Murdock, William

The discovery that usehil chemicals could be made from coal tar provided the foundation upon which the modem chemical industry is built. Industrial chemistry expanded rapidly in the late nineteenth century in German laboratories and factories where coal-tar chemicals were refined and used in synthesis of dyes and pharmaceuticals. But coal-tar production has an eadier origin, dating back to the discovery by William Murdock in 1792 that heating coal in the absence of air generated a gas suitable for lighting. Murdock commercialized this technology, and by 1812 the streets of London were illuminated with coal gas (1). 

Coal-gas lighting invented by William Murdock in Cornwall. 

Stephen Hales, George Dixon, and Bishop Watson afterward made similar experiments. Professor Minckelers of tile University of Louvain distilled gas from powdered coal and lighted his lecture room with it in 1784—85 ( 26). In 1792 William Murdock lighted his house at Redruth, Cornwall, with gas made by the destructive distillation of coal (28). 

Sponsoring Editor Peter Renz Project Editor Nancy Flight Manuscript Editor Larry McCombs Designer Marie Carluccio Production Coordinator William Murdock Illustration Coordinator Cheryl Nufer Artist John Waller Compositor Bi-Comp, Inc. 

Wedgwood s request was transmitted via William Murdock to Boulton Watt, 5 February 1806. See Dickinson and Jenkins, James Watt and the Steam Engine, p. 231. 

In 1798, Scottish engineer William Murdock (1754-1839) machined a 163-cm bore cylinder in the factory of English manufacmrer Mathew Boulton. The machining of 163-cm bore took more than 27 days. Mathew Boulton (1728-1809) is famous for collaborating with James Watt for the commercial production of steam engine. In the final quarter of eighteenth cenmry, hundreds of Boulton and Watt steam engines were installed at several places. 

Improved steam engine (William Murdock) In an age when much focus was on steam technology, Murdock works to improve steam pumps that remove water from mines. He will go on to invent coal-gas lighting in 1794. 

Coal gas (William Murdock) Murdock develops methods for manufacturing, storing, and purifying coal gas and using it for lighting. 

The use of coal gas as an illuminant was introduced by William Murdock (Old Cumnock, Ayrshire, 1754-Soho, 1839), employe of Boulton and Watt,... 

---