Walter Taylor (engineer)
Walter Taylor (1734–1803)[1] of Southampton, supplied wooden rigging blocks to the Royal Navy,[1] greatly improving their quality[1][2] via technological innovations which were a significant step forward in the Industrial Revolution.[1]
From the age of 19,[1] Taylor served as an apprentice to a block maker in Southampton.[1] His father (also named Walter) had previously served at sea and had observed the problems caused by these blocks, which were traditionally handmade.[1]
On acquiring the blockmaking business, Taylor and his father developed machinery to mass-produce the rigging blocks,[1] repeatedly and to an exact specification.[1] Subsequent developments led to the date stamping of blocks, and a commitment to replace any that failed.[1]
Taylor subsequently established a sawmill on a stream that runs through what is now Mayfield Park in Southampton.[1] In 1781,[1] he moved to Woodmill, Swaythling, Southampton where there was a better supply of water and room to power some of the equipment by steam engines.[1]
Taylor was sole supplier of blocks to the Royal Navy from 1759,[1] supplying 100,000 blocks a year,[1] until his death and succession by Marc Isambard Brunel's more advanced machinery[1] in 1803.
Taylor died in 1803, and was interred at South Stoneham church on 8 May.[3]
