William Muir

1847.

William Muir (1806–1888) of William Muir and Co

1806 Born on 17 January at Catrine, Ayrshire, Scotland, the second of the four children (three sons and a daughter) of Andrew Muir, a farmer and businessman. His father was a cousin of William Murdoch, who invented gas lighting.

1831 He worked for Henry Maudslay. At Maudslay, Sons and Field's he was promoted to foreman and made responsible for constructing a steam carriage, for which he received a handsome gratuity.

March 1836 he left to join Holtzapffel and Co, toolmakers of Charing Cross and Long Acre, as assistant and representative for a few months, before becoming a foreman at Bramah and Robinson in Pimlico.

1840 Muir was asked to join Joseph Whitworth; he moved to Manchester where Whitworth had established his business. Muir designed a road sweeping machine for Whitworths.

Muir made a collection of the various screw pitches then in existence and identified a mean pitch for common threads which was adopted as the "Whitworth pitch". Later Muir, when in business for himself, developed a mean pitch for fine threads.

1842 He left Whitworths in June and established a workshop in Berwick Street, Manchester, where he had room for a small forge, his lathe, and a bench. Business increased and he outgrew the Berwick Street accommodation.

1847 Working from 59 Oxford Street, Manchester (see advertisement)

c.1847 Jointly with Mr. Edmondson, Muir occupied much larger premises in Miller's Lane, Salford. These were part of the former Salford Iron Works of Bateman and Sherratt . Mr. Edmondson occupied the top floor as a Railway Ticket Printing Office; Muir manufactured the printing, dating, and other machines, as well as conducting business as a machine-tool maker.

1852 Muir was asked to supply the Woolwich Arsenal with machinery for making interchangeable rifle sights; and with business increasing, he built the Britannia Works in Sherborne Street, Strangeways, and took on partners.

1852 Built the Edmundson Railway Ticket Machine

1853 he was granted patents on lathes and machines for grinding edge tools and for cutting out garment pieces.

1888 Died on the 15th June

See Also

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Sources of Information

• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
• The Imperial Journal 1852 Vol I. p278-9
• Brief Memoir of the late William Muir by Robert Smiles