James Henry Greathead
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

James Henry Greathead (6 August 1844 – 21 October 1896) was a mechanical and civil engineer renowned for his work on the
London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...
railways, Winchester Cathedral, and Liverpool overhead railway, as well as being one of the earliest proponents of the English Channel, Irish Sea and Bristol Channel tunnels. His invention is also the reason that the London Underground is colloquially named the "Tube".


Early life

Greathead was born in
Grahamstown Makhanda, also known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 140,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Port Elizabeth and southwest of East London, Eastern Cape, East London. Makhanda is the lar ...
, South Africa; of English descent whose grandfather had emigrated to South Africa in 1820. He was educated at St. Andrew's College, Grahamstown, and the
Diocesan College The Diocesan College (commonly known as Bishops) is a private, English medium, boarding and day high school for boys situated in the suburb of Rondebosch in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. The school was established on ...
private school in
Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
. After emigrating to England in 1859, he completed his education from 1859 to 1863 at the
Westbourne Collegiate School Westbourne may refer to: Places *Westbourne, Dorset, part of Bournemouth, England *Westbourne, London, an area west of Paddington in west London, England * Westbourne, Manitoba, Canada * Westbourne (Richmond, Virginia), a historic home located in ...
,
Westbourne Grove Westbourne Grove is a retail road running across Notting Hill, an area of west London. Its western end is in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and its eastern end is in the City of Westminster; it runs from Kensington Park Road in th ...
. He returned briefly to South Africa before finally moving to London in 1864 to serve a three-year
pupillage A pupillage, in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, Kenya, Malaysia, Pakistan and Hong Kong, is the final, vocational stage of training for those wishing to become practising barristers. Pupillage is similar to an apprenticeship, during which bar ...
under the civil engineer
Peter W. Barlow Peter William Barlow (1 February 1809 – 19 May 1885) was an English civil engineer, particularly associated with railways, bridges (he designed the first Lambeth Bridge, a crossing of the River Thames in London), the design of tunnels and the ...
, from whom he became acquainted with the rectangular shield system of tunnelling. Greathead spent some time (around 1867) as assistant engineer on the
Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It am ...
between
Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...
and London (working with Barlow's brother,
William Henry Barlow William Henry Barlow FRS FRSE FICE MIMechE (10 May 1812 – 12 November 1902) was an English civil engineer of the 19th century, particularly associated with railway engineering projects. Barlow was involved in many engineering ent ...
).


Tunnelling

Soon after, in 1869, he rejoined Barlow and they began work on designs for the
Tower Subway The Tower Subway is a tunnel beneath the River Thames in central London, between Tower Hill on the north bank of the river and Vine Lane (off Tooley Street) on the south. In 1869 a circular tunnel was dug through the London clay using a cast i ...
, only the second tunnel to be driven under the river
Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...
in central London. Barlow was the engineer for the tunnel and Greathead was in charge of the actual drive. Greathead became the main contractor for the Tower subway under Barlow. William Copperthwaite asserts that whilst Barlow had patented a tunnelling shield idea, Greathead not only designed a different type of shield but patented it and used it on that contract. Barlow had been awarded a provisional patent on his second idea but Greathead was unaware of this until several years later (as discussed in minutes of a meeting of the
Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters are located in the UK, whi ...
(ICE) published in January 1896). Greathead was the
Blackwall Tunnel The Blackwall Tunnel is a pair of road tunnels underneath the River Thames in east London, England, linking the London Borough of Tower Hamlets with the Royal Borough of Greenwich, and part of the A102 road. The northern portal lies just south ...
consulting engineer and oversaw its design and construction.


Railways

In 1873 Greathead became resident engineer on the Hammersmith extension railway and the Richmond extension of the
District Railway The Metropolitan District Railway, also known as the District Railway, was a passenger railway that served London from 1868 to 1933. Established in 1864 to complete an " inner circle" of lines connecting railway termini in London, the first par ...
, a post which he held for four years. After this he assisted in the preparation of the Regents Canal Railway (1880), the Metropolitan Outer Circle Railway (1881), a new London–Eastbourne line (1883) and in various light railways in Ireland (1884). Also in 1884, Greathead resumed his involvement in tunnelling, being engaged as engineer on the London (City) & Southwark Subway, later the
City & South London Railway The City and South London Railway (C&SLR) was the first successful deep-level underground "tube" railway in the world, and the first major railway to use electric traction. The railway was originally intended for cable-hauled trains, but owing ...
(and now part of the
Northern line The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs from North London to South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. The Northern line is unique on the Underground network in having two different routes through central London, two ...
) which was, when it opened in 1890, the world's first underground electric railway. In 1888, he became joint engineer with Sir Douglas Fox on the
Liverpool Overhead Railway The Liverpool Overhead Railway (known locally as the Dockers' Umbrella or Ovee) was an overhead railway in Liverpool which operated along the Liverpool Docks and opened in 1893 with lightweight electric multiple units. The railway had a number ...
and also worked with
W. R. Galbraith William Robert Galbraith (7 July 1829 – 5 October 1914)Marshall, 2003 was a civil engineer in the United Kingdom during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was employed by the London and South Western Railway as a consulting engineer ...
on the
Waterloo & City Railway The Waterloo & City line, colloquially known as The Drain, is a London Underground shuttle line that runs between Waterloo and Bank with no intermediate stops. Its primary traffic consists of commuters from south-west London, Surrey and Hamps ...
. His final work was on the
Central London Railway The Central London Railway (CLR), also known as the Twopenny Tube, was a deep-level, underground "tube" railwayA "tube" railway is an underground railway constructed in a cylindrical tunnel by the use of a tunnelling shield, usually deep below g ...
with Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin Baker.


