Continental engineers
This is an arbitrary division forced by the limitations involved in handling large files.
Abt, Roman
Born in Bunzen, Switzerland on 17 July 1850 and died Lucerne 1 May
1933. Inventor of the Abt rack system. John
Marshall. Widely used including in Britain on the Snowdon Mountain Railway.
See article by Abt in Locomotive
Mag., 1931, 37, 231. .
H.M. Le Fleming (Concise
encyclopaedia). Booklet produced by Swiss Locomotive Co. reviewed
Locomotive Mag., 1927,
33, 135..
Almgren, Fredrik August
Born 15 July 1840; died 26 May 1903. Director-in-chief, Swedish State
Railways, 1873-1903. Locomotive
Mag., 1955, 61, 160-1 Class Da 2-4-0
Locomotive Mag., 1949, 55,
172-3.
Amsler-Laffon, Jakob
Amsler was born on the Stalden near the village of Schinznach in the
district of Brugg on 11 November 1823, and died on 3 January 1912 in
Schaffhausen, Switzerland. On leaving school in 1843, he went to the University
of Jena and then to the University of Königsberg to study theology.
At Königsberg he changed courses, deciding to focus on mathematics and
physics after meeting the inspiring Franz Neumann. Amsler gained his doctorate
from Königsberg in 1848 and returned to Switzerland in the same year.
In 1851 he became a Privatdozent at the University of Zürich and later
in that year accepted a position as a mathematics teacher at the Gymnasium
in Schaffhausen. In 1854 Amsler married Elise Laffon (18301899) and
founded the Amsler Company in Schaffhausen. The couple had two daughters
and three sons. Their oldest son Alfred Amsler (18571940) was a
mathematician and engineer in his own right and succeeded to his father as
the owner and director of the factory. From about 1885 until about 1905,
father and son closely cooperated on many projects in their business; many
of their ideas, inventions and constructions of the time are difficult to
attribute to either one of them. Jakob Amsler-Laffon invented the polar
planimeter in 1854 and the firm was associated with the development of the
locomotive dynamometer. Langridge
Under ten CMEs 2 p. 53: remainder Wikipedia 19-01-2001
Anderberg, Anders
See Locomotive Mag., 1921,
27, 215. Patent GB 1671/1914 Improvements in
locomotive boiler furnaces.
Angelé, Florian
Inventor of form of valve gear and was patented in France (11071/1842
applied 2 December 1842; published 8 March 1843) which anticipated Walschaerts.
Loco. Carr. Wagon Rev., 1933,
39, 59. Engineer, 1912, 106, 681-2.
Ansaldo, Giovanni
In 1853 founded engineering company which carried that name. Manufactured
locomotives and other railway equipment and naval vessels and heavy weapons,
Mainly Wikipedia. Original locomotive and contemporary steam and electric
locomotives see Locomotive Mag.,
1923, 31, 8-11.
Armand, Louis
Armand was born at Cruseilles, Haute-Savoie on 17 January 1905 and
died on 30 August 1971 (biographical information from Wikipedia). He studied
in Annecy and Lyon, at the Lycée du Parc. He graduated second in his
class from the Ecole Polytechnique (class of 1924) then joined the Corps
des Mines and was major from Ecole des Mines He joined the Compagnie du chemin
de fer Paris-Lyon-Mediterranee (PLM) in 1934. In 1938 he joined the French
national railway company, Société Nationale des Chemins de
fer Français (SNCF). In 1940 - 1941 he invented a method for preventing
scale formation in boilers called the TIA (Traitement Integral Armand) water
treatment process for steam locomotives described in
his Sir Seymour Biscoe Tritton Lecture (J.
Instn Loco. Engrs, 1949, 39, 328). During WW2 he organized
and led the Resistance group named Résistance-Fer from February 1943
onwards. He was arrested by the Gestapo on June 25, 1944. He was liberated
from jail during Paris' liberation; was decorated (Croix de la Liberation)
In 1949 Armand was named General Manager of SNCF and created the
Société du tunnel sous la Manche in 1957. During this time
he pushed for the electrification of the rail system using DC voltage. From
1958 to 1959, he co-managed the European atomic energy commission with Conor
Quilligan (Euratom) having inspired its creation. In 1971 successfully pushed
to have the word creativity included in the French dictionary
Armand died in Villers-sur-Mer, aged 66. Presented Motive power trends on
European railways as part of the
IMechE Centenary celebrations. Cox called
him the arch-priest of water treatment with his TIA system.
Arnoux Republican, Jean-Claude
Born in Le Cateau (Northern France) on 16 December 1792, son of a
postmaster: died in 1866. (French Wikipedia: 2012-11-16). He invented a
rail-based system in which the locomotive drove through flangekess coupled
wheels and lateral guidance was provided by freely rotating pulley wheels
set at 45° to the top of the rails. It was capable of negotiating very
tight curves. The system was demonstrated at the Paris Exposition of 1855.
The locomotive had four cylinders.
Backtrack, 2012, 26,
756.
Asselin, Georges
Locomotive superintendent of the Western Ry. of France and subsequently
of Nord. Designed large compound 2-8-0s which could attain high horsepowers
for long periods..
Baader, Joseph von
See Grahame Boyes Early
Railways [1] 192.Baader (1763-1835) was granted a British Patent
3959/1815 (15 November 1815) An improved plan of constructing railroads and
carriages to be used on such improved railroads. To use one or two cast iron
rails (if two not greater tah 24 inches apart) to peovide horizontal guidance
and reduce friction...
Bachellery, A.
C.M.E. of the Paris-Orleans and Midi Rlys Papers and books on railway
electrification. At ILocoE Dinner in 1935 :
Locomotive Mag., 1935, 41,
94..
Banderali, David.
Born Paris on 18 January 1836, and entered École Polytechnique
in 1854, and École des Mines, as an outside pupil, in 1856. On finishing
his studies he began active work as a professor, and gave lessons in England
to the younger members of a royal household. In December 1859 he entered
the service of the Northern Railway of France, where he was successively
locomotive inspector at Amiens and assistant carriage superintendent in January
1866, until in 1873 he was placed in charge of the central locomotive and
carriage department, a position with slight changes in title occupied until
his death. In the Exhibitions of 1878, 1881 (electrical), and 1889, he served
as a member of committees and juries, and rendered services at international
conferences, and for the military organisation of the French railways; and
he was commandant of the fifth section of French branch railways. In 1882
he received the Cross of the Legion of Honour. After a short illness he died
on 30 March 1890. Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs, 1890, 41, 171.
Banderall, David Jean Frederic Sosthenus
Born in Paris on 18 January 1836 and died there on 30 March 1890.
Chief assistant engineer, Northern Railway, France. Graduated in engineering
at École Polytechnique and École des Mines. In 1859 joined
the Northern Railway as Inspector of the traction department at Amiens. In
1873 appointed chief assistant engineer at Paris. Advocated introduction
of the vacuum brake which was fitted to all vehicles of the Nord in 1876.
He strongly favoured bogies on locomotives and rolling stock. Also closely
associated with the creation of the Chemins de Fer Economiques, narrow-gauge
feeder lines. Many of the engines and carriages were designed according to
his ideas. His ready command of English and his capacity for making friends
made him well liked in Britain and USA.
Marshall.
Baumberg, Max
Born in Armstadt in Thüringen on 12 June 1906; died in Halle
on 8 November 1978. Studied mechanical engineering in Munich before moving
to the Meiningen [Steam] Locomotive Works established by the Prussian State
Railways in 1914 which is now the European centre for the advanced preservation
of steam traction: it was where the boiler for Tornado was manufactured.
During WW2 Baumberg was sent to France to liaise with the SNFC at Tours.
In East Germany Baumberg was responsible for enhancing the residual steam
locomotive stock. Not in Marshall; introduced via
Glancey augmented by
Wikipedia
Belleville, Julien Francois
Civil engineer: inventor of Belleville washer spring associated with
absorbing the recoil from artillery, but also used in buffers, drawbars and
suspension systems.
Belluzzo, Giuseppe
Giuseppe Belluzzo was born in Verona in 1876 and died in Rome on 21
May 1952.. He taught in Milan and then Rome, and was the author of more than
fifty technical books. He was involved in installing turbines in Italian
cruisers and battleships as well as equipping the first locomotive for turbine
drive, Later Belluzzo went into politics; He was elected to Parliament and
was Minister of National Economy from 1925 to 1928. Mentioned in Ransome-Wallis's
brief survey of unconventional locomotives (Concise Encylopaedia p.
468). Most of remaining information off another website.
The first turbine locomotive was a small experimental 0-2-2-0T developed
in 1907-8, being a conversion of an old 0-6-0T shunting engine built in 1876,
carried out by the Societa Anonima Officine Meccaniche in Milan. One axle
was removed, and four turbines were fitted, two on each side. Steam passed
through all four in turn before exhausting via the chimney. In 1931 Belluzzo
acted as consultant for a 2-8-2 turbine locomotive built by the Ernesto Breda
company. It had high and low pressure turbines. It is thought to have been
tested in the Breda works at Milan, but apparently the Italian State Railway
would not allow it to be run on the main line; whether this indicates it
was an obvious failure that would only delay traffic when it broke down is
uncertain. The turbines drove via reduction gearing and a jackshaft. A condenser
was fitted. In 1933 the Officine Meccaniche Miani-Silvestri-Grodona-Comi
rebuilt a type 685 2-6-2 at Florence for the Italian State Railways. It was
built for express service, and was a 2-6-2 with the turbine mounted at the
front. No condenser was fitted. It was tested between Florence & Pistoia,
but did not appear to enter service.
Patents: British
13261/1907. Improvements in steam turbines
and other multiple expansion elastic fluid prime movers.
Applied 7 June 1907 (in Italy 7 June 1906). Published 7 August 1908.
18771/1908. Improvements in steam turbines. Applied 7 September
1908 (in Italy 7 September 1907). Published 7 December 1909. Co-applicant:
Gadda & Co.
24628/1908. Improvements in turbines. Applied 16 November 1908
(in Italy 16 November 1907). Published 16 November 1909. Co-applicant: Gadda
& Co.
2215/1909. Improvements in steam turbines. Applied 29 January
1909 (in Italy 30 January 1908). Published 29 April 1920.
8493/1913 Improvements in elastic fluid pressure turbines.
Applied 10 April 1913. Published 9 April 1914.
138,315. Improvements in steam turbines. Applied 11 December
1919 (in Italy 17 January 1919). Published 27 May 1920.
194,705. Steam turbine locomotive. Applied 7 March 1923 (in
Italy 8 March 1922). Published 13 March 1924.
204,661.Improvements relating to steam turbines. Applied 29
April 1922. Published 1 October 1923.
200,269 Improvements relating to steam turbines. Applied 29
April 1922. Published 12 July 1923.
370,751 Improvements in and relating to distributors for steam
turbines. Applied 25 June 1931. Published: 14 April 1932.
379,627 Improvements in surface condensers. Applied 18 February
1932. Published: 1 September 1932.
American:
US 1,638.079 Steam-turbine locomotive. Applied 4 September
1925 (in Italy 28 February 1923?). Published: 9 August 1927. Applicant:
Breda
US 1,865,551. Reversing steam turbine with variable velocity.
Applied 4 September 1928 (in Italy 17 October 1927). Published: 5 July 1932.
US 1,887,178. Turbine locomotive. Applied 11 February 1931
(in Italy 25 February 1930). Published: 8 November 1932. Applicant:
Breda
Belpaire, Alfred
Westwood
notes: Best known for the eponymous Belpaire firebox, whose distinctive square
shape could be seen on railways allover the world. The Belpaire firebox,
usually (but not necessarily) recognizable by its square top, was adopted
at times by most of the world's railways. Some continued with it, while others
claimed that the conventional round-top firebox was as good. Probably, the
Belpaire firebox succeeded in eliminating some of the disadvantages of its
predecessor, but at the same time had other disadvantages which just about
balanced out.
Belpaire was born in Ostend in 26 September 1820
(Marshall) and died in Schaerbeck on
27 January 1893 and hard work plus mechanical talent enabled him to obtain
a place, at the age of seventeen, in the central school of Arts et Metiers,
Paris. He graduated at the age of twenty, second in his class, and was appointed
by the Belgian State Railway to take charge of the Malines workshops. This
was a great responsibility for a young and inexperienced man. Furthermore,
Belpaire was soon incapicated for many months by a railway accident in which
both his legs were broken. After recovery, he was appointed chief mechanical
engineer (that is, Director of Rolling Stock). A Jacquet
(Locomotive Mag., 1932, 38,
313) includes a portrait and concurs on biographical
information.
It was in this capacity, in 1860, that he introduced a new design
of firebox to enable locomotives to burn local cheap coal: Belgium had plenty
of small coal of indifferent calorific value, but large steam coal was expensive.
Belpaire reasoned that to burn small coal he would need a firebox in which
the coal could be thinly spread; the conventional small but deep fireboxes
were unsuitable. Thus his firebox was characterized by its great width, and
at the same time he replaced the conventional iron grate with a more
sophisticated arrangement of steel plates designed to improve the air flow
through the entire area of the fire. He also found it possible to replace
the old system of stays which held the inner and outer walls firmly at the
set distance apart. His staying consisted only of vertical and horizontal
stays, fixed inregular lines. Trials showed that his firebox could indeed
utilize inferior coals, resulting in a significant reduction of running costs.
Moreover, his staying system simplified the construction of the firebox.
The design was adopted for all new construction, although in 1864 Belpaire
changed the pattern, abandoning the round-top form for a square shape, which
made staying even easier: henceforth, the term 'Belpaire firebox' implied
a square structure. In the 1880s modifications were made to enable the firebox
to be applied to large locomotives, and to extend over the frames and wheels.
The original purpose of the firebox, the burning of small coal, was only
one of the advantages of this design. The simplicity of the staying cheapened
boiler maintenance costs, and the shape ensured a greater steam and waterspace
In the firebox area. But the round-top boiler was somewhat easier to manufacture,
and hence had a lower initial cost.
The firebox was not the only Belpaire achievement. Apart from designing
a highly standardized range of locomotives for the State Railway, he invented
a reversing gear in which the screw system was combined with the lever system.
He was also the originator of a series of steam carriages for light passenger
services. These single-unit vehicles comprised a leading locomotive section
with behind it on the same frame, a luggage van or a permutation of luggage
van and one or more classes of passenger accommodation. Some units carried
a so-called guitar-type boiler. This had a lower main barrel on which was
superimposed a narrower second barrel which served as a steam reservoir,
where additional heat was transferred by smokebox gases moving by a circuitous
route towards the chimney. This type of boiler was removed after it blew
up. The idea of the steam carriage was not entirely new, but Belpaire was
perhaps unique in the variety of types which he built. A main object of these
units was to reduce the train crew to a driver and conductor; the driver
also looked after the fire. A man so energetic, so inventive, and so
well-certificated was obviously destined to go far. He presided over the
second International Railway Congress in Moscow in 1892, and the following
year attained the highest possible position in the Belgian railway world,
that of president of the State Railway administration. Article by by Wiener
in Locomotive Mag., 1939,
45, 319..
See: The Locomotive Carriage and Wagon Review, Sept. 1932,
Nov. 1939.
H.M. Le Fleming
(Concise encyclopaedia)..
Betts, Thomas George
Locomotive superintendent of the Stockholm-Vesteras-Bergslagenes Ry.
