George stephenson s inventions

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 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 , Stephenson constructed his first locomotive, 'Blucher', for hauling coal at Killingworth Colliery near Newcastle. In , he invented a safety lamp for use in coalmines, nicknamed the 'Geordie'.

In , Stephenson was appointed engineer for the construction of the Stockton and Darlington railway. It opened in and was the first public railway. The following year Stephenson was made engineer for the Liverpool to Manchester Railway. In October , the railway's owners staged a competition at Rainhill to find the best kind of locomotive to pull heavy loads over long distances. Thousands came to watch. Stephenson's locomotive 'Rocket' was the winner, achieving a record speed of 36 miles per hour.

The opening of the Stockton to Darlington railway and the success of 'Rocket' stimulated the laying of railway lines and the construction of locomotives all over the country. Stephenson became engineer on a number of these projects and was also consulted on the development of railways in Belgium and Spain.

Stephenson died on 12 August in Chesterfield in Derbyshire. His only son Robert was also a railway engineer and worked with his father on many of his projects.

English "Father of Railways" (–)

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 (9 June – 12 August ) was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer during the Industrial Revolution. Renowned as the "Father of Railways", 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", was the basis for the 4-foot-8+1&#;2-inch (&#;m) standard gauge used by most of the world's railways.

Pioneered by Stephenson, rail transport was one of the most important technological inventions of the 19th century and a key component of the Industrial Revolution. Built by George and his son Robert's company Robert Stephenson and Company, the Locomotion No. 1 was the first steam locomotive to carry passengers on a public rail line, the Stockton and Darlington Railway in George also built the first public inter-city railway line in the world to use locomotives, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, which opened in

Childhood

George Stephenson was born on 9 June in Wylam, Northumberland, which is 9 miles (15&#;km) west of Newcastle upon Tyne. He was the second child of Robert and Mabel Stephenson, neither of whom could read or write. Robert was the fireman for Wylam Colliery pumping engine, earning a very low wage, so there was no money for schooling. At 17, Stephenson became an engine

With Watt's steam engine to pump out the water and to hoist the coal, miners were going deeper into the earth, and were bringing out more coal than ever before. The "new giant" turned countless mills for grinding corn and wheat, and was harnessed to the machines lately invented for spinning and weaving cotton and wool. The day of cheap fuel, cheap food, and cheap clothing seemed at hand. One thing was lacking, a cheap means of carrying over land, fuel, wheat, cotton, wool, and the like, to the mill or factory; and of carrying the finished product to the market. There was great need of a locomotive which would do good work at a small cost. Men began to work on such a locomotive. They did not, of course, try to invent a new engine, but to modify Watt's engine, a stationary engine, so that it would be a serviceable moving engine. George Stephenson succeeded in doing this.

His Parents and Home

About eight miles west of Newcastle, England, is the mining village of Wylam. Near the east end of the town there stands a two-storied house of four rooms. The lower west room was once the home of the Stephenson family. The floor of this single room, which served alike for kitchen, dining room, parlor, and sleeping room, was of clay. The walls were unplastered, and the rafters were bare. Here, on June 9, , George Stephenson was born.

The father was the fireman of the Newcomen engine at the Wylam mine. With a wage of not more than a dollar and a half a week, and with six children in the family, there was scarcely enough for food and little to spare for clothing. So poor was the family, that none of the children were sent to school. But George received from his father and mother traits of character which were even better than riches, and made amends for his lack of early education. It was a trait of his to have definite ambitions. He set his hopes on an advance of one step at a time. W

George Stephenson was the inventor of the first commercially successful locomotive, and is considered the "Father of Railways". He was very famous in his own time not only because of the tremendous importance of his achievements but because he was entirely self-educated and had risen to be one of the most successful businessmen in Britain from exceedingly humble circumstances. In Victorian England, he was considered an icon of the hard working "self-made" man.

Meanwhile George continued to take on more responsibility at the mine. He had spent a year working in a factory where he learned all about engines so when he returned to the mine, he was eventually promoted to engine-wright. He became an expert at repairing and adapting engines and was consulted by other manufacturers whenever a local engine malfunctioned. When George's son became old enough to go to school, his father studied with him every night and in this way, gave both himself and his son the best education possible with the resources he had available.

The mines where Stephenson worked used steam engines for a number of tasks, most notably for pumping water out of mines but also for other purposes. In additions, the mines had long stretches of rails, usually built of wood and wrought iron, on which coal cars