William Murdoch
1754-1839
William Murdoch, the son of an Ayrshire mill designer, was born in 1754.
Murdoch had an excellent grasp of mechanics and, in 1777, he walked 300
miles to Birmingham to meet James Watt, in the hope of persuading Watt
to employ him at his factory. Watt's business partner, engineer Matthew
Boulton, took him on. Boulton later described him as the finest engine
erector he had ever seen.
Despite attempts to entice him to employment elsewhere, the loyal Murdoch
remained works manager with Watt and Boulton's company - even after they
persuaded him against patenting his own steam engine research into high
pressure engines, which Watt and Boulton did not wish to involve themselves
with.
Murdoch's best known contribution, then, was to gas lighting. In Redruth
in Cornwall, while managing a pumping engine installation, Murdoch made
an important discovery. He was relaxing by the fire one evening, when he
placed some coal dust in the bowl of his pipe, and placed this in the fire.
As coal gas was formed and came out of the mouthpiece, Murdoch saw it shine
brightly. He had discovered the properties of gas as an illuminant.
From this quiet beginning stemmed Glasgow's first attempts at street
and building illumination, and in1817 the Glasgow's Gas Light Company was
formed.
Profile by Strathclyde University
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