See Loco. Mag., 1906,
12, 178. Neat restaurant/café cars see
Locomotive Mag., 1916, 22,
148
Beugniot, E.
Designer at Koechlin's locomotive works at Mulhouse in France of
counter-pressure braking system.
Carling: Trans Newcomen Soc.,
1983, 55, 1-32.
Bianchi, Giuseppe
Giuseppe Bianchi was born at Imola on 26 August 1888 and died in Milan
on 20 July 1969. Bianchi graduated in electrical mechanical engineering at
the University of Turin in 1912. He joined Ferrovie dello Stato (the Italian
State Railways and was initially assigned to the team for the electrification
of Rome. In 1920 Bianchi was transferred to the office for locomotive research
within the Servizio materiale e trazione (Rolling Stock and Locomotive Service)
at Florence. Although Bianchi distinguished himself through projects involving
steam locomotives for mainline services (like the three variations of the
planned 695, then the unrealised Class 691), his work was central to the
transition from steam to electric power. As the limitations of using alternating
current became evident, and after examining the possibilities offered by
running on the system on direct current of 3 kV, Bianchi concentrated on
this means of power. Already during the first part of his career he had
contributed to improving electric locomotives run on three-phase alternating
current (3.6 kV, 16.7 Hz), and subsequently directed the planning of new
locomotive types, the E432 (FS) and E554. His office also directed the
development of the E326, E626, E428, and E424. (That E424 was not built;
Bianchi's successor built the group of the same name starting in 1943). The
initial failure of his attempts to reach high speeds with his locomotives
and with the electric trains ETR200 allowed his political and industrial
opponents to get him dismissed from the assignment in 1937. He was transferred
to Ferrovie Nord Milano, where he ran the complete electrification of the
network and stayed on until retirement, except for a brief stint working
again with the FS, from 1945 to 1946.
Bianchi fully understood the necessity of a high standard of service and
maintenance for the railcars under his jurisdiction, which were then still
highly prone to mechanical breakdowns due to the newness of the technologies
used. To meet this requirement, in 1928 he introduced the theory of
interoperability: all the technical components of the locomotives should
be simplified in their planning-stages (in favor of reliability) and of a
single standardized design to make finding spare parts easier. These guidelines
represented a philosophy whose concept was very close to that of the 1950s,
spread amongst industry in general under the names "Design for maintenance"
and "Reliable system design".
These design choices were carried over to the characteristic "Bianchi Line"
inspired by the locomotives and systems already used in Switzerland. His
locomotives were composed of a heavy rigid chassis, a central box and two
small projections, one for each side. These projections, though reduced,
they continued to characterize new Italian engines until the introduction
of the E424, in service until the 1990s. They also influenced the development
of the E636, which were built from 1940 to 1962 and were one of the most
numerous Italian locomotive groups, not decommissioned until 2006. From
Wikipedia. See also Loco. Rly Carr.
Wagon Rev., 1932, 38, 71.
Blavier, Aimé-Etienne
With Larpent he designed L'Aigle with 9ft 4in coupled wheels.
This was constructed by Gouin, but suffered from a very small boiler.
See Loco. Mag., 1905,
11, 101 and Internet (good material 7 February 2013)
and Locomotive Mag., 1939,
45, 209.
Bodmer, Johann Georg [John George]
German Swiss engineer who according to
Marshall was born in Zurich on 6 December
1786 of German ancestry and Huguenot stock. He was apprenticed to a mill-wright
named Mesmer at Haupteuil in Thurgau. He became associated with Rothwell
of Bolton who assisted in the financing of Bodmer's inventions, includings
ones for balanced locomotives. He died in Zurich on 29 May 1864. Bodmer spent
several periods in Manchester and lived in London between 1846 and 1848.
His main interest was textile machinery but he became a locomotive builder
in the 1830s. A pioneer in the study of balancing, in 1845 he built at least
two locomotives for British railways having opposed-piston cylinders in which
the reciprocating masses balanced each other (patented in 1834). One Bodmer
type locomotive was supplied by the Sharp Brothers to the Dublin & Drogheda
Railway: see Norman Johnston's
Locomotives of the GNRI (he included a diagram from The
Engineer). Relevant patents below (via
Woodcroft).
He patented a mechanical stoker and a rocking grate in 1844. In 1844 he developed
a rolling mill for steel tyres. Lowe notes
that he appeared before the Gauge Commission in October 1845. Locomotives
incorporating his ideas worked on the South Eastern Railway (No. 123), LBSCR
(No. 20) where Ellis (London, Brighton
and South Coast Railway, p.44 notes) that they were expensive
(£2100 as against £1485 for a comparable Sharp locomotive). Possibly
(according to Sekon
(Evolution...) four locomotives were supplied plus the Sharp
locomotive noted) on the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway
(Sharp 269/1844) No. 9 Bellona (a 2-2-2). Marshall failed to note
that some of the material published in The Locomotive had come from
Diaries. Marshall suggests that J.J. Meyer's expansion valve invented in
France in 1842 and A.K. Rider's valve of 1869 may owe much to
Bodmer.
Walker, Herbert T. The origin of the balanced
locomotive: as shown by the Diaries of John George Bodmer.
Loco. Mag., 1909, 15,
10-12. illus. (port.), 3 diagrs.;
Loco. Mag., 1909, 15,
56. . Loco.
Mag., 1909, 15, 110:
Loco. Mag., 1910, 16,
58-60.:and
Loco. Mag.,
1910, 16, 246
.
See also Loco. Rly Carr. Wagon
Rev., 1931, 37, 42.
Brownlie, David. John George Bodmer, his life
and work, particularly in relation to the evolution of mechanical
stoking. Trans.
Newcomen Soc., 1926, 6,
86-110.
Mainly in maritime applications, but also on locomotives.
Dickinson, H.W. Diary of John George
Bodmer, 1816-17. Trans. Newcomen
Soc., 1929, 10, 102-14.
Rowatt, T. Railway Brakes.
Trans Newcomen Soc., 1927/8, 8, 19-32.
On early horse wagons, self-acting, continuous, automatic, steam, vacuum,
Clark's chain brake, hydraulic. Bibliography.
Winship, Ian R. Some nineteenth century
brakes. Rly Mag., 1987, 133, 162.
Patents
GB 6616/1834 Steam-engines and boilers applicable to fixed and
locomotive engines. 24 May 1834
GB 6617/1834 Construction of grates, stoves and furnaces applicable
to steam engines, and other purposes. 24 May 1834
GB 9702/1843 Locomotive steam-engines and carriages for railways;
marine engines and vessels... 20 April 1843
GB 9899/1843 Grates, furnaces and boilers... 5 October 1843
GB 10243/1843 Locomotive steam-engines and carriages for railways;
marine engines and vessels... 3 July 1843
Macnair, Miles. Placating the Civils.
Backtrack,
2018, 32, 564
Notable for including a Robin Barnes painting
Bonneford
Inventor of valve gear which approximated to that of Corliss. Fitted
to six-coupled engine of the C. de F. de l' Etat and to twenty two express
2-4-2 locomotives including No. 2609 Patay exhibited at the Columbian
Exposition in Chicago in1893.. See
Locomotive Mag., 1915, 21, 42-3
Borodin, Aleksandr P.
Born 1848; died 1898 (not to be confused with composer/industrial
chemist with same name). Built world's first stationary locomotive testing
plant on Russia's South Western Railway at Kiev:
see Backtrack, 2012, 26,
694. See Carling Trans Newcomen
Soc., 1972, 45, 105.
Borries, August von
In 1880, four years after Mallet's successful
demonstration of his compound system, August von Borries and the Schichau
Works introduced their two-cylinder compound system to Germany. The advantage
of the two-cylinder compound was that it did not deman15%1d the extra expense
of third or fourth cylinders,but it had the disadvantage that it was impossible
to ensure that at all cut-offs the work done in the large low-pressure cylinder
would exactly equal that done in the small high-pressure cylinder. However,a
15% difference in thrust was found to be acceptable in practice, so long
as speeds were not too high. Von Borries's contribution was his own design
of starting valve and his conjugated valve gear. His system kept the cut-off
of the low-pressure cylinder always a little behind that of the high-pressure,
thereby alleviating the unequal thrust problem. Von Borries type locomotives
became quite popular in Germany and Russia, and were also tried in other
parts of Europe. But they were unsuited to high speed. The career of von
Borries, born in Minden on 27 January 1852
(Marshall), really began after he had
finished his military service in 1874 (spent with a railway-operating battalion)
when he became chief mechanical engineer of the Hanover division of the Prussian
State Railways. In 1891 he was sent on a study trip to the U.S.A. which was
followed by the publication of his Die nordamerikanischen Eisenbahnen
in technischer Beziehung. From 1902 to his death on 14 February 1906
he was a professor at the Berlin Technical High School. The compounding system
was adopted by the Worsdells on the North Eastern
and by Malcolm Bowman on the NCC in Ireland. See:
Transactions of the Newcomen Society, Vol. XLIII; Glasers Armalen,
1 May 1906; The Engineer, 8 Feb. 1889. and van
Riemsdijk's Compound locomotives.
H.M. Le Fleming (Concise
encyclopaedia)..
Borsig, Johann Carl Friedrich August
Born in Breslau, Germany, on 25 June 1804; died in Berlin on 7 July
1854. Founder of one of the most important German locomotive works. Educated
Breslau Technical School and at Royal Industrial Institute, Berlin. Trained
in mechanical engineering at F.G. Egells, Berlin. In 1837 Borsig established
a works in Berlin employing about fifty. By 1847, in which year 67 locomotives
and tenders were built, it had expanded to 1200 employees. By mid 1851 over
300 locomotives had been built. Also in 1847 he established an ironworks
at Moabit near Berlin for production of good quality rails, until then only
obtainable from England. This came into production in 1850, so freeing German
railways from the British monopoly. In 1854 Borsig opened a colliery in Biscupitz
in Oberschlesien. Marshall and
Locomotive Mag., 1929, 35,
327.
Bourdon, Charles
Associated with Pechot in developing 60 cm railways
for military purposes. French.
Bousquet, Gaston Du
Born and died in Paris according to
John Marshall: 20 August 1839 to 24
March 1910. Worked with De Glehn on compounding.
See also H.M. Le Fleming
(Concise encyclopaedia)... and
van Riemsdijk.One of is most notable
locomotives was the freight 0-6-2+2-6-0 articulated compound with two driving
bogies. Experimented with water-tube fireboxes.
Boyaux, Charles
Born in 1896. Directeur Général SNFC
Locomotive Mag., 1957, 63,
18
Boic, Dobrivoje
Born in Raka in Serbia on. 23 December 1885; died on 13 November
1967 in Belgrade. He studied in Germany at the Technical University of Karlsruhe
and Dresden. While at Karlsruhe, he was a student of Rudolf Diesel, the inventor
of diesel engines. After graduation in 1911, Boic returned to Serbia.
His engineering work began immediately upon his return to the railway workshop
in Ni. He simultaneously started his research in the field of railway
braking. Boic learned that the brake system, which rail vehicles used,
was one of the most problematic parts of vehicle development, due to trains'
increasing speed and mass. In 1869, George Westinghouse designed a brake
on compressed air with direct action and improved it in 1872, producing a
single-chamber, automatic brake with indirect effects. Boic's research
was interrupted during WW1, after which he worked in Kraljevo, Belgrade and
Zagreb. He applied to the International Union of Railways for a patent for
the Boic brake through the Yugoslav railway in 1925. His patent was
approved in 1928. Boic's invention resolved then unsolvable problems,
such as solutions distributor (main braking device). Three working pressures
increased air velocity stab in the main air pipe (along the train) from 80
to 150 metres per second (260 to 490 ft/s) He invented solutions to the problem
of gradual release brake, non-exhaustion during braking, an overfull working
chamber, load-adaptive braking. He first proposed braking of passenger trains
as a function of speed (brakes with two working pressure). He also constructed
an efficient brake controller for locomotives. After WW2, he lived and worked
in the USA. In 1964, he returned to Belgrade where he died. See Locomotive
Mag., 1931, 37, 200 (remainder Wikipedia 2015-10-04)
Breidsprecher
See Locomotive Mag., 1938,
44, 184 for equipment to change gauge between German
and Russian railway systems..
Brotan, Johann.
Brotan was born near Pilsen in Bohemia on 24 June 1843 and died in
Vienna on 20 November 1923. Locomotive engineer: invented a water-tube firebox
in about 1870 and fitted to locomotives from 1902. British patent: GB 26,244/1898
Improvements in steam generation. applied 112 December 1898,; published
4 August 1899. See Szontagh, Gáspár. Brotan and Brotan-Deffner
type fireboxes and fireboxes applied to steam
locomotives. Trans. Newcomen
Soc., 1990, 62, 21-51.
Brown, Charles
Founder of Swiss Locomotive Works in Winterthur, but was born in Uxbridge,
Middlesex on 30 June 1827. Apprenticed at Maudslay & Field in London,
but started his own workshop before end of apprenticeship. In 1851 invited
to start building steam locomotives at Sulzer in Winterthur, but left in
1871 to form firm which became SLM noted for its rack locomotives. He was
involved in the development of electric locomotives in the 1880s. He died
on 6 October 1905 in Basle. Father of Charles Eugene Lancelot
Brown, born in Winterthur, Switzerland (died Lugano 2 May 1924): major
developer of electricity generating and traction machinery.
Both father and son covered by Marshall.
and by H.M. Le Fleming (Concise
encyclopaedia).
Brown, Herbert
Referred to as Dr and with Swiss Locomotive Co. at Winterthur.
Author of ILocoE paper No. 237 on
high pressure locomotive
Buchli, Jakob
Born in Chur, Switzerland, on 4 March 1876; died in Winterthur on
1 April 1945. After his training to be an engineer he worked from 1902 to
1910 for the Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works in Winterthur; from 1907
as its head of the design office. After that he switched to Brown, Boveri
& Cie. in Baden, Switzerland, where he was the chief engineer for electric
traction until 1924. From 1924 to 1930 he was technical director of the
locomotive construction department of the SLM. Amongst his most important
designs were the Buchli drive (1918) named after him and used on the SBB
Class Ae 4/7 amongst others, the Java bogie, the Winterthur universal drive
and the duplex bogie for express coaches (see
Locomotive Mag., 1936, 42,
290). Remainder (so far) Wikipedia 2016-05-13)
Busse, Otto Frederik August
Danish locomotive engineer, born in a flat at the railway works in
Copenhagen in 1850, son of a German locomotive engineer working in Denmark.
Trained in Germany, but returned to Denmark in 1881, joining the State Railway
at Aarhus. Patented a bogie, a modification of the Engerth type.
Caillet, F.L.
French engineer who invented spring system for long coupled locomotives:
see Slaughter. See
also Henri Jules Caillet.
Carnot, Nicolas Léonard
Sadi
Carnot was born 1 June 1796; died 24 August 1832). French physicist
and military engineer who gave the first successful theoretical account of
heat engines, now known as the Carnot cycle, thereby laying the foundations
of the second law of thermodynamics. Wikepedia
Kerker, Milton. Sadi Carnot and the steam engine engineers. Isis,
1960, 51, 257-270
Caprotti, Arturo
Marshall
states that Arturo Caprotti was born in Cremona (IME obituary states
Moscazzano), in Italy, on 22 March 1881 and received his education at the
Technical School and the University of Pavia; subsequently he studied mathematics
and mechanical engineering at the Royal Polytechnic School, Turin, and graduated
in 1904. He then entered the Florentia automobile factory in Florence and
took charge of the design office, afterwards being promoted to be works director.
