Joseph Matthews
Joseph Matthews (1850-1926) of J. Matthews and Co
1926 Obituary [1]
JOSEPH MATTHEWS was born on 1850 and educated and trained in his native city of Liverpool.
After serving an apprenticeship for six years at a local works he joined Messrs. Sampson Moore in 1870 as a mechanic. Two years later he was made foreman and superintended the installation of cranes for the Admiralty. On the completion of this work he was made Works Manager, at the age of twenty-two.
In 1878 he founded the business of J. Matthews and Co., at Park Road, Liverpool, afterwards moving to the present larger premises of the firm. He patented an improved method of chilling the working face of furnace firebars for mechanical stokers which has been extensively used, and his electric travelling inverted jib crane of 1902 was the pioneer of many types since developed by various makers. He also designed and erected steel silos at Battersea and Barrow-in-Furness, which were probably the first to be erected and worked successfully in this country.
Mr. Matthews, who died in North Wales on 31st December 1926, became a Member of this Institution in 1907.