Biography
(born March 22, 1768, Sandree, Northumberland, Eng.—died Feb. 27, 1855, London) British inventor. Initially apprenticed to a papermaker, Donkin perfected a version of the Fourdrinier machine. He established a factory to produce and can vegetable soups and preserved meats for the Royal Navy. With a printer he developed a forerunner of the rotary press and a composition printing roller. He became a civil engineer in London, received two gold medals from the Society of Arts, and was a founder of the British Institution of Civil Engineers (1818).
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