Roberts, Richard

born April 22, 1789, Carreghova, Montgomeryshire, Wales

died March 16, 1864, Manchester, Eng.

British inventor.

He was an uneducated Welsh quarryman before he took a position with Henry Maudslay and then established his own machine-tool factory. He was one of the inventors of the metal planer, and he made important improvements to the lathe. His automatic spinning mule marked an important advance in spinning technology. He developed a screw-cutting lathe and built gear-cutting and slotting machines, railway locomotives with interchangeable parts, automatic machinery for punching holes in plate, and the first successful gas meter. Though he was said to have improved everything he touched, he was not a shrewd businessman, and he died in poverty.

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▪ British inventor

born April 22, 1789, Carreghova, Montgomeryshire, Wales

died March 16, 1864, Manchester

      British inventor known for his great versatility.

 Roberts began his career as an uneducated quarryman. He had remarkable mechanical ability, however, and worked at various times for the industrialist John Wilkinson and the inventor Henry Maudslay. He was one of the inventors of the metal planer and made a number of important improvements on the machine lathe. He also devised a screw-cutting lathe and built the first successful gas meter as well as gearcutting and slotting machines. In 1825 his firm, Sharp, Roberts, and Company, designed an automatic spinning mule. A year later he went to Alsace to develop French cotton manufacturing. Later his firm made railway locomotives in one of the earliest applications of the use of interchangeable parts. In the 1840s he devised automatic machinery for punching patterns of holes in bridge and boiler plate. Roberts was said to have improved everything he touched, but he was not a shrewd businessman and died in poverty.

 

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