Edward Ormerod (sometimes Ormrod) was born on 2 May 1834 in the village of Church, near Accrington, in Lancashire, England.
He worked as a mining engineer at Fletcher, Burrows and Company's Gibfield Colliery in Atherton, Greater Manchester, where he devised and tested a safety device.
[1] He was supported by chief engineering foreman, James Rothwell from Hindley.
A small memorial stone in front of his grave depicts and pays tribute to his invention.
This elegant device was inserted into the winding rope in such a way that if the lift cage was accidentally overwound the link would be pulled into a bell through which the winding rope passed.