Funicular Railway System

17-12-1907, Madrid (application date), 26-12-1927 (expiry date) (Spain)

65 Sheets of paper (application), 3 white and blue drawings on paper (plans); 32,5 × 22,8 cm

Archives of the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office OEPM
ES42237

Leonardo Torres Quevedo, born to a well-off family in Santa Cruz de Iguña (Cantabria, Spain), studied in the Official School of the Civil Engineers between 1871 and 1876. He developed a type of aerial cableway for the transport of people. The first tests, carried out in the Iguña valley, were a success and the invention was patented in France, Switzerland, England and the United States.

Another of his inventions presented here was a new system for ferries, patented in December 1907, proposing what would in time become the Spanish Aerocar used in the cataracts of the Niagara. The invention proposed several innovations in the cable system using a cable with greater section and more flexibility. His final invention for funiculars was the automatic hitch and brake for aerial ferries, patented in January, 1915.

Funiculars were only a part of Leonardo Torres Quevedo immensely productive live. Between 1891 and 1900 he devoted himself to the development of analog computers or calculating machines; in 1902 he focused his attention on balloon dirigibles, on which he formulated a theory related to stability.

Another of his remarkable inventions was the telekino, developed to direct flights from the ground without the need for human pilots, which was the world’s first radio-direction or direction guidance device. As a result of this invention, he developed his calculating machines and his automatons.

Torres Quevedo received numerous distinctions during his life. He died in Madrid on 18 December 1936.

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