John Taylor (inventor)

Last updated

John C. Taylor

Relative time (2886233692) (John Taylor cropped).jpg
Taylor in 2008
Born (1936-11-25) 25 November 1936 (age 86)
NationalityBritish
CitizenshipBritish
Alma mater Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Occupation(s)British inventor, entrepreneur, horologist and philanthropist
Known forDevelopment of thermostatic controls
Construction of the Corpus Clock
Website johnctaylor.com

John Crawshaw Taylor [1] OBE FREng (born 25 November 1936) is a British inventor, entrepreneur, horologist and philanthropist best known for his extensive research into electric kettles.

Contents

Early life

John C Taylor was born on 25 November 1936 in Buxton, Derbyshire to Eric Hardman Taylor (1904-1972) and Gwendolen Marjorie Jones (1904-1975). John had one older sister, Judith Sian Taylor (1934-2011).

When the Second World War commenced on 3 September 1939 it was decided that John would be sent to Canada along with his mother and sister. On 30 May 1940 they travelled to Montréal, Canada and settled in Belleville, Ontario until 28 January 1945 when they returned to England.

John was educated firstly at Belleville Kindergarten, then at Queen Alexandra School. Upon returning to England John studied at the Combs Village School. Following this John attended Holme Leigh Preparatory School before moving to the Isle of Man to attend King William's College. John was then accepted into Corpus Christi College, Cambridge from 1956-1959, where he graduated with a degree in Natural Sciences.

Career

After graduating in 1959 Taylor had planned to continue his studies further, however at the last moment the funding was pulled and reluctantly he joined his father Eric's company Otter Controls as a Graduate Trainee. [2] It is said that he "soon revealed himself to have inherited his father's inventive genius". [3]

When Eric Taylor died in 1971, his son took over as Chairman of Otter Controls. [3] He focused on the business of Castletown Thermostats, a subsidiary of Otter Controls, and in 1979 he split Castletown Thermostats and Otter Controls into two independent companies, with John Taylor becoming Chairman of Castletown. [4] Two years later, Castletown Thermostats changed its name to Strix Ltd, and in 1984, Eddie Davies was appointed as Chief Executive, with Taylor remaining Chairman.

Castletown Thermostats had started by making bimetallic thermostats for use in various industries. In the 1960s, the market for electric kettles was growing, and Castletown extended its manufacturing plant to produce and test a new device for controlling kettles. [3] During the 20 years from 1979 until 1999 in which Taylor and Davies led Strix, the company developed several successful product series, expanded worldwide, [5] sold over 200 million thermostat controls for electric kettles, and received several Queen's Awards and other awards. [4]

In 2001 Taylor received an Honorary Doctorate at UMIST and was made Visiting Professor of Innovation in recognition of over 150 patents in his own name. [2] [3] He was also elected Honorary Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. [1]

In 2000, in a bid to expand into the new growth market of coffee makers, Strix raised £50m of capital from HSBC Private Equity by selling 40% of its shares, valuing the company at £125m. This investment diluted Taylor's shareholding in Strix to 24%. [3] [6] In 2005, ABN AMRO Capital led a leveraged buyout of Strix; [7] the value of the transaction was not disclosed. Today[ when? ], Strix employs 1000 people, holds over 600 patents, and turns over more than £100 million per year. Strix controls are incorporated into electric kettles from many leading manufacturers, and it is estimated that they are used over one billion times per day worldwide, by over 20% of the world's population. [4]

On 29 May 2018 Taylor was the subject of the BBC Radio 4 programme The Life Scientific . [8]

Philanthropic activities

Since his retirement in 1999, [5] Taylor focussed on using his wealth to support educational institutions in the UK. His 'generous donation' enabled the creation of the STRIX Centre for Manufacturing at UMIST which opened in 2003. [4] He has also been a very active benefactor of his former Cambridge college, Corpus Christi, by contributing £2.5m [9] towards the construction of a new student library, the Taylor Library [10] as well as funding numerous undergraduate and postgraduate scholarships and bursaries. [11] [12] [13] In 2017, the Royal Academy of Engineering named their newly refurbished Enterprise Hub after Taylor, in recognition of his donation that enabled the project. [14]

He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 New Year Honours for services to business and horology. [15]

Horology and the Chronophage clocks

Taylor attracted public attention in September 2008 when the Corpus Clock, also known as the Chronophage, was installed on the outer wall of the Taylor Library of Corpus Christi College and unveiled by Stephen Hawking. [16] John Taylor spent £1m of his own money in the construction of the Corpus Clock and gave it as a gift to the college. [9]

The second in the series, the Midsummer Chronophage, depicts a science-fiction fly and was exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery, the Science Museum, London [17] and the National Museum of Scotland. [18] Like the Corpus Chronophage, its face is made from 24-carat gold plate on stainless steel.