Inventions and patents


''Greathead Shield''

This possibly derived from
Marc Isambard Brunel Sir Marc Isambard Brunel (, ; 25 April 1769 – 12 December 1849) was a French-British engineer who is most famous for the work he did in Britain. He constructed the Thames Tunnel and was the father of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Born in Franc ...
's original patented 1818 idea and erroneously was accorded by Robert Vogel to have been inspired by Barlow's 1864 patent that led to Barlow's 1868 provisional patent. However, there were considerable design differences that make Greathead's patented designs distinguishable from Brunel's provisional patent idea, allowing a patent application for Greathead's design. Brunel's shield was rectangular and comprised 12 separate, independently moveable frames; the Greathead solution was cylindrical, and the "reduction of the multiplicity of parts in the Brunel shield to a single rigid unit was of immense advantage and an advance perhaps equal to the shield concept of tunneling itself", though the face was still dug out by manual labour to begin with. Greathead's patented Shield for Tunnelling Soft Earth used water jets under pressure at the tunnel face to assist in cutting through soft earth as described in the patent. Pneumatic tunnel pressurisation was used to ensure better safety for workers by equalising internal tunnel pressure to its estimated exterior underground pressure beneath water. The 'second edition' of his shield used hydraulic action at the face along with cutting teeth to create slurry (this slurry then hardened upon drying and led to his next invention: the Greathead Grouting Machine). Brunel may be credited for the idea of using a shield, but Greathead was recognised first as the African engineer who built one of his own design and granted a patent of the one-piece cylindrical shield. Greathead designed the prototype circular shield that has since been used in most tunnelling projects, with other engineers' advancement and technological improvement in the general shield design. In his book, ''Tunnel Shields and the Use of Compressed Air in Subaqueous Works,'' Copperthwaite (who worked under Greathead as his pupil) says:
Barlow was certainly the first to patent, in 1864, a shield capable of motion in one piece, and surrounded by a thin cylinder of iron... to build, in successive rings, a cast iron tunnel... this was in 1864 and in 1868 he provisionally patented a shield... neither of these designs took practical form and, in 1869 Greathead in England and
Beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...
in New York actually built and used shields having many features in common with Barlow's patents but differing from each other in details.
Copperthwaite also argues (p. 20) that all three men, Barlow, Greathead and Beach, designed their tunnelling shields independently of each other. There is evidence that Greathead was unaware until 1895 of Barlow's 1868 provisional patent, which his shield resembled the most; Beach's shield more closely resembled Barlow's 1864 patent. Copperthwaite adds: "the exact apportionment of the credit of the invention between these two will be decided by each reader according as he may consider the inventor, the inventor of a new mechanism, or the man who applies it practical use, the more deserving of credit." Whilst Barlow patented his idea in 1864, in 1869 both Greathead in England and Beach in New York practically simultaneously constructed their own shields that were similar but independent of each other. Greathead's achievements went further than any other engineers' tunnelling with the additional patents of 1738 (1874), 5665 (1884) and, in 1886 his patent no. 5221: grouting by means of compressed air. Copperthwaite clarifies the origins of the shift in thinking from a rectangular tunnel shield to cylindrical cutting shields as first built by Greathead. Minutes in the ICE library suggest Barlow quietly patented his ideas for a cylindrical cutting shield but never built one. Greathead, unaware of Barlow's initial patent and succeeding provisional patent, went on to design, patent and build the credited first cylindrical tunnelling shield in history. Simultaneously,
Alfred Ely Beach Alfred Ely Beach (September 1, 1826 – January 1, 1896) was an American inventor, publisher, and patent lawyer, born in Springfield, Massachusetts. He is most known for his design of New York City's earliest subway predecessor, the Beach Pn ...
built a cylindrical tunnelling shield in New York and designed a shield that very closely resembled Barlow's patented idea around the same time as Greathead. According to a 2017 video lecture given by Professor Lord Mair for the ICE, the Brunels' shield ideas were well known in both USA and UK. Since Barlow was a Brunel pupil, he was likely well acquainted with the rectangular tunnelling shield design. It must have been obvious that a cylindrical design was far more suitable and stable which lead to three famous men independently designing their own unique tunneling shields within a few years of each other. Since Portland cement had only been invented in 1824 by
Joseph Aspdin Joseph Aspdin (25 December 1778 – 20 March 1855) was an English cement manufacturer who obtained the patent for Portland cement on 21 October 1824. Life Aspdin (or Aspden) was the eldest of the six children of Thomas Aspdin, a bricklaye ...
of Leeds, it was not fully appreciated by the construction industry for many years. It was only because of Portland cement's hydraulic properties and ability to set in wet environments that these first tunnel ventures under the Thames came to fruition at all. Beach never came to England to learn of Barlow's patent and later provisional patent, and Greathead did not know about Barlow's provisional patent idea until 1895 when it was discussed in the
Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters are located in the UK, whi ...
meeting attended by Greathead shortly after Barlow's death and shortly before his own death. The documents may be obtained by request from their library in pdf format for further clarification. The Greathead shield consisted of an iron cylinder in diameter fitted with screw jacks which enabled it to be jacked forward. In use, the shield was inched forward as the working face was excavated, while behind it a permanent tunnel lining of cast iron segments was fitted into place, itself an important innovation. Greathead patented many of his ideas including the use of compressed air and forward propulsion by hydraulic jacks, both of which are now standard features of tunnel construction. Another patent by Greathead was the addition of the grouting pan at ceiling height that allowed cement grout to be applied hydraulically behind the vast cast iron shields to stabilise the tunnel wall outside the shield sections. A third tunnelling shield was patented by Greathead that introduced hydraulic pressure nozzles at the tunnel face to blast away soft earth. The nozzle itself was also another Greathead patent invention. At some point Greathead discovered that concrete could be sprayed onto earthen surfaces to stabilise them and became the father of shot concrete and spray cement used so extensively in construction.


