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96-593: George Stephenson (9 June 1781 – 12 August 1848) 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 (1.435 m) standard gauge used by most of

192-514: A civil engineering degree can be obtained after four years of study in the various branches of mathematics, physics, mechanics, etc. The earned degree is called Grado en Ingeniería Civil . Further studies at a graduate school include master's and doctoral degrees. Before the current situation, that is, before the implementation of Bologna Process in 2010, a degree in civil engineering in Spain could be obtained after three to six years of study and

288-470: A category of their own, typically each with their own degrees, either in separate university faculties or at polytechnic schools. In the United States, civil engineers are typically employed by municipalities, construction firms, consulting engineering firms, architect/engineer firms, the military, state governments, and the federal government. Each state requires engineers who offer their services to

384-457: A civil engineer may perform land surveying ; in others, surveying is limited to construction surveying , unless an additional qualification is obtained. Civil engineers usually practice in a particular specialty, such as construction engineering , geotechnical engineering , structural engineering , land development , transportation engineering , hydraulic engineering , sanitary engineering , and environmental engineering . A civil engineer

480-537: A convincing list of all 16. Of those identified, most were built for use at Killingworth or for the Hetton colliery railway . A six-wheeled locomotive was built for the Kilmarnock and Troon Railway in 1817 but was withdrawn from service because of damage to the cast-iron rails. Another locomotive was supplied to Scott's Pit railroad at Llansamlet , near Swansea , in 1819 but it too was withdrawn, apparently because it

576-606: A daughter, was born in July 1805. She was named Frances after her mother. The child died after just three weeks and was buried in St Bartholomew's Church, Long Benton north of Newcastle. In 1806 George's wife Frances died of consumption ( tuberculosis ). She was buried in the same churchyard as their daughter on 16 May 1806, though the location of the grave is lost. George decided to find work in Scotland and left Robert with

672-438: A different principle: the flame was enclosed by glass; air access to the flame was through tubes sufficiently narrow that the flame could not burn-back in incoming firedamp and the exiting gases were too low in oxygen to allow the enclosed flame to reach the surrounding atmosphere. Both principles were combined in later versions of safety lamps. Even after the widespread introduction of the safety lamp, explosions continued because

768-473: A farmer's daughter from Black Callerton, whom he met secretly in her orchard. Her father refused marriage because of Stephenson's lowly status as a miner. George next paid attention to Anne Henderson where he lodged with her family, but she rejected him and he transferred his attentions to her sister Frances (Fanny), who was nine years his senior. George and Fanny married at Newburn Church on 28 November 1802. They had two children Robert (1803) and Fanny (1805) but

864-459: A fissure from which firedamp was issuing. The two designs differed; Davy's lamp was surrounded by a screen of gauze, whereas Stephenson's prototype lamp had a perforated plate containing a glass cylinder. For his invention Davy was awarded £2000, whilst Stephenson was accused of stealing the idea from Davy, because he was not seen as an adequate scientist who could have produced the lamp by any approved scientific method. Stephenson, having come from

960-707: A five-year program at a polytechnic . Traditionally, students were required to pass an entrance exam on mathematics to start civil engineering studies. This exam was abolished in 2004 for the Flemish Community , but is still organised in the French Community . In Scandinavian countries, "civil engineer" ( civilingenjör in Swedish; sivilingeniør in Norwegian; civilingeniør in Danish)

1056-565: A license may not call themselves "civil engineers". In Belgium, Civil Engineer (abbreviated Ir. ) ( French : Ingénieur Civil , Dutch : Burgerlijk Ingenieur ) is a legally protected title applicable to graduates of the five-year engineering course of one of the six universities and the Royal Military Academy. Their speciality can be all fields of engineering: civil , structural , electrical , mechanical , chemical , physics and even computer science . This use of

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1152-457: A local woman while he went to work in Montrose . After a few months he returned, probably because his father was blinded in a mining accident. He moved back into a cottage at West Moor and his unmarried sister Eleanor moved in to look after Robert. In 1811 the pumping engine at High Pit, Killingworth was not working properly and Stephenson offered to improve it. He did so with such success that he

1248-479: A major release when a layer of black stone had been broken through into a coal seam. Ignited with a candle, it had given a steady flame "about half a Yard in Diameter, and near two Yards high". The flame being extinguished and a wider penetration through the black stone made, reigniting of the gas gave a bigger flame, a yard in diameter and about three yards high, which was extinguished only with difficulty. The blower

