Background
Born at Bristol on 24 October 1807, he was the son of Thomas Jordan (a Quaker engineer), and began life as an artist.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
Thomas Jordan
Edit ProfileCareer
When barely twenty he moved to Falmouth. R.W.Fox"s influence led him to relinquish painting and to set up as a mathematical instrument maker in Falmouth, where he effected improvements in the miners" dial, and had some share in the construction of Fox"s improved dipping-needle. In 1838 Jordan devised an instrument for recording by photography the variations of the barometric column, and he shortly afterwards invented a declination magnetograph and a self-recording actinometer.
His pioneering use of photography in meteorology was acknowledged by both Charles Wheatstone and Sir John Herschel.
Foreign some years subsequent to 1839 he held the post of secretary of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society. Jordan took a great interest in electro-metallurgy during the early years of its development, and in 1841 he made an egg-cup of electro-deposited copper, plated with silver outside and gold inside, which was considered a model of workmanship, and is now deposited in the Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn Street, London.
The wood-carving machinery was subsequently exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851, and the products were extensively used in the decoration of the House of Lords. Later on Jordan started work as a mechanical engineer, first at Manchester, then at Glasgow, where he devised a series of machines for the production of school slates.
Jordan"s last invention, patented in 1877, was a portable machine for boring blast-holes in rock.
He died in Bournemouth on 31 May 1890. Jordan married, in 1837, Sarah Dunn. They had eleven children.
He died 1890-1805-31.
Mistress Jordan survived him.
Achievements
-
Upon resigning his appointment as keeper of mining records in 1845, Jordan invented a highly ingenious process of carving by machinery, and set up works at Lambeth for carrying into effect the invention, for which in 1847 he received the gold Isis medal from the Society of Arts, and in the same year he was elected a Fellow of the Society.
Connections
-
Born
-
Died
March 31, 1890 (aged 82) -
Nationality
United Kingdom