Mitchell Wilbertons Inventions

Mitchell Wilberton apparently saw himself as a genius inventor (he was inspired by the other successful inventors of his time) and came up with various inventions, some which he attempted to implement into his factories, he would refuse to admit when things did not work and insist people continued to use his inventions even when they worsened his factories performance. The inventions which i have been able to assertain the most information about are detailed below

The Travanator

One of his first inventions was a personal transportation vehicle, it was 3 wheeled and built from a horse drawn cart however with a steam engine attached to the third wheel which could be pivoted to steer, in a similar manner to a modern outboard motor. the steam was intended to be supplied by a onboard reservoir charged by the steam system of his factories. This did not work. The intention was to compete with the recently patented daimler motorcar however with a different business plan where he could sell the boilers to be installed at peoples houses for charging the vehicles. The reservoir was far too small to be even slightly useful. After the plan was abandoned the concept was used for moving goods across as small production area using a hose connected permenantly to the steam system. It stayed in this role for a few months but was impractable and dangerous.

Ambifortum

He created a composite fibre material which he called Ambifortum. This was a composite made by coating wooden parts (can be panels, beams, or more intricate carved components) with a layer of woven cotton fabric and then coated or soaked in melted wax mixed with sawdust. This was left to set and usually then painted. While he was selling the material he kept its composition a secret which allowed him to make many claims of its properties.

The supposed properties of this material included

Needless to say he was not the skilled inventor or scientist he believed himself to be. This made him unpopular with engineers of the time who found him difficult to work with and noted his lack of technical skills or knowledge.

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