Joseph Jenckes Sr.
Joseph Jenckes Sr. (baptized August 26, 1599 – March 16, 1683), also spelled Jencks and Jenks, was a bladesmith, blacksmith, mechanic, and inventor who was instrumental in establishing the Saugus Iron Works in Massachusetts Bay Colony where he was granted the first machine patent in North America.
After his wife and daughter died, and about the time the sword factory closed, he left his only surviving child with family and immigrated to New England.
The son he left behind in England, Joseph Jenckes Jr., joined him at Saugus and later founded the town of Pawtucket in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.
[4][5] In 1627, Joseph Jenckes married in Horton, Buckinghamshire, which is about 20 miles west of St. Ann Blackfriars, London.
The sword blade is inscribed with the words “JENCKES JOSEPH" on one side and "ME FECIT HOVNSLO” (Made in Hounslow) on the reverse.
The Saugus Iron Works used the most advanced technology of the time and was the first successful integrated ironworks in North America.
[15] The business venture to build an integrated ironworks on the Saugus River began long before Jenckes arrived.
Leader chose the site and laid out the plan for the ironworks at the newly-formed company town called Hammersmith.
[16][17] In 1647, Richard Leader gave permission to Jenckes to erect his foundry and forge along the tailrace (water channel) below the Saugus Iron Works blast furnace.
In 1952, Robbins excavated what he called the "Jenks Site" where Jenckes built his foundry and forge on the tailrace.
He uncovered a wrought-iron tuyere (bellows pipe), an anvil base, axes, chisels, knives, four water wheels, a water wheel hub and shaft, a cannonball, a sawmill saw blade, a scythe, hoes, spades, ox and horse shoes, and other objects.
[21] He received a 14-year patent for a new kind of water-driven machine to make scythes, sawmill saw blades, and other edged tools.
The patent was issued by the General Court and bore the signatures of Governor John Winthrop and Deputy Edward Rawson.
Metallurgy tests confirmed that the pot matches metal fragments found at the site of the Jenckes forge.
[28][29][30][31] Tools for the first coins in North America (probable) In 1652, John Hull and Robert Sanderson were appointed mint masters for Massachusetts Bay Colony.
According to tradition, Jenckes cut dies for the first coins minted in North America, such as the pine tree shilling.
"[33] In the 1650s, Hammersmith had the only blast furnace hot enough to make steel or case hardened wrought iron punches, die blanks, crucibles, and other tools that Hull and Sanderson required.
The pirates visited the Saugus Iron Works at night and left a note on the door of Jenckes's forge requesting shackles.
Veale escaped and buried his treasure in a nearby cavern, now called Dungeon Rock, where he died during an earthquake.