1344-596: A more gaseous atmosphere. He made reference to an incident at Oaks Colliery in Barnsley where both lamps were in use. Following a sudden strong influx of gas the tops of all the Davy Lamps became red hot (which had in the past caused an explosion, and in so doing risked another), whilst all the Geordie Lamps simply went out. There is a theory that it was Stephenson who indirectly gave the name of " Geordies " to

1440-629: A penny a sheet, and at one point there was a suggestion to move George's body to Westminster Abbey . The centenary of George's birth was celebrated in 1881 at Crystal Palace by 15,000 people, and it was George who was featured on the reverse of the Series E five pound note issued by the Bank of England between 1990 and 2003. The Stephenson Railway Museum in North Shields is named after George and Robert Stephenson. George Stephenson's Birthplace

1536-440: A person to obtain a degree in construction engineering . Mechanical engineering , automotive engineering , hydraulics and even sometimes metallurgy are fields in a degree in "Machinery Engineering". Computer sciences , control engineering and electrical engineering are fields in a degree in electrical engineering, while security , safety , environmental engineering , transportation , hydrology and meteorology are in

1632-616: A reassuring name rather than a cutting-edge technical adviser. He was the first president of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers on its formation in 1847. By this time he had settled into semi-retirement, supervising his mining interests in Derbyshire – tunnelling for the North Midland Railway revealed coal seams, and Stephenson put money into their exploitation. George first courted Elizabeth (Betty) Hindmarsh,

1728-530: A regular university from their military counterparts. Today the degree spans over all fields within engineering, including civil engineering, mechanical engineering, computer science, and electronics engineering, among others. There is generally a slight difference between a Master of Science in Engineering degree and the Scandinavian civil engineer degree, the latter's programme having closer ties with

1824-748: A rift between them which was never healed. Despite Stephenson's loss of some routes to competitors due to his caution, he was offered more work than he could cope with, and was unable to accept all that was offered. He worked on the North Midland line from Derby to Leeds , the York and North Midland line from Normanton to York, the Manchester and Leeds , the Birmingham and Derby , the Sheffield and Rotherham among many others. Stephenson became

1920-558: A speed of 24 miles per hour (39 kilometres per hour) on one stretch. The first purpose-built passenger car, Experiment , was attached and carried dignitaries on the opening journey. It was the first time passenger traffic had been run on a steam locomotive railway. The rails used for the line were wrought-iron , produced by John Birkinshaw at the Bedlington Ironworks . Wrought-iron rails could be produced in longer lengths than cast-iron and were less liable to crack under

2016-523: A travelling engine designed for hauling coal on the Killingworth wagonway named Blücher after the Prussian general Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher (It was suggested the name sprang from Blücher's rapid march of his army in support of Wellington at Waterloo ). Blücher was modelled on Matthew Murray 's locomotive Willington , which George studied at Kenton and Coxlodge colliery on Tyneside, and

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2112-407: A variety of locations and conditions. Much of a civil engineer's work is dealing with non-engineers or others from different technical disciplines, so training should give skills preparing future civil engineers in organizational relationships between parties to projects, cost and time. Many spend time outdoors at construction sites so that they can monitor operations or solve problems onsite. The job

2208-463: A very low wage, so there was no money for schooling. At 17, Stephenson became an engineman at Water Row Pit in Newburn nearby. George realised the value of education and paid to study at night school to learn reading, writing and arithmetic – he was illiterate until the age of 18. In 1801 he began work at Black Callerton Colliery south of Ponteland as a 'brakesman', controlling the winding gear at

2304-485: Is a first professional degree , approximately equivalent to Master of Science in Engineering , and a protected title granted to students by selected institutes of technology . As in English, the word has its origin in the distinction between civilian and military engineers; before the start of the 19th century only military engineers existed, and the prefix "civil" was a way to separate those who had studied engineering in

2400-532: Is an 18th-century historic house museum in the village of Wylam , and is operated by the National Trust . Dial Cottage at West Moor , his home from 1804, remains but the museum that once operated there has closed. Chesterfield Museum in Chesterfield , Derbyshire, has a gallery of Stephenson memorabilia, including straight thick glass tubes he invented for growing straight cucumbers . The museum

