Frederick Edward Blackett Beaumont, R.E.
1833 Born 22 Oct 1833 in Darfield, Barnsley, Yorkshire.
1846-1847 Educated Harrow School.[1]
1851 Cadet at Woolwich[2]
1852 Joined the Royal Engineers with rank of Second Lieutenant
1854-5 Served in the Crimea
1855-6 Served in the Turkish Contingent Engineers
Served in the Royal Engineers during the Indian Mutiny
Served with Thaddeus Lowe’s Balloon Corps in the American Civil War[3]
1862 Captain F. Beaumont and Captain G. E. Grover both of the Royal Engineers advocated the formation of a balloon unit within the British Army.
1864 Patent No 1904 of 1864. Letters Patent to Frederick Edward Blackett Beaumont, Captain Royal Engineers, Dover, in the County of Kent, for the Invention of “Improvements in Machinery for Driving Drifts or Galleries through Stone or Rock.” Sealed the 20th January 1865 and dated the 30th July 1864. [4]
“This invention has for its object improvements n machinery for driving drifts or galleries through rock or stone. For this purpose I employ a series of chisels or jumpers worked so as to produce a continuous chase or groove, not a number of holes. The chisels or jumpers act to cut the stone or rock by striking it with blows, which are rapidly and continually repeated, and they are made to cut a continuous chase or groove by causing them each to take short steps forward in the intervals between the blows. Etc.”
Note that this is a precussive drill, not the diamond drill with which Beaumont was later to become associated.
1865 Birth of daughter Fredericka Eliza Lillie Beaumont in Farnworth, Prescot, Lancs., to Frederick and Emma Beaumont[5]
1866 Promoted to Captain
1867 With Captain Locock exhibited their rock tunnelling machine at the Paris Exhibition[6], of which he was a juror or associate juror[7] He served as secretary to two committees, Group VI, Class LIII (53) – Machines and Apparatus in General and Group VI, Class LIV (54) – Machine Tools. He also wrote the catalogue descriptions for Group V1, Class LII - Prime Movers, Boilers and Engines.[8]
1867 Prolonged patent, £50 stamp duty paid - “F. E. B. Beaumont, Dover, improvements in machinery for driving drifts or galleries through stone or rock : July 30, 1864.”[9]
1867 Royal Engineer Office, Sheerness.
1868 Patent No 1682 of 1868. Letters Patent to Frederick Edward Blacket Beaumont, of Garrick Club, London, Captain in the Royal Engineers, and Charles James Appleby, Engineer, of Emerson Street, Southwark, for the invention of “Improved Apparatus for Drilling Rock and Stone for Blasting and other Purposes.” Sealed the 17th November 1868 and dated the 21st May 1868.[10]
This patent is for the improved diamond drill for which Beaumont is best known. The improvements relate to the method of feeding the drill and maintaining pressure on the drill, rather than the employment of diamonds.
1868 Entered the House of Commons as MP (Liberal) for South Durham. He left the Commons at the General Election in 1880.
1869 Dissolution of the Partnership between Frederick Edward Blackett Beaumont and Herbert Locock, carrying on business as Manufacturers of Patent Machinery for boring Rock and Contractors for boring Rock, under the style or firm of Beaumont and Locock, at Sheerness. in the county of Kent. Debts due to and owing by the said partnership will be received and paid by the said Frederick Edward Blackett Beaumont, by whom the said business will henceforth be carried on.[11].
1871 Prolonged patent, £50 stamp duty paid - "F. E. B. Beaumont, London, and C. Appleby, Southwark, improvements in apparatus for drilling rock and stone for blasting and other purposes: May 21, 1868."[12]
1871 Appointed a member of a committee ordered by the Secretary of State for War to report on the use of baloons in military operations.[13]
1872 Patent No 392 of 1872. Rock Boring Apparatus. Letters Patent to Frederick Edward Blacket Beaumont, of 2 Westminster Chambers, Victoria Street, in the City of Westminster, Captain in the Royal Engineers, and Charles James Appleby, of Emerson Street, Southwark, Surrey, Engineer, for the invention of “Improvements in Rock or Stone Drilling, Tunnelling, and Boring Apparatus.” Sealed the 3rd May 1872, and dated the 7th February 1872.[14] The patent specification makes the following claims:-
"Having thus described the nature of our said invention, and the manner of performing the same, we would have it understood that we do not make and general claim for the use of gem cutters in drilling, tunnelling and boring rock; but we claim,- First. The construction of the rock drill substantially as described. Second. The construction of tunnelling machine substantially as described. Third. The construction of the boring and prospecting machine substantially as described and illustrated at Figures 11 and 12. Fourth. The construction of the boring and prospecting machine substantially as described and illustrated at Figures 13, 14, 15 and 16, and also the modification herein described of this machine to adapt it for working with ordinary jumping boring tool."
