Charles Spagnoletti

Charles Ernest Spagnoletti MInstCE, MIEE (12 July 1832 – 28 June 1915) was an electrical inventor and the first telegraph superintendent of the Great Western Railway (GWR).

Charles Ernest Paolo della Diana Spagnoletti was born in Brompton, London on 12 July 1832.

[1] He set about developing a complete system of block signalling using telegraphy, supported by a book of rules and instructions.

[6] This system was first applied on the Metropolitan and District railway, followed soon by the GWR, whose Chairman, Daniel Gooch, disapproved of mechanical safety devices, claiming that they reduced the "natural vigilance" of the operating staff.

[6] After retiring as Telegraph Superintendent of the GWR in 1892 (following a long illness), he was appointed as Consulting Electrical Engineer for the railway.

Rapier read before members of the Institution of Civil Engineers on 31 March of that year: The marvellous increase of railway traffic, and the amount of the earnings of railways for the last ten years were a proof of how much had been gained by mechanical and electrical assistance in working them; and how the carrying capacity of the lines had been stretched and expanded by appliances of this kind; and at a comparatively small outlay, with such great results...

...Seeing that mechanical [signalling] appliances had done so much in these respects, [Spagnoletti] considered that any brought forward possessing desirable improvements deserved a fair trial.

Prejudice, generally found to be the want of a better knowledge and comprehension of any object or thing, was an awkward and difficult barrier to get over; but had not the experience of past inventions (some of which were now admitted to be quite necessary) shown how long it took to introduce and get existing ones into use.

[6] He designed a portable telegraph machine, which was always carried on Queen Victoria's royal train, in case of breakdown or emergency.

[5] Spagnoletti also designed a results board for Ascot racecourse,[2] and a town fire alarm, used in a number of London streets, that was regarded as being as effective as it was ugly.

[5] His talents extended to inventing a system of road construction using interlocking blocks of precast concrete laid on a bed of compressed sand and bound together with molten pitch.