Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
engineer, now best known for the
Oldham coupler
A coupling is a device used to connect two shafts together at their ends for the purpose of transmitting power. The primary purpose of couplings is to join two pieces of rotating equipment while permitting some degree of misalignment or end mov ...
.
Life
Born in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
, Oldham was apprenticed to an engraver there, but then became a miniature-painter. He invented a numbering machine, which in 1809 he unsuccessfully offered to the bank of
Newry
Newry (; ) is a city in Northern Ireland, divided by the Clanrye river in counties Armagh and Down, from Belfast and from Dublin. It had a population of 26,967 in 2011.
Newry was founded in 1144 alongside a Cistercian monastery, althoug ...
for numbering their
banknote
A banknote—also called a bill (North American English), paper money, or simply a note—is a type of negotiable instrument, negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand.
Banknotes w ...
s. In 1812 the machine was adopted by the
Bank of Ireland
Bank of Ireland Group plc ( ga, Banc na hÉireann) is a commercial bank operation in Ireland and one of the traditional Big Four Irish banks. Historically the premier banking organisation in Ireland, the Bank occupies a unique position in Iris ...
, and he received the appointment of engineer and chief engraver.
In 1837 Oldham entered the service of the
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...
, where he introduced improvements in the machinery for printing and numbering banknotes. This machinery continued in use until 1852–3, when the system of surface-printing was adopted. He died at his house in Montagu Street,
Russell Square
Russell Square is a large garden square in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden, built predominantly by the firm of James Burton. It is near the University of London's main buildings and the British Museum. Almost exactly square, to the ...
, London, on 14 February 1840.
Engineer
Oldham also paid attention to marine propulsion, and in 1817 he obtained a patent (No. 4169) for propelling ships by means of paddles worked by a steam-engine, an attempt to imitate the motion of a paddle when used by a human. In 1820 he patented a further improvement (No. 4249), the paddles being placed on a shaft across the ship, and caused to revolve, being feathered by an adaptation of the gearing used in the former patent. It was used in the ''
Aaron Manby
''Aaron Manby'' was a landmark vessel in the science of shipbuilding as the first iron steamship to go to sea. She was built by Aaron Manby (1776–1850) at the Horseley Ironworks. She made the voyage to Paris in June 1822 under Captain (later ...
'', the first seagoing iron ship. A further development of the idea resulted in the construction of a feathering
paddle-wheel
A paddle wheel is a form of waterwheel or impeller in which a number of paddles are set around the periphery of the wheel. It has several uses, of which some are:
* Very low-lift water pumping, such as flooding paddy fields at no more than abo ...
, which was patented in 1827 (No. 5455).
Oldham's system of warming buildings, introduced into the Bank of Ireland, and subsequently into the Bank of England, was described in the ''Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal'', 1839, p. 96.
Family
Oldham left a family of 17 children. His eldest son, Thomas Oldham (1801–1851), succeeded to his father's place at the bank. He was elected an associate of the
Institution of Civil Engineers
The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters are located in the UK, whi ...
on 2 March 1841, and in 1842 he read a paper "On the Introduction of Letterpress Printing for numbering and dating the Notes of the Bank of England" (''Proceedings'', 1842, p. 166), and in the following year he contributed "A Description of the Automatic Balance at the Bank of England invented by W. Cotton" (''Proceedings'', 1843, p. 121). For the latter he received a Telford medal. He died at Brussels on 7 November 1851.