Goldsworthy Gurney

Sir Goldsworthy Gurney (1793 to 1875) was a British surgeon, chemist, architect, builder, lecturer and consultant, a prototypical gentleman scientist and inventor of the Victorian era. Among many accomplishments he developed the oxy-hydrogen blowpipe and applied its principles to a new form of illumination, the Bude-Light, and he developed a series of early steam-powered road vehicles. He also laid claim to the blastpipe, a key component in the success of steam locomotives, engines and other coal-fired systems, a claim still discussed and disputed today. Events around the failure of his steam vehicle enterprise caused controversy in his own time.