Joseph Clement

Joseph Clement ( born June 13, 1779 Asby, Eden District ( Cumbria ), † February 28, 1844 in Southwark, South London ) was a British engineer and industrialist.

Life and work

His father, Thomas, a weaver, who had built himself a lathe, mechanics and natural history taught him. Joseph worked as a weaver and roofers and then went to a blacksmith's apprentice. To 1805 he worked in a loom factory in Kirkby Stephen. He then moved further over Carlisle to Glasgow, where he studied drawing with Peter Nicholson. To 1812, he worked at Leys, Masson & Co. in Aberdeen, where he attended lectures on natural philosophy at Marischal College.

In 1813 he moved to London, where he worked in Holborn with Alexander Galloway. A little later he moved to Joseph Bramah in Pimlico, who gave him in April 1814 a five-year contract as chief draftsman. After Brahmahs death in the following December, he became chief draftsman at Henry Maudslay in Lambeth, where he designed a marine steam engine.

In 1817 he was able to establish with the support of the Duke of Northumberland in the district of Newington own workshop for precision machines. He invented a trammel, for which he was awarded in 1818 by the Society for the Encouragement of Arts with the gold medal. His interest was mainly the improvement of machine tools, especially lathes. In 1828 he began the manufacture of taps. His journeyman Joseph Whitworth played a major role in the standardization later. Between 1824 and 1833 he built Charles Babbage's first difference engine.

In later years, he built an organ. With Agnes Esson from County Durham, he had the illegitimate daughter of Sarah Clement.