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ing mule for the spinning of cotton , ( invented more than forty years ago , ) but we believe that the inferior workmanship of that day prevented the success of an invention which all the skill and improvement in the construction of machinery of the present day has barely accomplished .
In conjunction with Dr . Darwm , he availed himself of a rude but ordinal contrivance , called a Watchman ' s Telltale , and so improved upon it , as to form the present complete Watch-clock . This machine , though in use above forty years , is only now beginning to be generally known , and applied to the service of the public .
He was the first person who attempted the construction of fire-proof buildings on a large scale in this country , and with the most perfect success . The great improvements made of late years in the formation of Castings in iron , have given great facilities to this mode of construction , which is now very extensively in use . The conuexion of the circumference
of a circle with the centre by suspension radii , is an invention entirely due to him . This principle , combining great strength and lightness , has been most successfully applied to Water Wheels on a large scale , and is now coming rapidly into use iii the wheels of carriages . The invention of a machine somewhat
similar in external appearance to the sun and planet wheels , which were formerly used in steam engines , and its application to clocks and machines , for indicating and registering the revolutions of rotatory inachiuery , was one of his latest efforts ; and the simplicity , accuracy and complete uovelty of this sort of clocks , will afford to the scientific world sufficient evidence of his powerful genius and comprehensive mind .
The success which attended his efforts hi these aud many other mechanical contrivances , as well as in the superintendence of public improvements of every kind , naturally created a general confidence in his judgment , and a deference to his opinion . On the introduction of any new project his sanction was eagerly sought for ; and * ' what does Mr . Strutt think of it ? " was a common subject of inquiry .
This biographical sketch would be imperfect without a brief notice of Mr . Strutt ' s political opinions ; for although he was not placed in a situation to take a very active part in politics , it was a subject on which he felt the warmest inte-
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rest , and his opinions were not without influence in the society and town in which he lived . He was through life . a steady supporter of those liberal principles which have lately been gaining ground so rapidly throughout the civilized part of the globe . He was a warm friend to toleration , and a sincere inquirer after truth ; and as such he was a zealous advocate for the right of free inquiry and free discussion on all subjects , moral , political , and religious . He was always opposed to that system of restriction on trade which is now
beginning to give way under the influence of a more eulighteued policy . And la > tly , with respect to the constitution of the legislature , he was convinced that it was essential to the existence of a good Government , that the people should exercise an effectual coutroul over the conduct of their representatives ; a controul which , in his opinion , the people of this count 17 did not possess .
The same sincerity and independence which distinguished his general character was manifested in the uncompromising assertion of his political principles . Duriug the American war he avowed his sympathy with the Americans , and his satisfaction at their successful resistance to the tyrannical measures of the British Government .
In the early part of the French Revolution , he sympathized with the French people in their efforts to obtain a constitutional Government ; and he deeply lamented the revolutionary war which was so quickly followed by the reign of
terror in France , and which entailed so enormous a load of debt upon Eugland . With equal consistency , he was opposed to the military despotism of Napoleon , and sincerely rejoiced in its fall . Aud in his last ilinesa , he was cheered by the accounts of the noble and successful
exertions of the Freuch people , by which they secured their own liberties , and set a bright example to fcurope . It is scarcely necessary to add , that he rejoiced in the tiiuinph obtained by religious liberty , in the repeal of the Test Act , and in the Roman Catholic Relief Bill ; and that he enjoyed the bright prospects which
appear to be opening on the cause of parliamentary reform . As a friend to popular rights , he was convinced that the best security for order and good government , was to be found iu an enlightened and well-iu formed public ; aud with thia view , he was most anxious to promote all measures for the diffusion of useful knowledge amongst the people , considering chat no charities were more deserv-
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Obituary . — William Strutt , Esq ., F . R . 8 . 141
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1831, page 141, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2594/page/69/
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