Raul Mesnier

Raoul Mesnier du Ponsard (São Nicolau, Porto, 2 April 1848 — Inhambane, Mozambique 26 May 1914) was a Portuguese engineer of French parentage, known for building many elevators and funiculars in Portugal. He is particularly known for his engineering work on Lisbon landmarks the Santa Justa Lift, the Ascensor da Glória, the Ascensor da Bica, and the Ascensor do Lavra, as well as the Bom Jesus do Monte Funicular in Braga.

Early life Mesnier was the son of French parents Jacques Robert Mesnier de Ponsard and Marie Élodie Ronson; his father worked in Braga at its gas company. He had an older brother, Pedro Gastão, born in 1846, who became a diplomatic aide. Unlike the San Francisco cable-car lines, Lisbon's did not run on generally wide and straight streets. This required innovative solutions for the engineering problems posed by the geometry. To thread the Arco de Santo Andrė and its hairpin turn up the Calçada da Graça, Mesnier designed a double grip system on the cars to engage a low-tension cable through the turn. for a railway in Mozambique linking Inhambane with Inharrime. Work on the railway took place between 1909 and 1915, and railway personnel were reported to be on-site in January 1908. Mesnier may have been at work there at the time of his death.

Other projects Mesnier published designs for other inventions, to build an aerial cableway system in São Tomé e Principe to transport goods over its steep terrain and to provide mechanical power to remote locations where needed for industrial work, e.g. logging activity. Mesnier laid out the general advantages for such systems in the article. However, there is no evidence in S. Tomé of its ever being built.

Also in 1903, Mesnier made a bid to the minister of the Navy for a concession to operate an electrically powered system for ship cargo and train loading and unloading at the port of Lourenco Marques (Maputo), Mozambique. Included in the project were new jetties to handle deep-draft ships. Pending successful patent awards for the equipment, he hoped to form a company and find investors to build and operate the facility.

Legacy During his lifetime, Mesnier was acknowledged for his engineering accomplishments in Lisbon. On two separate occasions, transport companies affiliated with him asked him for public announcements of support for their work. At the time of his death, he was memorialized by an engineering trade journal for his work on the Santa Justa Lift, particularly.

Rua Raúl Mesnier du Ponsard, in the Lumiar neighborhood of Lisbon, is named after him.

In 2002, Portugal declared four of his engineering works in Lisbon to be national monuments: the Santa Justa Lift, the Ascensor da Glória, the Ascensor da Bica, and the Ascensor do Lavra. Outside of Lisbon, the Elevador do Bom Jesus is also a national monument. The Nazaré Funicular is still operating, though not a national monument.