THIS OBJECT IS PART OF THE PROJECT 'A HISTORY OF CORNWALL IN 100 OBJECTS'.
TREVARNO. William Bickford was born at Ashburton in Devon and became a currier and leather merchant at Illogan. Upset by the amount of injuries caused by mining, he invented a safety fuse that saved many lives in Cornwall and world wide.
Bickford's first idea was to put the main explosive in a cartridge made of parchment and attach a small parchment tube containing powder as a fuse. Later he came up with the ingenious idea of winding strands of rope around a central core of gunpowder. The rope was then varnished and when lit burned at a steady pace. Bickford set up a factory at Tuckingmill but died soon after. The fuse reached America soon after its invention and Nobel's ran the company from 1926 until it closed in 1962. Millions of miles of safety fuse had been produced by then. Bickford's grandson William Bickford-Smith bought Trevarno in 1874 from the proceeds of grandfather's invention.
Photo: Bernie Pettersen
Bickford's safety fuse
Contributed by Cornwall Museums
Most of the content on A History of the World is created by the contributors, who are the museums and members of the public. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not those of the ´óÏó´«Ã½ or the British Museum. The ´óÏó´«Ã½ is not responsible for the content of any external sites referenced. In the event that you consider anything on this page to be in breach of the site’s House Rules please Flag This Object.
About this object
Click a button to explore other objects in the timeline
- Location
-
Cornwall, Tuckingmill
- Culture
- Period
- Theme
- Size
- Colour
- Material
View more objects from people in Cornwall.
Podcast
Highlights from the collection
´óÏó´«Ã½ iD
´óÏó´«Ã½ navigation
´óÏó´«Ã½ links
´óÏó´«Ã½ © 2014 The ´óÏó´«Ã½ is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.
This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.
Share this link: