Hydraulic Jack (1851)

Dudgeon exploits water for heavy lifting

Hydraulic means moved or operated by water or liquid and refers to am method of engineering that has been used since records began. The ancient Chinese and Egyptians used water as a method of transport and the Romans relieved  heavily on it to move weighty objects. The arrival of the hydraulic jack in 1851, therefore, was not especially novel, but it was extremely useful.
         Essentially, a jack is a device that is capable of lifting heavy objects with relative ease. Hydraulic jacks make use of Pascal's Law that, in simple terms says that if there is an increase in pressure at any point in a container there of liquid, there is an equal increase in pressure at every other point within the container.
           Richard Dudgeon, Inc., was founded as a machine shop in New York in the mid-1800s, and its owner, finder, and namesake Richard Dudgeon was given a patent in 1851 for hydraulic jack- or, as he called it a "portable hydraulic press". Dudgeon also takes credit for several other mechanical inventions, including roller boiler tube expanders, filter press jacks, pulling jacks, heavy plate hydraulic hole punches, and various other kinds of lifting jacks.
           Dudgeon's hydraulic jack was vastly superior to the other jacks available at the time because of its seemingly infinite power. Compared with conventional screw jacks—which rely on a large hand-turned lead they are far easier to operate and offer a smother and more powerful lifting mechanism. The hydraulic jack was capable of easily lifting cars and other heavy machinery, which made it incredibly useful—and the device remains widely in use today