The Life of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Civil Engineer |
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adopted advantage amount applied arch Archimedes arrangement Atmospheric System beams boilers bottom break of gauge brickwork bridge Bristol broad gauge Brunel Captain Claxton carriages carried centre chains Chepstow Bridge circumstances coal commenced Company considerable considered construction Cornwall Railway cost cradle cylinder determined diameter difficulties dimensions Directors drag-boat Eastern effect engines experiments feet floating Floating Harbour frames friction gate girders gradients ground horse-power inches increased iron launch length letter load locomotive London longitudinal masonry means Messrs miles mode moved observations obtained opinion paddle passengers patent piers placed points proposed pumping rails rendered resistance result river tackle Robert Stephenson Royal Albert Bridge Saltash screw propeller shaft ship side Sir Isambard South Devon Railway span speed steam Steam-Ship surface Thames Tunnel tide timber tion tons train transverse truss tube Tunnel valve vessel viaducts voyage weight Western Railway wheels whole width wrought-iron
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Page 36 - I got a better footing, and was enabled, by laying hold of the railway rope, to pause a little, in the hope of encouraging the men who had been knocked down at the same time with myself. This I endeavoured to do by calling to them. Before I reached the shaft, the water had risen so rapidly that I was out of my depth, and therefore swam to the visitors' stairs — the stairs for the workmen being occupied by those who had so far escaped.
Page 105 - ... is the first. This is undoubtedly an inconvenience; it amounts to a prohibition to almost any railway running northwards from London, as they must all more or less depend for their supply upon other lines or districts where railways already exist, and with which they most hope to be connected.
Page 118 - That the broad gauge involves the greater outlay, and that we have not been able to discover either in the maintenance of way, in the cost of locomotive power, or in the other annual expenses, any adequate reduction to compensate for the additional first cost.
Page 36 - I were knocked down and covered by a part of the timber stage. I struggled under water for some time, and at length extricated myself from the stage ; and by swimming and being forced by the water, I gained the eastern arch, where I got a better footing, and was...
Page 261 - Britain this morning — she stuck in the Lock — we did get her back — I have been hard at work all day altering the masonry of the lock — tonight our last tide we have succeeded in getting her through but being dark we have been obliged to ground her outside — and I confess I cannot leave her till I see her afloat again and all clear of our difficulty here — I have as you will admit much at stake here and I am too anxious to leave her.
Page 103 - I believe they will be materially increased, but my great object would be in any possible way to render each part capable of improvement, and to remove what appears an obstacle to any great progress in such a very important point as the diameter of the wheels upon which the resistance which governs the cost of transport and the speed that may be obtained so materially depends.
Page 310 - I have laid down, and shall rigidly preserve, that no materials shall be employed on any part except at the place, and in the direction, and in the proportion, in which it is required, and can be usefully employed for the strength of the ship, and none merely for the purpose of facilitating the framing and first construction.
Page 512 - Brum-1 was again placed on the apparatus, the body inverted, and the back gently struck. After two or three coughs he felt the coin quit its place on the right side of the chest, and in a few seconds it dropped from his mouth, without exciting in its passage any distress or inconvenience. — IMPERIAL PRESENTS. — Some presents lately sent to Queen Vicroria from the Emperor of China consisted of golden bedsteads and a quantity of silk of a sort never yet seen in Europe.
Page 512 - Two days after, on the 25th, the operation of tracheotomy was performed by Sir Benjamin Brodie, assisted by Mr. Key, with the intention of extracting the coin by the forceps, if possible. Two attempts to do so were made without success. The introduction of the forceps into the windpipe on the second occasion was attended with so excessive a degree of irritation, that it was felt the experiment could not be continued without imminent danger to life. The incision in the windpipe was...
Page 27 - Notwithstanding every prudence on our part, a disaster may still occur. May it not be when the arch is full of visitors! It is too awful to think of it. I have done my part by recommending to the directors to shut the tunnel. My solicitude is not lessened for that; I have, indeed, no rest, I may say I have had none for many weeks.