Joshua Routledge facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Joshua Routledge
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c.1820 by Unknown artist, displaying Routledge's Engineer's Rule and Patent Rotary Steam Engine
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| Born | 27 April 1773 Riccall, Yorkshire
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| Died | 8 February 1829 (aged 55) |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Engineer Ironmonger |
| Known for | Slide rule Rotary Steam Engine |
Joshua Routledge (born 27 April 1773 – died 8 February 1829) was a clever engineer and inventor. He lived during the exciting time of the Industrial Revolution in the early 1800s. This was a period when many new machines and factories were created.
During this time, Mechanical engineering became a very important job. The invention of steam power opened up many new career choices. Young men like Joshua Routledge, who grew up in a farming society, could now become engineers and inventors.
Contents
Joshua's Early Life
Joshua Routledge was born on April 27, 1773, in a village called Riccall in Yorkshire, England. He was the third of twelve children. His family had been farmers and weavers in Riccall for many generations.
Joshua's father was a blacksmith. He was also a very religious and curious person. During the Industrial Revolution, many new ideas were spreading. Religious leaders like John Wesley shared messages that became popular in Yorkshire. Wesley's teachings encouraged ordinary people to become preachers. Joshua's father, William Routledge, became one of these preachers.
In 1774, when Joshua was just one year old, his family sailed to Nova Scotia, Canada. They traveled on a ship called Two Friends. However, they returned to Yorkshire before 1778. The family became active members of the Methodist church in York.
Joshua's Career as an Inventor
We don't know much about Joshua Routledge's early schooling. But he likely learned about metalwork from his father, the blacksmith. In 1798, Joshua was working as a "whitesmith" (a tinsmith) in Leeds, Yorkshire. This was when he first got married.
Working at The Round Foundry
Joshua Routledge might have learned his skills at a famous factory called the Round Foundry in Leeds. This factory was built around 1795 by Matthew Murray and David Wood. It quickly became known for making amazing textile machines and steam engines. Their engines were so good they even competed with the famous Soho Works of James Watt and Matthew Boulton.
The Routledge Engineer's Rule
By 1800, Joshua Routledge became a manager at the Round Foundry. He learned about logarithms, which are special numbers used in math. This helped him create a way to measure different metals and materials for engineering.
He combined a 12-inch brass slide with a regular 2-foot ruler. He also added a table of common measurements. This invention became known as the Routledge Engineer's Rule. It was a very useful tool for engineers.
It is believed that Routledge got a patent for his improved slide rule in 1813. A patent protects an invention, so others can't copy it. In 1805, he published the first instructions for his rule. Many more versions of these instructions were printed even after he died.
Around 1811, Routledge worked with a company called Thompson, Swift and Co. They made iron and steam engines in Little Bolton, Lancashire.
Improving the Rotary Steam Engine
In 1816, Joshua Routledge had a successful hardware business in Bolton. This business gave him time to work on other engineering projects and inventions. In February 1818, he received a patent for his "Improvement or Improvements Upon the Rotary Steam Engine."
A newspaper article from 1822 called him a "spirited and ingenious inventor." It described his portable, steam-powered machine that could break stones for road repair. This machine could break "70 or 80 tons in ten hours," which was amazing at the time.
Joshua Routledge was also one of the first shareholders in the Bolton Gaslight and Coke Company. This company supplied gas to the towns of Great and Little Bolton.
He also worked on other projects. In 1822, he partnered with William Kay to supply iron pillars for the Hudcar Mill. This was a very modern cotton mill at the time. He also helped extend and rearrange the Wallsuches Bleach Works in Horwich, Lancashire. This bleach works is now a protected historic site.
In 1824, Joshua left England and moved to Warsaw, Poland. There, he worked with Thomas Evans & Co. to build a large steam-powered corn mill. This factory later became a famous engineering company called Lilpop, Rau i Loewenstein.
Family Life
Joshua Routledge was married twice. His first wife was Mary King, whom he married in 1798. They had a daughter named Ann, who was born in 1803 but sadly died in 1814.
Connections to the Hick Family
Another engineer named Benjamin Hick also trained at the Round Foundry. Joshua and Benjamin both moved to Bolton around 1810. Bolton was a growing city because of the cotton milling industry. In April 1811, Joshua's sister Elizabeth married Benjamin Hick. Benjamin Hick later started his own successful engineering company, Benjamin Hick & Sons.
Elizabeth and Benjamin had five children. One of their sons, John Hick, became a well-known engineer and later served as a Member of Parliament for Bolton.
The Abel and Bowker Families
Soon after his sister's wedding, Joshua married Frances Abel on July 14, 1811. Frances was a widow with a son named Samuel. Joshua became a stepfather to Samuel.
Frances came from the important Bowker family. Her brothers, William and Jonathan Bowker, helped build and run Great and Little Bolton in the early 1800s. A street in Bolton, Bowker's Row, is named after them. William Bowker was an important local leader.
In 1819, William Bowker wrote a letter to protest the Peterloo Massacre. This was a sad event where many people were hurt during a peaceful protest in Manchester. Joshua Routledge was one of the people who signed this letter.
Joshua's Last Days
Sadly, Joshua Routledge became very ill while he was in Poland. He died on February 8, 1829, in Warsaw. He had very little money at the end of his life. A newspaper article from 1888 shared an entry from his diary. It showed how difficult things were for him and his wife.
After Joshua's death, Frances returned to Bolton with their three children: William, Frances, and Henry. William and Henry followed in their father's footsteps and became engineers. They both invented many things and received patents for their work.
Joshua's Legacy
The Routledge Engineer's Rule was a very important invention. It became a model for many other improvements to the slide rule throughout the 1800s and even into the 1900s. Other engineers created their own versions, like Wilkinson's Routledge's Spinners' Rule and Noble's Eureka Slide Rule.
In 1921, an engineer named James Noble wrote about the "Routledge Rule." He said that soon, everyone in the country would need to learn how to use it. He believed that anyone who knew how to use the rule could solve problems much faster than writing them down. This shows how important Joshua Routledge's invention was for engineers.
