Matthew Murray was a steam engine and machine tool manufacturer, who designed and built the first commercially viable steam locomotive, the twin cylinder The Salamanca in 1812. // The term steam engine may also refer to an entire railroad steam locomotive. ... A machine tool is a powered mechanical device, typically used to fabricate metal components of machines by the selective removal of metal. ... Union Pacific Big Boy #4012 at work on a cold November 29, 1941 A steam locomotive is a locomotive powered by steam. ... The Salamanca The Salamanca was the first commercially successful steam locomotive built in 1812 by Matthew Murray for the Middleton Railway in Leeds. ...

Early years

Matthew Murray was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1765. He was apprenticed to be a blacksmith, and before completing his training moved to Stockton where he undertook training as a whitesmith and worked as a journeyman mechanic at a flax mill in Darlington, where the mechanical spinning of flax was invented. With his wife, Mary, (1764-1836), he moved to Leeds in 1789 to work for John Marshall, a prominent flax manufacturer. He built the machinery for Marshall's mills at Adel in 1789 and Holbeck in 1791. He patented an improved flax-spinning machine in 1790. Newcastle upon Tyne (usually shortened to Newcastle) is a large city in Tyne and Wear, England. ... A blacksmith A blacksmith at work A blacksmith at work A blacksmiths fire Hot metal work from a blacksmith A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from iron or steel by forging the metal; i. ... Stockton-on-Tees is an industrial town and port on the River Tees in north-eastern England. ... A whitesmith is a person who works with galvanized or tinned iron, or white iron. ... Flax Mills are mills concerned with the manufacture of flax. ... Darlington, including the town clock. ... Binomial name Linum usitatissimum Linnaeus. ... Leeds is a major city in West Yorkshire, England. ... John Marshall (1765 - 1845) was a British businessman and politician. ... Binomial name Linum usitatissimum Linnaeus. ... Adel is an area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. ... 1789 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Holbeck is a district of Leeds, West Yorkshire, through which passes the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. ... 1791 (MDCCXCI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 11-day-slower Julian calendar). ... A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to a patentee for a fixed period of time in exchange for a disclosure of an invention. ... Year 1790 (MDCCXC) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar). ...

Fenton, Murray and Wood

Subsequently, he went into partnership with James Fenton (previously Marshall's partner), David Wood (1761-1820), and William Lister to manufacture textile machinery and steam engines at Holbeck, which opened in 1795. Sunday textile market on the sidewalks of Karachi, Pakistan. ... Wind turbines The scientific definition of a machine is any device that transmits or modifies energy. ... Holbeck is a district of Leeds, West Yorkshire, through which passes the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. ...

Murray was in charge of the engine-building department, while Wood, directed the machine-making, and Fention managed the office. Fenton, Murray and Wood quickly established a reputation for the high quality of their workmanship, and attracted the hostility of Boulton and Watt, who purchased land surrounding the workshop so preventing the firm from expanding. Boulton and Watt successfully challenged two of Murray's patents. Nevertheless the manufactory became serious rivals to Boulton and Watt. Fenton, Murray and Jackson was an engineering company at the Round Foundry in Leeds, England. ... The firm of Boulton and Watt, a partnership between Matthew Boulton and James Watt, made steam engines at their Soho Foundry in Smethwick, near Birmingham, England. ...

Murray devised in 1799 a self-acting damper attached to the boiler for regulating the intensity of fire under it, and consequently the production of steam. He invented, or improved, the D-slide valve, made the air-pump more efficient, and simplified the design of the engine. To machine the rubbing surfaces the D-slide valve he invented his planing machine, and was the first to adopt the placing the piston in a horizontal position in the steam engine. As well as steam engines the firm made mill work and machine tools, and in 1804 began foreign export with an order for Sweden. In 1807 they manufactured for the Admiralty a steam engine for the Portsmouth Block Mills. The Portsmouth Block Mills form part of the Portsmouth Dockyard at Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, and were built during the Napoleonic Wars to supply the British Royal Navy with pulley blocks. ...

