Whitworth, Joseph (1803–1887)

English engineer who established new standards of accuracy in the production of machine tools and precision measuring instruments. He devised standard gauges and screw threads, and introduced new methods of making gun barrels. He became a baronet in 1869.

Whitworth was born in Stockport, Cheshire, and left school at 14. He worked for English engineer Henry Maudslay in his London workshops 1825–33, then moved to Manchester and set up in business as a toolmaker. From this, a large factory developed. He was concerned with the training, lives, and leisure time of his workers, and donated large sums to educational organizations.

Whitworth brought standardization to his company and the engineering industry as a whole by developing means of measuring to tolerances never before possible, so that shafts, bearings, gears, and screws could be interchanged. The Whitworth company produced many machines for cutting, shaping, and planing. Whitworth also designed a knitting machine and a horse-drawn mechanical roadsweeper.

At the Whitworth works, guns of all sizes were produced, and Whitworth supervised many experiments to investigate the forces acting on the breech and barrel of a gun. He also made advances in the design of rifling for the barrels of small-calibre weapons.