James Kennedy

1829.

1829.

James Kennedy (1797–1886), mechanical engineer, of Bury, Curtis and Kennedy

1797 January 13th. Born in the village of Gilmerton, Liherton, three miles from Edinburgh.

At 13 or 14 years old he was apprenticed to a millwright at Dalkeith. He was there for 5 years.

Engaged at Sir John Hope's Colliery, to look after some pumping and winding engines.

After 5 years in the coal mines he employed as a millwright at the cotton mills at Blantyre, 9 miles from Glasgow.

A country engineer named John Stevenson employed him at the Monkland Iron and Steel Co, to fit up some water wheels.

Went to Laverock Hall, near Hamilton, to erect some pumping and winding engines.

After 2 years he went to the Lochrinn Distillery at Edinburgh with Mr. Gutzmer.

He later became foreman at Mr. Gutzmer's factories where he made the direct-acting engines of the 'Emerald Isle' (belonging to the St. George Steam Packet Co); and he went to Liverpool to fit them in the ship. It was in Liverpool that a Mr. Jevons introduced him to George Stephenson.

1824 Stephenson put him in charge of his engine works in Newcastle upon Tyne, where Kennedy was involved in the design and building of two pairs of stationary engines and the first four locomotives for the Stockton and Darlington Railway.

1825 He was appointed to manage the works of Mather and Dixon in Liverpool, from where he was engaged by Edward Bury (who had recently started in business as Edward Bury and Co), as works foreman at their Clarence Foundry in Liverpool. There he constructed land, marine, and locomotive engines. The Dreadnought, a locomotive employed to help in the construction of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, was made in 1829.

The Liverpool, another locomotive constructed by Mr. Kennedy, was placed on the Liverpool and Manchester line on the 12th June, 1830. From this time Edward Bury's locomotives acquired a high reputation.

Mr Kennedy was unable to compete at the public trial of locomotives on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830 as he was busy completing some marine engines for Mr. Samuel Cunard, of Halifax. Thenceforth he continued to be a good deal occupied in the construction of marine engines.

1837 he constructed two pairs of high pressure engines for use in vessels on the Rhone with locomotive boilers

1838 he constructed two pairs of condensing engines, also with locomotive boilers carrying 60 lb. pressure, for steam-vessels on the same river. The draught through the fire was maintained by an exhausting fan. These steamers were still in existence in 1860.

1842 Kennedy was taken into partnership by Edward Bury, the firm becoming Bury, Curtis and Kennedy.

1844 Joined Thomas Vernon and Son, shipbuilders in Liverpool

1847 He was elected a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, of which he served as president in 1860.

1849 Dissolution of the Partnership formerly existing between Edward Bury, Timothy Abraham Curtis, James Kennedy, and John Vernon, under the firm of Thomas Vernon and Co., in and near Liverpool, as Iron Ship Builders, Boilermakers, and Smiths, which ceased on the 31st March

1886 September 25th. Died at his home, Cressington Park, Garston, near Liverpool.

He was survived by his wife, Adelaide.

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1886 Obituary

JAMES KENNEDY was born on 13th January 1797, in the village of Gilmerton, three miles south of Edinburgh.

At the age of thirteen he left school and was apprenticed to a millwright near Dalkeith, with whom he remained for five years.

He then spent some years at Sir John Hope's collieries at Lasswade, taking charge of the winding and pumping engines; and afterwards worked as a millwright in some cotton mills at Blantyre, near Glasgow.

He was next employed by Mr. John Stevenson in fitting water-wheels at the Monkland Steel Works.

Thence he went for two years to Lavenoch Hall, near Hamilton, to erect pumping and winding engines, for which the designs and patterns had been made by himself.

He next obtained employment at the Lochrin Distillery, Edinburgh, where he substituted a larger engine in place of the small one previously used for grinding malt. While in Edinburgh, he constructed direct-acting marine engines for steam-vessels; one of these was for the s.s. "Emerald Isle" belonging to the St. George's Steam Packet Co., Liverpool, whither he proceeded to superintend its erection.

Being there introduced to George Stephenson, who was at that time establishing locomotive works at Newcastle-on-Tyne, he was appointed in 1824 manager of the works, where he remained for eighteen months. During this engagement he planned and erected the engines for a tug on the Tees at Stockton, constructed two pairs of winding engines with vertical drums for hauling loaded wagons up inclines on the Stockton and Darlington Railway, and planned the first three locomotives by which that railway was opened in 1825.

Leaving Newcastle at the end of 1825, he returned to Liverpool, and undertook the management of the works of Messrs. Mather and Dixon.

Later he became a partner in the firm of Messrs. Bury, Curtis, and Kennedy, of Liverpool, engaged in the construction of locomotive, marine, and stationary engines. The first locomotive built by him here was the "Dreadnought," employed in the formation of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1829; it had horizontal cylinders working on a crank-shaft which was connected with the driving wheels by pitch chains.

In 1830 the second locomotive of his construction, the "Liverpool," was placed on the same line. This was the first engine made in England with horizontal cylinders applied direct to the crank-axle of the driving wheels. The draught was at first obtained by means of a blowing cylinder; but this arrangement not proving successful, a tubular boiler was substituted, in conjunction with a vertical cylindrical fire-box surmounted by a capacious dome. The satisfaction given by a locomotive built by his firm for the Leicester and Swannington Railway resulted in their making also the engines for opening the London and Birmingham Railway.

From 1832 to 1834 they sent to America a number of locomotive engines, together with the wheels, axles, and iron-work for wagons and carriages. Having previously constructed marine engines for the early Cunard steamers, in 1837 he built two pairs of non-condensing engines for boats on the Rhone, having locomotive boilers working with 60 lbs. steam pressure per square inch; and in the following year he supplied for the same purpose two pairs of condensing engines, with boilers in which the draught was obtained by an exhausting fan at the bottom of the chimney; the piston-speed was about double that in use at the time in England; and these engines were still in existence at Lyons in 1860.

In 1844 he controlled the affairs of Messrs. Thomas Vernon and Son, Liverpool, in the business of iron-shipbuilding, and prepared plans for vessels requiring exceptional strength, in which be introduced iron deck-beams, now universally employed.

His death took place on 25th September 1886, at his residence, Cressington Park, near Liverpool, in the ninetieth year of his age.

He was a Member of this Institution from the commencement in 1847, and occupied the Presidential chair in the year 1860.

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