What mechanical engineering contribution is george stephenson best known for?
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George Stephenson (1781-1848)
George Stephenson ©Stephenson was a pioneering railway engineer and inventor of the 'Rocket', the most famous early railway locomotive.
George Stephenson was born on 9 June 1781 near Newcastle-upon-Tyne. His father was an engineman at a coalmine. Stephenson himself worked at the mine and learned to read and write in his spare time. He gained a reputation for managing the primitive steam engines employed in mines, and worked in a number of different coalmines in the northeast of England and in Scotland.
In 1814, Stephenson constructed his first locomotive, 'Blucher', for hauling coal at Killingworth Colliery near Newcastle. In 1815, he invented a safety lamp for use in coalmines, nicknamed the 'Geordie'.
In 1821, Stephenson was appointed engineer for the construction of the Stockton and Darlington railway. It opened in 1825 and was the first public railway. The following year Stephenson was made engineer for the Liverpool to Manchester Railway. In October 1829, the railway's owners staged a competition at Rainhill to find the best kind of
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George Stephenson (1781–1848)
George Stephenson is often called the father of the modern railway. As a civil engineer of railway routes and a mechanical engineer of rails and locomotives during the industrial revolution, he transformed transport.
Stephenson was self-taught as an engineer. He was born at Wylam in the north-east of England to a poor and illiterate family with no opportunity for education. He began his working life as a child labourer and could not read or write until he was aged 18. In his teens he was given more and more responsible jobs with colliery steam engines and he went to night-school for elementary education. To earn more money he learned to repair clocks and watches. In 1811, after making improvements to a pumping engine that was not working properly, he was put in charge of all the engines belonging to an alliance of coal owners in north-east England.
In his thirties, his true career began. He built his first railway locomotive, Blücher, in 1814 for Killingworth colliery. This improved on the earlier work of Richard Trevithick and John Blenkinsop
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George Stephenson
English "Father of Railways" (1781–1848)
This article is about the English engineer. For other people called George Stephenson, see George Stephenson (disambiguation). For the similar name, see George Stevenson (disambiguation).
George Stephenson | |
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| Born | (1781-06-09)9 June 1781 Wylam, Northumberland, England |
| Died | 12 August 1848(1848-08-12) (aged 67) Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England |
| Resting place | Holy Trinity Church, Chesterfield |
| Spouse(s) | Frances Henderson (1802–1806) Elizabeth Hindmarsh (1820–1845) Ellen Gregory (1848) |
| Children | Robert Stephenson Frances Stephenson (died in infancy) |
George Stephenson (9 June 1781 – 12 August 1848) was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer during the Industrial Revolution.[1] Renowned as the "Father of Railways",[2] Stephenson was considered by the Victorians as a great example of diligent application and thirst for improvement. His chosen rail gauge, sometimes called "Stephenson gauge",[i] was the basis for the 4-foot-8+1⁄2-inch (1.435&
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