Dr John C Taylor OBE FREng was born in Buxton, Derbyshire in 1936. Having spent five years living in Canada
during his childhood, he returned home towards the end of the Second World War.
He attended King William’s College on
the Isle of Man before studying Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge.
Dr
John C Taylor is one of the UK’s most successful and prolific living inventors
and, over a sixty-year career, has invented, produced and sold components for numerous
electrical appliances around the world.
While
at his company Strix Ltd, Dr Taylor established the business as the
world-leading manufacturer of kettle controls.
His research was instrumental in designing the ubiquitous safety switch
that turns a kettle off when it boils and prevents it from overheating, and he
also designed the 360˚ cordless connectors in modern kettles.
Dr
Taylor’s innovations led to the production and sale of almost two billion
kettle controls - 75% of the global market.
His inventions in the development of bi-metallic safety critical
cut-outs for electric motors are also used in domestic appliances such as
hairdryers and fan heaters. His work has
also seen over four hundred patents filed, including automatic windshield
wipers, electric motor protectors and cordless kettle connectors and controls,
and it is a testament to these components’ visionary design that they continue
to be in prolific use today.
Awards
Dr Taylor has been the recipient of many honours including,
but not limited to, the following:
- Appointment
as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2011 for his outstanding
contribution to the advancement of British engineering, innovation and commerce
- Appointment
as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2011 New Year honours
list for his services to business and horology
- Four Queen’s
Awards given to the company he started, Strix Ltd. Three are for Export and one
is for Innovation, granted for his 360˚ cordless kettle connector, used by
millions around the world each day
- The
Harrison Medal, awarded by the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers for excellence
in horology
- Awarded
the Chancellor’s 800th Anniversary Medal for outstanding
philanthropy from the University of Cambridge, presented by HRH Duke of
Edinburgh.
He is also an elected Honorary Fellow
of Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge, and has been conferred
Honorary Doctorates from University of Manchester Institute of Science and
Technology (UMIST) and Durham University.
When he’s not
inventing and innovating, Dr Taylor is a keen aviator, mountaineer, yachtmaster
and philanthropist.
Philanthropy
Dr
John C Taylor is a committed philanthropist and has made a number of donations
in order to ensure that young engineers in the UK have the tools they need to
be competitive in a global market. In
2017, he became the main sponsor of the new Dr John C Taylor Enterprise Hub,
affectionately known as the Taylor Centre, in the Royal Academy of Engineering. He also established in perpetuity a Chair
Professorship of Innovation in the Engineering Department of the University of
Cambridge.
Following
his career in creating electrical control switches, Dr Taylor became well-known
for his interest in clocks and is one of the world’s leading experts in the
work of John Harrison, an early pioneer of timekeeping and sea clocks. This led
him to design and help build the Corpus Chronophage, a large, time-eating clock
which that stands proud on the exterior of the Taylor Library, Corpus Christi
College, Cambridge. Dr Taylor donated
the clock, alongside a bestowment to make the Taylor Library possible, to his
alma mater in order to support bright students of future generations.
http://www.johnctaylor.com/