From 1906 to 1908 he collaborated with Musante in Genoa, on designing and
experimenting with a reversible internal combustion engine.. He invented
in 1915 (Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs, 1938, 138, 512) (Marshall
states 1916) a rotating cam valve gear for steam locomotives, which was applied
to an Italian 2-8-0 in 1921. This used vertical poppet valves operated by
rotating cams with a scroll form, giving the possibility of varying the angular
position of the cams, thus varying exhaust and admission patterns. The gear
was applied to some of the LNWR Claughton class, and to some of the
former GCR 4-6-0s. Theoretically, much superior to normal valve gear, this
margin narrowed after long-lap valves were introduced in conventional steam
locomotives. However, research in Britain led to an improved application
of the Caprotti gear in the 1950s. This was applied to some of the last class
5 4-6-0s built for the LMS under Ivatt, and to British Railway's last passenger
design, the lone Pacific No.71000 Duke of Gloucester and to some of
the Standard Class 5 locomotives. The Duke of Gloucester was
fitted with this new gear and achieved the extremely good steam consumption
per indicated horsepower hour of 12.2 lbs, probably the best result from
any simple locomotive ever (the locomotive is extant and when restored was
improved). However, this came too late, and the Caprotti gear never really
achieved the hopes of its inventor. He died in Milan on 9 February
1938.
Patents
170,855. Valve gear for reversing steam
engines. Published: 20 July 1922. Application number: 28344/1921 Applied:
25 October 1921
170,877 Improvements in valve gears for elastic-fluid engines.
Published: 4 November 1921. Application number: 12341/1920. Applied: 4 May
1920
205,829. Automatic compensating device for elastic fluid engines
while drifting. Published: 9 October 1924. Application number: 26370/1923
Applied: 22 October 1923
232,676. Improvements in the reversing device for reciprocating
engines fitted with cam-controlled poppet valve gears. Published: 22
April 1925. Application number: 1776/1924. Applied: 22 January 1924
246,175. Improved apparatus for heating and supplying boiler feed
water. Published: 25 November 1926. Application number: 1437/1926. Applied:
18 January 1926
345,775. Improvements in poppet valve gear for fluid pressure
engines. Published: 2 April 1931. Application number: 5582/1930. Applied:19
February 1930.
444,010. Improvements in valves for engines operating with a fluid
under pressure. Published: 4 March 1936. Application number: 16652/1934.
Applied: 4 June 1934
447,479 Improved valve arrangement for three cylinder engines.
Published: 15 May 1936. Application number: 32948/1934. Applied: 15 November
1934
448,086. Braking valve-gear for reversible engines. Published:
2 June 1936. Application number: 30567/1935. Applied: 5 November 1935
455,323 Improvements in valve gears for fluid pressure engines.
Published: 19 October 1936. Application number: 25506/1935. Applied: 13 September
1935.
US patents
1549712 Valve gear for reversing steam
engines. Published: 11 August 1925. Application number: 509605/1921 Applied:
22 October 1921
1869463 Poppet valve for steam distributing gears. Published:
2 August 1932. Application number: 214912/1927. Applied: 23 August 1927
1976325 Poppet valve gear. Published: 9 October 1934. Application
number: 431262/1930 Applied: 25 February 1930
2119904 Variable valve lift for oscillating valve gears. Published:
7 June 1938. Application number: 39988/1935 Applied: 10 September 1935
See: Railway and Locomotive Engineering, Feb. 1925; Locomotive
Carriage and Wagon Review, Oct. 1923.
H.M. Le Fleming (Concise
encyclopaedia)...
Caso, Marc de
Born in Montpellier of partly French and partly Italian ancestry in
1893; died 1985. After studying at the École Polytechnique, he joined
the Compagnie du Nord in 1921. He was responsible for renovating a fleet
of ex-Preussian State Railways 4-6-0s acwquired through reparation. He designed
all-steel monocoque coaches and improved the valve gear on the Nord super
Pacifics. His first own design was thev 150 class of four-cylinder compound
2-10-0 which used the Super Pacific boiler and a very large steam-flow circuit.
With an official top speed of 105 kph these heavy freight and mineral train
locomotives were also worked heavy passenger trains making frequent stops.
In 1933, de Caso became locomotive design engineer of the inter-central design
office, where he continued his design work on some remarkable 4-6-4s for
the Nord railway, with 290 psi boilers, 54ft2 grates, mechanical
stokers, robust frames, and large steam-flow circuits. Three three-cylinder
simple-expansion 4-6-4s and five four-cylinder compound 4-6-4s were built
from 1941, the latter developing a maximum of 4,500 ihp. . He was an outspoken
and passionate man.
Glancey
Chân, Georges
Born in 1896. Changed his name from Do Huu Chan to Chan in 1916. Died
in 1978. Marine engineering engineer. He began his career with the Navy at
Guérigny and was assigned to the Toulon arsenal in 1923. In 1925 he
joined the PLM Railway, and began a railway career. He sought to improve
the steam locomotive and studied the aerodynamically streamlined train for
the Paris-Marseille service in 1937. After WW2, he reconstructed the locomotive
fleet with imported locomotives from the United States, but designed by him
and incorporating Chapelon features: the 141R class. Professor at the National
School of Bridges and Highways (Railway courses) from 1948 to 1959. Chief
Engineer traction Studies at the railway in 1948. It was also an artist
draughtsman, he coordinated the exhibition "A Century railway and art" in
1955. See the Locomotive Magazine
for 1940, 46, 139-41 for a precis of a paper by Chan and Leguille
presented to the ILocoE which failed to
be published, presumably due to WW2
Chapsal, Francois
Inventor of a rapid acting compressed air (pneumatic) brake: many
patents including GB 15378/1911 Improved device for accelerating the
application of pneumatic brakes. Chapsal is also associated with inventing
a form of boiler top-feed used by Gresley: see
Ahrons page 352
Chatel, M..
The lubrication of locomotive cylinders on the French Railways. Proc.,
Gen. Discussion on Lubrication and Lubricants, Inst. Mech. Eng. (London),
vol.. 1, 1937, pp., 439-444. See also
Locomotive Mag., 1938, 44,
96-7.
Chatelier, Louis Le
Born 20 February 1815 in Paris, died 10 November 1873. Educated
École Polytechnique. Entered government service as an inspector in
the Corps des Mines and rose to become Ingenieur en Chef. One of the pioneers
of counter-pressure braking and of locomotive balancing, the Frenchman Louis
le Chatelier showed in the late 1840s that balancing of the moving parts
of a locomotive not only improved riding and durability, but also affected
coal consumption and speed: see Thesis by
Bardell. Known to Alexander
McDonnell..
See: L. le Chatelier, Etudes sur la stabilite des machines locomotives
en mouvement (1845).
Guide du Mecanicien Constructeur, with Flachat, Petiet, and
Polonceau published in 1865
Winship, Ian R. Some nineteenth
century brakes. Rly Mag., 1987, 133, 162.
Chenu, Henri
In charge of Brussels running department of Belgian State Railways.
. See Locomotive Mag., 1911,
17, 207.
Cherepanov, Yefim Alekseyevich
Yefim Alekseyevich Cherepanov (1774-1842). Visited Britain to inspect
early railways and locomotives: led to construction of first Russian steam
locomotive in 1833/4 and a second in 1835. Worked with
Miron Yefmovich. See Wikepedia and George Smith
Tsar trek Backtrack, 2013,
27, 426..
Clapeyron, Benoit Paul Emile
Born in Paris on.26 February 1799; died there on 28 January 1864.
(Marshall modified with information
off Internet). Educated at École Polytecnique; graduated in 1818 and
then studied at École des Mines where he met Gabriel
Lamé. They both went to Russia in 1820 for ten years to build
roads and bridges. On return from Clapeyron promoted the Paris-St Gerrnain
Railway. He was concerned with the manufacture of locomotives for gradients
of 1 in 200 and had these built at Sharp, Roberts, Manchester. in 1836. He
then promoted the Northern Railway and was appointed engineer. He shared
in the construction of the Southern Railway, the Bordeaux-Cette and
Bordeaux-Bayonne lines. He was the first French engineer to build several
large iron bridges, over the Seine at Asrueres, the Lot and Tarn rivers,
and he established principles of construction and stress diagrams.
Collberg, H.
Chief Mechanical Engineers, Uppsala-Gafle Ry., Sweden. 2-8-2T design
Locomotive Mag., 1916,
22, 218
Collin, Geovges
Chief mechanical engineer Nord Railway in France 1928-31: welded wagons
see Locomotive Mag., 1931,
37, 238. Super Pacifics.
Locomotive Mag., 1931, 37,
145.. 0-10-0T Locomotive
Mag., 1931, 37, 3.
Conrad, Frederik Willem
Born in Spaarnwoude near Haarlem, Holland, on 15 February 1800; died
in Munich on 1 February 1870. Son of Frederik Willem Conrad inspector general
of buildings and roads in Holland. In 1814 he began to study in engineering
at Delft. At 17 entered the. Department of Buildings and Roads, passing through
the ranks until he was made inspector general. In 1822 he undertook the
construction of a dock at Hellevoetsluis. 1824-5 built the Zederik canal
between the Leck at Vianen and the Merwede at Gorcum. Important river works
followed. In March 1839 his career as railway engineer began when he was
appointed by the government as chief engineer of the Railway Co of Holland
and at once took in hand the cor:st of the Amsterdam-Haarlem Railway which
had begun in 1838. For crossing the marshy ground he laid embankments on
a mattress of stakes and wattles. He had to construct many opening bridges
over canals, In 1844 he presented an account of its history and construcnon
to the ICE for which he was awarded a Walker PI:emium (Min Proc ICE v 3 1844
pp 173-96). The account mcludes 25 detailed drawings of bridges etc. The
railway was opened throughout on 6 December 1843. In 1847 he descnbed the
bridge over the Poldevaart (Min Proc ICE v 6 1847 pp 149-57) on the same
Railway. His account of the Katwyk canal (Min Proc ICE v 2 1842 pp 172-6)
earned him a Telford Medal. He was elected MICE 7 March 1843. He became chief
engineer of briIdges and roads in 1852. In 1855 he became a member of the
International Committee to report on the practicability of a canal through
the Isthmus of Suez. Conrad was elected president In 1856 he became a member
of the supervising committee to construct a new dock at Nieuwediep. He reported
and advised on railway works in the province of Zeeland in 1866. In October
1869 he went to Egypt, to the opening of the Suez Canal. On his way home
he died shortly after arriving at Munich.
Marshall. Not in
Chrimes
Coray, Richard
Born Trins, Graubünden, Switzerland, 30 July 1869; died Wiesen,
Graubünden, 3 October 1946. Trained as engineer in the Technical School,
Winterthur, 1889-92. Later worked on the Breitenburg-Rongellen rope incline
in the Viamala and on the scaffolding for the iron bridge over the Versamertobel.
From the early 1900s he performed centring and scaffolding for an increasing
number of important bridges, first in Graubünden then elsewhere. Major
projects included the Solis and Wiesen bridges on the Rhaetian Railway,
Gründjetobel and Langwies bridges on the Chur-Arosa Railway, Sitter
bridge near St Gallen on the Bodensee-Toggenburg Railway, Perolles and Zalmringer
bridges in Canton Fribourg and the slender centring of the Salginatobel bridge
near Landquart on which his sons cooperated with the great Swiss engineer
and pioneer of concrete arches, Robert Maillart .
Abroad he carried out notable work in Yugoslavia His advice was sought by
engineers and was highly valued. John
Marshall
Cossart, Léon
Works manager and subsequently engineer-in-chief of the Nord Railway
in France, Leon Cossart is remembered best for the Cossart rotary valve gear.
This was an advanced form of poppet valve in which two factors were variable
(admission and expansion) and the others fixed. This enabled cut-offs of
as little as five or ten per cent to be obtained without the inefficient
side-effects that such cut-offs would produce with conventional valves. Moreover,
these poppet valves made possible the use of very high superheat without
temperature distortion and lubrication failure. Such high superheat produced
the advantages of compounding for a. lower price and with less complication.
These principles were embodied in the 2-8-2 tank locomotives (SNCF class
141TC) that Cossart designed for the Paris commuter service. These were
two-cylinder simple locomotives, and were very successful, remaining in service
until 1970.
See: Loco.
Carr. Wagon Rev., 1933, 39, 109..
Crosti, Piero
Developing the ideas of his fellow-Italian
Franco, Dr Ing. Piero Crosti designed the Franco-Crosti
and Crosti boilers. The latter, used on Italian railways and also experimentally
in Germany and Britain, used exhaust steam passing through a single drum
to heat the feedwater (the Franco-Crosti later had two drums; but the principle
was the same). Substantial economies were realized, but in countries where
coal was cheap these were outweighed by extra maintenance expenses. See:
Locomotive Carriage and Wagon Review, June 1953, June 1955.
Creplet, L.E.
Technical inspector, Belgian State Railways. See
Locomotive Mag., 1926,
32, 136
Cugnot, Nicolas-Joseph
Born 26 February 1785; died 2 October 1804. French inventor of steam
carriage: experimental sream vehicle pre-dated experiments by Murdoch and
Trevithick. See Wikepedia.
Copper, Edward A. Description of Cugnot's original invention of the
locomotive steam engine for common roads.
Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs.,
1853, 4, 33-7.
Custodis, Alphons
In charge locomotive fascilities of the Alsace-Lorraine Ry in Luxemburg
See Locomotive Mag.,
1911, 17, 207. M.A.C. Horne.
London's District Railway. Volume 2. curved perforated bricks:
invented by Alphons in Germany in 1862 and used in chimneys at Lots Road:
first reference may be to another Custodis.
Czeczott (Czezcott), Albert
Born 13 April 1873 in St. Petersburg; died 3 November 1955 in Warsaw
Polish engineer, professor of Warsaw University of Technology, a specialist
in research on steam locomotives. He was the son of a doctor residing in
St. Petersburg. Educated in Russia, specializing in the construction of steam
engines and research on them. In 1914 he was professor of Locomotive Engineers
Institute of Road Transport in St. Petersburg, also taught at other local
universities. In 1922 he moved to Poland and from 1927 he lectured at the
Warsaw Polytechnic. From 1928 began work at the Ministry of Communications
in Warsaw, dealing with locomotive research. His initiative was created by
an independent report experimental mechanical department of the Ministry
of Communications. Czeczott designed measuring wagons, and even an experimental
train. Developed test methods for use of steam engines and auxiliary engine
thrust. In 1933 he directed the construction of a vehicle for testing Romanian
locomotives and organized a survey of steam locomotives. Shortly after the
liberation of Warsaw, Czeczott returned to work at the Department of Mechanical
Engineering of the Ministry of Communications and conditions of the major
difficulties in materials began to organize independent experimental paper.
