Roebuck, John

NAME: 

Roebuck, John

ACHIEVEMENTS:

Contributions to chemical and coal industries

NICKNAME/ALIAS:

None

DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH:

1718, Sheffield, Yorkshire, England

DATE AND PLACE OF DEATH AND AGE AT DEATH:

17 July 1794, Borrowstounness, West Lothian, Scotland. Aged 76

DISCIPLINE:

Chemist, inventor

FIELD:

Industry

LANGUAGE:

English

PARENTS:

Father: John Roebuck

Mother: Sarah Roe

SIBLINGS:

4 brothers: Benjamin, Joseph, Ebenezer, Thomas

2 sisters: Mary, Sarah

SPOUSE:

Anne Roe

CHILDREN:

5 sons

1 daughter

EDUCATION:

Sheffield Grammar School

Dr Doddridge's Academy, Northampton

University of Edinburgh

University of Leiden

MAJOR WORK:

None

LIFE AND TIMES:

Roebuck was the son of a wealthy Yorkshire merchant who had made his fortune manufacturing cutlery and other goods in Sheffield. His four brothers joined the family industry, so Roebuck was free to follow his inclination which was to continue his studies. He trained to be a doctor of medicine at Edinburgh where he mixed with other intellectuals such as <knew> Cullen* and <knew> Black* and at Leyden in Holland where he took his medical degree in 1742.

He set up a medical practice in Birmingham but his sensitivity to the suffering of his patients and the grief of bereaved relatives was too much for him and he gave up medicine for chemistry. His first success was in inventing a system of collecting the tiny particles gold and silver previously lost during the refining. His work brought him into contact with members of the Birmingham jewellery trade and in 1746 he joined in business with Samuel Garbett, a Birmingham merchant, and set himself up as a metal refiner and consultant chemist.

In the same year he substituted lead chambers in place of glass containers in the manufacture of sulphuric acid. At that time sulphuric acid was made the process invented by <improved process by> Joshua Ward* in which saltpeter and sulphur were heated over water and the vapour condensed in the largest glass containers which could be made. It worked well but was very expensive.

The use of lead chambers reduced the cost to a quarter of the previous amount.  The process was a success and in 1749 he and Garbett established a factory for the manufacture of sulphuric acid at Prestonpans, near Edinburgh. Almost immediately, sulphuric acid replaced sour milk in the bleaching of linen and was used until the further

development of the bleaching process by <work related to> Tennant* later in the

century.

Garbett and Roebuck did not take out a patent but they tried to keep the process secret by building a stockade around the factory and hiring guards with guns.  The Prestonpans factory did well and they began to make pottery and sulphuric acid.

All around them in the Forth valley were rich and undeveloped resources of coal and  iron,  so Roebuck formed a company with Garbett, Cadell & Sons of Cockenzie and three of his brothers and set up an iron works on the Carron river in Stirlingshire. He chose the site because when the river was dammed it would provide power for the blast furnaces. On  New Year’s Day 1760 the first furnace was fired. Roebuck was already experimenting with using pit-coal (coke) instead of charcoal, a process which would be much cheaper.  

But he needed a more powerful blast than that needed for charcoal. As a result, a blowing engine was installed by <employed> Smeaton* in 1760 and the following year the Carron Company produced fifteen tons of manufactured iron (the entire Scottish production)   The Carron  works were the start of the iron industry in Scotland which was developed further in the nineteenth century by the introduction of <work related to> Neilson's* hot blast.  

Roebuck decided it would be sensible to supply the Carron works with their own coal and leased from the Duke of Hamilton a coalmine and salt works near Borrowstounness (pron. Bo’ness) , West Lothian. When he started mining new seams the mine flooded and he found the Newcomen steam engine was not up to pumping the water out.

He consulted <collaborated with> Watt*, gave him a place to do his work, and collaborated with him on Watt's invention for an improved steam engine. Roebuck entered into a partnership with Watt and took over Watt's debt to Joseph Black in exchange for a two-thirds share in Watt's patent.

Unfortunately the water kept coming and Roebuck was also losing money in his salt works where he was trying to make soda from salt. He ended up selling his share of Watt's patent to <sold patent share to> Boulton*, a manufacturer from Birmingham. Roebuck was able to remain with his family at Kinneil House near Borrowstounness and was paid to manage the coal workings and salt works.

He also engaged in successful farming operations.

ASSESSMENT: Roebuck's development of the manufacture of sulphuric acid was a major contribution to industry.

EXTRA CONNECTIONS: None

ONELINER:  John Roebuck, who backed James Watt

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Landes, David S., The Unbound Prometheus, Technological Change and industrial development in Western Europe from 1750 to the present, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, London, 1979

Roebuck, Arthur W., The Roebuck Story, M & Best Printing Co., Ltd., Ontario,

1963

DSB, DNB