CRAMPTON TOWER - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers
• Well Known Engineer

Thomas Crampton served his articles with the well known engineer John Hague of London from 1831 to 1839, being a fellow pupil of Mr. (later Sir) Frederick Bramwell. At the age of 16 he designed a steam-operated rolling machine. Crampton was an assistant to the elder Brunel, and then to Mr. (later Sir) Daniel Gooch, under whom he designed the first locomotive the "Firefly" for the Great Western Railway. He patented the Crampton Engine in 1843, its characteristics being large driving wheels, a long boiler, outside cylinders and a low centre of gravity. Crampton became a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1854, his nomination being signed by the greatest engineers of the day. He became a Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1847, its first year, and was Vice-president in 1883. He was a member of several other notable Institutions and Societies. Thomas Russell Crampton is perhaps chiefly remembered as a designer of locomotives and of railways, but he was also concerned with gas, water works and the submarine telegraph cable. He was the first to succeed in laying an effective telegraph cable under the English Channel.