The third is the Dragon Chronophage, exhibited in Shanghai on 27–30 March 2015 as part of Design Shanghai, China's premier design event. It features a Chinese dragon which appears to swallow a pearl every hour. [19]

The fourth Chronophage is a private commission, and its details are currently[ when? ] being kept secret at the customer's request.[ citation needed ]

There are features that are common to all of the Chronophage clocks. They are all designed to show the grasshopper escapement, part of a conventional clock mechanism that was invented by John Harrison. The grasshopper escapement, which is usually internal, is externalised and appears to drag the escape wheel around the rim of the clock.

When building the Corpus Chronophage, Taylor found that the inertia issues presented by such a large grasshopper escapement made the mechanism unworkable. With reference to this problem, he has said, "We had to turn a disaster into an advantage. Our efforts to prevent the amplitude of the pendulum from increasing led us to the idea of running both fast and slow and correcting them." The final outcome was a mechanical clock that is assisted by mechanical controls and a periodic signal from the atomic clock at the UK's National Physical Laboratory. [20] All of the Chronophage clocks use this method of telling time, which allows Taylor to explore the concept of relative time as theorised by Albert Einstein.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clock</span> Instrument for measuring, keeping or indicating time

A clock or a timepiece is a device used to measure and indicate time. The clock is one of the oldest human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units such as the day, the lunar month and the year. Devices operating on several physical processes have been used over the millennia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Harrison</span> English clockmaker and horologist

John Harrison was a self-educated English carpenter and clockmaker who invented the marine chronometer, a long-sought-after device for solving the problem of calculating longitude while at sea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pendulum clock</span> Clock regulated by a pendulum

A pendulum clock is a clock that uses a pendulum, a swinging weight, as its timekeeping element. The advantage of a pendulum for timekeeping is that it is an approximate harmonic oscillator: It swings back and forth in a precise time interval dependent on its length, and resists swinging at other rates. From its invention in 1656 by Christiaan Huygens, inspired by Galileo Galilei, until the 1930s, the pendulum clock was the world's most precise timekeeper, accounting for its widespread use. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, pendulum clocks in homes, factories, offices, and railroad stations served as primary time standards for scheduling daily life, work shifts, and public transportation. Their greater accuracy allowed for the faster pace of life which was necessary for the Industrial Revolution. The home pendulum clock was replaced by less-expensive, synchronous, electric clocks in the 1930s and '40s. Pendulum clocks are now kept mostly for their decorative and antique value.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corpus Christi College, Oxford</span> College of the University of Oxford

Corpus Christi College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517, it is the 12th oldest college in Oxford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corpus Christi, Texas</span> City in Texas, United States

Corpus Christi is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat and largest city of Nueces County, it also extends into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patricio Counties. It is 130 miles (210 km) southeast of San Antonio. Its political boundaries encompass Nueces Bay and Corpus Christi Bay. Its zoned boundaries include small land parcels or water inlets of three neighboring counties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corpus Christi College, Cambridge</span> College of the University of Cambridge, founded 1352

Corpus Christi College, is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th century through to the early 19th century it was also commonly known as St Benet's College.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Graham (clockmaker)</span> English clockmaker

George Graham, FRS was an English clockmaker, inventor, and geophysicist, and a Fellow of the Royal Society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grasshopper escapement</span> Low friction clock escapement

The grasshopper escapement is a low-friction escapement for pendulum clocks invented by British clockmaker John Harrison around 1722. An escapement, part of every mechanical clock, is the mechanism that gives the clock's pendulum periodic pushes to keep it swinging, and each swing releases the clock's gears to move forward by a fixed amount, thus moving the hands forward at a steady rate. The grasshopper escapement was used in a few regulator clocks built during Harrison's time, and a few others over the years, but has never seen wide use. The term "grasshopper" in this connection, apparently from the kicking action of the pallets, first appears in the Horological Journal in the late 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Escapement</span> Mechanism for regulating the speed of clocks

An escapement is a mechanical linkage in mechanical watches and clocks that gives impulses to the timekeeping element and periodically releases the gear train to move forward, advancing the clock's hands. The impulse action transfers energy to the clock's timekeeping element to replace the energy lost to friction during its cycle and keep the timekeeper oscillating. The escapement is driven by force from a coiled spring or a suspended weight, transmitted through the timepiece's gear train. Each swing of the pendulum or balance wheel releases a tooth of the escapement's escape wheel, allowing the clock's gear train to advance or "escape" by a fixed amount. This regular periodic advancement moves the clock's hands forward at a steady rate. At the same time, the tooth gives the timekeeping element a push, before another tooth catches on the escapement's pallet, returning the escapement to its "locked" state. The sudden stopping of the escapement's tooth is what generates the characteristic "ticking" sound heard in operating mechanical clocks and watches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kettle</span> Vessel used to boil water

