Great Irish inventions

By Darragh McManus
Irish Independent
Wednesday September 15 2010

We Hibernian sorts wouldn't be too well-known for inventions, would we? Literature, sure. Music, oh yes, certainly. In fact, the Irish would be associated with most of the creative fields: acting, directing, food, fashion, craftwork.

But inventing things? Not so much. We think instead of the meticulous German engineer, eccentric English boffin or dynamic American biotech entrepreneur. The Irish, by contrast, are presumed to be a race of dreamers, poets and philosophers, whose only inventions are artistic ones.

However, there are a surprising number of Irish inventors and inventions across a range of scientific disciplines.

We've invented cool machines such as submarines and choppers. We've invented useful medical tools and caterpillar tracks, batteries and rubber soles, wood preserves and James Bond's best friend, the ejector seat. We've even, in the case of Waterford native Robert Boyle, invented a whole new science.

Let's start with him, one of the truly great figures in the history of learning who is considered the founder of modern chemistry. Born in Lismore Castle in 1627, Boyle was a real polymath: chemist, physicist, philosopher, writer and, of course, inventor.

Son of a Lord, from his late teens on, he was devoted to scientific research, joining a group of like-minded chaps called the Invisible College. Boyle's book 'The Sceptical Chymist', published in 1661, is a seminal text in the field of chemistry.

But he didn't stop there. Over the course of a long and fruitful career, he invented a pneumatic pump, the first match and a perpetual motion machine, discovered decompression sickness and formulated the famous law, named after himself, which states that the volume of a gas varies inversely to the pressure of the gas. He also found time to write scores of theological essays.

Ernest Walton could also be described as the inventor of a new field of scientific endeavour -- and he was from Waterford too. Born in 1903 in Dungarvan, Walton, together with John Cockcroft, was the first person to artificially split the atom, thus creating nuclear physics and making possible power-stations, A-bombs and everything they brought with them. In 1951, he became Ireland's only Nobel science laureate, when jointly awarded the Prize for Physics.

John P Holland probably should have been given that prestigious honour, too, as the inventor of the first submarine. From Liscannor in Co Clare, he was born in 1841 and moved to America in his early 30s. Always interested in scientific experiments, he had completed his first drafts for a submarine design by 1859.

Inspired by Jules Verne's science fiction and funded by Fenian money -- bet you never thought you'd read those two things in the one sentence -- Holland's first sub saw the light of day in 1877. He went on to build them for the armies of the US, Britain and Japan, which honoured him with the Rising Sun award from the Emperor: beat that, Ernest Walton.

We've always been fond enough of a little tipple, so Aeneas Coffey probably deserves a special mention. He created the column still, which is useful in the distillation of alcoholic spirits.

Coffey was born in France in 1780, but his parents were Irish and he returned to Dublin to attend Trinity College, so that's close enough. His early stills produced 60pc proof spirit, close enough to the modern versions which reach 66-68pc. After retiring from his job with Customs and Excise, Coffey managed the Dock Distillery in Grand Canal Street.

The induction coil -- found in car ignition systems, TVs and other electronic devices -- was invented by scientist and priest Nicholas Callan in 1836. Callan was from Darver in Co Louth, and he studied at Sapienza University in Rome. After returning to Maynooth as the new Professor of Natural Philosophy (what they called Physics back then), he began working with electricity in his lab -- which sounds like something Baron Frankenstein might have done. In 1837, he was generating an estimated 600,000 volts -- enough to give life to any monster.

On a related note, Co Down-born chemist Dr James Drumm invented the rechargeable nickel-zinc battery, which is today used in cordless tools and telephones, digital cameras, electric vehicles and loads of other places.

Drumm, born in 1897, was also involved in other scientific breakthroughs during a varied and colourful career: he produced an unusually fine soap and worked on an early version of food processing, as well as devising the battery which was used on Dublin trams for many years.

Robert Mallet, born in 1810, was another Renaissance man, inventing not only a field of study but a whopping big weapon during the Crimean War.

The Dubliner is also considered the father of seismology -- the study of earthquakes and related seismic events such as tsunamis, volcanoes and tectonic shifts. He coined the term "epicentre", carried out experiments to discover an earthquake's effect on rock and showed that volcanic heat was caused by movement in the earth's crust.

Louis Brennan, meanwhile, was like some kind of one-man inventing machine (quite possibly he even invented one of those also, I'm not sure). Born in 1852, he emigrated from Castlebar, Co Mayo to Australia aged nine. As an adult he worked for a time as a watchmaker, before finding his metier as an inventor.

Brennan created -- deep breath -- a steerable torpedo, which was tested at Camden Fort near Crosshaven in Cork, and he sold the patent for £100,000.

He also invented a gyroscopically balanced monorail system (allowing the train to change direction more freely and easily) and even a helicopter, a project he undertook for the UK military. Ironically, for a man so au fait with machinery, he died after being struck by a car.

Far more useful, though, than any monorail system are rubber heels on shoes. They make walking more comfy, for one thing, and stop us getting fried if we inadvertently step into a puddle while being struck by lightning.

And we have a native of Skibbereen, Co Cork to thank for it. Humphrey O'Sullivan emigrated to the States where he found work in a printshop. Standing all day long was killing his feet, so he attached small pieces of rubber to the soles of his shoes. In 1899, aged 46, O'Sullivan patented the idea and founded his own company, trading today as the O'Sullivan Corporation.

Harry Ferguson, nicknamed "The Mad Mechanic", created a new type of plough, motorbike, racing car and plane.

Born in 1884 in Dromore, Co Down, his name lives on today in the Massey Ferguson company. The son of a farmer, he worked in his brother's bike and car repair business as a mechanic, developing an interest in machinery and aviation.

On New Year's Eve, 1909, he became the first person to fly in Ireland, in a monoplane he had designed and built himself. Eight years later, Ferguson developed a plough that could be attached to a Model T car.

Further collaboration with Henry Ford followed, although he later fell out with Ford's grandson, resulting in Ferguson filing a lawsuit worth quarter of a billion dollars (they settled for somewhat less).

In 1961, he developed the first four-wheel-drive Formula 1 car, the Ferguson P99. He has been commemorated on both Irish stamps and British currency (his image appears on the back of £20 notes issued by the Northern Bank).

Sir James Martin invented the world's first ejector seat, thus giving the makers of spy movies a key element for their ridiculous tales. Alexander Mitchell -- who was born blind -- patented a method to construct lighthouses and ship moorings in deep water, mud and even sand.

Francis Rynd thought up the hypodermic syringe and administered the first subcutaneous injection at Meath Hospital in Dublin.

John Joly, from Offaly, invented an early process for colour photography and pioneered the use of radiotherapy in treating cancer.

But we'll finish with the colourful character that was Sir Samuel Davidson, born in Belfast in 1846. During his life he applied for more than 200 patents and was granted more than 120. He's credited with inventing a mechanical tea-dryer, a particular type of centrifugal fan and a hand-held Howitzer gun.

An entire generation of action movie heroes, for whom the normal hand-held guns just weren't enough, have presumably given thanks ever since.