Holtzapffel, John Jacob

SUBJECT AREA: Mechanical, pneumatic and hydraulic engineering

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b. June 1836 London, England

d. 14 October 1897 Eastbourne, Sussex, England

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English mechanical engineer and author of several volumes of Turning and Mechanical Manipulation.

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John Jacob Holtzapffel was the second son of Charles Holtzapffel and was educated at King's College School, London, and at Cromwell House, Highgate. Following the death of his father in 1847 and of his elder brother, Charles, at the age of 10, he was called on at an early age to take part in the business of lathe-making and turning founded by his grandfather. He made many improvements to the lathe for ornamental turning, but he is now remembered chiefly for the continuation of his father's publication Turning and Mechanical Manipulation. J.J. Holtzapffel produced the fourth volume, on Plain Turning, in 1879, and the fifth, on Ornamental Turning, in 1884. In 1894 he revised and enlarged the third volume, but the intended sixth volume was never completed. J.J.Holtzapffel was admitted to the Turners' Company of London in 1862 and became Master in 1879. He was associated with the establishment of the Turners' Competition to encourage the art of turning and was one of the judges for many years. He was also an examiner for the City and Guilds of London Institute and the British Horological Institute. He was a member of the Society of Arts and a corresponding member of the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia. He was elected an Associate of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1863 and became an Associate Member after reorganization of the classes of membership in 1878.

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Principal Honours and Distinctions

Master, Turners' Company of London 1879.

Bibliography

1879, Turning and Mechanical Manipulation, Vol. IV: Plain Turning, London; 1884, Vol. V: The Principles and Practice of Ornamental or Complex Turning, London; reprinted 1894; reprinted 1973, New York.

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