biography
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1766–1849)
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| biography:
| Mechanical engineer and inventor, born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, USA. Apprenticed to a goldsmith, he was a prolific inventor. He is best known for making counterfeiting more difficult by developing steel plates that could be used in place of copper in the engraving process, thus enabling much more complicated patterns to be used for bank-notes. With a partner, he established an engraving factory in England, which in 1840 printed the first penny postage stamps. |
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