became a partner of See also:Joseph See also:Baker the first steam engine in See also:France, in connexion with these works. in the management of several See also:Yorkshire theatres, and See also:sole \Vilkinson is said to have anticipated by many years the manager after his partner's See also:death in 1770 of these and others. introduction of the hot blast for furnaces, but the leathern pipes, In this capacity he was both liberal and successful . He died then used, scorched, and it was not a success . His were the first on the 16th of See also:November 1803 . coal-cutting See also:machines . He proposed and cast the first iron See also:bridge .

See his See also:

Memoirs (4 vols., 1790) and The Wandering Patentee (4 It connected Broseley and See also:Madeley, across the Severn, and its vols., 1795)• span of too ft . 6 in. was considered a triumphal wonder . Wilkin- WILL, in See also:philosophy . The " Problem of Freedom " provides son was now a See also:man of great means and greater See also:influence . He in reality a See also:common See also:title under which are grouped difficulties issued tokens of See also:copper, bearing his likeness and on the See also:reverse and questions of varying and divergent See also:interest and See also:character. a forge and tools of the See also:trade, See also:silver coins for 3S . 6d., and also These difficulties arise quite naturally from the See also:obligation, See also:pound notes, as other tradesmen of that day did . He never which metaphysicians, theologians, moral philosophers, men wrote a See also:letter without using the word iron, indeed he was iron- of See also:science, and psychologists alike recognize, to give an See also:account, mad, and provided by will that he should be buried in an iron consistent with their theories, of the relation of man's power See also:coffin, preferably in his See also:garden at See also:Castle See also:Head, near Lindal . He of deliberate and purposive activity to the See also:rest of the universe, died on the 14th of See also:July 1808 . In the See also:main, no doubt, the problem is a metaphysical problem, Wilkinson was twice married without issue . His very large and has its origin in the effort to reconcile that belief in man's See also:property was frittered away during a lawsuit brought by a freedom which is regarded by the unsophisticated moral See also:con-See also:nephew against the illegitimate See also:children whom he had named as sciousness as indisputable, with a belief in a universe governed by his heirs . It was carried from various courts in the See also:kingdom to rational and necessary See also:laws . But the See also:historical origin of the the See also:House of Lords and then to the See also:Court of See also:Chancery .

End of Article: JOHN WILKINSON (1728-1808)
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