Isambard Kingdom Brunel

Brunel before the launching of the *Great Eastern*

Isambard Kingdom Brunel (April 9, 1806 – September 15, 1859), FRS was a British engineer. Voted the second greatest Briton of all time in a 2002 BBC poll (after Winston Churchill)^[1], he is best known for the creation of the Great Western Railway, a series of famous steamships, and numerous important bridges. Though his projects were not always successful, they often contained innovative solutions to long-standing engineering problems. During his short career, Brunel achieved many engineering "firsts", including the building of the first tunnel under a navigable river and development of the first propeller-driven steamship, which was at the time also the largest ship ever built^[2].

Brunel was a heavy cigar smoker and suffered several years of ill health with kidney problems, before succumbing to a stroke at the age of fifty-three^[3].

A major programme of events celebrating the life and work of Brunel is planned for the bicentenary of his birth under the name Brunel 200^[4]. Brunel is also to be featured on the reverse side of the £2 coin in the UK to commemorate the same anniversary^[5].

Early Life

The son of noted engineer Sir Marc Isambard Brunel and Sophia Brunel née Kingdom, Isambard K. Brunel was born in Portsmouth, England, on April 9, 1806^[6]. His father was working there on the block-making machinery for the Portsmouth Block Mills. At 14 the young Brunel was sent to France to be educated at the the Lycée Henri-Quatre in Paris and later, the University of Caen in Normandy^[7].

Isambard rose to prominence when, aged 20, he was appointed as the chief engineer of his father's greatest achievement, the Thames Tunnel, which runs beneath the river between Rotherhithe and Wapping. The first major sub-river tunnel ever built, it succeeded where other attempts had failed thanks to Marc Brunel's ingenious tunnelling shield – the human-powered forerunner of today's mighty tunnelling machines – which protected workers from cave-in by placing them within a protective casing. Marc Brunel had been inspired to create the shield after observing the habits and anatomy of the shipworm (Teredo navalis). Most modern tunnels are cut in this way, notably the Channel Tunnel between England and France^[8].

Brunel established his Design Offices at 17-18 Duke St, London, and he lived with his family in the rooms above^[9]. R.P. Brereton, who became his chief assistant in 1845, was in charge of the office in Brunel's absence, and also took direct responsibility for major construction activities such as the Royal Albert Bridge as Brunel's health declined.

The Thames Tunnel

Isambard worked for nearly two years to create a tunnel under London's River Thames, with operatives driving a horizontal shaft from one side of the river to the other under the most difficult and dangerous conditions. Brunel's father, Marc, was the chief engineer, and the project was funded by the Thames Tunnel Company. The composition of the Thames river bed at Rotherhithe was often little more than waterlogged sediment and loose gravel, and although the extreme conditions proved the ingenuity of Brunel's tunnelling machine, the work was hard and hazardous. ^[10]

The tunnel was often in imminent danger of collapse due to the instability of the river bed, yet the management decided to allow spectators to be lowered down to observe the diggings at a shilling a time. For the workers the building of the tunnel was particularly unpleasant because the Thames at that time was still little better than an open sewer, so the tunnel was usually awash with foul-smelling, contaminated water. Further complications occurred because the superstitious Irish navvies would frequently extinguish the lights if they feared that a breach was going to occur, believing that the leaking water could not find them in the darkness.^[11]

Two severe incidents of flooding halted work for long periods, killing several workers and badly injuring the younger Brunel. The latter incident, in 1828, killed Collins and Ball, the two most senior miners, and Brunel himself narrowly escaped death; a water break-in hurled him from a tunnelling platform, knocking him unconscious, and he was washed up to the other end of the tunnel by the surge. As the water rose, by luck he was carried up a service stairway, where he was plucked from almost certain death by an assistant moments before the surge receded. Brunel was seriously hurt (and never fully recovered from his injuries), and the event ended work on the tunnel for several years.^[7]

Nonetheless, the first underwater tunnel had been built, and is still in operation on the London Underground East London Line between Rotherhithe and Wapping.^[12]

Bridges

Brunel's earliest solo engineering feats started with bridges – the Royal Albert Bridge spanning the River Tamar at Saltash near Plymouth, and an unusual timber-framed bridge near Bridgwater^[13].

