308:, in 1825 he invented a slotting machine to cut keyways in gears and pulleys to fasten them to their shafts. Previously this was done by hand chipping and filing. The tool was reciprocated vertically, and by adopting Maudslay's slide rest principle, he made the work table with a universal movement, both straight line and rotary so that the sides of complex pieces could be machined. Later he developed the shaping machine, where the cutting tool was reciprocated horizontally over the work, which could be moved in all directions by means of screw-driven slides. Examples of his machine tools, including the oldest existing
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meter. In 1817 he made a lathe able to turn work 6 ft long (1.8 m). This had a back gear to give an increased range of speeds and a sliding saddle to move the tool along the work. The saddle was driven by a screw through gearing which could be disengaged when the end of the cut was reached.
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When developing his textiles machines, Roberts took as partners Thomas Sharp, an iron merchant, and his brother John Sharp, Robert
Chapman, Thomas Jones Wilkinson and James Hill. They formed two firms, Sharp Hill & Co and Roberts, Hills & Co, and in May 1826 these were amalgamated to form
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had removed the threat of the militia, it was safe for him to return north, he had set up at
Manchester as a "turner of plain and eccentric work at No 15 Deans Gate". The lathe was upstairs in a bedroom, driven by a big wheel in the basement turned by his wife. Roberts soon moved into New Market
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Roberts also manufactured and sold sets of stocks and dies to his range of pitches, so other engineers could cut threads on nuts and bolts and other machine parts. Roberts' inventions had a seminal influence on other machine-tool engineers, including
332:, and in 1822 he patented a power loom. This was made entirely of iron and being precision-made was able to operate at high speed. They were turned out at the rate of 4,000 per year by 1825. In 1824 he invented his most famous machine, the
414:. In 1860, aged 71 he moved to London, where he became financially distressed. Various friends, almost all engineers, raised a fund to help him, but he died in his daughter's arms in London on 11 March 1864 aged 74. He was buried at
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of the 19th century. According to biographer
Richard Leslie Hills, his main contribution was the introduction of improved machine tools without which high standards of accuracy could not be achieved. This laid the foundation of
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to allow the machining of flat surfaces. Previous to this flat surfaces were laboriously made by hand with the fitter using hammers and chisels, files and scrapers to get a true surface.
177:. He was the son of William Roberts, a shoemaker who also kept the New Bridge tollgate. Roberts was educated by the parish priest and early found employment with a boatman on the
336:, and patented it in March 1825. These were made in hundreds, and Roberts made extensive use of templates and gauges to standardise production. By 1826 he was working in
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as a fitter and turner. At
Maudslay's he absorbed his master's philosophy of "the importance of accurate machine tools where hand-work was replaced by mechanisms".
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243:, which he developed for sale to other engineers. Roberts adopted rotary cutters, which he had seen used at Maudslays. This is one of the earliest records of a
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Roberts built a range of machine tools, some to his own design, the first being a gear-cutting machine. For checking the dimensions of the gears he adapted the
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Roberts moved his business in 1821, to the Globe Works in
Faulkner Street. Whilst there he improved a reed-making machine, originally invented by the American
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joined the firm and contributed to its success in locomotive building as
Roberts soon delegated most of the locomotive design work to Beyer.
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and later at the local limestone quarries. He received some instruction in drawing from Robert Bough, a road surveyor, who was working under
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Williams M, Farnie A, Greater
Manchester Archaeological Unit- University of Manchester, Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (1992).
398:. He was not a particularly successful businessman, and Sharp, Roberts & Co. closed in June 1852 (by which time the more successful
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and, probably in 1813, moved to a supervisory position in the pattern shop of the
Horsely Iron works,
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Because the militia was still seeking him, he walked to London where he found employment with
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where he contributed to the building of textile machinery for the French cotton industry.
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Roberts continued as a consulting engineer and inventor until his death, taking out 18
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Buildings at Pool Fold, and was described as a "Lathe and Tool Maker".
