Jean-Joseph Merlin
_Painting_by_Thomas_Gainsborough.jpg)
Jean-Joseph Merlin (born September 17, 1735 in Huy , † May 4, 1803 in London ), also called John Joseph Merlin in the English-speaking world , was a Belgian designer . He is generally considered to be the inventor of the first historically documented roller skate , although reports of attaching wheels or rollers to shoes are known from before its development. It is said that he was seriously injured while demonstrating his invention during a ball of the English royal family in 1760 , because he drove into a large mirror due to a lack of suitable braking devices .
Apart from the development of the roller-skate, he mainly occupied himself with the design and construction of mechanical musical instruments , clocks and other fine mechanical devices , while he was also living in Paris at a young age . In 1760 he settled in London. His most important development in the field of musical was from him in 1774 patented mechanism by which the harpsichord , a keyboard instrument with tone by plucking of strings , could be extended to the in pianofortes used string striking. With this invention it was possible to use both techniques in the same instrument.
In the area of watchmaking, he was involved in the development of the first atmospheric watch , known as the Cox watch , together with the English watchmaker James Cox . He also developed the mechanics for the Silver Swan made by James Cox , an automaton that is now in the English Bowes Museum . His other inventions included a tea table in which the tea was automatically rotated from a samovar in the middle of the table into twelve cups in a circle , a scale for checking the gold content of coins and a steerable wheelchair .
He exhibited some of his developments in London in Merlin's Mechanical Museum , which existed from around 1783 to 1808.
literature
- Merlin, John Joseph. In: Robert Palmieri, Margaret W. Palmieri: Piano: An Encyclopedia. Routledge, New York 2003, ISBN 0-415-93796-5 , pp. 236/237
- Merlin the very ingenious Mechanic. In: Edward L. Kottick: A History of the Harpsichord. Indiana University Press, Bloomington 2003, ISBN 0-253-34166-3 , p. 379
- Rebecca Wolf: Notation Transfer. Translation options for a Merlin grand piano . In: Kyung-Ho Cha, Markus Rautzenberg (Hrsg.): The distorted view. Anamorphoses in art, literature and philosophy. Fink, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-7705-4611-4 , pp. 140-156
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Merlin, Jean-Joseph |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Merlin, John Joseph |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Constructor in the field of precision mechanics, instrument maker and inventor of the roller skate |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 17, 1735 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Huy |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 4, 1803 |
| Place of death | London |