An old engraving showing Whitworth’s planing machine of 1877. It is from a Victorian book of the 1890s on discoveries and inventions during the 1800s. This large table apparatus was used to plane metal. Sir Joseph Whitworth, (1803–1887) was an English engineer, entrepreneur, inventor and philanthropist. In 1841 he devised the British Standard Whitworth system, which created the accepted standard for screw threads.
An old engraving showing Whitworth’s planing machine of 1877. It is from a Victorian book of the 1890s on discoveries and inventions during the 1800s. This large table apparatus was used to plane metal. Sir Joseph Whitworth, (1803–1887) was an English engineer, entrepreneur, inventor and philanthropist. In 1841 he devised the British Standard Whitworth system, which created the accepted standard for screw threads. His early exposure to industrial Britain made him ambitious to make machinery with much greater precision. He developed various precision machine tools and also introducing a box casting scheme for the iron frames of machine tools that increased their rigidity and reduced their weight. He worked for Holtzapffel & Co (makers of lathes) and Joseph Clement. While at Clement's workshop he helped with the manufacture of Charles Babbage's calculating machine, the Difference Engine. In 1833 he returned to Openshaw, Manchester to start his own business manufacturing lathes and other machine tools, which were renowned for their high standard of workmanship. He also created the Whitworth rifle, often called the ‘sharpshooter’ because of its accuracy. Upon his death in 1887, Whitworth bequeathed much of his fortune for the people of Manchester, with the Whitworth Art Gallery and Christie Hospital partly funded by Whitworth's bequests. Whitworth's company merged with the WG Armstrong & Mitchell Company to become Armstrong Whitworth in 1897.
Size: 4252px × 2823px
Location: Manchester, England, UK
Photo credit: © M&N / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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