William Church (inventor)

While living in Boston, he patented the Church Typesetting Machine in England, consisting of a keyboard on which each key released a piece of type of the corresponding letter stored in channels in a magazine.

The company prospectus describes their vehicle of 60 hp, capable of carrying a load of 15 tons at a rate of 15 miles an hour.

The Science Museum has an engraving by Josiah Allen [3] which shows it as a large three-wheeled vehicle with passenger compartments front and rear similar to conventional stagecoach bodies, with seating on top, and the driver mounted high at the front operating a tiller for steering.

With various impediments from excessive tolls on the turnpikes to virtual sabotage, prospective passengers were unnerved by being so close to the boiler.

In 1838 he built a steam locomotive which had various names but was most notorious as the "Surprise" which was tried unsuccessfully in the early days of the Lickey Incline in England.