Isambard Kingdom Brunel

Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859) was a leading English civil engineer in the railway age with an original and unprejudiced approach to problems in railway and marine engineering.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel was born on April 9, 1806, near Portsmouth, the only son of Marc Isambard Brunel, known for his machine for making ships' blocks and as the engineer of the Thames Tunnel. After attending the Collège Henri Quatre in Paris, Brunel served a short apprenticeship under the Paris instrument maker Louis Breguet. Brunel returned to London in 1822 and entered his father's office in 1823, where he received practical training by assisting with the Thames Tunnel until 1828.

Brunel's first important commission was the 630-foot-span Clifton suspension bridge near Bristol (1831). Unfinished in his lifetime, it was completed in 1864 as his memorial. He also built the Hungerford (London) suspension bridge (1841-1845); its wrought-iron chains were used to complete the bridge at Clifton.

Railway Engineer

In 1833 Brunel was appointed engineer for the Great Western Railway and began surveys for a line between Bristol and London. Construction of the line (1835-1841) included the famous flat-arch bridge over the Thames at Maidenhead and the 3,200-yard Box Tunnel outside Bath (through which the sun is said to shine on Brunel's birthday). With the aim of smooth, high-speed running and locomotive-fuel economy for the line, he introduced the 7-foot gage, which, while technically sound, was commercial folly. However, it was not entirely superseded by the British standard 4-foot 8 1/2-inch gage until 1892. He also designed railroad terminals and a series of bridges, culminating in the Royal Albert Bridge near Plymouth (1853-1859), which combines a tubular arch with suspension chains in the two main spans.

Designer of Steamships

In 1835 Brunel suggested, half in jest, a transatlantic steamship service. The idea found support, and the outcome was the Great Western, a timber-built paddle steamer of 2,300 tons' displacement. In April 1838 it steamed from Bristol to New York in 15 days and then maintained a regular service. His Great Britain (1839-1845) was a 3,600-ton iron-hulled, screw-driven steamship. Brunel's last great ship was the Great Eastern (1854-1859), for which he was the sole architect. Displacing 32,000 tons, the largest ship afloat, it was intended to make the round trip to Australia without recoaling. The Great Eastern had a double hull, and with engines to drive both paddles and screw, it had outstanding maneuverability. That its cost was excessive, its completion delayed, and the launch difficult was largely due to the machinations of the building contractor. Brunel never saw the trials, for he suffered a stroke and died on Sept. 15, 1859, in London. A liability to its owners, the ship showed twice the calculated fuel consumption. The Great Eastern was sold and eventually used to lay the first Atlantic telegraph cable (1865-1866).

Further Reading

Of three worthwhile biographical studies, the latest, L. T. C. Rolt, Isambard Kingdom Brunel: A Biography (1959), is the most carefully written. The others are by Brunel's son, Isambard Brunel, The Life of Isambard Kingdom Brunel: Civil Engineer (1870), and by his granddaughter, Celia Brunel Noble, The Brunels, Father and Son (1938). An account of the building of the Great Eastern is James Dugan, The Great Iron Ship (1954).

Additional Sources

Pudney, John, Brunel and his world, London, Thames and Hudson 1974.

Jenkins, David, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, engineer extraordinary, Hove: Priory Press, 1977.

Vaughan, Adrian, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, engineering knight-errant, London: J. Murray, 1993.

The Works of Isambard Kingdom Brunel: an engineering appreciation, Cambridge Eng.; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1980, 1976. □

Brunel, Isambard Kingdom (1896–59), British-born engineer and ship designer. He began his engineering career in 1823 when he entered the office of his father, French-born Marc Isambard Brunel (1769–1849), who had fled to the USA to escape the French Revolution before settling in England in 1799 to work as an inventor and engineer. In 1825 Brunel was appointed his father's assistant engineer in the construction of the first tunnel under the River Thames, now used for the Rotherhithe–Wapping underground line, but in 1828 was injured in an inundation of the tunnel which delayed completion of its construction until 1843. He then worked on several projects constructing docks and piers in West Country ports before he was appointed engineer of the projected Great Western Railway in 1833, the design of which was mainly his work.

In addition to his railway and dock construction work, Brunel took a keen interest in the development of ocean steamships and steam propulsion, and in 1835 suggested to the directors of the Great Western Railway that the line should be extended to ‘have a steamboat to go from Bristol to New York and call it the Great Western’. His proposal was accepted and he designed and built the Great Western at Bristol, a wooden paddle steamer larger than any steamer of the day. It was the first steamship built to make regular crossings of the Atlantic and proved a most successful vessel, its first voyage to New York and back being made in 1838.