''Greathead Injector Hydrant'' (c. 1879)

The hydrant was an invention to inject grouting behind cast iron tunnelling shield cavities to strengthen tunnel wall linings during construction with a permanent position.


''Greathead Grouting Machine''

This is mentioned in relation to the repair of Winchester and Lincoln Cathedrals. "His system of grouting by means of compressed air, which perhaps more than any other invention has proved indispensable in all recent tunnel work."


Patents

*1738 of 1874 J. H. Greathead a shield having a closed face, the soil in front of which is to be disintegrated by water jets, and by protruding tools. The tunnel to be lined with cast iron, or with moulded artificial blocks. Grouting to be injected behind the tunnel lining. *5665 of 1884 J. H. Greathead the same shield but with modifications. *5221 of 1886 J. H. Greathead The grouting pan. A shield similar to those of patents 1738 (1874) & 5665 (1884) *13215 of 1886 J. H. Greathead A shield with alternatively, a central rotary cutter, with wedges for breaking down the face, washing out pipes, and wedges only, etc. *195 of 1889 J. H. Greathead A shield with a revolving cutter. *9263 of 1894 J. H. Greathead and Basil Mott Improvements in bogies for railway rolling stock.


Honours

* An English Heritage
blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...
marks his home in
Barnes Barnes may refer to: People * Barnes (name), a family name and a given name (includes lists of people with that name) Places United Kingdom *Barnes, London, England **Barnes railway station ** Barnes Bridge railway station ** Barnes Railway Bri ...
, south-west London, 3 St Mary's Grove, where he lived between 1885 and 1889. This was his third home as his second residence had been demolished prior to placement of the English Heritage plaque. * In January 1994 a statue of Greathead was erected outside the
Bank station Bank and Monument are interlinked London Underground and Docklands Light Railway, Docklands Light Railway (DLR) stations that form a public transport complex spanning the length of King William Street, London, King William Street in the City of ...
next to the Royal Exchange in the City of London. It was unveiled by the
Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...
and is positioned on a plinth which hides a ventilation shaft for the Underground. * While Bank Station was being refurbished a section of the Greathead shield was discovered in a passageway between the Underground and the
Waterloo and City Railway The Waterloo & City line, colloquially known as The Drain, is a London Underground shuttle line that runs between Waterloo and Bank with no intermediate stops. Its primary traffic consists of commuters from south-west London, Surrey and Hamps ...
. The section has been painted red and a brass plate erected as a further memorial to his achievements.


See also

*


References


Bibliography

* * * * * *


Further reading

* * * * (Family records) * (Genealogy) *


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Greathead, James Henry 1844 births 1896 deaths Alumni of St. Andrew's College, Grahamstown English civil engineers British railway civil engineers Burials at West Norwood Cemetery People associated with transport in London People from Makhanda, Eastern Cape Members of the Legislative Council of the Cape Colony South African people of English descent South African emigrants to the United Kingdom