John Blenkinsop

Magazine illustration of a steam locomotive propelled by a toothed wheel engaging a cogged rail, invented by John Blenkinsop, 1812.Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (Digital File Numbe: cph 3c10385)

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.