Built in 1838, the Maidenhead Railway Bridge over the Thames in Berkshire remains the flattest, widest brick arch bridge in the world and is still carrying main line trains to the south west. There are two arches, with each span totalling 128 feet (39 m), having a rise of only 24 feet (7 m), and a width that carries four tracks. There remains an older bridge nearby which is not to be confused with Brunel's bridge - the Maidenhead Road Bridge. Built in 1280 and rebuilt in 1777, it spans the same section of river but relies on twelve arches.

The Royal Albert bridge was designed in 1855 for the Cornwall Railway Company after Parliament rejected his original plan for a train ferry across the Hamoaze - the estuary of the tidal Tamar, Tavy and Lynher. The bridge consists of two main spans of 455 feet (139 m), 100 feet (30 m) above mean high spring tide, plus seventeen much shorter approach spans. Opened by Prince Albert on May 2, 1859, it was completed the year of the great engineer's death.

However, he is perhaps best remembered for the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol. Spanning over 700 feet (213 m) in width, and nominally 200 feet (61 m) over the River Avon below, it was the longest bridge in the world at the time of conception. Brunel submitted four designs to a committee headed by Thomas Telford and gained approval to commence with the project. Afterwards, Brunel wrote to his brother-in-law, the politician Benjamin Hawes: "Of all the wonderful feats I have performed, since I have been in this part of the world, I think yesterday I performed the most wonderful. I produced unanimity among 15 men who were all quarrelling about that most ticklish subject – taste." He did not live to see it built, although his colleagues and admirers at the Institution of Civil Engineers felt the bridge would be a fitting memorial, and started to raise new funds and to amend the design. Work started in 1862 and was complete in 1864, five years after Brunel's death.^[14]

As of 2006, there is the possibility that several of Brunel's bridges on the Great Western Raiway may be demolished, because newer rail lines that travel beneath the arches are set to be electrified. South Buckinghamshire County Council is petitioning to have further options pursued, in order that all nine of the historic remaining bridges on the line can remain^[15]^[16].

The Great Western Railway

In 1833 before the Thames Tunnel was complete, Brunel was appointed chief engineer of the Great Western Railway, one of the wonders of Victorian Britain, running from London to Bristol (and finally Exeter)^[17]. The Company was founded at a public meeting in Bristol in 1833, and was incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1835. Isambard made two controversial decisions: to use a broad gauge of seven feet (actually 7 ft 0.25 in or 2140 mm) for the track, which he believed would offer superior running at high speeds; and to take a route which passed north of the Marlborough Downs, an area with no significant towns, though it did offer potential connections to Oxford and Gloucester and then to follow the Thames Valley into London. His decision to use the broad gauge of 7 ft 0.25 in (2140 mm) for the line was controversial in that almost all British railways to date had used the 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge. Brunel said that this was nothing more than a carry-over from the mine railways that George Stephenson had worked on prior to making the world's first passenger railway. Brunel worked out through mathematics and a series of trials that his broader gauge was the optimum railway size for providing stability and a comfortable ride to passengers (in addition to allowing for bigger carriages and more freight capacity)^[18]. He surveyed the entire length of the route between London and Bristol himself.

The initial group of locomotives ordered by Brunel to his own specifications proved unsatisfactory, apart from the North Star locomotive, and 20-year-old Daniel Gooch (later Sir) was appointed as Superintendent of Locomotives. Brunel and Gooch chose to locate their locomotive works at the village of Swindon, at the point where the gradual ascent from London turned into the steeper descent to the Avon valley at Bath. Drawing on his experience with the Thames Tunnel, the Great Western contained a series of impressive achievements – soaring viaducts, specially designed stations, and vast tunnels including the famous Box Tunnel, which was the longest railway tunnel in the world at that time^[7]. Brunel's achievements ignited the imagination of the technically minded Britons of the age, and he soon became one of the most famous men in the country on the back of this interest.

There is an anecdote which states that Box Tunnel is placed such that the sun shines all the way through it on Brunel's birthday. For more information, see the entry on the tunnel^[19].