2496-857: Is any flammable gas found in coal mines , typically coalbed methane . It is particularly found in areas where the coal is bituminous . The gas accumulates in pockets in the coal and adjacent strata and when they are penetrated the release can trigger explosions. Historically, if such a pocket was highly pressurized, it was termed a "bag of foulness". Damp is the collective name given to all gases (other than air) found in coal mines in Great Britain and North America. As well as firedamp, other damps include blackdamp (nonbreathable mixture of carbon dioxide , water vapour and other gases); whitedamp (carbon monoxide and other gases produced by combustion); poisonous, explosive stinkdamp ( hydrogen sulfide ), with its characteristic rotten-egg odour; and

2592-507: Is concerned with determining the right design for these structures and looking after the construction process so that the longevity of these structures is guaranteed after completion. These structures should also be satisfactory for the public in terms of comfort. Some civil engineers, particularly those working for government agencies, may practice across multiple specializations, particularly when involved in critical infrastructure development or maintenance. Civil engineers generally work in

2688-537: Is frequent to use Flint and Steel in Places affected with this sort of Damp, which will give a glimmering Light, that is a great Help to the Workmen in difficult Cases." A great step forward in countering the problem of firedamp came when safety lamps , intended to provide illumination whilst being incapable of igniting firedamp, were proposed by both George Stephenson and Humphry Davy in response to accidents such as

2784-625: Is in the Stephenson Memorial Hall not far from both Stephenson's final home at Tapton House and Holy Trinity Church within which is his vault. In Liverpool, where he lived at 34 Upper Parliament Street, a City of Liverpool Heritage Plaque is situated next to the front door. Stephenson College , founded in 2001 on the Durham University 's Queen's Campus in Stockton-on-Tees (relocated to Durham in 2018),

2880-908: Is named after him. Also named after him and his son is George Stephenson High School in Killingworth, Stephenson Memorial Primary School in Howdon , the Stephenson Railway Museum in North Shields , the Stephenson Locomotive Society , the Stephenson Centre, an SEBD Unit of Beaumont Hill School in Darlington, and the Stephenson Building, home of the school of engineering at Newcastle University . His last home in Tapton, Chesterfield

2976-473: Is not to be confused with the lighthouse-building engineering family of Robert Stevenson , which was active in the same era. Note the spelling difference. Britain led the world in the development of railways which acted as a stimulus for the Industrial Revolution by facilitating the transport of raw materials and manufactured goods. George Stephenson, with his work on the Stockton and Darlington Railway and

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3072-498: Is now part of Chesterfield College and is called Tapton House Campus. As a tribute to his life and works, a bronze statue of Stephenson was unveiled at Chesterfield railway station (in the town where Stephenson spent the last ten years of his life) on 28 October 2005, marking the completion of improvements to the station. At the event a full-size working replica of the Rocket was on show, which then spent two days on public display at

3168-481: Is roughly equivalent to a Bachelor of Science in Scandinavia, to become a "civil engineer" one often has had to do up to one extra year of overlapping studies compared to attaining a B.Sc./M.Sc. combination. This is because the higher educational system is not fully adapted to the international standard graduation system, since it is treated as a professional degree . Today (2009) this is starting to change due to

3264-466: Is to lay the bricks forming the arch at an angle to the abutments (the piers on which the arches rest). The technique, which results in a spiral effect in the arch masonry, provides extra strength in the arch to compensate for the angled abutments. The bridge is still in use at Rainhill station , and carries traffic on the A57 (Warrington Road). The bridge is a listed structure . George Stephenson moved to

3360-630: Is typically a blend of in-office and on-location work depending on the focus of each engineer. Most engineers work full-time. In most countries, a civil engineer will have graduated from a post-secondary school with a degree in civil engineering, which requires a strong background in mathematics and the physical sciences ; this degree is typically a bachelor's degree , though many civil engineers study further to obtain master's , engineer , doctoral and post doctoral degrees. In many countries, civil engineers are subject to licensure . In some jurisdictions with mandatory licensing, people who do not obtain

3456-659: The Bologna process . A Scandinavian civilingenjör will in international contexts commonly use the title of "Master of Science in Engineering" and will occasionally wear an engineering class ring . At the Norwegian Institute of Technology (now the Norwegian University of Science and Technology ), the tradition with an NTH Ring goes back to 1914, before the Canadian iron ring . In Spain ,

3552-723: The Escuela Especial de Ayudantes de Obras Públicas (now called Escuela Universitaria de Ingeniería Técnica de Obras Públicas de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid ), founded in 1854 in Madrid. Both schools now belong to the Technical University of Madrid . In Spain, a civil engineer has the technical and legal ability to design projects of any branch, so any Spanish civil engineer can oversee projects about structures, buildings (except residential structures which are reserved for architects), foundations, hydraulics,

