Swinburne, James (1858–1958)

Scottish engineer, a pioneer in electrical engineering and plastics. Baronet in 1934.

Swinburne was born in Inverness and apprenticed to a locomotive works in Manchester. During 1881–85 he worked for English inventor Joseph Swan, setting up electric-lamp factories in France and the USA. Swinburne was then employed as assistant to English engineer Rookes Crompton, particularly involved in the development of dynamos.

In 1894 Swinburne set up his own laboratory. Some of his research focused on the reaction between phenol and formaldehyde, but when he came to patent the product in 1907, he was beaten to the idea by just one day by Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland (with his invention of Bakelite). Swinburne was able to obtain a patent on the production of a lacquer, however, and set up his own Damard Lacquer Company in Birmingham. Baekeland bought him out in the early 1920s and formed Bakelite Limited, Great Britain, of which Swinburne became the first chair.

Swinburne's inventions included the watt-hour meter and the ‘hedgehog’ transformer for stepping up medium-voltage alternating current to high voltages for long-distance power transmission. The words ‘motor’ and ‘stator’ are thought to have been coined by him.