The Man Engine

Invention and Innovation

An teudhlester Balweyth kernewek a nowedhyans hag argerdh a wrug brassa brysyow godhoniethek a henedh.

The Cornish Mining crucible of invention and progress produced the greatest scientific minds of the generation

Spurred on by the promise of great riches and the rigours of intellectual rivalry, the engineers and inventors who stepped up to the challenges of Cornish mining helped shape the modern world.

Innovation and cutting-edge technology such as high-pressure steam pump drove the Industrial Revolution.

Powered by steam, Cornwall really was the ‘Silicon Valley’ of the 18^th and 19^th centuries.

HWEDHEL HUMFRA DAVI

• Hag ev maw, Humfra a verkyas kesknians yntra kober hag horn yn-dann dhowr war yettow-liv orth Heyl.
• Diwetha, yth awenas ev dhe ragresek an argerdh a elekofalsans ha bos an kynsa person dhe enysega hag aswon elvennow; sodiom, pottassiom, kalghiom, magnesiom, boron, bariom, klorin hag iodin.
• Avel Lewydh an Fondyans Riel, y hwrug ev an kynsa golow tredanek ha profya kynsa devnydh gass hwartha avel anesthetek.  
• Wosa lies droglam balweyth glow Davi o movys dhe nowedhya y Lugarn Salow Bal –  kemmynro durya keyndir Balweyth kernewek a’n maw Pennsans

HUMPHRY DAVY’S STORY

• While still a boy, Humphry had noticed the corrosion between the underwater copper and iron on the floodgates at Hayle.
• Later, this inspired him to pioneer the process of electrolysis and he became the first person to isolate and identify the elements sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, boron, barium, chlorine and iodine.
• As President of the Royal Institution he produced the first electric light and suggested the first use of laughing gas [N₂0] as an anesthetic.
• Following several coal-mining disasters Davey was moved to invent his famous Miners’ Safety Lamp – the lasting legacy of the Penzance boy’s Cornish Mining background.