William Morris Mordey
William Morris Mordey (c1856-1938) of the Brush Electrical Engineering Co, of Mordey and Dawbarn. Electrical and consulting engineer. Discoverer of the Mordey Effect.
c.1889 Patented a new electric generator, the first of at least 38 British patents, many of which were also filed in other countries.
1894 Patent on "Improvements in Apparatus for Regulating and Controlling Dynamos" and several other patents filed from a Victoria Street address (i.e. some years before he left Brush).
1896 Patent on "Improvements in Dynamo Electric Machines", filed from Loughborough, and several others from this address.
1897 Patent with Henry John Rogers of Watford on "Improvements in Means and Apparatus for Discharging, Neutralizing, or Removing Electrical Charges from Paper and like Material during and after the Process of Manufacture."
1898 of 82 Victoria Street, patent with Henry Bevis on "Improvements in connection with Alternate Current Arc Lamps and Lanterns."
1900 Patent on "Improvements in Electricity Meters" with Guy Carey Fricker, the first of several patents on meters with G. C. Fricker.
1901 Patent with Walter Samuel Steljes on "Improvements in or relating to Step-by-step Telegraphic Apparatus"
1902 Patented the Mordey-Fricker electricity meter with G. C. Fricker which was demonstrated at the Royal Society[1]
1902 Patent with Arnold Greaves Hansard on "Improvements in or relating to Alternate Current Traction Systems"
1908 President of the Institution of Electrical Engineers
1912 Patent with Alphons Custodis Chimney Construction Co of 119 Victoria Street on "Improvements in or relating to Coverings and the like for Steam Boilers and other Bodies"
1913 Patent with British Insulated and Helsby Cables on "Improvements in and connected with Electrical Conductors and Supporting Means for same"
1938 Obituary [2]
"The death of Mr. W. M. Mordey, at the age of eighty-two, removes from the electrical profession a man whose work in the early days of electricity supply scarcely seems to have received in recent times the recognition it deserves. Few of the younger generation of electrical engineers appear to appreciate important part Mordey Victoria alternators played in the generation of single-phase current or to what extent the originator of those machines contributed to the solution of the problems that presented themselves when electric lighting began to replace gas.
At the Bankside station of the City of London Electric Lighting Company and at other stations throughout the country and abroad, Mordey alternators were used, and although their performance sometimes left something to be desired they helped in no small measure to lay the foundations of the electricity supply industry. Mordey alternators and Raworth engines and switchgear were as familiar to pioneer electrical engineers as Parsons' turbo-generators and Reyrolle switch gear are to those operating power stations at the present time, but who do not for the most part remember or appreciate the trials and troubles that beset their predecessor.
Born at Donnywell, in the County of Durham , on March 28th 1856, William Morris Mordey was the second son of John Goodchild Mordey and the grandson of Dr. William Mordey several times Mayor of Sunderland. At the age of fourteen he entered the postal telegraph service and after being employed for a short time in London he was transferred to Bradford. Having devoted his leisure to the study of physics related to telegraphy, he gave instruction in telegraphy, magnetism, and electricity for the Science and Art Department and for the City and Guilds of London. In telegraphy he had to rely entirely on his own resources, as no tuition was obtainable, but the classes he conducted proved highly successful. Sitting for examination with his own class in 1881, Mr. Mordey obtained the second prize and medal of the City and Guilds Institute in the advanced stage of this subject.
At the end of the same year he left the telegraph service and obtained employment with the Anglo-American Brush Electric Light Corporation, now the Brush Electric Engineering Company, where he became chief electrician. From the year 1881 to 1897 he devoted his energies while with this concern to the design of A.C. and D. C. dynamos, motors and transformers. From the misfortunes of the period Mr. Mordey did not escape but although he had to face many difficulties he never published anything directly relating to them. The history of the technical side of electricity supply has been sadly neglected. Few seem to have considered it worth while to record at length their early experiments, and with the death of this pioneer who did so much in bygone days, scarcely anyone is left to do so. ......"