Episode 2 of 2
Patent Filing and Priority Dispute
- When
- 1842-1843
- Where
- United Kingdom
James Nasmyth patented his steam hammer design in 1842, funded by family loans, sparking a priority dispute with French engineer François Bourdon.
Nasmyth patented his design in June 1842 using money borrowed from his sister Anne's husband. This followed Bourdon's construction of the first working steam hammer in 1840. The dispute over priority of invention broke out in 1843, highlighting the independent reinvention of the machine by both engineers.
Sources
- James Nasmyth Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-29
- Steam hammer Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-19
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.