Inventing engineering

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The engineering profession developed rapidly during the nineteenth century, but what were its origins? After 1700 wind and watermills were built in increasing numbers. These were the largest machines ever constructed until then and a new breed of ‘millwrights’ emerged to erect and maintain them.

A millwright was ‘a kind of jack of all trades, who could, with equal facility work at the lathe, the anvil or the carpenter’s bench’. Using both wood and metal, they were concerned with the practical application of power to industrial processes.

This practical skill was supported by extensive knowledge in other fields. William Fairbairn, a millwright himself, noted in 1864 that:

the ordinary millwright was usually a fair arithmetician, knew something of geometry, levelling and mensuration, and in some cases possessed a very competent knowledge of practical mathematics. He could calculate the velocities, strength, and power of machines: he could draw in plan and section.

William Fairbairn 1864

© Science Museum/Science and Society Picture Library

Initially, millwrights carried their tools with them and built machinery on the spot. Later, they established workshops and built production machinery like looms and spinning frames as well as power sources like waterwheels. Making this machinery required new machine tools and these in turn brought new workmen. Pattern-making, iron-founders, turning and fitting all became distinct professions.

The engineer became the man who could oversee all these men and machines, constructing the ever-larger mills and works that have come to symbolise our Industrial Revolution.