Brunel next designed an even larger ship, the Great Britain, which was the first large iron steamship, the largest ship afloat at the time, and the first big one in which a screw propeller was fitted. launched in 1843, the Great Britain made her first Atlantic crossing to New York in 1845, but the following year was carelessly run aground, and it was nearly a year before the ship was refloated. However, it was so little damaged that it was subsequently used for many years in the Australian trade, a great tribute to the strength of Brunel's design.

This connection with the Australian trade fired Brunel to envisage a ‘great ship’ large enough to carry in its bunkers all the coal required for a voyage to Australia without the need of calling at a coaling station on the way and, if no coal was available at the ship's port of destination, enough coal as well for the return voyage. He took his designs for his ‘great ship’ to the directors of the Eastern Steam Navigation Company, who accepted them and appointed him as their engineer for the project. In collaboration with J. Scott Russell, Brunel's Great Eastern was laid down in December 1853, but many difficulties were experienced during construction and in the launching, and the ship did not get finally afloat until the end of January 1858. The Great Eastern was by far the largest ship ever built up to that time, and had both screw and paddle propulsion. Brunel did not see her leave on her maiden voyage; two days before she was due to sail he suffered a severe stroke and died ten days later.

Many of the elements of Brunel's designs, as for example the construction of double bottoms in the Great Britain, remain standard practice in shipbuilding today.

Bibliography

Rolt, L. T. C. , Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1970).

Brunel, Isambard Kingdom (1806–59). Engineer. Son of the distinguished émigré Sir Marc, Brunel was scientifically educated in Paris (unusual when the engineering profession was entered through practical pupillage) and consistently applied first principles to problems, making him more admired by subsequent engineers than contemporary shareholders. Sickness incurred at his father's Thames Tunnel (1826–8) led Brunel to convalesce at Bristol, where he gained appointments as engineer of the Clifton bridge (1829–31), the floating harbour (1830–1), and the Great Western Railway (from 1833). Brunel's engineering of the GWR demonstrated his vision and his failings: the commitment to the broad (7-feet) gauge and his own design for bolstering track promised quality and speed, but delivered inflexibility; his vision of the Atlantic crossing from Bristol encapsulated by his first two major ships, Great Western (1837) and Great Britain (1843), displayed the temptation to exceed the bounds of commercial technology proven in the outstandingly advanced Great Eastern (1858); his remarkable bridges of brick, timber, and iron; and locomotive failings from which Gooch rescued the line. A driven man, his genius produced the monitor to attack Sebastopol and the prefabricated hospital for Kronstadt, railways in Italy and India, hectored assistants and neglected pupils, and chronic overwork that contributed to early death as his two greatest achievements, the Albert bridge at Saltash and the Great Eastern, neared commissioning.

J. A. Chartres

Brunel, Isambard Kingdom (1806–59). Engineer. Son of the distinguished émigré Sir Marc, Brunel was scientifically educated in Paris. Sickness incurred at his father's Thames Tunnel (1826–8) led Brunel to convalesce at Bristol, where he gained appointments as engineer of the Clifton bridge (1829–31), the floating harbour (1830–1), and the Great Western railway (from 1833). Brunel's engineering of the GWR demonstrated his vision and his failings: the commitment to the broad (7–feet) gauge promised quality and speed, but delivered inflexibility; his vision of the Atlantic crossing from Bristol encapsulated by his first two major ships, Great Western (1837) and Great Britain (1843), exceeded the bounds of commercial technology proven in the outstandingly advanced Great Eastern (1858). A driven man, chronic overwork contributed to early death as his two greatest achievements, the Albert bridge at Saltash and the Great Eastern, neared commissioning.

Brunel, Isambard Kingdom (1806–59) English marine and railway engineer. A man of remarkable foresight, imagination and daring, Brunel revolutionized British engineering. In 1829, he designed the Clifton Suspension Bridge (completed 1864). Brunel is also famous for designing the ships Great Western (1837), the first trans-Atlantic wooden steamship, Great Britain (1843), the first iron-hulled, screw-driven steamship, and Great Eastern (1858), a steamship powered by screws and paddles, which was the largest vessel of its time.

Brunel, Isambard Kingdom (1806–59), English engineer. He was chief engineer of the Great Western Railway. His achievements include designing the Clifton suspension bridge (1829–30) and the first transatlantic steamship, the Great Western (1838), and the Great Eastern (1858), the world's largest ship until 1899.