James Henry Greathead (1844-1896)

The following is the text of the obituary published by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers: Obituaries 1896. [178] James Henry Greathead was born at Grahamstown, Cape Colony, on 6th August 1844. In 1859 he came to England for the completion of his education; and in 1864 commenced a pupilage of three years under the late Mr. Peter W. Barlow. On its expiration, he was engaged for a year as an assistant engineer upon the construction of the Midland Railway extension from Bedford to London, under Mr. W. H. Barlow and Mr. C. B. Baker. In 1869 he was entrusted with the construction of the Tower Subway under the river Thames; and for this work he adopted a cylindrical wrought-iron shield, forced forwards by six powerful screws as the material was excavated in front of it. The subway was completed in the same year; and in 1870 he began to practice on his own account as consulting engineer. In 1873 and for the four following years be acted as resident engineer on the Hammersmith Extension Railway and the Richmond Extension of the Metropolitan District Railway. He assisted in the preparations for several other projects, namely the Regent's Canal Railway in 1880, the Dagenham Dock and the Metropolitan Outer Circle Railway in 1881, a new line between London and Eastbourne in 1883, and various Irish light railways in 1884. In the latter year he was engaged on the preparation of the bill for the City and South London Railway. The work was commenced in October 1886, and the line was opened in November 1890 by the Prince of Wales.

During the construction of this line compressed-air was employed to prevent the inrush of water; and the success of this plan led to its adoption in other similar enterprises in which he was engaged. He invented apparatus for the application of water to excavate in front of the shield, and for injecting cement-grout behind the lining of the tunnel.

In 1888 he became joint engineer with Sir Douglas Fox for the construction of the Liverpool Overhead Railway, which was visited by the members of this Institution on the occasion of the Liverpool Meeting in 1891. He was engaged as joint engineer with W. R. Galbraith and Mr. W. R. Galbraith on the Waterloo and City Railway; and on the Central London Railway he was associated with Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin Baker.

He did not live to see the completion of these undertakings, his death taking place at Streatham on 21st October 1896, at the age of fifty-two. He became a Member of this Institution in 1879; and was also a Member of Council of the Institution of Civil Engineers. [016]

The London Gazette published notifications relating to a patent taken out by him in 1874.

"1738 - To James Henry Greathead, of No.2, Storey's-gate, Westminister, in the county of Middlesex, for the invention of "improvements in constructing tubular tunnels or subways and apparatus for that purpose." London Gazette [100] 29th May 1874 and 29th September 1874.

The Engineer published the text of the patent number "1738 - Tubular Tunnels or Subways, J. H. Greathead, Storey's-gate, Westminister - dated 16th May 1874. This invention relates to a method of and the apparatus for constructing tubular tunnels or subways. A shield, having a cylindrical flange projecting backwards so as to overlap the forward part of the tunnel casing, has through it holes with stuffing boxes and spherical joints, through which tools are protruded to disintegrate the soil in front, and has also through it pipes for ejecting water or air under pressure and other pipes, by which the disintegrated material is suspended in water, or in case of dry sand, in air, is forced back into receptacles behind the shield. The shield front may also be made with doors or manholes, or in cells or compartments, and may be provided with an air chamber behind, supplied with air under sufficient pressure to exclude water from the cells during work. As the space in front of the shield is cleared it is forced forward by screw jacks or hydraulic presses abutting on the tunnel casing behind, and the casing is extended within the flange of the shield. The casing may be of iron or other metal in voussoir segments bolted together, or of iron frames filled in with cement or concrete, or of artificial stone, cement or concrete blocks previously moulded and built in their places with temporary clamps to secure them. the joints may be made tight by leather or other yielding material, which may serve also to make a tight fit to the flange of the shield. The spaces left by the withdrawal of this flange is filled with liquid cement injected through holes in the tunnel casing." The Engineer [015] [016] 4th December 1874.