Developed a new method of testing locomotives, on the basis of which has
been studied among others locomotives Tr202 , Ty45 , Ty2 , Ty43 , Ty246 ,
drawing up their operating characteristics. According to the project was
built in 1949 Czeczott wagon measuring torque, followed by 3 locomotives
resistance, marked CZ1, CZ2, CZ3, adapted for the manufacture of artificial
resistance movement. In 1951, he moved to the newly established Research
Institute of Railway, where he organized the establishment of traction steam
and smoke. He participated in the study of newly constructed locomotives
TKt48 , Ol49 and Ty51 . He was also an analysis of carbon species in terms
of its use for sunbathing locomotives. He was the author of many publications
in Poland and abroad. Introduced a system for flexibility in ten coupled
narrow gauge locomotives for railways in Upper Silesia and a system of locomotive
testing cited by H.I. Andrews. Author of book on testing. Mainly Polish Wikipedia
and machine translation. Also Carling
Trans. Newcomen Soc., 1972,
45, 105.
Patents
GB 356869. Methods of removing deposits from boilers and of preventing
the formation of scale and apparatus therefor. Applied 14 July 1930 (priority
13 July 1929). Published 17 September 1931.
Debac, Pierre Barthelemy Guinibert
Patents via Woodcroft
GB 7100/1836. Railways. 18 May 1836.
GB 7373/1837. Railroads. 13 May 1837.
De Cambis, Louis Joseph Marie (Marquis)
Patent via Woodcroft
GB 5372/1826 Rotary steam engine; apparatus connected therewith. 23
May 1826
Décauville, Paul
Born in Petit Boury in Frnace on 7 June 1846. Died 1922 according
to Marshall. Developed portable, narrow
gauge railway systems for use in agriculture and later for military
applications. Ransom, P.J.G.
Narrow gauge steam. 1996 noted that system developed
to harvest sugar beet and a 60cm layout was installed at the Paris Exhibition
of 1889. Decauville had visited the
Festiniog Railway in
1879. See also W.J.K. Davies'
Light railways..
Papers
On portable railways. Proc.
Instn Mech. Engrs., 1884, 35, 126-49.
Dechen, Heinrich von
One of two Prussian mining engineers who visited the United Kingdom
to study the railways: see Report on railways in England in
1826-27 by Carl von Oeynhausen and Heinrich von Dechen; translated
and reviewed E.A. Forward. Trans
Newcomen Soc., 1954, 29, 1-10. Disc.: 11-12.
See also Warren
Deffner, Ernst
Mechanical engineer with Schweizerische Bundenshahnen (SBB), the Swiss
Federal Railways, who became technical adviser to Mannesmann Steel Tubes
A.G., to whom Johann Brotan later sold the patent rights to his water tube
firebox boiler. Deffner developed the Brotan boiler to a form which was much
more readily applicable to larger locomotives. Brotan-Deffner boilered
locomotives were first built in 1907, with a total of over 1000 in Hungary.
British Patent GB 6582/1906 Improvements in fire bridges for steam
generators. Applied 19 March 1906; published 10 January 1907. See Szontagh,
Gáspár. Brotan and Brotan-Deffner type fireboxes and fireboxes
applied to steam locomotives. Trans.
Newcomen Soc., 1990, 62, 21-51. .
De Nanteuil, Pierre Antoine Auguste De La Barre.
Patent via Woodcroft
GB 13,809/1850. Propelling carriages. 2 November 1850
Denis, Paul Camille
Born at Château des Saales in Montier-en-Der, in the
Département of Haute-Marne, France on 28 June 1796. He grew up as
a child of the Mainz city councillor, Peter Denis, and attended the Lyceum
Louis le Grand in Paris. In 1814 and 1815 he studied at the École
Polytechnique in Paris. After the conclusion of his studies he returned to
the Palatinate to his father who had since settled at Neustadt. Initially
employed as a trainee by the Bavarian state, to which the Palatinate then
belonged; from 3 March 1816 he worked as a construction overseer (Baukondukteur)
in Germersheim. In 1822 he became an engineering inspector at Speyer and
in 1826 was promoted to engineer, first class, at Zweibrücken. Here
he came into contact with the democratic opposition organised by Friedrich
Schüler, Johann Georg August Wirth, Joseph Savoye and Ferdinand Geib.
In a report from the state police to the Bavarian king he was described,
incorrectly, as their boyhood friend and fellow student. The German Press
and Fatherland Union (Deutscher Preß- und Vaterlandsverein) of democrats
was founded in 1832, in which the wealthy Paul Camille Denis was a major
financial contributor. In his personal files for that year his wealth was
stated at 300,000 Gulden. When in August 1832 the secretary of the Preß-
und Vaterlandsverein, Georg Eifler, was arrested, Paul Camille Denis put
up 10,000 Gulden as bail. As a member of the Palatine state parliament he
took part in the Hambach Festival. As a result the Bavarian General Commissioner,
Field Marshal Carl Philipp von Wrede, transferred him to Rosenheim for exceeding
his authority. On 1 August 1832 Paul Camille Denis signed the Kaiserslautern
Protest against the Federal resolution of 28 June. This led to a charge of
"denigration of the most high state authorities". Denis reacted to the charge
and threatened transfer to the Isar area by taking unpaid leave on 7 November
1832 for a technical training trip to England and America.
On return he built the first German railway line, the Bavarian Ludwig Railway
between Nuremberg and Fürth which opened in 1835. This was followed
by the construction of the Taunus Railway from Frankfurt am Main to Wiesbaden,
opened in 1839-1840, and the Palatine Ludwig Railway in 18441849.
Recognised as an expert in railway building he later took responsibility
for the construction of the Palatine Maximilian Railway, the Homburg
Zweibrücken railway (1857), later part of the Schwarzbachtalbahn (Pfalz)
and the Bliestalbahn, as well as the Bavarian Eastern Railway Company from
1856 to 1861. Now highly respected, he received the Knight's Cross of Philip
the Magnanimous in 1852 from Grand Duke Ludwig III of Hesse and Rhine. In
the same year he was raised to the peerage by the Bavarian king, Maximilian
II, becoming Paul Camille von Denis. In 1865 Paul Camille von Denis became
the head of the planning commission for the Rhine bridge on the
MannheimLudwigshafen railway and shortly thereafter, in 1866, went
into retirement of his own volition. He died in Bad Dürkheim on 3 September
1872, Wikipedia (18-08-2013) and
Rly Wld, 1960, 21,
264.
De Pons, Henry Francois Marie.
Patent via Woodcroft
GB 13514/1851. Constructing roads and ways, and pavements
of streets; ballast of railways. 17 February 1851.
De Rigel, Antonin Pieux
Patent via Woodcroft
GB 7445/1837. Steam-engines. 14 October 1837.
De Rosen, Adolphe Eugene, Count
Patent via
Woodcroft
GB 3938/1826. Engine for communicating power,
to answer the purposes of a steam-engine. 1 August 1826
Dery, Victor Auguste Ernest Dwelshauvers-
Born in 1836; died in 1913. Normally cited as Dery as
in Riemsdijk. Cited by Chapelon.
Professor at the University of Liège. Not in Wikipedia (2012-08-31),
but some material on Internet. Thermodynamics of steam.. Paper (one of presumably
a great many):. Experiments on the compression of steam in the clearance
space. J. Am. Soc. Naval Engrs., 1898, 10, 64159.
De Strubing, James Ulric Vaucher, Baron
Patent via
Woodcroft
GB 12876/1849. Axletree-boxes for carriages;
bearinga of the axles of railways; making an alloy of metal suitable for
such purposes. 3 December 1849
Dorpmueller, Julius Heinrich
Born 24 July 1869 in Elberfeld; died 5 July 1945 in Malente. Dorpmueller
was general manager of Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft from 1926 to 1945
and the German Reich Transport Minister from 1937 to 1945. He was the son
of a railway engineer, and studied railway and road construction from 1889
to 1893. After graduating in 1898, he was active in the Prussian state railway
administration. In 1907 he stepped down as an executive of the technical
office and went into the service of the Schantung railway in Tsingtao. In
1908 he was appointed chief engineer for the German section of the new Chinese
Imperial state Tianjin-Pukou railway. Due to the declaration of war by China
against the German Reich, he returned as a refugee in 1918, passing through
Manchuria, Siberia and Russia to Germany. In the light railway service he
was active in the management of the Transcaucasian SFSR railways. In 1919
he became departmental head with German Reich Railways (Deutsche
Reichseisenbahnen) in the Stettin district. From 1922 to 30 September 1924
he was a president in the Deutsche Reichseisenbahnen in the Oppeln district,
and from 1 October 1924 to 1925 he was president in the Ruhr district; due
to his comprehensive experience in light railways, Dorpmueller was consulted
as part of the Dawes plan.
After 1925 the board of directors of the German Reich Railway created a position
entitled Permanent Representative of the general manager (Head of the Railway),
as general manager Rudolf Oeser was seriously ill; Dorpmueller was appointed
to this post on 3 July 1925. In December 1925 RWTH Aachen, in acknowledgment
of his services to railways awarded him a doctorate in engineering. On 3
June 1926, the day of Rudolf Oeser's death he was selected by the board of
directors to become the German railway's general manager. Due to political
considerations it was only confirmed on 18 October 1926 by the President
of Germany. He was a prime instigator of diesel electric traction as
exemplified by the Flying Hamburger see
Locomotive
Mag., 1934, 40,
63.
Dorpmüller became Reich Transport Minister on 2 February 1937 after
the resignation of his predecessor Paul Freiherr von Eltz-Rübenach.
In April 1938, when a Berlin train stopped in Passau, Dorpmüller was
ceremonially welcomed and escorted to the Danube, where he continued his
trip to Linz and Vienna on board the Austrian Wotan. On 11 July 1939 the
"law concerning the Deutsche Reichsbahn" (German Reich Railway) was issued
and Dorpmüller was confirmed as transport minister and also General
Manager of the Deutsche Reichsbahn. Dorpmüller stayed in post until
the formation of the 1945 Flensburg government. The British then asked
Dorpmueller to take over reconstruction of the German railways: Dorpmueller
and his representative Albert Ganzenmüller were brought by air, by the
United States, to Chesnay in Paris, in order to meet for negotiations over
the reorganization of German transport. The American general Carl R Gray
Jr had expressly recommended Dorpmueller to General Dwight D Eisenhower for
"re-instatement to his old office", because he as also "our secret
service confirms" had been neither a "Nazi sympathizer nor activist".
With difficulty, as he was suffering from cancer, Dorpmueller returned on
13 June 1945 to Malente and from there, gave advice on reconstruction. On
23 June 1945 he was operated on again but his digestive system
no longer functioned, so his health deteriorated rapidly. Despite this, he
led official discussions, in full coherence, until two days before his death.
Dorpmueller died on 5 July 1945 and was buried in Malente.
Duchâtel, Émile Éugène Henri
Born 21 October 1876 at Auneuil; died 13 February 1953. After studying
at Beauvais he was admitted to the Ecole Polytechnique on 16 October 1895.
After two years of study, he returned in 1898 to the School of bridges and
roads for three years of study. He was named 3rd class engineer 16 June 1901.
Moved to Compiègne in February 1903, to work on water supply to the
city in 1908. He then joined the Eastern Railway Company on 1 September 1910.
He occupied the position of chief engineer of equipment and traction from
1918 to 1933. Its offices were at 168 Lafayette Street in Paris . He filed
forty Patent applications and gave his name to the Duchâtel-Mestre
steam superheater. Four-cylinder compound
4-8-2 Locomotive Mag., 1929, 35,
205-7. Welded fireboxes: Locomotive
Mag., 1932, 38, 282.
Duquesne, Paul
Locomotive engineer of the Belgian State Rlys at Jemelle.
See Locomotive Mag., 1911,
17, 207.
Edwards, Henry Hinde
Born at Plymouth in November, 1800; died Paris 13 February 1861. His
father, was a practical Engineer and steam-engine builder, perceived that
there would be a good opening on the Continent, sent his son, in 1814, to
complete his education in France, and eventually followed and settled in
Paris, where he became the partner of Casimir Perier at Chaillot, and took
his son into the works, of which, in 1829, Henry Hinde Edwards became the
managing partner, as successor of his father, in the firm of Perier, Edwards,
Chaper, and Co. The establishment, following closely after that of Manby,
Wilson, and Co. at Charenton, founded in 1820, became important in the history
of mechanical engineering in France, and from thence there were produced
large numbers of the double cylinder, high and low pressure engines, on Wolfs
system. Edwards also gave valuable aid in numerous establishments for mining,
pumping water, grinding corn, etc., and displayed considerable mechanical
ingenuity and skill. Among other works, he built, under the direction of
Polonceau, the cast-iron bridge across the Seine, called the Pont du Carrousel.
During the period of the political crisis, when all industrial undertakings
were brought to a standstill, Edwards returned to England, whence he was
eventually summoned to take charge of the Locomotive and Rolling Stock Department
of the Eastern (Strasbourg) Railway, duties which he performed with undoubted
skill and rare conscientiousness. He joined the Institution of Civil Engineers,
as a Member, in December, 1855, but his residence abroad precluded his paying
frequent visits during the Sessions.
Egestorff, George
Born (7 February 1802) in Linden and died there on 27 May 1868. German
industrialist whose activities included manuafcture of stationary engines,
but moved onto locomotive construction in 1846, Established Hannoversche
Machinenbau taken over by Dr Strousberg upon Egestorff's death.
See Locomotive Mag., 1903,
8, 168
Eifel, Alexandre Gustav
Born Dijon on 15 December 1832; died Paris 28 December 1923. French
civil engr, best remembered for his great tower in Paris, built 1887-9, and
designer of many outstanding bridges still in use on French railways. Educated
at Dijon and the Lycee Ste Barbe, and the Central School of Arts and Crafts,
Paris, where he studied civil engineering until 1855. Became Member of the
the Société des lngenleurs Civils de France in 1857. After
experience in designing the great iron bridge over the Garonne in Bordeaux
in 1858, and bridges on the Poitiers-Limoges Railway in 1867-8, he developed
his prindple of construction in wrought iron and cast iron which he employed
in the great viaducts at Sioule and Neuvial on the Orleans Railway in 1868-9.
Other important iron viaducts were the Tagus bridge on the Caceres Railway
in Spain (1880),312m long; the Vianna bridge on the Minho Railway Portugal,
736m long, on 9 masonry piers; and the Tardes viaduct in central France on
the Montlucon-Eygurande line (1883), 250m long and 73m high. His iron-arched
railway bridges included the Douro bridge at Porto, Portugal (1875), 160m
long and 61m high; the Garabit viaduct, Sud Railway, France (1882), 564m
long with a main span of 165m, 122m high. By 1887 his railway bridges alone
accounted for 38,000 tons of iron and steel work. He received many honours
John Marshall:
Engerth, Wilhelm Frieherr von
Born Pless in Germany and died Leesdorf, near Baden, on 4 September
1884. Designed locomotive Engerth for Semmering Railway. Frame was
in two portions: the rear enclosing the firebox. The cylinders drove the
coupled wheels of the front unit which were geared to those of the rear unit.
This was patented in 1852. He served on the Panel of Judges at the Great
Exhibition in London of 1851. John
Marshall: Le Fleming Concise
encyclopaedia gives a somewhat better description of the locomotive:
none of the contestants at the Semmering trials of 1851 was considered wholly
satisfactory and Engerth was instructed to produce a design. Patented in
1852 the Engerth had the frames in two parts, of which the rear enclosed
the firebox and was pivoted just in front of it. The cylinders drove the
coupled wheels of the front unit which were connected to those of the rear
unit by gearing and thus the "tender" weight was used for adhesion. However,
the gears of those days and alternative forms of transmission proved
unsatisfactory and were later abandoned. Use of part of the tender weight
for adhesion was later revived in the Continental "Stutz-tender" locomotives.
