When we hear the name Wedgwood, we think of fine china and pottery. We think this way for a darn good reason.
Founded in 1759, Wedgwood is a manufacturer of plates, bowls, and other pottery goods. The entire family lived by the potter code, it seems. But it was one guy, Josiah Wedgwood, who first incorporated the business in 1895.
Everybody back then loved Wedgwood. It was rapidly successful, becoming one of the largest manufacturers of Staffordshire pottery. The good people of the world considered it ceramic art, a thing of beauty, those plates extraordinaire.
They expanded everywhere, exporting across Europe as far as Russia and to the Americas. One reason they stood out, I suppose, is that they were oh so good at producing fine earthenware and stoneware that were “accepted as equivalent in quality to porcelain.” But cheaper.
You’d know it to see it. They have that signature pale blue thing going. Then there are the little Grecian figures that pop out, three-dimensionally, doing different things like standing around talking, or shooting arrows, or playing harps and such. I don’t think you can eat spaghetti and meatballs from a Wedgwood platter, as it might be bad for the women in the long gowns, holding spears.
Anyway.
That’s not why I brought up Wedgwood. I really wanted to talk about one person in the family. Ralph.
This Ralph Wedgwood was born in Burslem, Staffordshire, too. And he was certainly one of the renowned potter family, being the eldest son of the great potter Thomas Wedgwood II (1734-1788) and his wife, Elizabeth Taylor. Now, I’m guessing Ralph was probably a bit of a disappointment to his dear old dad because when Ralph grew up, he became an inventor. He was probably one of those kids who were terrible at art, unable to draw stick men, let alone little Grecian figures. He couldn’t throw a pot against the wall, so how could he ever be expected to throw one on a wheel?
He was a pretty good inventor and created his most notable invention, the earliest form of carbon paper. Glorious blue carbon paper. As such, he came up with a method of creating duplicate paper documents, which he called “stylographic writer” or Noctograph. He obtained a patent for the invention on this very date, October 7, in 1806.
And Ralph put the world in duplicate. No more sending the bibles off to the monks to be copied by hand. No. Ralph gave us the carbon copy. No more taking the king’s word for it concerning the new town decree. Oh, for sure, there’d be a copy of the document now. Carbon paper.
Ralph set us on the path to the Thermo-Fax and the Xerox machine. There’d be no looking back. Last night, I signed some copies of documents, via email, in PDF form. Not without old Ralph, I didn’t.
Yes, he put the world in double, times two. One for me and one for you.
I should note that Ralph was the cousin and business partner of Josiah Wedgwood. Funding for Ralph’s inventions was provided by Josiah’s eldest son, Josiah Wedgwood II. And so it goes. The milk money coming from the pottery pitcher.
And you should know this too. Ralph had a cat.
A copy cat.
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“People are fascinated by robots because they’re machines that can mimic life.”
— Colin Angle
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“Imitation is not just the sincerest form of flattery – it’s the sincerest form of learning.”
― George Bernard Shaw
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“Acquiring knowledge is a form of imitation.”
― Jiddu Krishnamurti
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And now we have the copy of the copy of the copy.
