James Fussell IV

He was a promoter of the Dorset and Somerset Canal and the inventor of both the roller chain and the balance lock.

An experimental balance lock was built as part of the Dorset and Somerset Canal Sketches by Leonardo da Vinci in the 16th century show a chain with a roller bearing.

[4] James Fussell III had leased the site in Mells in 1744, to erect "a good, firme and substantiall Mill or Mills for Grinding Edge Tools and forging Iron plates".

[7] Tools produced by Fussells were exported to Europe and America, and the family expanded its activities to include coal mining and banking, with the business issuing its own banknotes at one stage.

[6] The business declined towards the end of the 19th century, due in part to a failure to convert from water to steam power until a late stage, and also to the collapse of English agriculture in the 1870s.