3648-485: The Felling mine disaster near Newcastle upon Tyne , which killed 92 people on 25 May 1812. Davy experimented with brass gauze , determining the maximum size of the gaps and the optimum wire thickness to prevent a flame passing through the gauze. If a naked flame was thus enclosed totally by such a gauze, then methane could pass into the lamp and burn safely above the flame. Stephenson's lamp (the "Geordie lamp") worked on

3744-517: The Geordie lamp and Davy lamp . Even after the safety lamps were brought into common use, firedamp explosions could still be caused by sparks produced when coal contaminated with pyrites was struck with metal tools. The presence of coal dust in the air increased the risk of explosion with firedamp and could cause explosions even in the absence of firedamp. The Tyneside coal mines in England had

3840-650: The Killingworth wagonway. Other locomotives include: In 1821, a parliamentary bill was passed to allow the building of the Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR). The 25-mile (40 km) railway connected collieries near Bishop Auckland to the River Tees at Stockton , passing through Darlington on the way. The original plan was to use horses to draw coal carts on metal rails, but after company director Edward Pease met Stephenson, he agreed to change

3936-729: The Rainhill Trials were run in October 1829. Entries could weigh no more than six tons and had to travel along the track for a total distance of 60 miles (97 km). Stephenson's entry was Rocket , and its performance in winning the contest made it famous. George's son Robert had been working in South America from 1824 to 1827 and returned to run the Forth Street Works while George was in Liverpool overseeing

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4032-528: The Suez Canal . George Stephenson's daughter was born in 1805 but died within weeks of her birth. Descendants of the wider Stephenson family continue to live in Wylam (Stephenson's birthplace) today. Also relatives connected by his marriage live in Derbyshire. Some descendants later emigrated to Perth , Australia, and Minnesota , with later generations remaining to this day. This Stephenson engineering family

4128-407: The 'Geordie Lamp', and awarded him £1,000, but Davy and his supporters refused to accept their findings, and would not see how an uneducated man such as Stephenson could come up with the solution he had. In 1833 a House of Commons committee found that Stephenson had equal claim to having invented the safety lamp. Davy went to his grave believing that Stephenson had stolen his idea. The Stephenson lamp

4224-706: The Chesterfield Market Festival. A statue of him dressed in classical robes stands in Neville Street, Newcastle, facing the buildings that house the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne and the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers , near Newcastle railway station . The statue was sculpted in 1862 by John Graham Lough and is listed Grade II. From 1990 until 2003, Stephenson's portrait appeared on

4320-756: The Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors. The description "civil engineer" is not restricted to members of any particular professional organisation although "chartered civil engineer" is. In many Eastern European countries, civil engineering does not exist as a distinct degree or profession but its various sub-professions are often studied in separate university faculties and performed as separate professions, whether they are taught in civilian universities or military engineering academies. Even many polytechnic tertiary schools give out separate degrees for each field of study. Typically study in geology , geodesy , structural engineering and urban engineering allows

4416-611: The L&;MR , on 15 September 1830, drew luminaries from the government and industry, including the Prime Minister, the Duke of Wellington . The day started with a procession of eight trains setting out from Liverpool. The parade was led by Northumbrian driven by George Stephenson, and included Phoenix driven by his son Robert, North Star driven by his brother Robert and Rocket driven by assistant engineer Joseph Locke . The day

4512-466: The Liverpool and Manchester Railway, paved the way for the railway engineers who followed, such as his son Robert, his assistant Joseph Locke who carried out much work on his own account and Isambard Kingdom Brunel . Stephenson was farsighted in realising that the individual lines being built would eventually be joined, and would need to have the same gauge. The standard gauge used throughout much of

4608-684: The North-East, spoke with a broad Northumberland accent and not the 'Language of Parliament,' which made him seem lowly. Realizing this, he made a point of educating his son Robert in a private school, where he was taught to speak in Standard English with a Received Pronunciation accent. It was due to this, in their future dealings with Parliament, that it became clear that the authorities preferred Robert to his father. A local committee of enquiry gathered in support of Stephenson, exonerated him, proved he had been working separately to create

