Machin was born in Staffordshire, England, and in his youth was apprenticed to English canal builder James Brindley.

He was singularly responsible for emplacing the chain at Fort Montgomery prior to the British attack on that post in the fall of 1777.

'The Great Chain' at West Point, was emplaced by Machin the subsequent year at the direction of then New York Governor, George Clinton.

Following his service in the Hudson Valley he was attached to the Sullivan Expedition and was instrumental in the defeat of Joseph Brant's forces at the Battle of Newtown.

As a civil engineer Machin was conscripted for the planning of the Cape Cod Canal immediately following the Siege of Boston and was responsible for damming Lake Otsego (New York) to allow James Clinton's army to float down to Tioga along the Mohawk to join with Sullivan in August 1779.