Brunel

Brunel, SIR MARC ISAMBARD, engineer, was born, a farmer's son, at Hacqueville, near Rouen, in France, April 25, 1769. He was destined for the church, but early showed an inclination for mechanics, and at school preferred the study of the exact sciences to the classics. In 1786 he became a sailor in the French navy. In the revolutionary period of 1793, having compromised himself by his political opinions, he escaped from Paris to the United States. His career as an engineer began in 1794, when he was appointed to survey for the canal which now connects Lake Champlain with the river Hudson at Albany. He afterwards acted as an architect in New York, for which city he was appointed chief-engineer, and erected an arsenal and cannon-foundry, with ingenious machinery for casting and boring. On his return to Europe in 1799, he married the daughter of William Kingdon, Plymouth, and settled in England. His mechanical skill was shown in various minor inventions, such as a writing and drawing machine, and a machine for winding cotton thread. A plan submitted by him to government for making block-pulleys for ships by machinery was adopted in 1803, and he was for many years employed in carrying it into execution in Portsmouth dockyard. On the completion of the machinery in 1806 the saving on the first year in the manufacture of the blocks was about £24,000. He received £17,000 from government as a reward for this invention. He was also successful in the construction of other public works—in Woolwich arsenal and Chatham dockyard, &c. He made experiments in steam-navigation on the Thames in 1812, but his proposals for the use of steam-tugs were declined by the navy board. The destruction of his sawmills at Battersea by fire (1814) led, with financial mismanagement, to his bankruptcy (1821), when he was thrown into prison for debt. He was released from prison on a grant of £5000 being made by government for payment of his debts. His most remarkable undertaking was the Thames Tunnel beneath the bed of the river, which, commenced in March 1825, was opened in March 1843. Assisted by his son, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, he for ten years pursued a course of experiments for employing carbonic acid gas as a motive power, but the cost of the machinery prevented its introduction as a substitute for steam. Among the less important of Brunel's inventions were machines for making wooden boxes; for ruling paper; for shuffling a pack of cards without using the hands; for the manufacture of nails; for making seamless shoes for the army; a knitting-machine; a preparation of tinfoil for ornamentation; and improvements in stereotype plates. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1814, he was appointed Vice-president in 1832, and was a member of various foreign societies. He was knighted in 1841; and died December 12, 1849, in his eighty-first year. See his Life by Beamish (1862).