After Brunel's death the decision was taken that the standard gauge should be used for all railways in the country. Despite the Great Western's claim of proof that its broad gauge was the better (disputed by at least one Brunel historian), the decision was made to go with Stephenson's narrow gauge – mainly because this had already covered a far greater amount of the country. In any event, by May 1892 (when the broad gauge was abolished) the Great Western had already been relaid to "dual gauge" (both broad and narrow) and so the transition was a relatively painless one^[7].

Brunel's "atmospheric caper"

Another of Brunel's interesting though ultimately unsuccessful technical innovations was the atmospheric railway, the extension of the GWR southward from Exeter towards Plymouth (technically the South Devon Railway (SDR), though supported by the GWR). Instead of using locomotives, the trains were moved by Clegg and Samuda's patented system of atmospheric (vacuum) traction, whereby pistons sucked air from the tunnel. The section from Exeter to Newton (now Newton Abbot) was completed on this principle, with pistons spaced every two miles, and trains ran at approximately 20 miles per hour (32 km/h)^[7]. Fifteen-inch (381 mm) pipes were used on the level portions, and 22-inch (559 mm) pipes were intended for the steeper gradients. Unfortunately, the technology required the use of leather flaps to seal the vacuum pipes. The leather had to be kept supple by the use of tallow, and tallow is attractive to rats; the result was inevitable – the flaps were eaten, and air-powered vacuum service lasted less than a year, from 1847 (experimental services began in September; operationally from February 1848) to September 10, 1848^[20]. The accounts of the SDR for 1848 suggest that the atmospheric traction cost 3s 1d per mile (£0.10/km) compared to 1s 4d (£0.04/km) for conventional steam power. The pumping station at Starcross, on the estuary of the River Exe, remains a striking landmark, and a reminder of the atmospheric railway – which is also commemorated as the name of the village pub. A section of the pipe, without the leather covers, is preserved in Didcot Railway Centre.

Transatlantic shipping

Even before the Great Western Railway was opened, Brunel was moving on to his next project – transatlantic shipping. He used his prestige to convince his railway company employers to build the Great Western, at the time by far the largest steamship in the world. It first sailed in 1837 - 236 ft (72 m) long, and built of wood, she was powered by sail and paddlewheels, and the first return trip to New York took just twenty-nine days, compared to two months for an average sail ship. In total, seventy-four crossings to New York were made. The Great Britain followed in 1843; much larger at 322 ft (98 m) long, it was the first iron-hulled, propeller-driven ship to cross the Atlantic Ocean^[21].

Building on these successes, Brunel turned to a third ship in 1852, even larger than both of its predecessors, and intended for voyages to India and Australia. The Great Eastern (originally dubbed Leviathan) was cutting-edge technology for its time: almost 700 ft (213 m) long, fitted out with the most luxurious appointments and capable of carrying over 4000 passengers. It was the first ship that was able to cruise under it's own power non-stop from London to New York, and it remained the largest ship built until the turn of the century. Like many of Brunel's ambitious projects, the ship soon ran over budget and behind schedule in the face of a series of momentous technical problems^[7].

The ship has been portrayed as a white elephant, but it can be argued that in this case Brunel's failure was principally one of economics – his ships were simply years ahead of their time. His vision and engineering innovations made the building of large-scale, screw-driven, all-metal steamships a practical reality, but the prevailing economic and industrial conditions meant that it would be several decades before transoceanic steamship travel emerged as a viable industry. Though a failure at its original purpose of passenger travel, it eventually found a role as an oceanic telegraph cable-layer, and the Great Eastern remains one of the most important vessels in the history of shipbuilding - the Trans-Atlantic cable had been laid, which meant that Europe and America now had a telecommunications link^[7].

Illnesses and death of Brunel

In 1843 while performing a conjuring trick for the amusement of his children, Brunel accidentally inhaled a half-sovereign coin which became lodged in his windpipe. A special pair of forceps failed to remove it, as did a machine to shake it loose devised by Brunel himself. Eventually, at the suggestion of Sir Marc, Isambard was strapped to a board and turned upside-down, and the coin was jerked free^[22].

Brunel suffered a stroke in 1859, just before the Great Eastern made its first voyage to New York. He died ten days later at the age of 53 and was buried, like his father, at Kensal Green Cemetery in London^[23]. He left behind his wife, Mary; and son Henri Marc Brunel, who also enjoyed some success as a civil engineer.