4704-700: The civil engineering profession worldwide. Official members of the ASCE must hold a bachelor's degree from an accredited civil engineering program and be a licensed professional engineer or have five years responsible charge of engineering experience. Most civil engineers join this organization to be updated of current news, projects, and methods (such as sustainability) related to civil engineering as well as contribute their expertise and knowledge to other civil engineers and students obtaining their civil engineering degree. The ICE (Institution of Civil Engineers) founded in 1818, represents, as of 2008, more than 80,000 members of

4800-830: The civil engineering profession worldwide. Its commercial arm, Thomas Telford Ltd, provides training, recruitment, publishing and contract services. Founded in 1887, the CSCE (Canadian Society for Civil Engineering) represents members of the Canadian civil engineering profession. Official members of the CSCE must hold a bachelor's degree from an accredited civil engineering program. Most civil engineers join this organization to be updated of current news, projects, and methods (such as sustainability) related to civil engineering; as well as contribute their expertise and knowledge to other civil engineers and students obtaining their civil engineering degree. Local sections frequently host events such as seminars, tours, and courses. Firedamp Firedamp

4896-405: The construction of the line. Robert was responsible for the detailed design of Rocket , although he was in constant postal communication with his father, who made many suggestions. One significant innovation, suggested by Henry Booth , treasurer of the L&MR, was the use of a fire-tube boiler , invented by French engineer Marc Seguin that gave improved heat exchange. The opening ceremony of

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4992-481: The deadly combination of bituminous coal contaminated with pyrites and there was a great number of deaths in accidents caused by firedamp explosions, including 102 dead at Wallsend in 1835. The problem of firedamp in mines had been brought to the attention of the Royal Society by 1677 and in 1733 James Lowther reported that as a shaft was being sunk for a new pit at Saltom near Whitehaven there had been

5088-521: The derivation of the first, the proto-Germanic dampaz gave rise to many other cognates, including the Old High German damph , the Old Norse dampi , and the modern German Dampf , the last of which still translates as "vapor". Firedamp is explosive at concentrations between 4% and 16%, with most explosions occurring at around 10%. It caused many deaths in coal mines before the invention of

5184-406: The early lamps were fragile and easily damaged. For example the iron gauze on a Davy lamp needed to lose only one wire to become unsafe. The light was also very poor (compared with a naked flame) and there were continuous attempts to improve the basic design. The height of the cone of burning methane in a flame safety lamp can be used to estimate the concentration of the gas in the local atmosphere. It

5280-491: The environment, transportation, urbanism, etc. Mechanical and Electrical engineering tasks are included under the Industrial engineering degree. A chartered civil engineer (known as certified or professional engineer in other countries) is a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers , and has also passed membership exams. However, a non-chartered civil engineer may be a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers or

5376-432: The financial loss he suffered by not using his own patented design. Stephenson was hired to build the eight-mile (13-km) Hetton colliery railway in 1820. He used a combination of gravity on downward inclines and locomotives for level and upward stretches. This, the first railway using no animal power, opened in 1822. This line used a gauge of 4 ft 8 in ( 1,422 mm ) which Stephenson had used before at

5472-568: The first dozen or so locomotives utilised there were purchased from the Stephenson shops. Stephenson's conservative views on the capabilities of locomotives meant he favoured circuitous routes and civil engineering that were more costly than his successors thought necessary. For example, rather than the West Coast Main Line taking the direct route favoured by Joseph Locke over Shap between Lancaster and Carlisle , Stephenson

5568-482: The first public inter-city railway line in the world to use locomotives, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway , which opened in 1830 . George Stephenson was born on 9 June 1781 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

5664-430: The first rail cars of coal into Leicester dramatically reducing the price of coal and saving the city some £40,000 per annum. Stephenson remained at Alton Grange until 1838 before moving to Tapton House in Derbyshire. The next ten years were the busiest of Stephenson's life as he was besieged with requests from railway promoters. Many of the first American railroad builders came to Newcastle to learn from Stephenson and

5760-462: The grand opening of the skew bridge in Rainhill over the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The bridge was the first to cross any railway at an angle. It required the structure to be constructed as two flat planes (overlapping in this case by 6 ft (1.8 m)) between which the stonework forms a parallelogram shape when viewed from above. It has the effect of flattening the arch and the solution

5856-464: The industry's demands. A civil engineer is the better-known of the two; still, the area of expertise remains obfuscated for most of the public. A noteworthy difference is the mandatory courses in mathematics and physics, regardless of the equivalent master's degree, e.g. computer science. Although a "college engineer" ( högskoleingenjör, diplomingenjör, or mellaningenjör in Swedish; høgskoleingeniør in Norwegian; diplomingeniør in Danish)

