Blenkinsop, John (1783 - 1831)

English mining engineer and an inventor of steam locomotives, who designed the first practical racked railway locomotive.

John Blenkinsop was the manager of Middleton Colliery. Blenkinsop wanted to find a way of reducing the cost of transporting coal to the nearby town of Leeds. In 1811 Blenkinsop joined forces with Matthew Murray, an engineer from Leeds to produce a locomotive for the colliery. Blenkinsop wanted a locomotive that could be used to transport coal from Middleton Colliery to Leeds. Blenkinsop and Murray rejected the idea that a steam locomotive with smooth wheels on a smooth rail would have sufficient adhesion to propel itself and a load. They therefore experimented with producing a rack railway. The Blenkinsop locomotives were fairly expensive to use and heavy wear took place between the driving gear wheel and the horizontal rack. Despite these problems, the four Blenkinsop locomotives were used at Middleton Colliery until the mid 1830s.

ortografie alternativă:
Blenkinsop, John

Curriculum vitae

* 1783	Abattage, comté de Durham	nǎscut
1807	Northumberland - Angleterre	Apprenti chez son cousin Thomas Barnes dans l'industrie du charbon.
1808	Middleton	Travaille auprès de Charles John Brandling, le propriétaire de la mine de charbon.
1811		Dépôt d'un brevet : système de crémaillère pour une locomotive qui serait alors conçue et construite par Matthew Murray, de la compagnie d'ingénierie Fenton, Murray & Wood.
1812		Construction de ses 4 locomotives, la Salamanca, Prince Regent, Lord Willington et Marquis Wellington.
† 22.01.1831	Leeds	mort

Collections

Revoluţia industrialǎ, cca 1780-1850

Permanent links

DMG-Lib		https://www.dmg-lib.org/dmglib/handler?biogr=24282004
Europeana		http://www.europeana.eu/portal/record/2020801/dmglib_handler_biogr_24282004.html

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Blenkinsop, John (1783 - 1831)