Legacy

Many monuments to Brunel exist, from the statue at Temple in London (pictured) and a further statue at the capital's Paddington station, to the flagpole of the Great Eastern at the entrance to Liverpool FC. Contemporary locations bear Brunel's name, such as Brunel University in London, and a collection of streets in Exeter: Isambard Terrace, Kingdom Mews, and Brunel Close. A road and school in his home town of Portsmouth are also named in his honour, along with the town's largest Wetherspoons pub. Although not of any real architectural merit, the Brunel shopping centre in Bletchley, Milton Keynes, is also named after Brunel.

Most of Brunel's bridges are still in use, either as rail routes or converted to motor traffic. The Thames Tunnel is now part of the London Underground, and the Brunel Engine House at Rotherhithe that once housed the steam engines that powered the tunnel pumps still stands – as a museum dedicated to the work and lives of Marc and Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Many of Brunel's original papers and designs are now held in the Brunel collection at the University of Bristol.

In 1975 noted British animator Bob Godfrey was awarded an Oscar for his short Great, an irreverent look at Brunel and his times.

Brunel was included in the top 10 of the heavily publicised 100 Greatest Britons TV poll conducted by the BBC and voted for by the public. In the second round of voting, which concluded on November 24 2002, Brunel placed second behind Winston Churchill. The building of the Great Eastern was also dramatised in an episode of the recent BBC TV series Seven Wonders of the Industrial World (2003).

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Notes and References

^ BBC News Churchill voted greatest Briton Retrieved Feb. 11, 2006.
^ Humphreys, Rob. The Rough Guide To London, Rough Guides, 2003. ISBN 1843530937
^ Smith, John. Troubled It Projects: Prevention and Turnaround, IEE, 2001. ISBN 0852961049
^ Brunel 200 Brunel 200 website Retrieved Feb. 21, 2006.
^ British Royal Mint 2006 Brunel £2 Two-Coin Retrieved Feb. 21, 2006.
^ Brunel University History : Isambard Kingdom Brunel Retrieved Feb. 20, 2006.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Dumpleton. Brunel's Three Ships, Intellect Books, 2002. ISBN 1841508004
^ West, Graham. Innovation and the Rise of the Tunnelling Industry, Cambridge University Press, 1988. ISBN 0521335124
^ Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix; Mendelssohn, Cecille; Ward, Jones. The 1837 Diary of Felix and Cecille Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Oxford University Press, 1997. ISBN 0198165978
^ Aaseng, Nathan. Construction : Building The Impossible, The Oliver Press, Inc., 1999. ISBN 1881508595
^ Shelton Kirby, Richard. Engineering in History, Courier Dover Publications, 1990. ISBN 0486264122
^ UK Government - Transport for London London Underground History - The Early Years Retrieved Feb. 18, 2006.
^ Billington, David P. Tower and the Bridge, Princeton University Press, 1985. ISBN 069102393X
^ BBC History Brunel: 'The Practical Prophet of Technological Innovation' by Professor G Ross Peters Retrieved Feb. 17, 2006.
^ Bucks CC Brunel’s Bridges under threat Retrieved Feb. 22, 2006.
^ UK Govt. Dept. for Culture, Media and Sport World Heritage Sites: The Tentative List of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Retrieved Feb. 22, 2006.
^ Garrison, Ervan G. A History of Engineering and Technology, CRC Press, 1998. ISBN 084939810X
^ Oliivier, J. The Broad Gauge the Banc of the Great Western Railway Company, 1846
^ Williams, Archibald. The Romance of Modern Locomotion, C. A. Pearson Ltd., 1904.
^ Parkin, Jim. Engineering Judgement and Risk, Thomas Telford (publishers), 2000. ISBN 0727728733
^ Lienhard, John H. The Engines of Our Ingenuity, Oxford University Press US, 2003. ISBN 0195167317
^ Dyer, T.F. Thiselton. Strange Pages from Family Papers 1900, Kessinger Publishing, 2003. ISBN 0766153460
^ Kempton, A; Rennison, Robert William; CoxHumphreys, Rob. Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland v. 1 1500-1830, Thomas Telford (publishers), 2002. ISBN 072772939X