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1804 by the English inventor Richard Trevithick.
Born:
1771
Died:
1833
Place of Birth:
Cornwall
Famous For:
Steam engineer and pioneer of the railways
Biography:
Learning his craft in the tin mines of Cornwall, Trevithick went to Merthyr Tydfil and paved the way for the railway age by building the first steam engine to pull a load on rails.
Richard Trevithick was born in Carn Brea between Camborne and Redruth in Cornwall, and grew up amongst the tin mines where his father worked with pumping engines.
A huge man, who could throw a huge sledgehammer over an engine house, Trevithick was also a man of vision dismissed as foolish for attempting the impossible.
Creator of the high pressure steam engine, his reputation as a brilliant inventor reached Merthyr Tydfil.
Samuel Homfray, master of Penydarren ironworks, obtained a share in Trevithick's patent and asked him to build a stationary engine.
At that time, the late eighteenth century, horse-drawn railways were used to carry coal and iron from mines in the South Wales Valleys and other industrial centres.
But Trevithick recognised that a steam engine on wheels - a locomotive - would be more effective than horses at pulling heavy loads.
A rival ironmaster - believed to be Richard Crawshay - dismissed the idea as preposterous.
But Homfrey had faith in Trevithick and bet his rival 500 guineas - a fortune in those days - that the engine would successfully pull a ten ton load of iron along a nine-and-a-half mile stretch of tramroad from Penydarren to Abercynon.
On 21 February 1804 history was made when Trevithick's locomotive "Penydarren" (replica pictured above) completed the journey in four hours and five minutes.
In fact, the load was much heavier than planned, up to 25 tons including the weight of the engine itself, the wagons, and around 70 people perched on them.
Despite his pioneering work with locomotives, Trevithick soon returned to his original job building stationary steam engines for water pumping.
He had no interest in fame and fortune except as a means of funding further experiments, and left the development of the railways to others such as George Stephenson
What else can I help you with?
What was steel first used for?
Railroads. -------------- Weapons, not railroads.
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The first railroads carried raw materials and finished goods.
Why did Chinese workers first come to American?
To build railroads. Apex
Who invented the first railroads?
No one person invented the railroad as it evolved over hundreds of years. The first railroads did not have locomotives. Richard Trevithick is credited with creating the first successful steam locomotive. George Stephenson is credited with expanding the use of railroads from being a part of a mining operation to the first passenger railroads.
America's first big business was?
railroads
When were railroads first invented?
when they felt like it
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sweden
Why did the chinese first come to america?
railroads
Where did the first American railroads built?
In the South
Which f the following groups first came to Canada to help build the railroads?
which of the following groups first came to canada to help build the railroads?
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Prior to railroads there were roads for carriages and horses, and harbors for boats, and canals for barges...
What did the Americans first railroads carry?
Cotton from the south(apex)