Carling,
D.R.. Engerth and similar locomotives. Trans Newcomen
Soc., 1985, 57, 31-56. Disc. 57-8.
Estrade
La Parisienne locomotive built by J. Boulet
& Cie: see Locomotive Mag.,
1939, 45, 209.
Fialovits, Bela
Born 1885; died 1968. Chief mechanical engineer of Magyar Allanvasutak
(MAV), Hungarian State Railways. From early 1920s, made great efforts to
redesign and to rebuild older steam locomotives of MAV. He knew from his
experience as chief running and maintenance engineer of MAV's northern main
workshops that there were problems of structural strength and lack of rigidity
in the Brotan-Deffner boiler, which he redesigned with successful results
and applied to several locomotives. Extended applications were halted by
MAV's abandonment of further steam locomotive development in the mid-1950s.
See Szontagh, Gáspár. Brotan and Brotan-Deffner type fireboxes
and fireboxes applied to steam
locomotives. Trans. Newcomen
Soc., 1990, 62, 21-51.
Flaman
Belgian designer of double-barrel boiler.
Locomotive
Mag., 1923, 29,
231
Flamme, Jean Baptiste
Marshall states that Flamme
was born in Mons on 19 October 1847 and died in Brussells on 25 May 1920.
A Belgian of great originality, Flamme was the first, in 1901, to fit Schmidt's
firetube superheater to a locomotive, and did so successfully. He produced
his unusual 4-6-2 and 2-10-0 for the Belgian State Railways in 1910. The
Pacific had a very large boiler with a correspondingly sharp taper, and was
conspicuous because its smokebox was set well behind the leading truck. The
2-10-0 was distinguished by a similar boiler and widely-spread coupled wheels
and, but for the 1914 war, would probably have been adopted by the Lancashire
& Yorkshire Railway. [see Barnes] Some
of the 2-10-0 machines were sent to Russia during the First World War to
work on captured standard gauge lines, and remained working in the Crimea
until the mid-1940s.
See: E. S. Cox, World Steam in the Twentieth Century (1969); Locomotive Carriage and Wagon Review, Jan., July 1927.
Forquenot, M.V.
In charge of motive power on Paris & Limours Rly.
Locomotive Mag., 1903, 8,
57-8
Franco, Attilio
Westwood alleged
that Italian contributions to locomotive design were small, but Franco made
his mark (in Belgium) with a novel three-unit articulated 0-6-2 + 2-4-2-4-2
+ 2-6-0 that carried two subsidiary and two main boilers. In 1937 he designed
for the Italian State Railways a 4-6-0 with reversed boiler and cab in front,
His ideas on improved boiler efficiency were developed by
Crosti . See: Locomotive Carriage and Wagon Review,
Aug, 1933, June 1953. Not in Marshall
Francq, Léon
Born in Maubeuge on 18 March 1848; dies in Villennes-sur-Seinne on
24 November 1930. Inventor and patentee of fireless steam locomotives used
extensively in Psris and elsewhere. See
Locomotive Mag., 1918, 24, 23-5.
Fuchs
Director of the German State Rlys when Loffler high pressure locomotive
put into service. Locomotive Mag.,
1930, 36, 40.
Gaeremynck, O.
In charge locomotive depot at Ghent of Belgian State Railways.
See Locomotive Mag., 1911,
17, 207.
Gakkel, Yakov Modestovich
Born 30 April 1874, in Irkutsk; died 12 December 1945, in Leningrad.
Russian scientist and designer in the field of aircraft and diesel locomotive
building; Gakkel graduated from the St. Petersburg Institute of Electrical
Engineering in 1897. For participation in revolutionary student organizations
he was exiled for five years to Siberia, where he directed the construction
and later the operation of one of Russias first hydroelectric power
plants (near the city of Bodaibo). On return to St. Petersburg, Gakkel worked
on the design, construction, and operation of the St. Petersburg streetcar,
at the same time teaching a course on electric traction at the Institute
of Electrical Engineering (he became a professor there in 1921). He was
associated with the Leningrad Institute of Railroad Engineering beginning
in 1936. Between 1909 and 1912, Gakkel designed and built a number of original
aircraft. Between 1920 and 1921 Gakkel designed one of the worlds first
powerful and efficient diesel locomotives (about 1,000 hp; built in 1924).
Many of Gakkels design ideas (in particular the interlinked design
of the diesel locomotive) have been further developed in the modern diesel
locomotive. Gakkel was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and medals.
Online sources. See also Hennessey,
Backtrack, 2004, 18, 206.
Garbe, Robert Hermann
Le Fleming (Concise encyclopaedia
p. 498) noted that born in Oppeln on 9 January 1847 and
died in Berlin on 23 May 1932. Performed extensive tests on Prussian State
Railways from 1895 to 1917. Advocate of superheating and standardisation:
huge numbers of 4-6-0s, 0-8-0s and 0-10-0s built to his designs. "one of
the greatest authorities on the locomotive".
Marshall adds citations to several
German publications, See also
Trans. Newcomen Soc., 1993,
65, 165 for paper by J. Quellmalz, Thermodynamic aspects of the
design of German Standard steam locomotives: compound vs. simple expansion.
Book Die Dampflokomotiven der Gegenwart 1920. Earlier The application
of highly superheated steam for locomotives. reviewed in Locomotive
Mag., 1908, 14, 184. Wikipedia (2-1-2017) updated personal
informattion.
Gehlen, J.H.
Chief mechanical engineer Dutch Central Railway: see four-cylinder
4-6-0 Locomotive Mag., 1919,
25, 33-4.
Geislinger, Leonarrt
Austrian inventor of gas-genrator turbine system used by Swedish State
Railways from 1930s. Presumably descendents of his developed power transmission
couplings, some of which employ rubber components, and which supports a research
centre to study torsional vibration. In part
Duffy; item in
Locomotive Mag., Volume 61 and
remainder off Internet
Gerstner, Franz Anton Von
Born Prague on 11 May 1793; died Philadelphia, USA on 12 April 1840.
Son of Franz Josef von Gerstner, founder of the Prague Polytechnic Institute,
where son was educated and promoter of the railway from the Danube to the
Moldau (Vltava). His full name was Franz Anton Ritter von Gerstner (members
of the family were allowed to bear the title 'Ritter'). In 1818 was appointed
professor of practical geometry at Vienna Polytechnic Institute. In 1822
he decided to study railway construction and visited England. Returning to
Vienna he built a 2km long railway, a third of it with wooden rails, a third
with cast iron rails and a third with wrought iron rails. He surveyed the
Danube-Moldau Railway and on 7 September 1824 obtained a concession for the
railway from Budweis on the Moldau to the Danube near Linz, using wooden
and iron rails. In 1826 he again visited England to examine locomotive haulage
on railways. On 7 September 1827 the Budweis-Trojern section was opened.
This had steeper gradients and sharper curves. Still not convinced of the
merits of steam power, he visited England again in 1829. The Budweis-Linz
Railway opened throughout on 1 August 1832. In 1834 he visited Russia intending
to layout a railway network and in 1835 presented a memorandum to Tsar Nicholas
I suggesting that he should be allowed to build a railway between Moscow
and St Petersburg, Nizhnii Novgorod and Kazan. He asked for a 20-year monopoly
of railway construction in Russia At the end of October 1837 only the 23km
section from St Petersburg to Tsarskoye Selo had opened, extended to Pavlovsk
the following summer. Harro Zabehlicky
(letter Backtrack, 2013, 27, 573) states that Gerstner
built, after visiting English railways (but he never had been able to find
out which), the first mountain railway from Budweis, 315.5m above sea level
(nowadays Budejovice in the Czech Republic, then a part of the Austrian empire)
via Kerschbaum (713.4m) to Linz-Urfahr (262.6m) in Upper- Austria, begun
in 1824! The first railway, albeit by the use of horses, in the continent,
was primarily thought for the transport of salt, which could not be found
in the granite massive of the Bohrnerwald. In 1838 he went to America to
study railways there but died in Philadelphia.
John Marshall (other):
Gerwig, Robert
Born Karlsruhe, Germany, on 2 May 1820; died Karlsruhe 6 December
1885. Engineer on St Gotthard Railway. Educated Technical High School, Karlsruhe.
In 1840 engineer of water and street works in Baden. 1868-71 supervised
construction of the Black Forest Railway. 1871 appointed engineer on St Gotthard
Railway, being placed in charge of the Ticino section with its four great
spiral tunnels, which opened 1 June 1882.
John Marshall:
Ghega, Karl Kitter von
Born Venice on 10 January 1802; died Vienna 14 March 1860. Engineer
of the Semmering Railway, Studied at Padua University and graduated as Doctor
of Mathematics in 1819. For seventeen years he was engaged on street tramways
and water supply works in Venice. In 1836 appointed engineer on Kaiser
Ferdinand's Nordbahn, the first steam railway in Austria. In 1836-7 he visited
Belgium and England to study railways. He then planned the
Rabensburg-Brünen, and Lundenburg-Olmütz Railways. In 1842 he visited
USA on a study tour. His greatest work was the laying out and construction
of the Semmering Railway, Wiener Neustadt-Murzuschlag, Europe's first mountain
railway, begun after much delay on 8 August 1848 and opened to freight on
15 May1854 and passengers on 17 July 1854. A large memorial to Ghega was
erected at Semmering station. John
Marshall:
Ghilain, P.
General Secretary, International Railway Congress Association. Belgian.
At ILocoE Dinner in 1935 when representing Belgian State Railways:
Locomotive Mag., 1935, 41,
94..
Giesl-Gieslingen, Adolph
Born in Trient, Tirol, on 7 September 1903 died in Vienna
on 11 February 1992). Studied at the Technical College in Vienna. In 1924
he published a technical article on smokebox design and chimneys.[1] In 1925
he received his diploma as an engineer, and began working as a design engineer
at the Floridsdorf locomotive works,[1] where he was involved in the construction
of the Class 214 2-8-4s. While at Floridorf he continued his studies, being
interested in developing the rectangular chimney design developed by Golsdorf
in Austria, and finished his doctoral thesis on locomotive front-end design
in 1929. In 1929 the director, Arno Demmer, sent him to the USA, where he
stayed until 1938, working on the New York Central Railroad testing a Kylala
blastpipe. There he got to know his wife, whom he married in 1933 in New
York. After his return to Austria he became Demmer's assistant and, after
the Second World War, chief engineer of the Floridsdorf company. In 1946
he took up his post as honorary professor at the Technical College in Vienna
as the successor to Johann Rihosek. (Wikipedia 2012-10-11)
Inventor of the Giesl Ejector, a carefully proportioned rectangular multi-jet
exhaust arrangement, Giesl spent decades trying to interest railways in his
device. About thirty years after he began his studies, the Austrian Federal
Railways adopted it and found that it increased the power output of its
locomotives by up to one-third, whilst reducing coal consumption. Some other
railways followed the Austrian example, but in most parts of the world it
came too late, dieselization and electrification being already the accepted
policy.
Books:
Die Ara nach Golsdorf . Vienna: Verlag Josef Otto Slezak 288pp.
Reviewed by D.R. Carling in
Railway W
ld., 1982,
43, 94
Lokomotlv-athleten Vienna: Verlag Jose! Otto Slezak.
Reviewed by DRC [Carling] in
Railway World, 1976,
37,535
Cox (Locomotive panorama. Part
2 p. 99) considered that he was "a delightfully fair minded
man, devoted to steam traction, and a first rate engineer". Nevertheless,
Cox doubted whether the device was worth the cost and effort although did
concede that it reduced spark throwing by the West Country Pacific
so-fitted,
See: Trains Magazine, Jan. 1958; European Railways No.2, 1963.
John Sagar. Just what the doctor ordered; experience with the Giesl
Ejector on City of Wells. Rly
Wld., 1992, 53 (629),
46-9.
Includes photograph taken on 14 September 1986 at Haworth of No. 34092
with John Click and Adolph Giesl-Gieslingen when latter was aged
84.
Giffard, Henri
Marshall notes
born in Paris on 8 February 1825 and died there on 14 April 1882. Inventor
of the injector in 1859 which he had hoped to apply to steam engines for
ballooning. Often mis-cited as "Gifford". Engineer, 1923, 31 August,
p. 231. See I.Loco.E. Paper No. 498 by
T.H. Shields which includes extracts from Giffard patent,.
Giger, Walter
Appeared to have links with Brown Boveri and with the Baltimore &
Ohio Railroad when multiple engine (cylinders) locomotives were being designed
during the late 1930s. Active seeker of patents, some of which relate to
multiple power source locomotives: one source being gas turbines, which Brown
Boveri developed. See Macnair. Lead on.
Backtrack, 2014, 28, 627. Another "Walter Giger" is an
active chemist which makes searching difficult.
Goldschmid, Louis
Works manager Forges Usines et Fonderies S.A. Haine St. Pierre Under
the leadership of Louis Goldschmidt, in 1895 significant investments were
made to build large series of locomotives. The Goldschmid Workshops not only
provide the Belgian State but also exported to China, Egypt, the Balkans,
Argentina. During WW1 the workshops were not worked for the occupiers. In
1918, after the German withdrawal, George Goldschmidt took possession workshops
partially looted by the enemy. But thanks to the high quality provided by
FUF equipment, workshops Haine-St-Pierre resumed the Chinese market that
the US had captured during the war. In 1921, Georges Goldschmid built a large
plant for the manufacture of freight cars. Off Belgian website prompted by
ILocoE visit to plant in 1911: See
Locomotive Mag., 1911, 17, 207.
Gölsdorf, Karl
Born in Vienna on 8 June 1861; died Semmering on 18 March 1916. Son
of Adolf Golsdorf, CME of Austrian Southern Railway from 1885 to 1907. In
charge of locomotive design on Austrian State Railways from 1891.
(Marshall).
H.M. Le Fleming (Concise
encyclopaedia) noted that "few men have left such an unmistakable
stamp on the locomotives of a country. Noted for the elegance and ingenuity
of his designs. 2-cylinder compound introduced in 1893 with simple automatic
system which permitted semi-compound working at long cut-offs. Patented in
1895. 4-cylinder compound introduced in 1901. A ten coupled locomotive was
introduced in 1900 with adequate side play. He exploited the Brotan boiler.
He introduced the 2-6-2 to Europe. He designed an 0-12-0T for Abt rack system.
He develooped with Clench a form of drier used in Poland, but removed after
some time. Grace's Guide lists a firm in Chesterfield owned by Donkin and
Clench which manufactured boilers. He developed a valve gear which dispensed
with expansion links and introduced a numbering system for locomotives. Phil
Atkins has found the following quotation attributed to Gölsdorf: 'You
can't save a ton weight on a locomotive, but you can save a kilo in a thousand
places' (it certainly sounds plausible KPJ).
Die Ara nach Golsdorf by A. Giesl-Gieslingen. Vienna: Verlag Josef
Otto: Revie w by D,R, Carling.
Railway Wld, 1982,
43, 94
Kalla-Bishop Locomotives at War pp.
145-6 presented a highly contrary view "they [Golsdorf locomotives] were
all pretty dreadful, worse than the Italian designs of the same age...".
Long obituary in Locomotive Mag.,
1920, 26, 131 wuith portrait.
Letter in Locomotive Mag.,
1909, 15, 200 noting the lack of information on British locomotive exports
to Austria in the period up to 1859.