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5952-654: The insidiously lethal afterdamp ( carbon monoxide and other gases) which are produced following explosions of firedamp or coal dust. Often hyphenated as fire-damp, this term for a flammable type of underground mine gas in first part derives via the Old English fyr , and from the proto-Germanic fūr for "fire" (the origin of the same word in Dutch and German, with similar original spellings in Old Saxon, Frisian, and Norse, as well as Middle Dutch and Old High German). In

6048-574: The latter died within months. George's wife died, probably of tuberculosis, the year after. While George was working in Scotland, Robert was brought up by a succession of neighbours and then by George's unmarried sister Eleanor (Nelly), who lived with them in Killingworth on George's return. On 29 March 1820, George (now considerably wealthier) married Betty Hindmarsh at Newburn. The marriage seems to have been happy, but there were no children and Betty died on 3 August 1845. On 11 January 1848, at St Chad's Church in Shrewsbury , Shropshire, George married for

6144-423: The line across it. The method he used was similar to that used by John Metcalf who constructed many miles of road across marshes in the Pennines, laying a foundation of heather and branches, which became bound together by the weight of the passing coaches, with a layer of stones on top. As the L&MR approached completion in 1829, its directors arranged a competition to decide who would build its locomotives, and

6240-441: The master of the craft. George Stephenson had two children. His son Robert was born on 16 October 1803. Robert married Frances Sanderson, daughter of a City of London professional John Sanderson, on 17 June 1829. Robert died in 1859 having no children. Robert Stephenson expanded on the work of his father and became a major railway engineer himself. Abroad, Robert was involved in the Alexandria–Cairo railway that later connected with

6336-520: The original route of the L&MR caused by hostility from some affected landowners meant Stephenson encountered difficulty during Parliamentary scrutiny of the original bill, especially under cross-examination by Edward Hall Alderson . The bill was rejected and a revised bill for a new alignment was submitted and passed in a subsequent session. The revised alignment presented the problem of crossing Chat Moss , an apparently bottomless peat bog, which Stephenson overcame by unusual means, effectively floating

6432-431: The parish of Alton Grange (now part of Ravenstone) in Leicestershire in 1830, originally to consult on the Leicester and Swannington Railway , a line primarily proposed to take coal from the western coal fields of the county to Leicester. The promoters of the line Mr William Stenson and Mr John Ellis , had difficulties in raising the necessary capital as the majority of local wealth had been invested in canals. Realising

6528-533: The people of the North East of England. By this theory, the name of the Geordie Lamp attached to the North East pit men themselves. By 1866 any native of Newcastle upon Tyne could be called a Geordie. Cornishman Richard Trevithick is credited with the first realistic design for a steam locomotive, the " Puffing Devil ", in 1801. Later, he visited Tyneside and built an engine there for a mine-owner. Several local men were inspired by this, and designed their own engines. Stephenson designed his first locomotive in 1814,

6624-430: The pit. In 1802 he married Frances Henderson and moved to Willington Quay , east of Newcastle. There he worked as a brakesman while they lived in one room of a cottage. George made shoes and mended clocks to supplement his income. Their first child Robert was born in 1803, and in 1804 they moved to Dial Cottage at West Moor , near Killingworth where George worked as a brakesman at Killingworth Pit. Their second child,

6720-409: The plans. Stephenson surveyed the line in 1821, and assisted by his 18-year-old son Robert, construction began the same year. A manufacturer was needed to provide the locomotives for the line. Pease and Stephenson had jointly established a company in Newcastle to manufacture locomotives. It was set up as Robert Stephenson and Company , and George's son Robert was the managing director. A fourth partner

6816-399: The potential and need for the rail link Stephenson himself invested £2,500 and raised the remaining capital through his network of connections in Liverpool. His son Robert was made chief engineer with the first part of the line opening in 1832. During this same period the Snibston estate in Leicestershire came up for auction, it lay adjoining the proposed Swannington to Leicester route and

6912-438: The problem caused by the weight of the engine on the primitive rails. He experimented with a steam spring (to 'cushion' the weight using steam pressure acting on pistons to support the locomotive frame), but soon followed the practice of 'distributing' weight by using a number of wheels or bogies. For the Stockton and Darlington Railway Stephenson used wrought-iron malleable rails that he had found satisfactory, notwithstanding

