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BRUNEL, ISAMBARD KINGDOM (1806-1859)

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 682 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BRUNEL, ISAMBARD See also:KINGDOM (1806-1859) , rnglish engineer, only son of See also:Sir M. I. Brunel, was See also:born at See also:Portsmouth on the 9th of See also:April 18o6. He displayed in childhood singular See also:powers of See also:mental calculation, See also:great skill and rapidity as a draughtsman, and a true feeling for See also:art. At the See also:age of fourteen he was sent to See also:Paris, to study at the See also:College See also:Henri Quatre. In 1823 he entered his See also:father's See also:office as assistant-engineer, just at the See also:time when the project of the See also:Thames See also:Tunnel was beginning to take shape; and during the later portion of the time, from 1825, when the See also:work was begun, till 1828, when it was stopped by an irruption of the See also:river, he was both nominal and actual See also:resident engineer. In See also:November 1829 he sent in designs and plans for the projected suspension See also:bridge over the See also:Avon at See also:Clifton, but in consequence of objections raised by See also:Thomas See also:Telford, the See also:referee of the bridge See also:committee, his plans were rejected. But a new See also:design which he sent in on a second competition in 1831 was accepted, and he was appointed engineer. The See also:works were begun in 1836, but owing to lack of funds were not completed until 1864, after Brunel's See also:death; his design, however, was closely adhered to, and the chains employed came from the old See also:Hungerford suspension bridge (See also:London), which he had built in 1841-1845, but which was displaced in 1862 by the Charing See also:Cross railway bridge. In See also:March 1833 Brunel, at the age of twenty-seven, was appointed engineer of the newly-projected Great Western railway. For several years his energies were taxed to the utmost by the conflict with obstructive landowners and See also:short-sighted critics; but he showed himself equal to the occasion, not only as a professional See also:man, but as a persuasive negotiator. Among the See also:engineering triumphs on that railway are the See also:Hanwell viaduct, the See also:Maidenhead bridge and the See also:Box tunnel, at the time the longest in the See also:world.

The famous " See also:

battle of-the gauges " took its rise from his introduction of the broad (7 ft.)*See also:gauge on that See also:line. In 1846 he resigned his office as engineer of the Great Western railway. In 1844 he had recommended the See also:adoption of the atmospheric See also:system on the See also:South See also:Devon railway, but after a See also:year's trial the system was abandoned. The last and greatest of Brunel's railway works was the Royal See also:Albert bridge over the river Tamar at See also:Saltash. This work, sanctioned by See also:parliament in 1845, was constructed between 1853 and 1859. In addition to the arduous labours of railway engineering Brunel took a leading See also:part in the systematic development of ocean See also:steam See also:navigation. As See also:early as See also:October 1835 he had suggested to the See also:directors of the Great Western railway, that they should " make it longer, and have a steamboat to go from See also:Bristol to New See also:York, and See also:call it the ` Great Western.' " The project was taken up, and the " Great Western " steamship was designed by Brunel, and built at Bristol under his superintendence. It was much longer than any steamer of the See also:day, and was the first steamship built to make See also:regular voyages across the See also:Atlantic. While the See also:vessel was See also:building a controversy was raised about the practicability of Brunel's See also:scheme, Dr D. See also:Lardner asserting dogmatically that the voyage could not be made, and backing his assertion with an See also:array of figures. His view was widely accepted, but the work went on, and the voyage was accomplished in 1838. Brunel at once undertook a still larger design in the " Great See also:Britain," which was the first large See also:iron steamship, the largest See also:ship afloat at that time, and the first large ship in which the See also:screw-propeller was used.

She made her first voyage from See also:

Liverpool to New York in See also:August and See also:September 1845; but in the following year was carelessly runupon the rocks in Dundrum See also:Bay on the See also:coast of See also:Ireland. After lying there nearly a year without material damage she was got off and was employed in the Australian See also:trade. Brunel soon after began to meditate a still vaster project, the construction of a vessel large enough to carry all the See also:coal required for a See also:long voyage out, and if coal could not be had at the out See also:port, then to carry enough also for the return voyage. It seemed to h'm, further, that a great increase of See also:size would give many advantages for navigation. During his connexion as engineer with the Australian See also:Mail See also:Company he worked out into a See also:practical shape his conception of a " great ship "; and in 1852 his scheme was laid before the directors of the Eastern Steam Navigation Company. It was adopted, the projector being appointed engineer, and after much time occupied about contracts and specifications the work was begun in See also:December 1853. Immense difficulties in the progress of construction caused delays from time to time. The operation of launching was several times attempted in vain; but at length the gigantic vessel, the " Great Eastern," was got afloat on the 31st of See also:January 1858. Much remained to be done to See also:complete the ship; and her engineer, overworked and worn out with worry, See also:broke down and did not sec her begin her first voyage on the 7th of September 1859. On the 5th he was brought See also:home from the ship suffering from a paralytic stroke, and on the 15th he died at his See also:house in See also:Westminster. In addition to the great works already described, Brunel was employed in the construction of many docks and piers, as at Monkwearmouth, Bristol, See also:Plymouth, Briton See also:Ferry, See also:Brentford and See also:Milford Haven. He was a zealous See also:promoter of the Great See also:Exhibition of 1851, and was a member of the committee on the See also:section of machinery and of the building committee.

He paid much See also:

attention to the improvement of large guns, and designed a floating See also:gun-See also:carriage for the attack on See also:Kronstadt in the See also:Russian See also:War (1854); he also designed and superintended the construe tion of the See also:hospital buildings at Erenkeni on the See also:Dardanelles (1855). He was elected a See also:fellow of the Royal Society in 1830, and in 1858 declined the See also:presidency of the Institution of See also:Civil See also:Engineers through See also:ill-See also:health. He received the degree of D.C.L. from See also:Oxford in 1857. In his work he was singularly See also:free from professional See also:jealousy, and was always ready to commend and help others, though, himself a man of remarkable See also:industry and See also:energy, he demanded a high See also:standard of faithful service from his subordinates. See The See also:Life of I.K.Brunel,C.E. (187o) , by his son, Isambard Brunel.

End of Article: BRUNEL, ISAMBARD KINGDOM (1806-1859)

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