Historical Applications
In 1799 George Medhurst of London discussed the idea of moving goods pneumatically through cast iron pipes, and in 1812 he proposed, but never implemented, blowing passenger carriages through a tunnel.
In 1835 Henry Pinkus launched a prospectus for the National Pneumatic Railway Association. It was in 1838, when the gas engineer Samuel Clegg and the marine engineers Jacob and Joseph Samuda jointly took out a patent “for a new improvement in valves” that atmospheric propulsion became possible. The partnership set up a working model at the Samuda Brothers’ workshop in Southwark in 1839, and a 0.5-mile (0.8 km) demonstration track of the Birmingham, Bristol & Thames Junction Railway at Wormwood Scrubs between 1840 and 1843. In 1841 Joseph d'Aguilar Samuda published A Treatise on the Adaptation of Atmospheric Pressure to the Purposes of Locomotion on Railways. The Clegg-Samuda system attracted the attention and support of some of the foremost railway engineers of the day, notably William Cubitt, Charles Vignoles and Isambard Kingdom Brunel, each of whom was engaged on the construction of new railway lines. It was also severely criticised by other engineers and railway commentators, notably Robert Stephenson and John Herapath.
Read more about this topic: Atmospheric Railway
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