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3 unusual facts about Sir William Congreve


Fire sprinkler

In 1812, British inventor Sir William Congreve patented a manual sprinkler system using perforated pipes along the ceiling.

Fire sprinkler system

The system was designed by William Congreve was covered by patent No 3606 dated the same year.

Sir William Congreve, 1st Baronet

This resulted in an improved method of extracting saltpetre and consequently higher quality gunpowder.


Bryan Donkin

In 1820 Donkin worked with Sir William Congreve on preventing the forgery of excise stamps, using a method of two-colour printing with compound printing plates.


see also