1874 Major Beaumont R.E. MP, was a member of a sub-committee on balloons which conducted trials of a method of inflating a balloon on the battlefield[15]
1874 Patent No 2424 of 1874. Letters patent issued to Frederick Edward Blackett Beaumont for Improvements in Steam Steering Apparatus. Dated 10 Jul 1874, sealed 15 Dec 1874.[16]
1875 Major Beaumont presented a paper to the IMechE describing the state of the art of diamond boring, with excellent drawings.[17]
1875 Patented a tunnelling machine that was later employed in boring the experimental Channel Tunnel headings.[18]
1875 Patent No 3079 of 1875. Letters patent issued to Frederick Edward Blackett Beaumont: patent no 1875-3079, Apparatus for Registering the Speed of Railway Carriages and other vehicles. Dated 2 Sep 1875, sealed 1 Feb 1876.[19]
1876 Patent No 1061 of 1876, Roller Skates. Letters Patent to Frederick Edward Blacket Beaumont, of 2 Westminster Chambers, Victoria Street, in the City of Westminster, and Woodford Pilkington of Kent Lodge, Campbell Road, Croydon, in the County of Surrey, for the invention of "Improvements in Roller Skates". Dated 11 Mar 1876, sealed 9 May 1876.[20]
1877 Lt-Col Frederick Edward Blackett Beaumont, Royal Corps of Engineers, retires upon a pension, 27 Oct 1877.[21]
1886 Retired from partnership Beaumont, Jones, and Co. "Notice is hereby given, that the Partnership which has for some time past been carried on by Joseph Thomas Jones, Joseph Henry Wild, Frederick Edward Blackett Beaumont, Thomas English, and Frederick Alexander Preston Pigou, under the style or firm of Beaumont, Jones, and Co., at No. 37, Walbrook, in the city of London, in the business of Subaqueous Boring and Blasting and Dredging, was, on the 15th day of January, 1885, dissolved as affecting the said Frederick Edward Blackett Beaumont, who on that day retired from the said partnership. The said partnership business will be continued to be carried on by the said Joseph Thomas Jones, Joseph Henry Wild, Thomas English, and Frederick Alexander Preston Pigou, under the 'style or firm of Beaumont, Jones, and Co., at No. 37, Walbrook aforesaid.—As witness the hands of the said parties this 7th day of January, 1886".[22]
1899 Colonel Frederick Edward Blackett Beaumont died in London on 20 Aug 1899; buried in Kensal Green Cemetery
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ The Harrow School register, 1800-1911
- ↑ 1851 census
- ↑ [1] British Balloon Museum and Library
- ↑ English Patents of Inventions, Specifications: 1864, 1854 – 1924
- ↑ BMD
- ↑ See catalogue, Group VI, Class XLVII, Item 1
- ↑ The Times May 27, 1867
- ↑ Paris Universal Exhibition 1867 - Catalogue of the British Section
- ↑ Aris's Birmingham Gazette – 3 Aug 1867
- ↑ English Patents of Inventions, Specifications: 1868, 1639 - 1689
- ↑ London Gazette 22 Jan 1869
- ↑ Aris's Birmingham Gazette - 27 May 1871
- ↑ Broad Arrow - 23 Dec 1871
- ↑ English Patents of Inventions, Specifications: 1872, 368 – 418
- ↑ The Times Sept. 5, 1874
- ↑ English Patents of Inventions, Specifications: 1874, 2368 - 2428
- ↑ On Rock Boring by the Diamond Drill, and Recent Applications of the Process. R E Beaumont. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Volume 26, Issue 1 June 1875
- ↑ The Engineer 1916/12/08
- ↑ English Patents of Inventions, Specifications: 1875, 3035 - 3100
- ↑ English Patents of Inventions, Specifications: 1876, 971 - 1140
- ↑ London Gazette - 26 Oct 1877
- ↑ London Gazette – 8 Jan 1886
- Find-a-grave index
- British Regimental Registers of Service, 1756-1900