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John Joseph Merlin

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Horologist, inventor

ScientistsLived 1735 to 1803 · aged 67
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John Joseph Merlin was a Freemason, clock-maker, musical-instrument maker, and inventor from the Prince-Bishopric of Liège in the Holy Roman Empire. He moved to England in 1760. By 1766, he was working with James Cox and creating automatons such as Cox's timepiece and the Silver Swan.

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Scientists born in the 1730s 6

About this person

John Joseph Merlin was a Freemason, clock-maker, musical-instrument maker, and inventor from the Prince-Bishopric of Liège in the Holy Roman Empire. He moved to England in 1760. By 1766, he was working with James Cox and creating automatons such as Cox's timepiece and the Silver Swan. By 1773, he was designing and making innovative keyboard instruments. In 1783, he opened Merlin's Mechanical Museum in Princes Street, Hanover Square, London, a meeting-place for the gentry and nobility. In addition to his clocks, musical instruments and automata, Merlin is credited with the invention of inline skates in the 1760s. He was referred to by contemporaries as "The Ingenious Mechanic". He was friendly with composer Joseph Haydn.

Category
Scientists
Type
Scientist
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 1735 to 1803 · aged 67
Written about in
12 languages

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