Birth, Family and Early Life

Carr was born in 1824 in Durham, the third son of John Carr, professor of mathematics at Durham University. Thomas showed a talent for mechanics as a child and from the age of 15 did a three-year apprenticeship at Bury, Curtis & Kennedy, a steam locomotive manufacturing firm in Liverpool. There he distinguished himself by the accuracy of his drawings. We do not know when he met his wife, Amelia Glover, but it is known that she came from Liverpool. At some stage they moved to Bristol, because Thomas and Amelia married in Clifton in 1865, and in 1871 were living in Richmond Road, Montpelier, close to where Carr ran a factory.

A Career of Inventions

Carr established a reputation as an inventor. He invented an improved steering apparatus for ships. Though it was highly regarded it wasn’t widely adopted because of the expense involved in repairing it. He then brought out a new method of drying glue, which was sold to a manufacturer in Leeds.

The invention by which he was best known and through which he established as successful business was the disintegrator, which he patented in the 1850s. This could be used to mill, grind and pulverise a wide variety of materials including coke, metal ores, stone and even fruit like apples and olives. It consisted of four cylindrical iron cages arranged concentrically one within another, around and parallel with shafts; these were rotated rapidly in different directions. The machine came in various sizes to suit the job in hand. The disintegrator was a successful invention which was purchased by (inter alia) firms in Newcastle-on-Tyne, the Forest of Dean and Swansea. It was also exported to Europe, India and Australia from the factory in Montpelier.

Carr described the disintegrator machine to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and became a member of the Institution in 1872.

Death and Grave

Thomas died on 29 March 1874, at the age of 50. He is buried with Amelia (1834-94) off Ceremonial Way. At the foot of his gravestone is an image of the disintegrator.