HANCOCK, Walter (1799 - 1852)

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English inventor of the Victorian period.

Walter Hancock was chiefly remembered for his steam powered road vehicles, but also received a patent for preparing and cutting indiarubber into sheets. He was the younger brother of Thomas Hancock, the inventor of rubber mastication who is also claimed by some to be the inventor of rubber vulcanization. Between 1824 and 1836, Hancock constructed at his Stratford works a number of steam road vehicles, one of these being a three-wheeled four-seater car. In 1827 Hancock also patented a steam boiler. In 1829 he built a small ten-seater bus called the Infant, with which in 1831 he began a regular service between Stratford and London. This vehicle was made famous by its later revenue-earning journeys from London to Brighton, which were a British first.

variant spelling:
HANCOCK, Walter

History

* 16.06.1799	Marlborough, Wiltshire	born
1824		Invented a steam engine in which the ordinary cylinder and piston were replaced by two flexible bags, consisting of several layers of canvas bonded with a rubber solution, and alternately filled with steam.
1824 - 1836	Londres	Hancock constructed at his Stratford works in East London a number of steam road vehicles, one of these being a three-wheeled four-seater car.
1827		Hancock also patented a steam boiler that would split rather than blow so that the passengers being carried on his steam vehicles would be able to travel in safety.
1829		Walter Hancock of Bow has invented a steam carriage and it travels regularly from Fulham to Brompton and carries eight passengers at twelve miles per hour.
1831	Londres	He built a small ten-seater bus called the Infant: It was powered by an oscillating engine carried on an outrigger behind the back axle.
1833 - 1840	Londres	Hancock himself built and operated further steam buses.
22.04.1833	Londres	Hancock’s steam omnibus the Enterprise (built for the London and Paddington Steam Carriage Co) began a regular service between London Wall and Paddington via Islington. It was the first regular steam carriage service, and was the first mechanically propelled vehicle specially designed for omnibus work to be operated. The engine worked on a crank and iron chains applied the power to the back wheels.
1836	Londres	Introduced the 22-seat 'Automaton', a 22-seater powered by a two-cylinder engine with a bore of 9in. and a stroke of 12in and rated at 24hp at 70 RPM. It proceeded to run over 700 journeys between London and Paddington, London and Islington, and Moorgate and Stratford, carrying over 12,000 passengers in total and regularly travelling at speeds in excess of 20 mph.
1838		Prospectus issued for Hancock's Patent Safety Steam Boiler and Locomotive Engineering Co.
1842		Proposes a submarine cable from England to France for the telegraph. Consists of seven wires covered with gutta percha.
1843		Patent for cutting rubber into sheets, and for a method of preparing rubber solutions.
1845	Londres	Established a manufactory for gutta percha in Stratford with his brother Charles Hancock.
† 14.05.1852		died
?		Patent for improved means of preventing accidents on railways.

Collections

		Industrial Revolution, ca. 1780-1850
		Industrialisation, ca. 1850-1920

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DMG-Lib		https://www.dmg-lib.org/dmglib/handler?biogr=24758004
Europeana		http://www.europeana.eu/portal/record/null.html

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HANCOCK, Walter (1799 - 1852)