7008-493: The public to be licensed by the state. Licensure is obtained by meeting specified education, examination, and work experience requirements. Specific requirements vary by state. Typically, licensed engineers must graduate from an ABET -accredited university or college engineering program with a minimum of bachelor's degree, pass the Fundamentals of Engineering exam (FE), obtain several years of engineering experience under

7104-752: The reverse of Series E £5 notes issued by the Bank of England . Stephenson's face is shown alongside an engraving of the Rocket steam engine and the Skerne Bridge on the Stockton to Darlington Railway. Civil engineer Civil engineering is one of the oldest engineering disciplines because it deals with constructed environment including planning, designing, and overseeing construction and maintenance of building structures, and facilities, such as roads, railroads, airports, bridges, harbors, channels, dams, irrigation projects, pipelines, power plants, and water and sewage systems. The term "civil engineer "

7200-435: The same fields as civil engineers do elsewhere. This degree is equivalent to a Master of Civil Engineering and is obtained after five or six years of study depending on the school granting the title. The first Spanish Civil Engineering School was the Escuela Especial de Ingenieros de Caminos y Canales (now called Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos ), established in 1802 in Madrid, followed by

7296-520: The second part, the meaning of "damp" (most commonly understood to imply humidity) presents evidence of having been separated from that newer, irrelevant meaning at least by the first decade of the 18th century, where the original relevant meaning of "vapor" also derives from a Proto-Germanic origin, dampaz , which gave rise to its immediate English predecessor, the Middle Low German damp (with no record of an Old English intermediary). As with

7392-509: The supervision of a licensed engineer, then pass the Principles and Practice of Engineering Exam . After completing these steps and the granting of licensure by a state board, engineers may use the title "Professional Engineer" or PE in advertising and documents. Most states have implemented mandatory continuing education requirements to maintain a license. The ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) represents more than 150,000 members of

7488-507: The third time, to Ellen Gregory, another farmer's daughter originally from Bakewell in Derbyshire, who had been his housekeeper. Seven months after his wedding, George contracted pleurisy and died, aged 67, at noon on Saturday 12 August 1848 at Tapton House in Chesterfield, Derbyshire. He was buried at Holy Trinity Church, Chesterfield , alongside his second wife. Described by Rolt as a generous man, Stephenson financially supported

7584-492: The title may cause confusion to the English speaker as the Belgian "civil" engineer can have a speciality other than civil engineering. In fact, Belgians use the adjective "civil" in the sense of "civilian", as opposed to military engineers. The formation of the civil engineer has a strong mathematical and scientific base and is more theoretical in approach than the practical oriented industrial engineer ( Ing. ) educated in

7680-467: The weight of heavy locomotives. William Losh of Walker Ironworks thought he had an agreement with Stephenson to supply cast-iron rails, and Stephenson's decision caused a permanent rift between them. The gauge Stephenson chose for the line was 4 feet 8 + 1 ⁄ 2  inches (1,435 mm) which subsequently was adopted as the standard gauge for railways, not only in Britain, but throughout

7776-415: The wives and families of several who had died in his employment, due to accident or misadventure, some within his family, and some not. He was also a keen gardener throughout his life; during his last years at Tapton House, he built hothouses in the estate gardens, growing exotic fruits and vegetables in a 'not too friendly' rivalry with Joseph Paxton , head gardener at nearby Chatsworth House , twice beating

7872-554: The world is due to him. In 2002, Stephenson was named in the BBC 's television show and list of the 100 Greatest Britons following a UK-wide vote, placing at no. 65. The Victorian self-help advocate Samuel Smiles had published his first biography of George Stephenson in 1857, and although attacked as biased in the favour of George at the expense his rivals as well as his son, it was popular and 250,000 copies were sold by 1904. The Band of Hope were selling biographies of George in 1859 at

7968-499: 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 1825. George also built

8064-520: The world. Stephenson had ascertained by experiments at Killingworth that half the power of the locomotive was consumed by a gradient as little as 1 in 260. He concluded that railways should be kept as level as possible. He used this knowledge while working on the Bolton and Leigh Railway , and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR), executing a series of difficult cuttings, embankments and stone viaducts to level their routes. Defective surveying of

8160-596: Was Michael Longridge of Bedlington Ironworks . On an early trade card, Robert Stephenson & Co was described as "Engineers, Millwrights & Machinists, Brass & Iron Founders". In September 1825, the works at Forth Street, Newcastle, completed the first locomotive for the railway: originally named Active , it was renamed Locomotion and was followed by Hope , Diligence and Black Diamond . The Stockton and Darlington Railway opened on 27 September 1825. Driven by Stephenson, Locomotion hauled an 80-ton load of coal and flour nine miles (14 km) in two hours, reaching

