Career
Vaughans patent described how iron balls could be placed between the wheel and the axle of a carriage. The balls let the carriage wheels rotate freely by reducing friction. Vaughan was granted a patent in 1794 for a ball bearings that sits between the axle and the wheel on a carriage.
His design has the balls running inside deep groves, and sealed in place with a stopper.
Bearings are used in most rotating machines in the modern world - found throughout the rotating parts in cars, bikes, trains, planes et cetera These modern ball bearings work in much the same way as Vaughans initial invention.
They make vehicles more efficient by reducing the friction between the moving parts. Without bearings, our mechanical world would simply not work.
Vaughan was a proprietor and agent of the iron foundry at Carmarthen and Kidwelly.
On January 1, 1800 Philip Vaughan signed a copartnership deed with John Morgan Junior, William and Thomas Morris, and William Morgan. The partners all agreeing to bringing £12,000 in equal shares of £2,400 each. Philip Vaughan was elected a burgess of Carmarthen on 2 October 1797.
He died in 1824.