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Born in 1771, near Pool in Illogan parish, Richard Trevithick was brought up in Penponds. His father was the manager of Dolcoath mine, and from an early age Richard was brought into contact with machinery and engineering. In 1797 he married Jane Harvey, daughter of the Hayle engineering family Harveys.

Richard Trevithick's greatest contribution was his development of high pressure steam. He invented a high pressure steam carriage known locally as the `Puffing Devil'. This was the world's first passenger-carrying road locomotive - a fore-runner of the motor car. The test run was on Christmas Eve 1801, up `Camborne Hill' - an event remembered in the well-known Cornish folk song:

The horses stood still, the wheels went around, Going up Camborne Hill coming down.

Trevithick produced many other inventions. In 1804 he tested the first passenger-carrying mobile steam engine which ran on rails. This succeeded in moving 10 tons of iron and 70 men in five wagons a distance of 9 miles. His other inventions included containerisation for ships, a dry dock, a surface condenser, central heating and the screw propellor. After many adventurous years in South America,

Richard Trevithick