Gruson, Hermann
Born Magdeburg, Germany on 31 March 1821; died in Magdeburg 30 January
1895. Manufacturer of railway equipment, machinery and armaments. Descended
from a Flemish Calvinist family who settled in Magdeburg in 1689. Between
1840 and 1844 he worked in August Borsig's machine factory in Berlin. In
1855 Gruson founded a machine factory, iron foundry and shipyard on the Elbe
at Backau (now part of Magdeburg). In the depression shortly afterwards he
was almost bankrupted, but by experimenting with two types of pig iron he
produced a chill cast iron with an extremely hard surface which was used
for railway crossings and other parts subjected to heavy wear. Later locomotive,
carriage and wagon wheels were made of this cast iron. But he found his most
profitable market was in armaments production. In 1892 the Gruson plant was
bought by Krupp of Essen. Gruson then retired and devoted his time to growing
exotic plants. Marshall.
Guerin, Edouard
French inventor of self-acting railway brake (American patent on
Internet); described in Proc. Instn.
Civil Engrs. paper which was tested on the LSW on the Windsor
line..
Gumther, K.
Worked on electric retardation for locomotive testing in Germany described
in Int. Rly Congress Assn Bull., 1932, 14, 1171 and cited by
Andrews and
Carling.
Gysel, Ernst
Born 1882 in Schaffhausen Switzerland. As mechanical engineer Ernst
Gysel was CEO from 1930 to 1947 of the Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works
(SLM) at Winterthur (near Zurich). Paper
264 ILocoE.
Haagsma, S.E.
Locomotive Superintendent of the Dutch State Railways from 1895.
Introduced an Atlantic type which was very damaging to the track, a well
balanced four-cylinder 4-6-0 and a large 2-8-2T manufactured in Germany by
Hohenzollern
Haerter, Ludwig
Inventor of a resilient wheel with rubber spokes.
See Loco. Mag., 1940, 46,
295.
Hagans, Christian
Born Erfurt in 1829; died in 1908. In 1891 Hagans was granted patent
DE 58,845 /1891 for his articulation system for steam locomotves. In 1892
the first two Hagans system locomotives built for Gelnhausen-Bieber mine
railway. In 1893 trial of 0-4+4-0 on Prussian State Railways (0.9m gauge).
In 1894 The Association of the German Railway Administration awards Hagans
its first prize of 7500 Mark. In 1894 Schichau built an 0-6+4-0. In 1895
three Hagans built by Weidnecht in Paris for the Greek Volo Lechonia railway
(0.6m gauge) In 1900 Hagans locomotive exhibited at the Paris International
Exhibition and Vulcan 0-6+4-0 Hagans locomotive built for Tasmania. In 1902
construction by Henschel of more 0-6+4-0 locos for Stettin-Jasenitz line
of Prussian State Railways and by 1905 there were 152 Hagans locomotives
in use on the Prussian and Hessian State Railways but by 1907 all Hagans
gone from Prussian and Hessian systems. (Internet). Also
Locomotive Mag., 1903, 9,
10 and Carter Unusual
locomotives (who spelt name incorrectly). Many patents listed in
Espacenet including some British and American. 2-6-4-0T for Tasmanian Government
Rys. Locomotive
Mag., 1903, 8, 386
Hall, Joseph
An Englishman who went to Munich in 1839 and two years later built
the first locomotive for J.A. Maffei. In 1856 he patented his arrangement
of cranks with outside framing, which was widely adopted. In 1858 he moved
to Austria and was engaged in various branches of railway engineering.
Le Fleming. The Hall crank
used on outside frame locomotives: see
Ahrons British steam
locomotive pp. 240-1 and Wikipedia (2012-10-10). Mentioned by
Hamilton Ellis in his chapter on
the development of railway engineering in Singer and by
Ahrons British steam railway
locomotive (p. 240) who invented the crank system which bears his
name whilst working for J.A. Maffei in Bavaria.
May have influenced John Haswell.
Hallette, Alfred
Builder of steam locomotives (of Stephenson design) in Arras. Son
of Alexis Hallette.
See Locomotive Mag., 1935,
41, 243
Hammel, Anton
Born 26 May 1857 in Munich; died 27 March 1925. Entered the drawing
office of the Maffei locomotive works in 1875, later becoming chief of the
design department until his death. He re-introduced bar frames into Europe
in 1905 and was responsible for many types on the Bavarian and Baden State
Rlys. Most of these were four-cylinder compounds with bar frames, the Bavarian
Pacifics and 0-8-8-0 tanks being amongst the very few non-standard designs
built after formation of the Reichsbahn. His engines were always distinctive
with their elegant design and beautiful finish.
Based mainly on Le Fleming,
but this contains very obvious errors and has been corrected by German Wikipedia
(2012-11-06)
Heberlein
Locomotive superintendent of the Bavarian Railways and inventor of
modified Clark's brake used in Germany for many years.
Rowatt, T. Railway brakes.Trans
Newcomen Soc.,1927, 8, 19-32. According to A.M. Bushell
(discussion on paper p. 29) Heberlein brake used on Maenclochog Railway in
Wales, on the Highgate Hill Cable Tramway and on the Colne Valley & Halstead
Railway.
Heinl, Franz
Born in Haid in Bohemia on 5 January 1880; died Vienna 14 February
1950. Educated at the German Technical University in Prague. In 1926 was
working on condensing locomotives and in 1932 on feed water heating
(see Locomotive Mag., 1935,
41, 228). Several patents: only following listed:
GB 266733 Improvements or relating to feed-water supply apparatus
for steam boilers. Applied 1 March 1926. Published 15 September
1927.
Helmholtz, Richard von
According to John Marshall:
was born in Königsberg on 28 September 1852 and died in Munich on 10
September 1934. Apprenticed at Borsig Locomotive Works in Berlin and completed
his studies at high schools in Stuttgart and Munich. In 1881 he entered Krauss
works (later Krauss-Maffei) in Munich and in 1884 he was made of the firm's
drawing office, a position he occupied until retirement in 1917. His best
known innovation was the Krauss-Helmholtz truck which combined the pony truck
with the leading coupled axle. He was responsible for a modified form of
Walschaerts valve gear and in 1930 he published with Staby a major history
of the German steam locomotive. Le
Fleming summarised: Chief designer of the Krauss Locomotive Works in
Munich from 1884 to 1917. In 1884 he brought out a form of Walschaerts valve
gear with straight expansion link, and in 1888 the Krauss-Helmholz truck
combining one carrying and one coupled axle as a bogie. The latter's influence
on Continental design had been enormous. Engines he designed for the Palatinate
Rly. in 1894, and the Bavarian State Rly. in 1900, incorporated "boosters"
in an early form. He was a great authority on the steam locomotive and its
history.
Books: The development
of the locomotive (die Entwicklung der lokomotive) within the province of
the Union of German Rys, R. von Helmholtz and Ministerialrat
W. Staly. Vol 1. 1835 to 1880. 460 pages, 706 illustrations, 39 tables.
Munich: R. Oldenbourg. Bound in cloth. Text and table, 2 vols. London: The
Locomotive Publishing Co. Ltd.
see Locomotive Mag.,
1930, 36, 432
Die historischen Lokomotiven der Badischen
Staats-Eisenbahnen. Karlsruhe, Dtsch. Gesellschaft
füür Eisenbahngeschichte, 1982.
Paper: The cause of wear of wheel-flanges and rails
in curves: mechanical contrivances to diminish the same. Zeit. Vereines
Deutsch. Ing., 1888, 32. English trans. by A. Bewley. Madras:
Laurence Asylum Press, 1896. BLPC
Rutherford,
Michael. The 'Prairie' - a survey of the 2-6-2 type -
Part 1. (Railway Reflections No. 35). Backtrack, 1997, 11,
622-8.
Includes notes on the development of the Wootten firebox and the
Krauss-Helmholtz bogie.
Henry, Adolphe
Born at Barisey-au-Plain (Meurthe) on 27 February 1846, died 23 January
1892. Following an academic career he joined the Compagnie des chemins de
fer Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée [Railway]in 1878 under Marié
whom he succeeded in 1882. Le
Fleming noted that in 1888 he introduced four-cylinder compounds on the
PLM and was the first to use considerably higher boiler pressure (213 lb.)
on them. His 1889 compounds had the inside high-pressure cylinders behind
the outside low-pressure cylinders, an arrangement which remained peculiar
to the PLM.
Herdner, Henri Albert
Born 1853 in Bouxwiller (Bas-Rhin); died Cape Breton in 1939. Studied
at Bouxwiller College; then at College Ste-Barbe; Ecole Polytechnique (class
of 1872), and the Ecole des Mines de Paris (class of 1874). He became a trainee
at the South Railway Company; an engineer in 1878, deputy head of stores
in 1879, head at Tarbes 1880, in central Bordeaux from 1887 to 1897, deputy
chief engineer in the Paris area between 1897 and1907, chief mechanical engineer
between 1907and 1919. Developed four-cylinder and two-cylinder compound
locomotives; and a form of cab
signalling (described at an IMechE meeting in 1914). His name (Herdner
valve) is applied to a form of by-pass or snifting valve. His work was noted
by Lang of Beyer Peacock in discussiion on Gass
ILocoE Paper in 1919. President of the Society of Civil Engineers of
France, Consulting engineer Dietrich factories at Niederbronn (after retirement);
known for outstanding scientific work, including the electrification of railways
AC, and steam locomotives. Chairman of the Editorial Board of the Journal
of the French Railways (1929-1935). Hiis book on the construction and
operation of locomotives is a classic.
Heusinger von Waldegg, Edmund
Edmund Heusinger was born in Langenschwalbach (present day Bad Schwalbach)
in the state of Hesse in central Germany on 12 May 1817. In 1841 he became
a master-workman with the Taunus Railway (Taunusbahn). In 1854 he was awarded
a contract to build the Homburg Railway. He invented a new type of valve
gear for steam locomotives that was to become the most widely-used valve
gear in the world. Because the Belgian, Egide Walschaerts, invented the same
system independently, it is usually called the Walschaerts valve gear outside
the German-speaking world. Edmund Heusinger von Waldegg died on 2 February
1886 in Hanover. Wikipedia. Loco. Carr.
Wagon Rev., 1933, 39, 59.
Hirn, Gustave-Adolphe
Born on 21 August 1815 in Logelbach, near Colmar into the prosperous
textile-manufacturing family Haussmann; died in in Logelbach. on 14 January
1890. At 19, he entered his grandfather's cotton factory as a chemist. Later
he worked as an engineer, and began research on mechanics, especially on
calorics. He was made a member of the French Academy of Science in 1867;
in 1880 founded a meteorological observatory near Colmar; and later devoted
himself to astronomy. Hirn was educated in the shop, and his works are marked
by much practical criticism of mere academic theory. In 1855 Hirn demonstrated
the value of steam-jacketing. Early user of superheated steam (1850). Adrian
Tester Introduction to steam locomotive testing.
Backtrack, 2012, 26,
694.
Hjort, Vilhelm Frederick
Water softening system: see
Trans. Instn Loco. Engrs. Paper
12
Hochwald, Moritz
Inventor of form of piston valve: Patent GB 16,284/1910 An
improved piston valve for use in staem engines
Hupkes, Willem
Born 12 May 1883; died 11 March 1965. Chief Mechanical Engineer Holland
Railway. See Derens Locomotive Mag.,
1936, 42, 86-9
Igel, Martin
Born in Berlin in 1879 and studied mechanical engineering at the Berlin
Technische Hochschule, specialising in locomotive construction. For some
years he worked in various technical and administrative grades of the then
Prussian Railways and went from there first to the Borsig Locomotive Works
and then to Westinghouse and Baldwins in the U.S.A. where he spent
2 years. On his return from the U.S.A. in 1907 he started his academic career
at the Technische Hochschule, Berlin Charlottenburg, where he was first a
lecturer (Privat-Dozent) and from 1919 onwards a professor in
charge of the Department for locomotive construction and railway operating
installations. From 1925 onwards he was also acting as consultant and expert
to the High Courts in disputes involving problems falling within his field.
In 1933 he was forced to relinquish his appointments in Germany and accepted
a chair for mechanical engineering at the University of Shantung, China.
When the Chino-Japanese war broke out in 1937, he returned to Europe and
came to England in 1938 on the invitation of the Railway Research Service.
He volunteered for war work and was employed for some years by Morris Motors
in Cowley. He published books and papers some of which were translated into
such languages as Russian and Japanese and are used as standard textbooks.
He was elected a Member of ILocoE in October 1950. See also Locomotive
boiler-washing plant. Locomotive
Mag., 1938. 44. 280.
Jahn, J.
Professor in Danzig: expert on behaviour of railway vehicles including
locomotives on curves and crossings.
Book reviewed in Locomotive
Mag., 1927, 33, 305
Japiot, Marcel
Chief mechanical engineer (appointment
Locomotive Mag., 1936,
42, 61) PLM in 1938.
Glancey.
Johnson, Harry
Chief mechanical engineer Grangesberg Oxelosund Railway in Sweden
introduced turbine non-condensing locomotives for handling iron ore traffic.
Considerable influence on Stanier decision to build Turbomotive. See
Ellis London Midland &
Scottish
Jullien, C.E.
Nouveau manuel complet du constructeur des
locomotives. 1842
Kasantzeff, Florentin
Inventor of system of braking (patent details available online):
see also Locomotive Mag., 1935,
41, 14
Klose, Adolf
Born in Pirna, Saxony on 7 July 1844; died in Munich on 2 September
1923. Went to Switzerland in 1870, after varied railway experience, he took
up position of machine inspector in the then Vereinigten Schweizer Bahnen
(Associated Swiss Rs) in St Gallen. In 1884 he was appointed to Royal
Württeernburg State Railways in Stuttgart. In the same year, with Bissinger,
he brought out the rack-rail system known as Bissinger-Klose, introduced
on the Höllental Railway In 1888-9 Klose returned to Switzerland where
he supervised construction of the rack railway from St Gallen to Gais, the
later Appenzeller street Railway. There he established the Klose system rack.
In this connection he supervised construction of the section from Honau to
Lichtenstein and Freudenstadt to Klosterreichenbach. Le Fleming
(H.M. Le Fleming in
Illustrated encyclopedia of world railway locomotives.) noted
that he introduced compound locomotives on rack railways
Knorr, Georg
18591911: the Kunze-Knorr brake brought together the ideas of
Prussian senior surveyor, Bruno Kunze and preparatory work by the founder
of Knorr-Bremse, Georg Knorr. It was the first, continuous, compressed-air
brake that, even on long goods trains, enabled the brake force not only to
be applied gradually, but also released again gradually. By combining a
single-stage and a two-stage brake cylinder with a compound brake a significant
increase in brake effort was achieved. See
Locomotive Mag., 1928, 34,
230-3
Kunze, Bruno
18541935
Kupka, Johann
Several patents for cam operated valve gear listed on Espacenet and
Google: e.g. USP 1738435 Cam operated balanced valve gear for steam locomotives
and like engines. Filed 28 June 1926. Also article with E.C. Poultney in
Locomotive Mag., 1926, 32,
318.
Kuretschka, Friedrich Josef
Patent CA 395227 Valve gear for fluid pressure
engines. published 11 March 1941. An Austrian who had
been the Caprotti Chief Engineer in Britain
(Locomotive Mag., 1936,
42, 200 notes Associated Locomotive Equipment and Caprotti Valve
Gear Ltd merging with Kuretschka becoming Managinng Director) prior to returning
to Austria due to WW2: see R.H.N.
