Frederick Wicks
Frederick Wicks (23 February 1840 – 30 March 1910) was an English author and inventor
1840 Born in Stockwell, Surrey, the youngest son of Samuel Wicks (1790-1854), a corn dealer, and Mary Wicks (née Groves) (1797-1868).
1871 His book "The British Constitution and Government" was first published in 1871 and ran to several editions.
1870s Became proprietor of the Glasgow Daily News
1878 Invented the Wicks Rotary Typecasting Machine. It is recorded that "for many years he had been working at a machine which would cast new type so quickly and so cheaply as to do away with the old system of distribution and substitute new type every day."
1899 his machine was practically perfect, and The Times entered into a contract with him to supply any quantity of new type every day. The difficult question of distribution was thus surmounted, and composition by machines placed on a satisfactory basis.
Wicks also wrote several novels, including "Golden Lives", "The Veiled Hand", and "The Infant".
He retired to Hersham, Surrey, where he died on 30 March 1910, aged 70.
See Also
Sources of Information
- [1] Wikipedia