William Bickford (1774–1834) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

inventor, who, formerly a

currier A currier is a specialist in the leather processing industry. After the tanning process, the currier applies techniques of dressing, finishing and colouring to a tanned hide to make it strong, flexible and waterproof. The leather is stretched an ...

, invented the safety fuse for use in mining.

Early life

William Bickford was born in Ashburton,

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to William and Mary Bickford. He moved to first

Truro Truro (; kw, Truru) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its ...

and then Tuckingmill in

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

. Tuckingmill was then in the heart of the Cornish mining industry, and Bickford would have been aware of the large loss of life from explosive accidents in the mines.

Inventor career

He is best known as the inventor of the

safety fuse The safety fuse is a type of fuse invented and patented by English inventor William Bickford in 1831. Originally it consisted of a "tube" of gunpowder surrounded by a waterproofed varnished jute "rope." It replaced earlier and less reliable metho ...

, which was inspired by watching a friend, James Bray making rope. With his son-in-law George Smith, he established a factory in Tuckingmill for the production of his invention, and in its first year it produced 45 miles of fuse. He died a short while before his company actually started up. It took a while for miners to use the safety fuses, for the old ones were cheaper. His company eventually became part of the

Ensign-Bickford Company The Ensign-Bickford Aerospace & Defense Company (formerly The Ensign-Bickford Company) is a manufacturer of hardware and energetic systems for use in spacecraft, military, and industrial applications. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ensign-Bic ...

. ''On the south side of the main street, at the bottom of Tuckingmill, set in a wall, was (certainly prior to 1990) an inscribed stone which amongst other things credited his daughter with the inspiration/possible invention of the safety fuse. '' Bickford's grandson William Bickford-Smith became MP for

Death

Bickford died in 1834.

References

Sources

William Bickford biography

The Bickford Fuse by Andrey Kurkov review – a Soviet Pilgrim’s Progress
1774 births 1834 deaths Inventors from Cornwall People from Ashburton, Devon English inventors

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

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