Richard Trevithick was a British inventor and mining engineer from Cornwall, UK. The son of a mining captain, and born in the mining heartland of Cornwall, Trevithick was immersed in mining and engineering from an early age.
Richard Trevithick was a British inventor and mining engineer from Cornwall who is best known as an early pioneer of steam-powered road and rail transport. He went on to develop the first high-pressure steam engine and the first full-scale working railway steam locomotive. He also successfully demonstrated the world’s first locomotive-hauled railway journey along the tramway of the Penydarren Ironworks, in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales on February 21, 1804. Despite having a stiff competition and suffering financial crisis throughout his career, he did a number of research with his high-pressure steam engines, including boring brass for cannon manufacture, stone crushing, rolling mills, forge hammers, blast furnace blowers and traditional mining applications. He also worked on improvements to ships such as iron tanks, iron floating docks, iron ships, telescopic iron masts, and more. During his visit to South America, he worked as a mining consultant in Peru and later explored parts of Costa Rica.
Trevithick, a quick-tempered and impulsive man, was entirely lacking in business sense. An untrustworthy partner caused the failure of a London business ; bankruptcy followed in 1811. Three years later, nine of Trevithick’s engines were ordered for the Peruvian silver mines, and, dreaming of unlimited mineral wealth in the Andes Mountains, he sailed to South America in 1816. After many adventures, he returned to England in 1827, penniless, to find that in his absence other engineers, had profited from his inventions. He died in poverty and was buried in an unmarked grave.