8256-403: Was also looking at the problem. Despite his lack of scientific knowledge, Stephenson, by trial and error, devised a lamp in which the air entered via tiny holes, through which the flames of the lamp could not pass. A month before Davy presented his design to the Royal Society , Stephenson demonstrated his own lamp to two witnesses by taking it down Killingworth Colliery and holding it in front of

8352-464: Was believed to contain valuable coal reserves. Stephenson realising the financial potential of the site, given its proximity to the proposed rail link and the fact that the manufacturing town of Leicester was then being supplied coal by canal from Derbyshire, bought the estate. Employing a previously used method of mining in the midlands called tubbing to access the deep coal seams, his success could not have been greater. Stephenson's coal mine delivered

8448-450: Was constructed in the colliery workshop behind Stephenson's home, Dial Cottage, on Great Lime Road. The locomotive could haul 30 tons of coal up a hill at 4 mph (6.4 km/h), and was the first successful flanged-wheel adhesion locomotive: its traction depended on contact between its flanged wheels and the rail. Altogether, Stephenson is said to have produced 16 locomotives at Killingworth, although it has not proved possible to produce

8544-521: Was divided into two main degrees. In the first case, the earned degree was called Ingeniero Técnico de Obras Públicas ( ITOP ), literally translated as "Public Works Engineer" obtained after three years of study and equivalent to a Bachelor of Civil Engineering. In the second case, the academic degree was called Ingeniero de Caminos, Canales y Puertos (often shortened to Ingeniero de Caminos or ICCP ), that literally means "Highways, Canals and Harbors Engineer", though civil engineers in Spain practice in

8640-513: Was established by John Smeaton in 1750 to contrast engineers working on civil projects with the military engineers , who worked on armaments and defenses. Over time, various sub-disciplines of civil engineering have become recognized and much of military engineering has been absorbed by civil engineering. Other engineering practices became recognized as independent engineering disciplines, including chemical engineering , mechanical engineering , and electrical engineering . In some places,

8736-515: Was in favour of a longer sea-level route via Ulverston and Whitehaven . Locke's route was built. Stephenson tended to be more casual in estimating costs and paperwork in general. He worked with Joseph Locke on the Grand Junction Railway with half of the line allocated to each man. Stephenson's estimates and organising ability proved inferior to those of Locke and the board's dissatisfaction led to Stephenson's resignation causing

8832-456: Was marred by the death of William Huskisson , the Member of Parliament for Liverpool , who was struck by Rocket . Stephenson evacuated the injured Huskisson to Eccles with a train, but he died from his injuries. Despite the tragedy, the railway was a resounding success. Stephenson became famous, and was offered the position of chief engineer for a wide variety of other railways. 1830 also saw

8928-498: Was panelled off from the shaft and piped to the surface, where more than two and a half years later it continued as fast as ever, filling a large bladder in a few seconds. The society members elected Sir James Fellow but were unable to come up with any solution nor improve on the assertion (eventually found to be incorrect) of Carlisle Spedding, the author of the paper, that "this sort of Vapour, or damp Air, will not take Fire except by Flame; Sparks do not affect it, and for that Reason it

9024-444: Was promoted to enginewright for the collieries at Killingworth, responsible for maintaining and repairing all the colliery engines. He became an expert in steam-driven machinery. In 1815, aware of the explosions often caused in mines by naked flames, Stephenson began to experiment with a safety lamp that would burn in a gaseous atmosphere without causing an explosion. At the same time, the eminent scientist and Cornishman Humphry Davy

9120-452: Was under-boilered and again caused damage to the track. The new engines were too heavy to run on wooden rails or plate-way, and iron edge rails were in their infancy, with cast iron exhibiting excessive brittleness. Together with William Losh , Stephenson improved the design of cast-iron edge rails to reduce breakage; rails were briefly made by Losh, Wilson and Bell at their Walker ironworks. According to Rolt, Stephenson managed to solve

9216-654: Was used almost exclusively in North East England , whereas the Davy lamp was used everywhere else. The experience gave Stephenson a lifelong distrust of London-based, theoretical, scientific experts. In his book George and Robert Stephenson , the author L.T.C. Rolt relates that opinion varied about the two lamps' efficiency: that the Davy Lamp gave more light, but the Geordie Lamp was thought to be safer in

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