INVENTOR

John Wilkinson

1728 - 1808

Photo of John Wilkinson

Icon of person John Wilkinson

John "Iron-Mad" Wilkinson (1728 – 14 July 1808) was an English industrialist who pioneered the manufacture of cast iron and the use of cast-iron goods during the Industrial Revolution. He was the inventor of a precision cannon boring method that made cannons of greater accuracy and reliability than ever before. He invented a method for precision boring of large steam engine cylinders essential for the operation of the steam engines of James Watt, for which he was given an exclusive contract. His boring machine has been called the first machine tool. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. John Wilkinson is the 345th most popular inventor (down from 325th in 2019), the 4,041st most popular biography from United Kingdom (down from 3,472nd in 2019) and the 56th most popular British Inventor.

Memorability Metrics

Loading...

Page views of John Wilkinson by language

Loading...

Among INVENTORS

Among inventors, John Wilkinson ranks 345 out of 426Before him are Henry Shrapnel, Edward Lawry Norton, David Dunbar Buick, William Fothergill Cooke, Sven Gustaf Wingqvist, and Ivan Polzunov. After him are Joseph Timchenko, Prokop Diviš, Kirkpatrick Macmillan, Henry M. Leland, Thomas Wedgwood, and Kálmán Tihanyi.

Most Popular Inventors in Wikipedia

Go to all Rankings

Contemporaries

Among people born in 1728, John Wilkinson ranks 32Before him are Franz Xaver von Wulfen, José Moñino, 1st Count of Floridablanca, Johann Gerhard König, Pietro Verri, Maria Angela Ardinghelli, and Ivan Polzunov. After him are Thomas Warton, Caesar Rodney, and Mercy Otis Warren. Among people deceased in 1808, John Wilkinson ranks 27Before him are Alexander Dalrymple, Fredrik Henrik af Chapman, Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, Giuseppe Piermarini, Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester, and Carl Hindenburg. After him is Fisher Ames.

Others Born in 1728

Go to all Rankings

Others Deceased in 1808

Go to all Rankings

In United Kingdom

Among people born in United Kingdom, John Wilkinson ranks 4,042 out of 8,785Before him are David Morrissey (1964), Shirley Eaton (1937), John Farnham (1949), Anthony D. Smith (1939), Bert Jansch (1943), and Charles Blagden (1748). After him are John Byng (1704), Edgar Syers (1863), Arthur Smith Woodward (1864), Ron Tauranac (1925), Chris Blackwell (1937), and Brian Murphy (1932).

Among INVENTORS In United Kingdom

Among inventors born in United Kingdom, John Wilkinson ranks 56Before him are Walter Clopton Wingfield (1833), Abraham Darby I (1678), Harry Brearley (1871), Henry Shrapnel (1761), David Dunbar Buick (1854), and William Fothergill Cooke (1806). After him are Kirkpatrick Macmillan (1835), Thomas Wedgwood (1771), Joseph Bramah (1748), John Milne (1850), Wordsworth Donisthorpe (1847), and Isaac Pitman (1813).