Blenkinsop, John

John Blenkinsop, (born 1783, near Leeds, Yorkshire [now West Yorkshire], Eng.—died Jan. 22, 1831, Leeds), 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.