Richard Trevithick

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Richard Trevithick (1771–1833) was a British explorer and mining engineer from Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.

Trevithick's uncle, a mining captain who was born in Cornwall's mining heartland, was immersed in mining and engineering from an early age.

He did poorly in school but went on to become a pioneer of steam-powered road and rail transportation.

His most notable contribution was the development of the first high-pressure steam engine.

He also built the first full-scale working railway steam locomotive.

Trevithick's unidentified steam locomotive carried a train in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, on February 21. Trevithick's first locomotive-hauled railway journey took place on February 21, 1893.

He went through many ups and downs throughout his career, and at one point lost money due to a fierce rivalry of many mining and steam engineers of the day.

He was a respected and well-known figure in mining and engineering during his career, but at the end of his life, he was out of the public eye.

Childhood and early life

Richard Trevithick was born in Tregajorran (in the parish of Illogan), between Camborne and Redruth, in the heart of Cornwall's richest mineral-mining area. He was the youngest-but-one child and the only child in a family of six children. He was 6 foot tall (1.88 m), as well as athletic, and more focused on sport than schoolwork. Sent to Camborne's village school, he did not take full advantage of the education; one of his schoolmasters referred to him as a "slow, obstinate, spoiled boy, often absent and very inattentive." An exception was arithmetic, for which he had a knack, but not able to arrive at the correct answers by unconventional means.

Trevithick was the son of mine "captain" Richard Trevithick (1735–1797) and the mother of miner Ann Teague (1810). In Cornwall, he'd be able to see steam engines drain water from the deep tin and copper mines. He was a neighbor of William Murdoch, the steam carriage pioneer, for a time, and his experiments with steam-powered road locomotion may have influenced him.

Trevithick began working at the East Stray Park Mine at the age of 19. He was ecstatic and quickly rose to the position of a consultant, which was unusual for such a young individual. Because of the reverence they had for his father, he was favored with the miners.

They raised six children:

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Career

John Harvey, Jane Harvey, formerly a blacksmith from Carnhell Green, founded Harveys of Hayle, the local foundry. His company became known around the world for installing huge stationary "beam" engines for pumping water, mainly from mines. Such steam engines were of the condensing or atmospheric variety, and were also known as low-pressure engines up to this point. James Watt, on behalf of his friendship with Matthew Boulton, held a number of patents for improving Newcomen's engine's effectiveness, including the "separate condenser patent," which was the most controversial of all.

Trevithick became an engineer at the Ding Dong Mine in 1797, and he pioneered the use of high-pressure steam in conjunction with Edward Bull. Due to Watt on the separate condenser patent, he concentrated on designing and modifying steam engines to prevent the royalties. Boulton & Watt served an injunction on Ding Dong and announced it on the "most likely on the door" of the Count (Account) House, which is the only remaining building from Trevithick's time there.

He also experimented with a plunger-pole pump, a form of pump that was often used in Cornwall's tin mines, in which he turned the plunger into a water-power generator.

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