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Roberts then found employment as a patternmaker at
Bradley Iron works,
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Roberts was a prolific inventor and manufacturer, ranging over
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671:); and by Lindsay Publications, Inc., Bradley, Illinois, (
204:. He was drawn for the militia and to avoid this made for
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used in engineering. In 1816 he made the first reliable
663:. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (
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pension in recognition of her father's achievements.
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He has been described as the most important
British
133:(22 April 1789 – 11 March 1864) was a Welsh
654:, New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press,
632:Life and Inventions of Richard Roberts, 1789–1864
506:Life and Inventions of Richard Roberts, 1789-1864
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272:Roberts' lathe at the Science Museum in London
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16:For other people named Richard Roberts, see
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534:The Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal
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208:, but finding no work there he shifted to
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418:, London. His daughter later received a
604:. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 58–.
555:. Carnegie publishing. pp. 9, 11.
388:holes in the iron plates making up the
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537:. William Laxton. 1864. pp. 146–.
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508:. Landmark Publishing. p. 228.
434:as we know it today, leading to the
216:working at lathe- and tool-making.
200:, wheel-wrighting and the repair of
141:whose development of high-precision
752:People of the Industrial Revolution
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390:railway bridge over the river Conwy
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685:Cotton Mills of Greater Manchester
651:English and American Tool Builders
553:Cotton mills in Greater Manchester
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598:Ian Inkster (30 September 2016).
757:Industrial Revolution in England
742:Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery
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18:Richard Roberts (disambiguation)
683:Williams, Mike; Farnie (1992),
630:Hills, Richard Leslie (2002),
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747:History of Greater Manchester
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504:Richard Leslie Hills (2002).
361:. The firm later became well
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762:18th-century Welsh engineers
712:British mechanical engineers
648:Roe, Joseph Wickham (1916),
480:. 25 March 1864. p. 183
396:the Great Exhibition of 1851
363:known for making locomotives
145:contributed to the birth of
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43:Edward Villiers Rippingille
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727:Patternmakers (industrial)
400:Sharp, Stewart and Company
196:. He had gained skills in
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304:Following the success of
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577:"Sharp Roberts & Co"
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352:Sharp, Roberts & Co.
252:Also in 1817 he built a
226:By 1816, when defeat of
169:, on the border between
687:, Carnegie Publishing,
634:, Landmark Publishing,
359:Sharp, Roberts & Co
438:of standard parts and
432:production engineering
330:Jeptha Avery Wilkinson
147:production engineering
722:Machine tool builders
601:History of Technology
579:. Steam Index website
416:Kensal Green Cemetery
96:Kensal Green Cemetery
161:Roberts was born at
427:mechanical engineer
436:interchangeability
717:English inventors
677:978-0-917914-73-7
611:978-1-350-01904-1
562:978-0-948789-69-4
515:978-1-84306-027-7
469:"Richard Roberts"
444:Roberts mechanism
346:Koechlin & Co
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581:. Retrieved
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482:. Retrieved
477:The Engineer
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737:1864 deaths
732:1789 births
163:Llanymynech
101:Nationality
64:Llanymynech
706:Categories
623:References
420:civil list
365:. In 1834
210:Manchester
157:Early life
109:Occupation
78:1864-03-12
57:1789-04-22
484:7 January
206:Liverpool
669:27-24075
660:16011753
382:punching
338:Mulhouse
228:Napoleon
202:millwork
139:engineer
113:Engineer
583:30 July
412:patents
249:wet gas
214:Salford
198:turning
171:England
76: (
55: (
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442:. The
380:, for
342:Alsace
241:sector
194:Tipton
86:London
472:(PDF)
450:Notes
386:rivet
344:with
175:Wales
167:Powys
104:Welsh
689:ISBN
673:ISBN
665:LCCN
656:LCCN
636:ISBN
606:ISBN
585:2011
557:ISBN
510:ISBN
486:2017
384:the
173:and
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71:Died
50:Born
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