Hardy The 'Poggy' log. Part 6. Steam Wld., 1999 (142) 36.
Elected Member ILocoE in 1934
(Locomotive
Mag., 1934, 40,
166).
Kylala, Kyosti
Kyösti Kylälä was a Finnish engine driver who designed
a cowl that split the exhaust cone into four streams. Some Kylala exhausts
included two of these splitters in series before the chimney was reached.
The system was originally devised to reduce spark-throwing and later it was
claimed that there was a more even draught over the tubeplate and that the
need for tube-cleaning was reduced. A major step forward occurred when Andre
Chapelon of the Paris-Orleans Railway developed his own draughting system:
the 'Kylchap' incorporating Kylala cowels.
Rutherford included the Kylala and Kylchap systems in a survey of blast pipe systems.
Labrijn, P.
Locomotive engineer on the Dutch State Railways in the 1930s. Experimented
with pulverized fuel (see Locomotive
Mag., 1940, 46, 74) and introduced 4-cylinder 4-6-4Ts for
the Amsterdam suburban services, unpopular heavy 2-8-0s which rode badly
and large 4-8-4Ts for the Limburg coal traffic. Streamlining experiments:
Locomotive Mag., 1936, 42,
68.
Lambert, Henri Louis
French locomotive engineer who invented wet sanding apparatus. Worked
for C.d,F. l'Ouest.. Described in The Lambert sanding apparatus in Loco
Rly Carr. Wagon Rev., 1911, 17, 4. 7 diagrs.
Patents
2811/1913 Improvements in apparatus for sanding
railway and tramway rails. Applied 3 February 1913. Published 24 July
1913.
1420/1912 Improvements in apparatus for sanding rails. Applied
18 January 1912. Published 20 June 1912.
19475/1908 Improvements in apparatus for sanding railway, tramway
and like rails. Applied 16 September 1908. Published 29 July 1909
Lamé, Gabriel
Born in Tours on 22 July 1795; died in Paris on 1 May 1870. His name
is commemorated on the Eiffel Tower. Worked with
Clapeyron in Russia from 1820 for ten years (they
had met at the Ecole des Mines). Major mathematician who contributed to theory
of structures.
Lancrenon, Jean
IMechE paper on signalling
(Volume 87 page 469), At ILocoE Dinner in 1935 :
Locomotive Mag., 1935, 41,
94.. Use of aluminium in rolling stock:
Locomotive Mag., 1929, 35,
124-6.
Lamelle, Ulysse
Author on permanent way in La locomotive: description raisonnée
de ses organs. Locomotive Mag.,
1927. 33,
101.
Larpent
Associated with Blavier in construction of
L'Aigle. See Locomotive
Mag., 1939, 45, 209.
Lassen. Jens Jacob
Water softening system: see
Trans. Instn Loco. Engrs. Paper
12
Lavarde, Pierre
Presented paper at a conference of the Civil Engineering Committee
of the Société Industrielle du Nord held in May 1933, and published
under the title of "Les Elements d'une Traction Autonome Modern sur les Chemins
de fer. Precis in English
See Locomotive Mag.,
1934, 40, 146
Lebedyansky, Lev Sergeyevich
Born in 1898; died after suffering a stroke in 1968. Member of the
Central Locomotive Group which built steam locomotives at the Kolomna Works
including the FD 2-10-2 freight and IS 2-8-4 passenger locomotives. The L
class 2-10-0 introduced in 1945 acknowledged Lebedyansky's contribution.
The P36 4-6-4 were stylish passenger locomotives introduced in 1954, but
steam development was ceased in 1956 with Lebedyansky involved in successful
diesel electric and unsatisfactory gas turbine designs.
Glancey.
Legein, Fernand
Chief Mechanicaal Engineer Belgian State Railways in 1930-1. See
Locomotive Mag., 1931, 37,
77-8 for tests of an 2-8-2 express locomotive. Also co-author with Ulysse
Lamalle of some editions of La locomotive: description raisonnée
de ses organs. Locomotive Mag.,
1927. 33, 101..
Double chimney Locomotive Mag.,
1927, 33, 8.
Léguille, Robert
CME of the East Region of the SNFC. Member of the Pacific Locomotive
Committee (India) chaired by [Sir] Alan Mount. Cox:
Locomotive panorama, V.2. "Now one of the members of our Committee
came from a background and experience far removed from the British school
of thought. Robert Leguille, a son of Alsace, and quite the opposite of the
typical Frenchman in his bluff square appearance and more phlegmatic approach,
had had to live all his professional life with big 4-6-2s and 4-8-2s working
over what was none too good track in those days before World War II. French
theorists such as Marie and Blondel, had peered into the fundamentals of
exactly the same problem, and had established the relation between moment
of inertia of the mass of the locomotive and its side control. More recently
Mauzin had developed test equipment and procedure in verification. Leguille,.
therefore, knew enough to suspect that there was more in the problem than
damping values only, and had been gradually influencing the Committee's thoughts.
So it came about that he and I shut ourselves up in our car on the special
train we travelled in, and spent eight hours one steaming hot Saturday in
a siding outside the East Indian station in Calcutta, examining every inch
of every flange force record which had been presented to us. At the end of
this travail we had the evidence of the Railway Board's own charts that they
had not solved the problem, for these showed that while the increased friction
reduced flange forces on straight track, it did nothing to reduce them on
curves, and that only a combination of stronger side control springs plus
appropriate damping could give the desired result".
I Loco E obituary (1951, 41, 481): In 1914 Robert Léguille
was a 19-years old French student in Germany. Upon repatriation after four
years internment, he entered the service of the Chemin de Fer de
lEst, which railway he continued to serve throughout his distinguished
career finally obtaining the rank of Regional Chief Engineer. His special
interest was always in locomotive design and research work which led to his
taking part with ever increasing responsibility in many commissions of enquiry,
including several of international importance. He was the French Engineer
chosen to collaborate with three leading British Engineers, Col. Sir Alan
Mount, Sir Wm. Stanier and Mr. Carpmael, in the investigations for the Government
of India leading to the Pacific Locomotive Committee Report in 1938
(outlined in Locomotive Mag.,
1939, 45, 215). In the 1939 War Leguille was appointed Liaison
Officer with the British Staff in London, being aided in his work by his
mastery of languages-English, German and some Russian, besides his native
French. During the difficult years of the invasion of France, he became Liaison
Officer for the French Railways with the German Army of Occupation, until
the landing in 1944 of the British and American forces of liberation. In
the meantime the French Provisional Government in Algiers had set on foot
negotiations for the purchase of materials for rehabilitation. Steam locomotives,
wagons, diesel engines and stores were wanted in immense quantities. For
the leadership of a national purchasing mission in America the choice fell
upon Robert Léguille who later, on his return to France, took a leading
part in organizing the reconditioning of war-damaged rolling stock required
for the restoration of the Eastern Region. In 1950-51, once again he was
called in by the Government of India for a further enquiry on the design
of new locomotives of Pacific type. But this was to be the last occasion
on which he could exercise his professional ability in the service of his
country. On 15 July 1951, he collapsed while attending Mass and died during
the night. He will be long remembered by his many friends in the Institution
as a Locomotive Engineer of outstanding ability and personality. He had been
a Member since 1947. Photograph on board SS Narkunda with Alan Mount
on voyage back to Europe following Indian Pacific inquiry
see Cox Locomotive panorama Volume
2.
Lehner, Alexander
Chief mechanical engineer, Austrian State Railways: see light one-man
operated steam locomotive: Locomotive
Mag., 1935, 41, 175.
Lemaître, Maurice
Engineer of the Nord Belge Railway, Lemaître is known
for his eponymous exhaust system. This was adopted in 1935 for all modern
Nord locomotives and on some other railways (notably by
Bulleid on the Southern Railway). The chimney is of
wide diameter, and steam is passed through it by an exhaust ejector consisting
of a variable wide nozzle surrounded by five smaller nozzles. In use, a saving
of about ten per cent of fuel (or a power increase of ten per cent) was claimed
for the good vacuum and low back pressure of this system. See: Locomotive
Carriage and Wagon Review, June 1937.
Rutherford included the Lemaître
system in a survey of blast pipe systems.
Patents
Several issued to Lemaitre, including some American, but only the
solitary British one is listed:
452,636. Improvements in or relating to blast pipes of locomotives.
Applied 10 February 1936. Published 26 August 1936.
Lencauchez, Alexandre
Patented valve gear with Durant (no other name yet available) fitted
to Paris Orleans Railway 2-4-2 locomotive No. 331: see
Locomotive Mag. 1914, 20,
312; also USP 485,614 applied 9 January 1891 and published 8 November
1892
Lentz [Lenz], Hugo
An Austrian, Hugo Lenz, but born in South Africa on 21 July 1859 according
to Marshall (who gives a detailed account
of his work), originated one of the most successful poppet valves for
locomotives. His vertical type and oscillating cam type, introduced in 1905
and 1907, were worked by normal valve gears, and his rotary cam type (1921)
by worm drive. French and Austrian railways made a success of Lentz valves,
and they were also applied elsewhere (e.g. on Malayan Railways and on the
LNER). Died in Austria on 21 March 1944. See : P.
Ransome-Wallis, Encyclopedia
of World Railway Locomotives (1959). Also innovator in boiler design:
Rutherford (Backtrack, 1998,
12, 333 stated that Heilmann steam-electric locomotive Fusée
was fitted with "Lentz-type boiler". Dr Hugo Lenz was born in South Africa
in 1859. When he was six years old his father died and the family returned
to their native Germany. Lenz trained and worked in Prussia as a naval engineer
before setting up his own engine business in Vienna when he was aged 28.
Later in life, during the 1920s, he is believed to have had an experimental
workshop in or near Paxman's Standard Ironworks on Hythe Hill [Colchester].
Although there was no 't' in Lenz's surname, his engines and patents were
always called 'Lentz' as this was thought easier for English-speaking people
to pronounce. (Website on Paxman history).
Lestrade
Designer of six-coupled locomotive with 8ft 3in wheels called La
Prisienne, built in 1886. See
Loco. Mag., 1905, 11, 101 .
Liechty, Hermann
Swiss inventor of flexible wheelbase rolling stock for narrow gauge
with centre buffer/couplimg and standard gauge with side buffers.
Locomotive Mag., 1932, 38,
278.
Littrow, Hermann von
Born in Verona on 22 October 1858; died in Venice on 24 September
1931. Grandson of the astronomer Joseph von Littrow. Studdied mechanical
engineering at Technical University of Vienna and then joined the Florisdorf
Locomotive Works. Between 1900 and 1902 was in charge of trams in Vienna.
He was in Trieste when he wrote to
the Locomotive Mag., (1907,
13, 109) on centre couplings on curves. He invented something not yet
traced with G. Zeh. He was promoted to a headquarters post in Vienna in 1911.
The Wikipedia entry refers to his extensive technical literature
Ljungstrom, Fredrik and Birger
Of all the inter-war experiments with steam turbine propulsion, those
of the brothers Fredrik and Birger Ljungstrom in Sweden were the most successful.
Several of their turbomotives worked satisfactorily on the Swedish State
Railway, their relative reliability resulting from the absence of condensing
equipment.
See: Locomotive Carriage and Wagon Review, March 1923 and
Robert Tufnell's Prototype
locomotives.
Locher-Freuler, Eduard
Born and died in Zurich: 15 January 1840; 2 June 1910. Builder of
the Pilatus Railway and inventor of the horizontal double rack rail. After
leaving school in 1857 he spent a year at Yverdon, Switzerland, then entered
the works of J J Richter & Co in Toss to learn mechanical engineering.
The sudden death of his f ather in 1861 gave him the opportunity to leave
the manufacture of textile machinery and to follow his father's career in
architecture. A plan to emigrate to the USA was thwarted by the Civil War
there. In 1863 he supervised building of a factory for an established weaving
firm at Azmoos, later becoming a director. In 1871, with his brother, he
formed the firm of Locher & Cie in Zurich. In 1873 he studied the theory
of bridges and railway building with Prof Calmann and his assistant, later
Prof W. Ritter, at the Federal Polytechnic. By diligent application the two
brothers built up the firm and were engaged on the construction of the St
Gotthard Railway, Fluelen to Coschenen including the Pfaffensprung spiral
tunnel. Faced in 1888-9 with the const of a railway to the summit of Pilatus
near Lucerne with gradients of 48%, almost 1 in 2, the steepest in the world,
Locher-Freuler designed a special rack with horizontal teeth on each side.
The pairs of rack wheels engaging these teeth could not climb out, and also
prevented derailment. After being engaged on various water projects,
Locher-Freuler worked on the first Simplon tunnel in collaboration with Brandt,
Brandon & Co. and Sulzer Bros, Winterthur. Soon after the tunnel was
started Brandt died and Locher-Freuler took on responsibility for the whole
work, working in temperatures of 55°C at a depth of 7000ft which ruined
his health. In 1905 the two brothers handed over the business to their sons.
Locher-Freuler became a director of SLM, Winterthur, and of the Pilatus Railway.
His advice was often sought and freely given almost up to his death from
a heart attack. He was noted for his modesty, kindness and outstanding courage
Marshall and
Locomotive Mag., 1948, 54,
120.
Loiseau, Ernest
Workshops at Namur under the control of Ernest Loiseau. .
See Locomotive Mag., 1911,
17, 207.
Loizillon
Chief Mechanical Engineer of Eastern Railway until 1936:
Locomotive Mag., 1936,
42, 132.
Lomonossoff, Dr George Vladimir (Lomonosov, Iu.
V.)
Iurii Vladimirovich Lomonosov was born in Russia on 24 April 1876
(into an impecunios rural gentry family) and died in Montreal on 19 November
1952 (Marshall). Graduated from Institute
of Transport in St Petersburg in 1898. Russian academic and Chief Mechanical
Engineer of Tashkent Railway. From 1911-21 he was Prof of Railway Engineering
and Economics at St Petersburg Institute of Transport, whilst he was also
president of the Locomotive Research Bureau; CME of the Nicolas Railway;
and Assistant Director General of Russian Railways. He was president of the
Russian War Railway Mission to the USA. In this position, in the latter part
of WW1, he was responsible for designing and ordering about 2,000 locomotives.
Later, as High Commissioner for Diesel Locomotives, Lomonossoff was authorized
to build three. In 1925 he visited England and placed an order with Sir W
G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd for a 1,200 bhp diesel loco designed by
Schliebest, but it was sent to Russia in 1926 before completion:
Duffy accepts this as the first diesel mainline
locomotive. Author of
Introduction to railway
mechanics. OUP, 1933. Heywood
(Trans. Newcomen Soc., 2000, 72, 1) and Carling
(Trans. Newcomen Soc., 1972,
45, 105) describeds his work on locomotive testing between 1895
and 1901 and also notes his close association with Lenin. Paper on diesel
traction (which castigates steam locomotive inefficiency and makes some
questionable claims against electric traction)
Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs,
1933, 125, 537. Le
Fleming in Ransome-Wallis Concise encyclopedia.T. Robson.
Counter pressure method of testing locomotives.
J. Instn Loco. Engrs, 1943,
33, Paper 441 pp. 207 et seq
Lott, Julius
Born and died in Vienna (25 May 1836, 24 March 1883). Engineer of
Arlberg Railway including the long Arlberg Tunnel and Trisanna Bridge. Died
before line was completed.
