James Valoue (also spelled Valouë, Valoué or Valouè in various references) was an 18th-century watchmaker. He is most remembered for his 1737 design of a horse-powered pile driver which was used in the construction of Westminster Bridge. In 1738 the Royal Society of London gave Valoue the

Copley Medal The Copley Medal is an award given by the Royal Society, for "outstanding achievements in research in any branch of science". It alternates between the physical sciences or mathematics and the biological sciences. Given every year, the medal is t ...

for his invention of "an engine for driving piles to make a foundation for the bridge to be erected in Westminster, the model whereof had been shown to the society". The

Science Museum of London The Science Museum is a major museum on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, London. It was founded in 1857 and is one of the city's major tourist attractions, attracting 3.3 million visitors annually in 2019. Like other publicly funded ...

holds a model of Valoue's pile driver constructed by

Stephen Demainbray Stephen Charles Triboudet Demainbray (1710 – 20 February 1782) was an English natural scientist and astronomer, who was Superintendent (or King's Astronomer) at the King's Observatory in Richmond, Surrey (now in London) from 1768 to 1782. Ea ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valoue, James 18th-century British people English inventors Recipients of the Copley Medal Year of birth missing Year of death missing English watchmakers (people)