The manufactory was equipped with three steam engines for driving the machine tools. After manufacture the parts were assembled in a testing department, and when run-in and tested the engines were dis-assembled for packing and despatch. The manufactory in Holbeck was located near the banks of the Aire and Calder Navigation and the later Leeds and Liverpool Canal, which gave access to Liverpool. The firm were renowned for the elegant design of their engines, and the quality of manufacture. They were pioneers of all-metal construction and the development of portable engines - engines which could be taken to pieces and easily moved to another location. The Aire and Calder Navigation is a river and canal system of the River Aire and the River Calder in the county of West Yorkshire, England. ... The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in the north of England running from Liverpool, Merseyside to Leeds, West Yorkshire. ...

With Maudslays they were at the fore-front of engineering manufacture in this period. Henry Maudslay. ...

Steam locomotives

The firm made, in 1811, a Trevithick-pattern high pressure steam engine, which was fitted to the paddle steamer l'Active, running out of Yarmouth, and also made for John Blenkinsop, manager of Brandling's Middleton Colliery, near Leeds, a twin cylinder steam locomotive (The Salamanca) in 1812, whose drive was by means of a rack cast into the rails on which the engine travelled. The line is now known as the Middleton Railway. This was the first commercially successful steam locomotive. Richard Trevithick. ... John Blenkinsop (1783-1831), a mining engineer and an inventor in the area of steam locomotives, who designed the first practical railway locomotive. ... The Brandlings of Newcastle were a a wealthy family of merchants and land and coal owners in Newcastle upon Tyne and Northumberland. ... Middleton is an old pit village in south Leeds. ... The Salamanca The Salamanca was the first commercially successful steam locomotive built in 1812 by Matthew Murray for the Middleton Railway in Leeds. ... The Middleton Steam Railway is the worlds oldest working railway. ...

Murray made important improvements to the machinery for heckling and spinning flax and his heckling machine gained him the gold medal of the Society of Arts. At the time when these inventions were made the flax trade was on the point of expiring, the spinners being unable to produce yarn to a profit. Their effect the inventions was to reduce the cost of production, and improve the quality of the manufacture, thus establishing the British linen trade on a solid foundation. The production of flax-machinery became an important branch of manufacture at Leeds, large quantities being made for use at home as well as for exportation, giving employment to an increasing number of highly skilled mechanics. The Royal Society of Arts, whose correct name is the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce but which is more commonly known as the RSA, is a British multi-disciplinary institution, based in London, which exists to deliver five Manifesto Challenges: encouraging enterprise, moving towards a zero...

Francis B. Odgen the American Consul in Liverpool ordered in 1816, several engines for steam boats, and a healty export trade was built up with the supply of orders from Russia. One of Murray's son's, Matthew, migrated to Russia where he worked as an engineer until his death in July 1835.

The firm supplied machinery for all kinds of purposes, ranging for large cylinder-boring engines for steam engine cylinders, large gear-cutting machines and lathes, to machines for gas and water works. After Bramah's patent for the hydraulic ram came into the public domain the firm made a range of ram actuated machines, including those for the pressing of packs of cloth, to chain-testing machines. The latter were important, for at this time the Navy and the merchant marine adopted heavy chains to secure anchors, and it was necessary that they would not fail in use. The firm were also involved in the construction of textile mills by the provision of iron work.

Death

Matthew Murray died 20 February 1826 and was buried in St. Matthew's Churchyard, Holbeck. His tomb was surmounted by a cast iron obelisk. His firm survived until 1843. Several prominent engineers were trained there, including Benjamin Hick, and David Joy. Holbeck is a district of Leeds, West Yorkshire, through which passes the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. ... Benjamin Hick (1790-1842) Mechanical engineer. ...

References

• Armley Mills Museum, Leeds, illustrated page on Murray and his work. [1]
• Mike Chrimes, article Murray, Matthew, in A Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers, Vol 1, 2002, pp 461-462.
• E. Kilburn Scott, Matthew Murray: Pioneer Engineer, 1928
• Samuel Smiles, Industrial Biography, 1861
• W. English, The Textile Industry 1969, pp. 157-60.
• G. Cookson, 'Early Textile Engineers in Leeds 1780-1850' Publications of Thoresby Society n.s. 4 (1994), 40-61.