The Soho Manufactory, Mint and Foundry, West Midlands

The Soho Manufactory, Mint and Foundry, West Midlands PDF

Author: George Demidowicz

Publisher: Liverpool University Press

Published: 2022-01-15

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 1802070931

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This volume provides a comprehensive analysis of the ground-breaking historic industrial complex created to the west of Birmingham in the eighteenth century and associated with Matthew Boulton, James Watt, and William Murdoch. The Soho Manufactory (1761-1863) and Soho Mint (1788-1850s) were both situated in the historic parish of Handsworth, now in the city of Birmingham, and the Soho Foundry (1795-1895) lay in the historic township of Smethwick, now within Sandwell Metropolitan Borough. Together they played a key role in the Industrial Revolution , achieving many world 'firsts': the first working Watt steam engine, the first steam-engine powered mint and the first purpose-built steam engine manufactory (the Soho Foundry), to name but a few. Existing literature focuses largely on the biography of the people, primarily Boulton and Watt, or the products they manufactured. The place - the Soho complex - has attracted very little attention. This volume is the first to concentrate on the buildings themselves analysing not only their physical origins, development and eventual decline but also the water and steam power systems adopted. An interdisciplinary approach has been employed combining archival research in the magnificent Soho collection at the Library of Birmingham with the results of archaeological excavations. The volume is profusely illustrated with archival material, most published for the first time, and contains a large number of reconstruction plans and drawings by the author.

An Economic History of British Steam Engines, 1774-1870

An Economic History of British Steam Engines, 1774-1870 PDF

Author: Haris Kitsikopoulos

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2023-08-29

Total Pages: 373

ISBN-13: 3031273621

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This book traces the diffusion trajectory of the second and third generation of British steam engines, the Watt and high-pressure models, covering the period 1774 to 1870. It begins by subjecting to econometric analysis the latest version of Dr. Kanefsky's database on 18th century steam engines coming up with an upward revision of the total amount of horsepower installed by 1800. Subsequent chapters delve into the determinants of the diffusion process through the third quarter of the 19th century relating to engines used both in mining and industry as well as transportation (railways, steam cars). The book's main contribution to the literature lies in drawing material from a very large volume of 18th- and 19th-century sources found in the Dibner Library of Rare Books, Smithsonian, and by utilizing a fair amount of technical literature pertaining to the economic factors driving the diffusion process. This great expansion of the empirical material has led to bringing multiple revisions to the work of other authors on the key aspects and determinants of the diffusion process. In conjunction with the publication by the author of an earlier monograph on the first generation of steam engines, the Newcomen model, the present study completes the task of offering the most comprehensive account of the preeminent and most strategic technology of the British Industrial Revolution. This book will appeal to students, scholars, and researchers of economic history and history of technology, interested in a better understanding of the industrial revolution in general and the role of British steam engines in particular.

The Oxford Handbook of Industrial Archaeology

The Oxford Handbook of Industrial Archaeology PDF

Author: Eleanor Casella

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2022-05-12

Total Pages: 769

ISBN-13: 0192596535

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Representing the first substantial English-language text on Industrial Archaeology in a decade, this handbook comes at a time when the global impact of industrialization is being re-assessed in terms of its legacy of climate change, mechanization, urbanization, the forced migration of peoples, and labour relations. Critical debates around the beginning of a new geological era - The Anthropocene - have emerged over the last decade. This approach interrogates the widespread exploitation of natural resources that forged industrialization from its early emergence in 18th century northern Europe to its contemporary ubiquity, environmental impacts, and social legacy within our globalized world. Through a broad international and multi-period set of chapters, this volume explores the complex origins, processes, and development of industrialization through both its physical remains and human consequences - both the good and the bad. It provides a diverse material framework for understanding our modern world, from its industrial origins through its future paths in the 21st century.

Matthew Boulton

Matthew Boulton PDF

Author: Sally Baggott

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-05-13

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 1317099303

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Matthew Boulton was a leading industrialist, entrepreneur and Enlightenment figure. Often overshadowed through his association with James Watt, his Soho manufactories put Birmingham at the centre of what has recently been termed 'The Industrial Enlightenment'. Exploring his many activities and manufactures-and the regional, national and international context in which he operated-this publication provides a valuable index to the current state of Boulton studies. Combining original contributions from social, economic, and cultural historians, with those of historians of science, technology and art, archaeologists and heritage professionals, the book sheds new light on the general culture of the eighteenth century, including patterns of work, production and consumption of the products of art and industry. The book also extends and enhances knowledge of the Enlightenment, industrialization and the processes of globalization in the eighteenth century.

Industrial Enlightenment

Industrial Enlightenment PDF

Author: Peter M. Jones

Publisher: Manchester University Press

Published: 2017-10-03

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 1526130319

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Industrial Enlightenment explores the transition through which England passed between 1760 and 1820 on the way to becoming the world’s first industrialised nation. In drawing attention to the important role played by scientific knowledge, it focuses on a dimension of this transition which is often overlooked by historians. The book argues that in certain favoured regions, England underwent a process whereby useful knowledge was fused with technological ‘know how’ to produce the condition described here as Industrial Enlightenment. At the forefront of the process were the natural philosophers who entered into a close and productive relationship with technologists and entrepreneurs. Much of the evidence for this study is drawn from the extraordinary archival record of the activities of Matthew Boulton (1728–1809) and his Soho Manufactory. The book will appeal to those keen to explore the dynamics of change in eighteenth-century England, and to those with a broad interest in the cultural history of science and technology.

Joseph Priestley and Birmingham

Joseph Priestley and Birmingham PDF

Author: Malcolm Dick

Publisher:

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 148

ISBN-13:

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Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) was a major figure in the intellectual, religious and political life of the eighteenth century. He was a chemist and physicist, a philosopher, theologian and educationalist and a campaigner for political liberty, religious toleration and anti-slavery. His time in Birmingham between 1780 and 1791 was one of the most active periods of his life when he was a member of the Lunar Society and an associate of other influential men in the West Midlands, such as Erasmus Darwin, Matthew Boulton, James Watt and Josiah Wedgwood. In 1791 he was forced to leave Birmingham as a result of the infamous Priestley Riots. A few years later, in 1794, he left England for the United States where he spent the rest of his life.Joseph Priestley and Birmingham contains a collection of articles by historians that focus mainly, but not exclusively, on Priestley's time in Birmingham. It provides a record of an individual whose ideas and activities had a major influence, not only on Birmingham and the West Midlands, but the wider world as well.The publication is a result of work carried out by the "Joseph Priestley and Birmingham Project", which was established by Birmingham & District Local History Association to commemorate Priestley's life and achievements, two-hundred years after he died in 1804. The publication is a special edition of the Association's renowned local history journal, the Birmingham Historian. The Heritage Lottery Fund has generously supported the activities of the "Joseph Priestley and Birmingham Project", which will also include an exhibition, a town trail, a DVD of Priestley's experiments and the provision of resource material on www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk in 2005.

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