A kettle, sometimes called a tea kettle or teakettle, is a type of pot specialized for boiling water, commonly with a lid, spout, and handle, or a small electric kitchen appliance of similar shape that functions in a self-contained manner. Kettles can be heated either by placing on a stove, or by their own internal electric heating element in the appliance versions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anchor escapement</span> Type of mechanism used in pendulum clocks

In horology, the anchor escapement is a type of escapement used in pendulum clocks. The escapement is a mechanism in a mechanical clock that maintains the swing of the pendulum by giving it a small push each swing, and allows the clock's wheels to advance a fixed amount with each swing, moving the clock's hands forward. The anchor escapement was so named because one of its principal parts is shaped vaguely like a ship's anchor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Verge escapement</span> Early clock mechanism

The vergeescapement is the earliest known type of mechanical escapement, the mechanism in a mechanical clock that controls its rate by allowing the gear train to advance at regular intervals or 'ticks'. Its origin is unknown. Verge escapements were used from the late 13th century until the mid 19th century in clocks and pocketwatches. The name verge comes from the Latin virga, meaning stick or rod.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin J. Taylor</span> British mathematician

Sir Martin John Taylor, FRS is a British mathematician and academic. He was Professor of Pure Mathematics at the School of Mathematics, University of Manchester and, prior to its formation and merger, UMIST where he was appointed to a chair after moving from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1986. He was elected Warden of Merton College, Oxford on 5 November 2009, took office on 2 October 2010 and retired in September 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oliver Rackham</span> English academic (1939-2015)

Oliver Rackham was an academic at the University of Cambridge who studied the ecology, management and development of the British countryside, especially trees, woodlands and wood pasture. His books included Ancient Woodland (1980) and The History of the Countryside (1986).

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corpus Clock</span> Sculptural clock at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University

The Corpus Clock, also known as the Grasshopper clock, is a large sculptural clock at street level on the outside of the Taylor Library at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University, in the United Kingdom, at the junction of Bene't Street and Trumpington Street, looking out over King's Parade. It was conceived and funded by John C. Taylor, an old member of the college.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trumpington Street</span> Street in central Cambridge, England

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References

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  2. 1 2 Annual Report 2001-2002 (PDF), Manx Electric Authority, archived from the original (PDF) on 7 June 2013, retrieved 21 September 2008
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Company". Strix Ltd. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 4 History of Strix, Strix Ltd, archived from the original on 22 December 2014
  5. 1 2 History of Strix, Strix Ltd, archived from the original on 26 September 2008, retrieved 21 September 2008
  6. "HSBC Private Equity acquires a stake in Strix Group" (Press release). Montagu Private Equity. Retrieved 21 September 2008.
  7. "Strix LBO reaches boiling point" (Press release). ABN AMRO Capital. 22 April 2005. Archived from the original on 26 September 2008. Retrieved 21 September 2008.
  8. "John Taylor on being an inventor, The Life Scientific - BBC Radio 4". BBC. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  9. 1 2 Kennedy, Maev (18 September 2008), Beware the time-eater: Cambridge University's monstrous new clock, London: guardian.co.uk , retrieved 20 September 2008
  10. Taylor Library on Corpus Christi College website, archived from the original on 25 May 2008, retrieved 21 September 2008
  11. Admissions: Scholarships, Corpus Christi College admissions office, archived from the original on 31 March 2008, retrieved 21 September 2008
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  13. Jardine, Lisa (26 September 2008), Inventing the basics, BBC News Magazine, retrieved 30 September 2008
  14. Shott, Ian. "Enterprise Hub - Welcome to the Taylor Centre – a new home for the Hub". Enterprise Hub. Royal Academy of Engineering. Archived from the original on 18 January 2017. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  15. "No. 59647". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2010. p. 12.
  16. Hawking unveils 'strangest clock', bbc.co.uk, 19 September 2008, retrieved 19 September 2008
  17. Edwards, Mark (10 November 2011), 'Time-Eater' clock on display at Saatchi gallery, London: bbc.co.uk , retrieved 11 March 2015
  18. Midsummer Chronophage displayed at National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh: bbc.co.uk, 24 May 2012, retrieved 11 March 2015
  19. Corpus clock inventor creates new dragon chronophage to be exhibited in Shanghai, Edinburgh: cambridge-news.co.uk, 24 May 2012, retrieved 11 March 2015
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