Henry Robinson Palmer and Early British Monorails

[rogerfarnworth]

Henry Robinson Palmer and Early British Monorails

Henry Robinson Palmer (1793-1844) was a British engineer who designed the first monorail system and also invented corrugated iron!

Born in 1793 in Hackney, he was the son of the Revd Samuel Palmer, a nonconformist minister, and his wife, Elizabeth, née Walker. [1] He was baptised in Tooting [2] and was educated at the academy run by his father and between 1811 and 1816 was an apprentice at 1811-16 Apprenticed to Bryan Donkin and Co.

When he finished his apprenticeship, Palmer was taken on by Thomas Telford, working for him for 10 years and involved with a variety of road/canal surveys and associated designs. In 1818, Palmer was one of three young engineers key to the founding of the Institution of Civil Engineers and on 23rd May 1820, he formally became a member of the Institution. [3]

Henry Robinson Palmer and Early British Monorails

Henry Robinson Palmer (1793-1844) was a British engineer who designed the first monorail system and also invented corrugated iron! Born in 1793 in Hackney, he was the son of the Revd Samuel Palmer,…

rogerfarnworth.com

In his book, Palmer refers to examples of railways already constructed. It is clear that he is talking of railways which operate on more traditional principles. He tabulates those to which he is referring in a table which is reproduced below: the Llanelly Tramroad; the Surrey Tramroad; the Penrhyn Slate Quarries, edge rail road; the Cheltenham Tram Road; a branch of the Cheltenham Tram Road; Edge Rail Roads near Newcastle-upon-Tyne. These he compares with his own proposed railway which was built in Deptford Dockyard in London in 1824.