Benjamin Outram
Benjamin Outram (born April 1, 1764 in Alfreton in Derbyshire , England, † May 22, 1805 in London) was an English civil engineer , surveyor , businessman and industrialist . He was a pioneer in building canals and trams .
Life
He began by helping his father Joseph Outram, who was an "agriculturalist", and also a "land agent", as well as mediating as an "enclosure commissioner" dispute that arose from the Enclosure Movement laws, as well as being a consultant for land management , Appraiser for new mines and trustee for toll roads.
He died of a stroke while visiting London in 1805 .
His son James Ourtam , born in 1803, was a general in the Indian Army and rose to become Knight and Baronet.
plant
When William Jessop was building the Cromford Canal , Outram, 24, was his capable assistant.
Canal and railroad engineer
The Benjamin Outram & Company hardware company began operating in 1790 with registered capital of £ 6,000. The following year, William Jessop and John Wright, a banker, joined as partners. Outram was the only active partner, with his younger brother Joseph being his assistant. Little by little, a limestone quarry was added, a lime kiln, a coal mine and an opencast iron stone mine.
Outram became a leader in building trams with L-shaped rails, made in its Butterley workshops. Its first rail line was just over a mile long and was built to transport limestone from the Crich quarry to the Bullbridge Shipyard on the Cromford Canal.
In 1792 he was an engineer on the Nottingham Canal and in 1793 the Derby Canal while mainly working on the Nutbrook Canal .
One of his major works was the 13.4 m long Holmes Aqueduct (a trough bridge ) on the Derby Canal, which opened in February 1796 as one of the first cast iron aqueducts.
An important extension of the Derby Canal was the Little Eaton Gangway , a feeder for the Derby Canal , built on the model of the one at Crich. Such horse-powered rail lines became an important part of his later canals.
A common misconception is that the word "tramway" comes from an abbreviation of Outram's last name. In fact, it probably comes from the Low German word "tram" (wooden beam or threshold). Outram always spoke of trams as railways.
Outram was a consulting engineer on the construction of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal , which included the novel Standedge Canal Tunnel . In 1794 he was an engineer on the Peak Forest Canal , which included the Marple Aqueduct . The climb from Buxworth (Bugsworth) was brought about by the 6 mile long Peak Forest Tramway . The Stodhart tunnel along this tram is believed to be the first rail tunnel in Derbyshire. In 1796 he reported additional costs that were needed to complete the construction of the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal . In 1798 it was taken to complete the final stretch of the Ashton Canal , which included the Store Street Aqueduct , and was among the first to solve the sloping arch problem.
Outram also built the Ticknall Tramway to the Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal and was consulted with the railways for the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal . He predicted that in a few years, railways would become the main mode of transport. In 1799, when he was building the Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal Railway of four feet and two inches, he wrote, "It appears that many barrels and packages need wagons ... wider than those at Derby and Crich" and " it would be desirable if all the longer railways were of the same width, and if this width were sufficient to serve all commercial purposes ".
His sudden death without a will resulted in considerable confusion and litigation in the company's business affairs, which it took until 1815 to resolve these with his wife and family. In 1807 the Benjamin Outram and Company was renamed the Butterley Company.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Benjamin Outram's biography ( memento July 18, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), accessed May 2, 2013
- ^ RB Schofield, Benjamin Outram 1764–1805: an engineering biography , Merton Priory, Cardiff 2000, ISBN 1-898937-42-7
- ^ A Story of the Word Tram , A. Liberman, accessed April 24, 2013
- ^ A b Benjamin Outram 1764–1805 , Jim Shead's Waterways Information, accessed May 2, 2013
- ↑ Philip Riden, 'Outram, Benjamin (bap. 1764, d. 1805), civil engineer and ironmaster', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed April 22, 2013
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Outram, Benjamin |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | English civil engineer, surveyor, businessman and industrialist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 1, 1764 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Alfreton, Derbyshire , England |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 22, 1805 |
| Place of death | London |