Samuel Geoghegan (1845 in Dublin – 4 September 1928) was an Irish mechanical engineer.

Life and career

Samuel Geoghegan was in 1861, according to the English census of that year, a pupil of a schoolmaster named Richard Biggs in

Devizes Devizes () is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman architecture, Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-cent ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

.John Anthony Brennan
Dubliner Samuel Geoghegan: Guinness Brewery Engineer.
22 October 2015. He was then for three years an apprentice at the engineering company Walter May & Co of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

and was afterwards a draughtsman with P. and W. MacLelland, and Howden & Co of

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

and a fitter with Fawcett, Preston & Co of

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

.Grace's Guide to British Industrial History
Samuel Geoghehan (1845-1928).
/ref> In 1869 he went to

Smyrna Smyrna ( ; , or ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, Turkey. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

as a mechanic and draughtsman with the Ottoman Railway, and two years later he returned to England as a fitter in the Doncaster Locomotive Works of the

Great Northern Railway Great Northern Railway or Great Northern Railroad may refer to: Australia * Great Northern Railway (Queensland) in Australia * Great Northern Rail Services in Victoria, Australia *Central Australia Railway was known as the great Northern Railway ...

. In 1871 he went to India and was engaged on the construction of a bridge two miles long over the river

Chenab The Chenab River is a major river in India and Pakistan, and is one of the 5 major rivers of the Punjab region. It is formed by the union of two headwaters, the Chandra and Bhaga, which rise in the upper Himalayas in the Lahaul region of Himac ...

in the

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

, first as assistant engineer and then as executive engineer in charge of half the bridge. Subsequently, he was for a year a district locomotive superintendent on the railway near

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

. In 1874 he was appointed chief engineer to Arthur Guinness & Son of Dublin, and he retained this position until 1901, when he became consulting engineer to the company. In 1880 he became a Member of the

Institution of Mechanical Engineers The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) is an independent professional association and learned society headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that represents mechanical engineers and the engineering profession. With over 110,000 member ...

. In 1882 he invented and patented a lightweight steam locomotive with all moving parts high above the dirty floor to fit within a 6 ft (1.8 m) loading gauge. He invented also a ''Haulage Wagon'' by which his patented

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...

locomotives could be used on

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , more known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union countries ...

track.Grace's Guide to British Industrial History
Samuel Geoghehan: Locomotives
/ref> By 1899, he had become head of the Guinness Brewery's electrical and mechanical engineering staff. He retired on 9 July 1901, at the age of 56, but was retained as a consultant until 11 February 1905. After his retirement, he ran a private practice from 17 Westland Row. He had married in 1876 and had five children. He died on 4 September 1928.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Geoghehan, Samuel Irish railway mechanical engineers Irish civil engineers Bridge engineers Structural engineers People of the Industrial Revolution British railway pioneers Irish inventors Engineers from Dublin (city) 1845 births 1928 deaths 19th-century Irish people