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John Blenkinsop
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Blenkinsop locomotive
Blenkinsop locomotive Magazine illustration of a steam locomotive propelled by a toothed wheel engaging a cogged rail, invented by John Blenkinsop, 1812.

John Blenkinsop

English inventor
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Quick Facts
Born:
1783, near Leeds, Yorkshire [now West Yorkshire], Eng.
Died:
Jan. 22, 1831, Leeds (aged 48)
Inventions:
locomotive
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John Blenkinsop (born 1783, near Leeds, Yorkshire [now West Yorkshire], Eng.—died Jan. 22, 1831, Leeds) was an English inventor, designer of the first practical and successful railway locomotive. Blenkinsop’s two-cylinder, geared steam locomotive utilized the tooth-rack rail system of propulsion. Four Blenkinsop engines (built 1812–13) hauled coal over cast-iron rails from Middleton, Yorkshire (where the inventor was employed as a mine inspector), to nearby Leeds.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.