Samson Fox
| Samson Fox | |
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| Born |
11 July 1838 Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire |
| Died | 24 October 1903 (aged 65) Walsall, Staffordshire |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Engineer, industrialist and philanthropist |
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Samson Fox (11 July 1838 – 24 October 1903) was an English engineer, industrialist, and philanthropist. He was elected Mayor of Harrogate in Yorkshire and donated most of the cost of building the Royal College of Music in London.
Samson Fox was born at Bowling, Bradford, Yorkshire, England, the son of Jonas Fox, a mill worker, by his marriage to Sarah Pearson, and the family shortly afterwards moved to live and work in nearby Leeds. At the age of eight Fox started work in a textile mill and at fifteen he became an apprentice in a toolmaking and foundry company. In his late twenties, he was running his own toolmaking business, called the Silver Cross Works.
Ten years later, in 1874, he set up the Leeds Forge Company to produce "Best Yorkshire" iron for locomotive and marine engine parts. In 1877 he developed the corrugated boiler flue for which he became famous. This simple idea involved corrugating the flue pipes inside the boiler, improving both their heat transfer capability and compressive strength, enabling smaller boilers working at higher pressures to be used with improved safety. "Fox Corrugated" was adopted as standard by the Admiralty and major steamship lines and was widely patented.
In 1887, Fox applied his knowledge and experience in forging metal to building forged "pressed" iron railway undercarriages and trucks. His railway trucks could support 120 tons without failing, were guaranteed for five years, and were soon being sold in Argentina, Belgium, British India, Japan, and Spain, in addition to England.North America however was the world's biggest market, so in 1888 Fox went to the United States, where he made a deal with the famous railway salesman Diamond Jim Brady for Brady to sell American-made Fox trucks in America and to remit one third of the sale price back to Fox as commission. Brady's sales techniques soon succeeded, and in 1888 the Fox Solid Pressed Steel Company was incorporated to manufacture the trucks in Joliet, Illinois.
Fox won a number of awards for his work, including the Royal Society of Arts gold medal for his corrugated boiler flue and the French Legion of Honour.
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