{"id":2810,"date":"2025-03-28T13:39:21","date_gmt":"2025-03-28T13:39:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/trevithicksociety.info\/?page_id=2810"},"modified":"2025-04-04T17:46:17","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T17:46:17","slug":"puffing-devil","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/trevithicksociety.info\/index.php\/puffing-devil\/","title":{"rendered":"Puffing Devil"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\">[vc_row][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243;][vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221;]\r\n<h3 class=\"special-title\">Richard Trevithick&#8217;s Puffing Devil<\/h3>\r\n<div class=\"lead  different\">\r\n\r\nThe Trevithick Society website would not be complete with a reference to the great man himself: Cap\u2019n Dick Trevithick.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nRichard Trevithick\u00a0(13 April 1771 \u2013 22 April 1833) was a giant of a man (he was also tall for the time at 6ft 2in); an esteemed British inventor and\u00a0mining engineer.\r\n\r\nThe son of a mining captain, and born in the mining heartland of\u00a0Cornwall, Trevithick was immersed in mining and engineering from an early age. He was an early pioneer of\u00a0steam-powered\u00a0road\u00a0and\u00a0rail\u00a0transport, and his most significant contributions were the development of the first high-pressure\u00a0steam engine\u00a0and the first working railway\u00a0steam locomotive.\r\n\r\nTrevithick built a full-size steam road locomotive in 1801, on a site near present-day Fore Street in Camborne. Trevithick named his carriage Puffing Devil and on Christmas Eve that year, he demonstrated it by successfully carrying six passengers up Fore Street and then continuing on up Camborne Hill, from Camborne Cross, to the nearby village of Beacon. The journey inspired the popular Cornish folk song Camborne Hill.\r\n\r\nThe world&#8217;s first locomotive-hauled railway journey took place on 21 February 1804, when Trevithick&#8217;s steam locomotive hauled a train along the\u00a0tramway\u00a0of the\u00a0Penydarren Ironworks, in\u00a0Merthyr Tydfil, Wales.\r\n\r\nTurning his interests abroad Trevithick also worked as a mining consultant in Peru and later explored parts of Costa Rica. Throughout his professional career he went through many ups and downs and at one point faced financial ruin, also suffering from the strong rivalry of many mining and steam engineers of the day.\r\n\r\nDuring the prime of his career he was a well-known and highly respected figure in mining and engineering.\r\n\r\nTrevithick was extremely strong and was a champion\u00a0Cornish wrestler.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243;][vc_single_image image=&#8221;2813&#8243; img_size=&#8221;full&#8221; css=&#8221;&#8221;][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221;]\r\n<h5 style=\"text-align: left;\">Click below to discover more on the life of Richard Trevithick.<\/h5>\r\n[\/vc_column_text]<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cornishbiodiversitynetwork.org\/TS\/Index.htm\" title=\"CLICK HERE FOR A FULL HISTORY OF RICHARD TREVITHICK\" target=\"_blank\"  class=\"btn \">RICHARD TREVITHICK<\/a>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243;][vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221;] Richard Trevithick&#8217;s Puffing Devil Richard Trevithick\u00a0(13 April 1771 \u2013 22 April 1833) was a giant of a man (he was also tall for the time at 6ft 2in); an esteemed British inventor and\u00a0mining engineer. The son of a mining captain, and born in the mining heartland of\u00a0Cornwall, Trevithick was immersed in mining and engineering from an early [&hellip;] <a class=\"continue-reading h6 color-primary\" href=\"https:\/\/trevithicksociety.info\/index.php\/puffing-devil\/\"><i class=\"fa fa-fw fa-angle-double-right \"><\/i>Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2810","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Puffing Devil - Trevithick Society<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/trevithicksociety.info\/index.php\/puffing-devil\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Puffing Devil - Trevithick Society\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[vc_row][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243;][vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221;] Richard Trevithick&#8217;s Puffing Devil Richard Trevithick\u00a0(13 April 1771 \u2013 22 April 1833) was a giant of a man (he was also tall for the time at 6ft 2in); an esteemed British inventor and\u00a0mining engineer. The son of a mining captain, and born in the mining heartland of\u00a0Cornwall, Trevithick was immersed in mining and engineering from an early [&hellip;] Continue Reading\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/trevithicksociety.info\/index.php\/puffing-devil\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Trevithick Society\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-04T17:46:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/trevithicksociety.info\/index.php\/puffing-devil\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/trevithicksociety.info\/index.php\/puffing-devil\/\",\"name\":\"Puffing Devil - Trevithick Society\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/trevithicksociety.info\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-28T13:39:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-04T17:46:17+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/trevithicksociety.info\/index.php\/puffing-devil\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/trevithicksociety.info\/index.php\/puffing-devil\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/trevithicksociety.info\/index.php\/puffing-devil\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/trevithicksociety.info\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Puffing Devil\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/trevithicksociety.info\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/trevithicksociety.info\/\",\"name\":\"Trevithick Society\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/trevithicksociety.info\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Puffing Devil - Trevithick Society","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/trevithicksociety.info\/index.php\/puffing-devil\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Puffing Devil - Trevithick Society","og_description":"[vc_row][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243;][vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221;] Richard Trevithick&#8217;s Puffing Devil Richard Trevithick\u00a0(13 April 1771 \u2013 22 April 1833) was a giant of a man (he was also tall for the time at 6ft 2in); an esteemed British inventor and\u00a0mining engineer. The son of a mining captain, and born in the mining heartland of\u00a0Cornwall, Trevithick was immersed in mining and engineering from an early [&hellip;] Continue Reading","og_url":"https:\/\/trevithicksociety.info\/index.php\/puffing-devil\/","og_site_name":"Trevithick Society","article_modified_time":"2025-04-04T17:46:17+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/trevithicksociety.info\/index.php\/puffing-devil\/","url":"https:\/\/trevithicksociety.info\/index.php\/puffing-devil\/","name":"Puffing Devil - Trevithick Society","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/trevithicksociety.info\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-03-28T13:39:21+00:00","dateModified":"2025-04-04T17:46:17+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/trevithicksociety.info\/index.php\/puffing-devil\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/trevithicksociety.info\/index.php\/puffing-devil\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/trevithicksociety.info\/index.php\/puffing-devil\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/trevithicksociety.info\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Puffing Devil"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/trevithicksociety.info\/#website","url":"https:\/\/trevithicksociety.info\/","name":"Trevithick Society","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/trevithicksociety.info\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trevithicksociety.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trevithicksociety.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trevithicksociety.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trevithicksociety.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trevithicksociety.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2810"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/trevithicksociety.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2814,"href":"https:\/\/trevithicksociety.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2810\/revisions\/2814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trevithicksociety.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}