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Famous
Engineers > Isambard Kingdom Brunel
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Isambard
Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel (April 9, 1806–September 15, 1859)
was a British engineer, noted for the creation of the Great Western
Railway and a series of famous steamships.
The
Thames tunnel
The
son of noted engineer Sir Marc Isambard Brunel, Isambard K. Brunel
was born in Portsmouth, England on April 9, 1806. His father was working
there on the block-making machinery of the Portsmouth Block Mills
The young Brunel was sent to France to be educated at the College
of Caen in Normandy and the Lycée Henri-Quatre in Paris. He
rose to prominence when, aged 20, he was appointed as the resident
engineer of the Thames Tunnel, his father's greatest achievement.
The first major river tunnel ever built, Isambard spent nearly two
years trying to drive the horizontal shaft from one side to the other.
Two severe incidents of flooding injured the younger Brunel and ended
work on the tunnel for several years, though it was eventually completed.
The Great Western Railway
In the mean time, Brunel moved on. In 1833 he was appointed engineer
of the Great Western Railway, one of the wonders of Victorian Britain.
Running from London to Bristol (and a few years later, to Exeter),
the Great Western contained a series of impressive achievements —
viaducts, stations, and tunnels — that ignited the imagination of
the technically minded Britons of the age. Brunel soon became one
of the most famous men in Britain on the back of this interest. |
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Brunel
made the controversial choice of using broad gauge (7 ft 0.25 in or
2.14 m) for the line. According to many railway historians, this was
an advantageous choice, not least because it permitted carriages with
a width of 10 ft 6 in, significantly wider than those of the railway's
competitors; but nonetheless it eventually had to be changed to bring
it in line with standard British railway gauge (4 ft 8.5 in or 1.435
m), the last broad gauge rails being converted to standard gauge in
1892.
Brunel's "atmospheric caper"
Another of Brunel's interesting though ultimately unsuccessful technical
innovations was the atmospheric railway, the extension of the GWR
southward from Exeter towards Plymouth (technically the South Devon
Railway (SDR), though supported by the GWR). Instead of using locomotives,
the trains were moved by Cleggs and Samudas Patent system of atmospheric
(vacuum) traction, the evacuation being done by stationary engines
at a series of pumping stations. The section from Exeter to Newton
(now Newton Abbot) was completed on this principle, and trains ran
at approximately 20 miles per hour (32 km/h). 15 inch (381 mm) pipes
were used on the level portions, and 22 inch (559 mm) pipes were intended
for the steeper gradients. Unfortunately the technology required the
use of leather flaps to seal the air pipes, the leather had to be
kept supple by the use of tallow, and tallow is attractive to rats;
the result was inevitable, and air-powered vacuum service lasted less
than a year, from 1847 (experimental services began in September;
operationally from February 1848) to September 10, 1848. The accounts
of the SDR for 1848 suggest that the atmospheric traction cost 3s
1d per mile (£0.10/km), compared to 1s 4d (£0.04/km) for
conventional steam power. The pumping station at Starcross, on the
estuary of the River Exe, remains as a striking landmark, and a reminder
of the atmospheric railway — which is also commemorated in the name
of the village pub. A section of the pipe, without the leather covers,
is preserved in Didcot Railway Museum.
Transatlantic
shipping
Even
before the Great Western Railway was opened, Brunel was moving on
to his next project — transatlantic shipping. He used his prestige
to convince his railway company employers to build the Great Western,
at the time by far the largest steamship in the world. It first sailed
in 1837. The Great Britain followed in 1843, and was the first iron-hulled,
propeller-driven ship to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
Building on these successes, Brunel turned to a third ship in 1852,
even larger than both of its predecessors. The Great Eastern was cutting
edge technology for its time — it was the largest ship ever built
until the RMS Lusitania launched in 1906 — and it soon ran over budget
and over schedule in the face of a series of difficult technical problems.
The ship is widely perceived as a white elephant. Though a failure
at its original purpose of passenger travel, it eventually found a
role as an oceanic telegraph cable-layer.
Bridges
Besides
the railway and steam ships, he was also involved in the construction
of several lengthy bridges, including the Royal Albert Bridge near
Plymouth, and an unusual telescopic bridge in Bridgwater. He also
designed the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, but did not live
to see it constructed. His colleagues and admirers in the Institution
of Civil Engineers felt the bridge would be a fitting memorial, and
started to raise new funds and to amend the design. Work started in
1862, and was complete by 1864, five years after Brunel's death.
Illnesses
and death of Brunel
In
1843, while performing a conjuring trick for the amusement of his
children, he accidentally swallowed a half-sovereign coin which became
lodged in his windpipe. A special pair of forceps failed to remove
it, as did a machine to shake it loose devised by Brunel himself.
Eventually, at the suggestion of Sir Marc, Isambard was strapped to
a board, turned upside-down, and the coin was jerked free.
Brunel suffered a stroke in 1859, just before the Great Eastern made
its first voyage to New York. He died ten days later and is buried,
like his father, at Kensal Green Cemetery in London. His son, Henri
Marc Brunel, also enjoyed some success as a civil engineer.
Commemorating
Brunel
There is an anecdote which states that Box Tunnel on the Great Western
railway line is placed such that the sun shines all the way through
it on Brunel's birthday. For more information, see the entry on the
tunnel.
Many of Brunel's original papers and designs are now held in the Brunel
collection at the University of Bristol.
Brunel was included in the top 10 of the 100 Greatest Britons poll
conducted by the BBC and voted for by the public. Each of the finalists
in the poll was featured in an hour-long documentary. An admiring
Jeremy Clarkson wrote and presented the programme about Brunel. In
the second round of voting, which concluded on November 24, 2002,
Brunel placed second behind Winston Churchill. There are many monuments
and memorials commemorating his achievements in the GWR area, including
a statue at Paddington station, and a collection of streets around
St David's station in Exeter, giving access to student residences
of the University of Exeter, that bear his names — Isambard Terrace,
Kingdom Mews, and Brunel Close. He is also the namesake of Brunel
University in West London. |
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