Thomas Mudge

Thomas Mudge

Thomas Mudge (* 1715 in Exeter ; † November 14, 1794 ) was an English master watchmaker and the inventor of the free lever escapement .

Thomas Mudge was born in 1715 to the pastor Zachariah Mudge . At the age of 14 he started an apprenticeship with the famous Georg Graham . After Graham's death, he took over his business at 148 Fleet Street in London . In 1757 he invented an lever escapement, with which most of the mechanical wristwatches are still equipped today. He made an anchor pocket watch for Queen Charlotte . He was one of the first to incorporate multiple gemstone bearings into watches. From 1771 he worked on the development of the chronometer gears, which he improved. He made a marine chronometer, which he presented to the authorities in 1774 and was awarded a prize of 3,000 pounds sterling. Mudge also worked for King George III. of England (1776). He formed a partnership with Dutton in 1755. In 1771 he went to Plymouth. His company in London, which was jointly run with William Dutton, existed from 1755 to 1790, so that it can be assumed that he retired to Plymouth in order to devote himself more to research; for at that time he was working on the marine chronometers, and in a port city like Plymouth he could certainly test them. He also excelled as a writer on pocket watch technology and it is said that he made a pocket watch with a minute repeater as early as 1750 .

The Mudge Passage , a strait in Antarctica, is named in his honor .

Web links

Commons : Thomas Mudge  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Search for Thomas Mudge in the German Digital Library
• Search for Thomas Mudge in the SPK digital portal of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation
• The “Blue Sea Chronometer” , Dresden State Art Collections

Individual evidence

1. ^ Thomas Mudge, London (1715-1794). In: Huber Genealogy. Retrieved October 21, 2018 .