William Stratt (1756-1830) is an entrepreneur from Belper , England . He was a successful architect, designed many of the bridges in Derby , and in 1810 created the design for the first building of the Derbyshire Main Hospital. In 1779, he became an honorary citizen of Derby, which allowed him to vote in parliamentary elections. He was one of the founders of the Philosophical Society of Derby , and also served as its president for twenty-eight years. [1] He was a member of the Royal Society of London .
| William Stratt | |
|---|---|
| William Strutt | |
 | |
| Date of Birth | 1756 |
| Place of Birth | |
| Date of death | 1830 |
| Place of death | |
| A country | Great Britain |
| Scientific field | Industrial engineering |
| Known as | engineer, inventor |
| Awards and prizes | member of the Royal Society of London |
Biography
Stratt was the first son of the Jedi Stratt , and at the age of fourteen, after receiving a good education, William began to help his father in business. He also inherited from his father the ability to engage in mechanics and, according to rumors, invented a moving mule several years before Richard Roberts, who patented him in 1830, although the level of technological development would not have allowed to realize the project.
William dealt with the technical side of the family business, while his brothers, Joseph Stratt and George Benson, took over finance and management, respectively. They became known as WG and J. Strutt.
One of Stratt's most important achievements was the development of refractory structures and technologies in textile mills and their implementation in various fields. Fires were the main disaster of factories of the XIX century, especially those that worked with combustible materials. When the Darley Abbey factory burned down in 1788, it was rebuilt, protecting the beams with sheet metal. Many English engineers in those years worked on fire protection problems of truly national importance.
For the first time, Stratt used cast iron to build bridges in Derby, and subsequently began to use it in the construction of buildings. First, during the construction of a chintz factory in Derby and a warehouse in Milford (not preserved, demolished in 1964, now it has a parking lot), and then during the construction of a new Western Factory, erected in 1795 in Belper. Tiles and gypsum plaster were supported on the arches of brickwork laid around cast-iron columns. Wood beams were sheathed with sheet metal. To reduce the weight of the structures, the upper floors were made in the form of clay domes lined with gypsum.
Stratt then built a five-story flax processing factory in Ditherington, Shrewsbury , using cast iron beams, making the factory one of the first industrial buildings with a metal frame. He used the same principle to rebuild the Northern Belper Factory after a fire in 1803. Subsequently, Stratt built a number of other plants in Belper and Milford. The most outstanding of his buildings was a round factory, probably built under the influence of Jeremy Bentham's ideas.
William Stratt married Barbara, daughter of Thomas Evans from Darley Abbey, his first son, Edward, later became Lord Belper. Stratt also had three daughters: Elizabeth, Anna and Francis, and two more daughters died in infancy.
In 1817, he was elected a member of the Royal Society of London , where he served as lieutenant representative (DL) from Derbyshire. [2]
In 1819, Stratt designed and built the Derby Hospital, on which he worked with his friend Charles Sylvester. Sylvester described new methods of heating hospitals that were included in the project, as well as some improving living conditions functions, such as self-cleaning toilets with air fresheners [3] . Stratt used many innovations in the project, including his refractory structures and an innovative heating system, which allowed the patient to breathe fresh warm air. The culmination of the project was a large statue of Aesculapius, created by William Coffee [4] Imprinted by Sylvester, the innovations made by Stratt were then used in subsequent construction projects. [3] Derby Hospital was considered the foremost building of European architecture, and many architects visited it, getting acquainted with the features and innovations. After that, Stratt was invited to become a member of the Royal Society of London five outstanding people, among whom were Mark Brunel and James Watt [4] .
Stratt died in 1830 and was buried in the Uniate chapel in Friargate, Derby. In 1831, the president of the Royal Society of London summarized the achievements of Stratt, calling him "the author of these significant improvements in the design of furnaces, in the economical production and distribution of heat, which in recent years have been so widely and so advantageously implemented in the heating and ventilation of hospitals and public buildings" . [four]
Notes
- ↑ Paul Elliott, The Derby Philosophers; Science and Culture in English Urban Society, 1700-1850 (Manchester University Press, Manchester, 2009)
- ↑ William Strutt . thePeerage.com. Date of treatment August 2, 2011. Archived on August 26, 2012.
- ↑ 1 2 Sylvester, Charles. The philosophy of domestic economy: as exemplified in the mode of warming ... p . 71 . - 1819.
- ↑ 1 2 3 Elliott, Paul. The Derbyshire General Infirmary and the Derby Philosophers: The Application of Industrial Architecture and Technology to Medical Institutions in Early-Nineteenth-Century England (Eng.) // Medical History: journal. - 2000. - Vol. 46 . - P. 65-92 .
Literature
- Cooper, B., (1983) Transformation of a Valley: The Derbyshire Derwent Heinemann, republished 1991 Cromford: Scarthin Books
- Naylor, P. (Ed) (2000) An Illustrated History of Belper and its Environs Belper: MG Morris