Richard Birdsall Rogers (15 January 1857 – 2 October 1927) was a Canadian civil and

mechanical engineer Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...

whose most significant achievement was the design of the

Peterborough Lift Lock The Peterborough Lift Lock is a boat lift located on the Trent Canal in the city of Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, and is Lock 21 on the Trent-Severn Waterway. For many years, the lock's dual lifts were the highest hydraulic boat lifts in ...

, a

boat lift A boat lift, ship lift, or lift lock is a machine for transporting boats between water at two different elevations, and is an alternative to the canal lock. It may be vertically moving, like the Anderton boat lift in England, rotational, like ...

Peterborough, Ontario Peterborough ( ) is a city on the Otonabee River in Ontario, Canada, about 125 kilometres (78 miles) northeast of Toronto. According to the 2021 Census, the population of the City of Peterborough was 83,651. The population of the Peterborough ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

. From 1874 to 1878, he studied at

McGill College McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

, graduating with a degree in civil and mechanical engineering. In 1879, he was appointed a Provincial Land Surveyor and, in 1880, he became Dominion Land Surveyor, a position he retained until 1884 when he entered private practice, taking up the post of Superintending Engineer of the Trent Canal. In this role, Rogers suggested the use of hydraulic lift locks to the Minister of Railways and Canals, John Haggart, who commissioned him to travel to Europe to study existing boat lifts in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

(the Fontinettes boat lift),

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

(

Lifts on the old Canal du Centre The lifts on the Canal du Centre are a series of four hydraulic boat lifts near the town of La Louvière in Belgium which are classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. All four are located on the Canal du Centre in Belgium's historic sillon ...

) and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

(the

Anderton Boat Lift The Anderton Boat Lift is a two caisson lift lock near the village of Anderton, Cheshire, in North West England. It provides a vertical link between two navigable waterways: the River Weaver and the Trent and Mersey Canal. The structure is de ...

near

Northwich {{Infobox UK place , static_image_name = Northwich - Town Bridge.jpg , static_image_caption = Town Bridge, the River Weaver and the spire of Holy Trinity Church , official_name = Northwich , country ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county tow ...

). Rogers was the grandson of a noted Provincial Land Surveyor,

Richard Birdsall Richard Birdsall (1799 – 21 January 1852) was a British born Upper Canadian land surveyor, land agent, politician, justice of the peace, and militia officer. Born in rural Yorkshire, England, he emigrated to Upper Canada in 1817, settling in ...

who had surveyed most of the lands in the Peterborough area. Named in his honour are Rogers Cove, a park on Peterborough's Little Lake, and Rogers Street, both of which are close to his lift lock.

External links

Rogers biography
1857 births 1927 deaths Canadian mechanical engineers Canadian civil engineers McGill University Faculty of Engineering alumni 20th-century Canadian engineers 19th-century Canadian engineers {{Canada-engineer-stub