Where does this come from, and can I check it?

Marc Brunel's rectangular frame of 36 cells let workers excavate the riverbed a section at a time in the 1820s. The figure is taken from Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

Is this really a technology fact?

Yes. It sits on the Technology shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

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The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.

Mondo Knows Facts

Brunel's shield held up the Thames while digging

Marc Brunel's rectangular frame of 36 cells let workers excavate the riverbed a section at a time in the 1820s The shield was a set of iron frames with jacks that pushed against the completed lining and moved forward as each cell was dug out. Water and sewage broke in repeatedly, and the project stalled for seven years before opening in 1843. The principle of a movable support at the cutting face underlies every modern tunnel boring machine. It sits in Mondo's technology collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

Britannica

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

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Tags: tunnels, brunel, engineering

Brunel's shield held up the Thames while digging: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: Marc Brunel's rectangular frame of 36 cells let workers excavate the riverbed a section at a time in the 1820s. The figure is taken from Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a technology fact?: Yes. It sits on the Technology shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.