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Daniel Treadwell (October 10, 1791 – February 27, 1872) was an American inventor. Amongst his most important inventions are a hemp-spinning
machine A machine is a physical system using Power (physics), power to apply Force, forces and control Motion, movement to perform an action. The term is commonly applied to artificial devices, such as those employing engines or motors, but also to na ...
for the production of cordage, and a method of constructing
cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...
from
wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag Inclusion (mineral), inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a ...
and
steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...
.


Biography

Daniel Treadwell was born on October 10, 1791, in
Ipswich, Massachusetts Ipswich is a coastal town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 13,785 at the 2020 census. Home to Willowdale State Forest and Sandy Point State Reservation, Ipswich includes the southern part of Plum Island. A reside ...
. His first invention, made at an early age, was a machine for making wooden screws. In 1818 he devised a new form of
printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in wh ...
, and in 1819 went to
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, where he conceived the idea of a power press. This was completed in a year after his return, and was the first press by which a sheet was printed on this continent by other than hand power. It was widely used, and in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
large editions of the
Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
were published by its means. In 1822, in conjunction with Dr. John Ware, he founded the ''Boston Journal of Philosophy and the Arts''. Treadwell was elected a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
in 1823. In 1825 he was employed by the city of
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
to make a survey for the introduction of water, and in 1826 he devised a system of turnouts for railway transportation on a single track. He completed the first successful machine for spinning hemp for cordage in 1829. Works capable of spinning 1,000 tons a year were erected in Boston in 1831. Machines that he furnished in 1836 to the Charlestown Navy Yard made all the cordage for some time for the U. S. Navy. These machines were used in
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
,
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, and
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. One of them, called a circular hackle or lapper, was generally adopted wherever hemp was spun for coarse cloth. From 1841-1845 he devised a method for making
built-up gun A built-up gun is artillery with a specially reinforced barrel. An inner tube of metal stretches within its elastic limit under the pressure of confined powder gases to transmit stress to outer cylinders that are under tension.Fairfield (1921) p.1 ...
s which resembled the process that was subsequently introduced by Sir William Armstrong. He patented it in 1844 through an agent and received government contracts, but the great cost of his cannon prevented a demand for them. He later filed a case against Robert Parrott about the
Parrott rifle The Parrott rifle was a type of muzzle-loading rifled artillery weapon used extensively in the American Civil War. Parrott rifle The gun was invented by Captain Robert Parker Parrott, a West Point graduate. He was an American soldier and invent ...
s, but lost it in 1866, with S.D.N.Y. court deciding that his claim was invalidated by a 1843 British patent to John Frith. From 1834 to 1845, he occupied the chair of Rumford professor at
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
. Also, theology was one of his interests; he is fictionalized as the theologian of ''
Tales of a Wayside Inn ''Tales of a Wayside Inn'' is a collection of poems by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The book, published in 1863, depicts a group of people at the Wayside Inn in Sudbury, Massachusetts as each tells a story in the form of a poem. Th ...
'' by
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include "Paul Revere's Ride", ''The Song of Hiawatha'', and ''Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely transl ...
. Treadwell died in
Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
.


Works

* ''A Short Account of an Improved Cannon, and of the Machinery and Processes employed in its Manufacture'' (Cambridge, 1845) * ''The Relations of Science to the Useful Arts'' (Boston, 1855) * ''On the Practicability of constructing a Cannon of Great Calibre'' (Cambridge, 1856) * ''On the Construction of Hooped Cannon'' (a sequel to the foregoing; 1864)


Notes


References

* * Biographical sketch by M. Wyman in ''Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences'', volume xi, (Cambridge, 1888) *
Samuel Longfellow Samuel Longfellow (1819–1892) was an American clergyman and hymn writer. Biography Samuel Longfellow was born June 18, 1819, in Portland, Maine, the last of eight children of Stephen Longfellow, Stephen and Zilpah (Wadsworth) Longfellow. His o ...
, ''Life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,'' (Boston, 1886)


Further reading

* 1791 births 1872 deaths 19th-century American inventors Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Harvard University faculty People from Ipswich, Massachusetts {{US-inventor-stub