Joseph Bramah
Joseph Bramah (13 April 1748 – 18 August 1814) was an English inventor and locksmith. He is best known for inventing the hydraulic press, for which he received a British patent for in 1795.
Bramah was born in Stainborough, a small village in South Yorkshire, England to a farming family. At the age of 14, Joseph began an apprenticeship as a carpenter and joiner, during which time he began to exhibit a talent for mechanics and invention.
He started his own business as a locksmith at 16 and by 1784 he had established a factory in London to manufacture locks. He was soon producing high-quality locks that soon became recognized for their unequalled quality by the British Admiralty. He patented a number of basic improvements to the existing design of locks, which were adopted and widely used around the world.
In 1795, he patented the hydraulic press, a device used in metal-working. It consists of two parallel cylinders, one of which is filled with oil or some other suitable liquid, while the other is filled with air, creating hydrostatic pressure. This enabled metalworkers to create components of higher precision with less effort than before.
The press was an immediate success and was quickly adopted by many industries for metalworking and eventually for pressing a wide variety of materials. He also patented a number of other inventions, including a type of beer pump and a fire engine, which were both manufactured by his factory and sold around the world.
Joseph Bramah died in 1814, but his legacy lives on through his inventions, which are still in use today. His hydraulic press is common in many industries, and his locks are still considered to be some of the highest quality available. He was inducted into the U.K. Engineering Hall of Fame in 2007 and is a testament to the genius of English inventors.
