 Michael Loam

Michael Loam (1 November 1797 – 14 July 1871) was a Cornish engineer who introduced the first man engine (a device to carry men up and down the shaft of a mine) into the UK.In 1834, concerned for the health of miners and for the loss in profits incurred by their long, slow climbs by ladders, the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society announced a prize for the design of a better system of transporting miners in and out of the deep mines in the county.