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First tunnelling shield

First tunnelling shield
Who
Sir Marc Brunel
Where
United Kingdom (London,)
When
01 January 1818
The first tunnelling shield was patented in January 1818 by Sir Marc Brunel (father of the celebrated Isambard Kingdom Brunel), a French-born engineer who had settled in London, UK, in 1799. It was first used in 1825 as a temporary support structure in the construction of the Thames Tunnel to connect Rotherhithe and Wapping in London – 365 m (1,300 ft) long and eventually completed in 1843. The basic idea is still used to allow workers to install permanent support systems in unstable conditions.