William Bridges Adams

William Bridges Adams (* 1797 in Madeley , Staffordshire , † July 23, 1872 in Broadstairs ) was a British publicist, railway designer and entrepreneur.

Life

As the son of a successful wheelwright , he first worked in the construction of horse-drawn carriages, and then turned to the construction and construction of light locomotives. Its design innovations were reflected in 34 patents, mainly in the field of suspension and axles. Adams was a self-taught writer.

In his early years he was able to afford a longer stay in South America (Argentina and Chile), where he and his wife Elizabeth Place were born in Quintero, Chile, in 1821 their first son, William Alexander .

After his return in 1826, he developed extensive journalism, for which he adopted the ambitious pseudonym "Junius Redivivus" ("the resurrected Junius"). He is referring to the pamphleteer Junius, who has not been exposed to this day, who wrote sharp attacks against the government and even King George III in the Public Advertiser magazine between 1769 and 1772 . had published.

In London he met the editor of the magazine Monthly Repository and head of the Unitarian church in the South Place Chapel William Johnson Fox (1786–1864), where a circle of reform-minded intellectuals met (in addition to Fox and others John Stuart Mill , Harriet Taylor , Harriet Martineau , Margaret Gillies , Eliza Flower ). In this circle he also met the actress and poet Sarah Fuller Flower , whom he married in 1834 as a second marriage. In addition, he devoted himself to his work as an engineer and entrepreneur.

After his wife Sarah died in 1848, he married a third time; his daughter from this marriage with Ellen Kendall is the doctor and suffragette Hope Bridges Adams-Lehmann (1855-1916).

Works

• A political dialogue, relative to our farming and trading distress, between the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street [ie the Bank of England] and Junius Redivivus . Sold by Simpkin and Marshall ... and all other booksellers, London 1822.
• Junius Redivivus, A Tale of Tucuman; with digressions, English and American . E. Wilson, London 1831.
• The producing man's companion; an essay on the present state of society, moral, political, and physical, in England. Addressed to the productive classes of the community . 2nd ed. E. Wilson, London 1833 (first edition under the title The Rights of Morality , ibid. 1832).
• English Pleasure Carriages, their origin, history, varieties, materials, construction, defects, improvements, and capabilities: with an analysis of the construction of common roads and railroads, and the public vehicles used on them; together with descriptions of new inventions. Illustrated by numerous designs. For the use of carriage purchasers and constructors . C. Knight & co., London 1837.
• Common Sense , edited by Junius Redivivus [ie W. Bridges Adams]. no.14 May 122, 1841 (magazine).
• The varieties of permanent way practically used, or tried, on railways up to the present period ... And on some recent improvements in the permanent way of railways. By PM Parsons and William Bridges Adams. With an abstract of the discussion upon the papers. Edited by Charles Manby. Excerpt minutes of proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Vol.XVI., Etc. London 1857.
• Roads and rails and their sequences, physical and moral . Chapman & Hall, London 1862.

Proven patents

William Bridges Adams: Enfield steam train built for the Eastern Counties Railway (1849)

• 6790/1835 ring spring wheels. 13 February 1835
• 8197/1839 Improved articulated steering for carriages. 16 August 1839
• 1033/1854 Rails for railways. 9 May 1854
• 2140/1854 Rails for railways. 5 October 1854
• 2454/1854 projectiles. 20 November 1854
• 306/1855 elastic springs. 9 February 1855.
• 1072/1855. Construction and propulsion of vessels. 12 May 1855
• 1807/1855. Locomotive engines and their trains. 9 August 1855
• 1757/1861. Locomotives. July 12, 1861. Also acts as stationary engine and capable of operating on sharp curves.
• 440/1862. Improvements in springs. February 16, 1862.
• 3482/1862. Railways and tramways. 31 December 1862.
• 1674/1863. Wheels and their tires. 6 July 1863.
• 2896/1863. Improvements in wheels, tires, axles. 13 November 1863
• 3195/1863. Locomotive engines. 18 December 1863.
• 871/1864. Construction and propulsion of vessels. 7 April 1864
• 2764/1864 Improvements in locomotive engines. November 8, 1864. For working on very sharp curves
• 3081/1864 Railways and tramways. 13 December 1864.

literature

• John Stuart Mill : Writings of Junius Redivivus I. II [1833], in: ders .: Collected Works I. Autobiography and Literary Essays . Ed. by J. M. Robson, J. Stillinger. Toronto / London 1963, pp. 367-390.
• Jack Simmons, Gordon Biddle: The Oxford Companion to British Railway History . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1997.
• Jason Evan Camlot: Character of the Periodical Press. John Stuart Mill and Junius Redivivus in the 1830s. In: Victorian Periodicals Review 32 (1999), pp. 166-176.

Web links

• http://www.steamindex.com/people/bridadam.htm