Marshall
Lotter, Georg Von
Engineer at Krauss Locomotive Works in Munich: author of
Handbuch zum entwerfen regelspuriger
dampf-lokomotiven.
Lübsen, Wolfgang
Author of books on steam locomotive: (Die Verbesserung der
Wirtschaftlichkeit der Dampflokomotive Durchi Konstruktlve Massnahmen zur
Senkung des Brennstoffverbrauchs) reviewed in
Locomotive Mag., 1935,
41, 370 and Die lokomotive und ihre entwicklung
reviewd Locomotive Mag.,
1949, 55, 144. Letter on
grate areas Locomotive Mag., 1934, 40, 97
Luttermöller, Gustav
Chief enngineer of Orenstein & Koppel. Resident in Potsdam when
he patented a novel form of drive: German Patent 316,073 with a priority
date of 22 January 1918 and a US Patent Crank drive for locomotives
published 7 July 1925. A patent was also taken out in the Netherlands. It
was used on military railways, several Continental raillways and in Java
on estate and plantatiion railways. One locomotive may be preserved in the
United Kingdom. The system is described in
Locomotive Mag., 1923, 29,
191-3.
Macy
Swiss Eastern Railway: introduced vertical corrugated plates for side
of firebox in about 1867. Letter from
Mernok in Locomotive Mag.,
1903, 9. 192.
Madamet, Albert
Born in 1840. Inventor of conjugated valve gear for three cylinder
locomotives in about 1887 and employed on Prussian State Railways and then
on Eastern Railway in France on 2-10.0s:
see Locomotive Mag., 1929,
35, 376.
Maison
Appointed Chef du Service du Materiel et de la Traction of the French
State Railways in 1911:
Locomotive Mag., 1911,
17, 73.
Maizel, L.M.
A 3,500 [h.p.?] steam-diesel freight locomotive built
by the Kuibyshev Engineering Works, Kolomna,Russia; designed by L.M. Maizel,
and could be operated by internal combustion and steam simultaneously, or
by either. The steam engine of the locomotive worked on coal dust which,
after conversion in a gas generator, also served as fuel for the Diesel engine.
It was claimed the new engine operates on two-thirds the amount of fuel required
by the ordinary steam locomotive of similar power. The driver's cab is in
front and the controls are easily operated from the driver's seat. The fireman's
cab is situated behind the boiler. The tender is mounted on two six-wheeled
bogies and carries a coal pulveriser, a gas generator and a condenser.
See Locomotiive
Mag., 1940, 46, 113
Maillart, Robert
Born Bern, Switzerland on 6 February1872; died Geneva 5 April1940.
Pioneer of reinforced-concrete bridge construction. In 1890 he entered the
Swiss Federal Polytechnic engineering school where, in 1894, he obtained
the Diploma of Civil Engineering. He worked for several organizations and,
in 1901, while with Frote & Westermann in Zurich he designed the first
'Maillart system' 3-hinged arch at Zuoz. In 1902 he went independent and
established his own office, Maillart & Cie. In 1905 he designed and built
the Tavanasa bridge over the Rhine, with a 3-hinge arch and pierced spandrels,
a work of great strength and elegance. In 1912 he began practice in Russia
but was overtaken by the war. His wife died and he returned penniless to
Switzerland with his children. By 1919 he was able to set up an engineering
office in Geneva. His first 3-hinged arch R bridge was a modest span of 30m
(98ft) over the Landquart at Klosters on the metre-g Rhaetian Railway, built
in 1930. Although most of his bridges were for roads his designs formed the
basis for many railway bridges all over the world,
such as the massive 3-hinged concrete arch with a span of 150m (495ft) carrying
the 4-track SBB over the Aare at Bern, and the tremendous arches on the Tauem
Railway in Austria, including the Pfaffenberg-Zwenberg bridge with a span
of 200m (660ft), the world's longest
Marshall . .
Mallet, Jules T. Anatole
Westwood claims that Jules Anatole
Mallet was remarkable amongst late nineteenth century innovators in that
he achieved a influential success both in compounding and in a method for
articulating the driving wheelbase. The resulting Mallet articulated locomotive
became especially popular in the USA, where it attained great size. Mallet's
ideas on compounding inspired many subsequent designers to develop their
own compound locomotives, some successfully, some very
unsuccessfully.
Mallet was born at Carouge, near Geneva, on 22 May 1837 (Wikipedia),
and studied and later taught engineering at the Paris Ecole Centrale des
Arts et Manufactures. He first attracted attention in 1877, when the
Bayonne-Biarritz Railway put two tank locomotives into service, designed
according to Mallet's two-cylinder compound system with a single high-pressure
cylinder passing its exhaust steam into a second, larger, low-pressure cylinder.
The Biarritz locomotives worked well, but like subsequent two-cylinder compounds
they tended to be unsteady at high speed, because one cylinder exerted more
thrust than the other. Mallet was unable to interest any of the mainline
railways in his idea. This lack of enthusiasm is not surprising when it is
remembered that even after compounding had been adopted by many railways,
it was never adopted by a majority. Those who rejected the idea almost always
did so on the grounds that any fuel economies obtained from so-called double
expansion were lost by the extra complication of compound machines. This
criticism of compounding would be reinforced after superheated steam had
shown another way of overcoming the basic problem that compounding attacked:
that is the condensation of steam inside the cylinders which resulted from
the fall in temperature as the steam expanded. Compounding broke the steam
expansion into two parts, divided between two cylinders and thereby made
it easier to cope with cylinder wall condensation. Superheating raised the
steam temperature so that even after cooling it would remain higher than
condensation temperature. Ideally, from the point of view of thermal efficiency,
the most efficient machine would be one embodying both superheating and
compounding, and many such machines were built in the twentieth century.
In the 1870s, however, compounding seemed the only solution. Mallet believed
he had a workable compound system, but could not persuade French engineers
to try it.
However, the proliferation at that time of narrow-gauge light railways
gave Mallet another avenue of approach. These lines required more powerful
locomotives than their winding tracks could tolerate, and the only solution
seemed to be some form of articulated locomotive. Two articulation systems
were already fairly widely adopted. These were the
Fairlie and the Meyer concepts, both of which embodied
two pivoting engine units, supplied by steam through pipes with flexible
joints. These flexible joints, so difficult to keep steamtight, were a weakness
of these systems, and Mallet believed he had a solution in his own system
of articulation, which he patented in 1884. Instead of two pivoting engine
units, he had just one, placed beneath the smokebox. A second engine unit
was at the rear, but this was non-pivoting. It was on this rigid rear unit
that the boiler was fixed. For Mallet, the important feature of this layout
was that it was a perfect setting for a compound system. Steam was taken
first to the high-pressure cylinders of the rigid rear unit, and then piped
to the cylinders of the leading pivoting unit for re-use at a lower pressure.
In this way it was only the low- pressure steam which passed through the
flexible steampipe joints, thereby easing the problem of steam leaks. The
first such Mallet locomotive appeared in 1888, being built in Belgium for
Paul Decauville. In 1889 Decauville's 60cm gauge line at the Paris Exhibition
carried more than six million visitors and assured the continuing success
of his enterprise. It also assured the future success of Mallet's compound
articulated locomotive, for it was on this line that the first Mallet units
made their debut.
The obvious success of these machines was followed by orders for similar
narrow-gauge units from many railways, at first with the same 0-4-4-0T wheel
arrangement but later in other versions. In the nineties the Mallet tank
locomotive was joined by the Mallet tender locomotive in Switzerland and
Germany.
In 1904 the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad introduced the Mallet concept
to America, ordering an 0-6-6-0 from the American Locomotive Company for
use on its Sand Patch incline over the Alleghenies. By 1911 more than five
hundred Mallets had been built for US railroads. During the First World War
the Virginian Railway brought the original Mallet concept to a peak so far
as size was concerned, ordering 2-10-10-2 units whose low-pressure cylinders
were 48in. in diameter. This Virginian design represented the virtual limit
of size for the conventional Mallet locomotive. The overhang of the boiler
at the front end on curves was excessive, and the low pressure cylinders
were so large that it was impossible to design adequate valves for them,
which meant that they worked efficiently only at low speeds and long cut-offs..
Moreover, the 4ft diameter cylinders were the biggest that could be accommodated
on American railroads. For this reason most subsequent American Mallet
locomotives were simples, not compounds. Later, American designers eliminated
another fault which inhibited high-speed running with Mallet locomotives.
This was the rough riding of the forward engine unit, which was only loosely
attached to the main bulk of the locomotive.
Eventually Jabelmann of the Union
Pacific modified the articulation and applied a four-wheel leading truck
to produce the Challenger 4-6-6-4, which could run up to 80 mile/h.
This type was developed into the 4-8-8-4 Big Boys, which are regarded
as the most powerful locomotives ever built. Although, at its peak of popularity,
the Mallet locomotive was ordered by railways in many parts of the world,
it was only in America that it retained its market up to the end of the age
of steam.
The Garratt form of articulation, developed
later, was technically superior, while many central European lines found
that they did not really need articulated types. As for Anatole Mallet, it
is said that he did not approve of the concept of the simple Mallet locomotive,
as he had evolved his system of articulation as a means of promoting his
compound system. In the twentieth century he was something of a grand old
man of French engineering, regularly contributing comments on locomotive
matters to the Memoires of the French society of civil engineers. He also
designed the original locomotives for the Lartigue monorail system. Relatively
little information has survived about Mallet the man, even though he was
probably one of the three most important post-Stephenson locomotive engineers.
Marshall noted that he died on 10 October
1919. Le Fleming in Ransome-Wallis
Concise encyclopedia..
See: I. Vilain, Les Locomotives Articulees
du Systeme Mallet dans le Monde (1969)
A. E. Durrant, The Mallet Locomotive (1974)
Journal de Geneve, 16 Nov. 1919.
Papers
Compound articulated locomotives.
Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs,
1914, 87, 429
On mechanical traction upon tramways.
Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs., 1878,
29, 395-439
On the compounding of locomotive engines. Proc. Instn Mech.
Engrs, 1879, 30, 328-63.
Marcotty, Franz
Patented devices relating to boilers including an improved firebox
door fitted to Gresley Yarrow locomotive.
(William Brown. Hush-Hush,
2010)
GB 9068/1910 Improvements to fire doors to furnaces. Priority 14 April
1910. Published 6 April 1911
Mareæ, Vlastimil
Born in 1896; died in 1979. Czech locomotive engineer; worked closely
with Chapelon between 1945 and 1948. Designs included the 476.0 three-cylinder
compounds built in 1949-50; the 475.1 class two-cylinder 4-8-2s; the 498.1
class three-cylinder 4-8-2s; the 556.0 class two-cylinder 2-10-0s, and the
477.0 4-8-4Ts. These last were probably the ultimaate tank engine design
and were fitted with mechanical stokers.
Glancey.
Marechal, Lucien
Locomotive and Rolling Stock Superintendent, then Head of Materials
and Traction on PLM Railway. Tested compound versus four-cylinder simple
Pacifics which simples won, but late in his career showed that superheated
compounds were better. See Locomotive
Mag., 1916, 22, 218 Very brief contribution on cab signalling:
Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs.,
1914, 87, 488
Matrosoff, Alexander
Russian: inventor of single pipe brake system for freight trains:
see Locomotive Mag., 1935,
41, 47-51
Mattern, Meier
Worked for Werkspoor in Amsterdam. Invented a form of poppet valve
activated by oil under pressure. Fitted to two Netherlands Railways superheated
4-4-0 locomotives Nos. 1752 and 1777. Also worked on similar valve gear for
high speed engines as in sugar mills for Java.
Locomotive Mag., 1929, 35,
217
Melnikov, Pavel Petrovich
Born 3 August 1804; died 3 August 1880 in Lyuban. Russian engineer
and administrator who as Transport Minister, was largely responsible for
early railway construction in Imperial Russia. In 1825 Melnikov graduated
at the head of his class from the Institute of Transport Engineers in the
School for Communication Routes with the rank of Lieutenant in the Corps
of Transport Engineers. He remained as a teacher at the Institute, becoming
professor of applied mechanics in 1833. He also took part in several construction
projects to improve the Russian network of rivers and canals. In 1833 he
joined the St. Petersburg Artillery School. In the Summer of 1839 Melnikov
and another colonel, Nikolai Osipovich Kraft (1798-1857), were sent to the
United States to inspect its railroad system and recommend technology to
be used in Russia. Locomotive Mag.,
1935, 41, 299 states also travelled to England. The travellers
returned in the autumn of 1840. The report regarding U.S. railroads which
Melnikov compiled upon his and Kraft's return to their homeland, for submission
to the imperial Russian authorities, is a massive contribution to American
industrial and transportation history. Written in longhand in 1841 and now
found in manuscript form in the library of St. Petersburg State Transportation
University, this 3-part, 664-page work is entitled Technical Description
of the railways of the North American States. Based on his experience Melnikov
suggested the adoption of a 5-foot wide gauge for the planned MoscowSt.
Petersburg Railway. The gauge was approved as the new standard on 12 September
1842. When construction of the MoscowSt. Petersburg Railway began in
1842 Melnikov was appointed to manage the construction of its northern part.
From 1862 he was the chief manager of the railway, served as the Transport
Minister from 1866 to 1869 and as a member of the Railroads Committee from
1870 to 1875. Melnikov also contributed to water transportation systems and
other engineering projects. He is the author of the first books about railroad
construction ever written in Russian. Wikipedia
Mesnard, Auguste
Born at Cholet (Maine-et-Loire) on 24 August 1827; died in Paris on
18 April 1899. Engineer associated with Cail. Fireless condensing locomotives
see Locomotive Mag., 1918,
24, 23.
Metzeltin, Erich
Born 9 August 1871 in Berlin; died 18 April 1948 in Hanover. Attended
the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Gymnasium in Berlin-Friedrichstadt and from 1890 studied
mechanical engineering at the Technical University of Charlottenburg. In
1894 appointed as trainee in the public building administration. He then
passed the locomotive driver examination and worked for AEG in Berlin. Metzeltin
converted horse tracks to electric operation in Heilbronn, Tbilisi and Santiago
in Chile. In 1898 he graduated from the Second State Exam as Governor or
Assessor in Public Construction Administration. In this position, he worked
at the Eisenbahndirektion Essen and the Saarbrücken Railway Directorate,
and from 1900 onwards at the Hanover Railway Management , where he was
responsible for the Hannoversche Maschinenbau-AG . In 1902, he was hired
by this company as a senior engineer to handle a difficult major order from
the East Indian Railway over 54 locomotives. Until 1924 Metzeltin headed
the locomotive section of the company. From 1907 to 1924 he was a member
of the Executive Board then until 1932 a member of the Supervisory Board
.In 1918 Metzeltin initiated the General Locomotive Standards Committee whose
chairman he remained until his death. (Wikipedia 2017-01-29). See also
Locomotive Mag., 1935,
41, 268 for book celebrating German Railway Centenary
Meyer, Jean Jacques
According to Marshall Meyer
was born in 1804 was educated in Paris and died in Vienna in 1877. Elsewhere
he was stated to be an Alsatian engineer, Meyer in 1831 established a locomotive
works at Mulhouse (later taken over by Koechlin). He registered several patents
for improving the steam locomotive, but is best known for the Meyer articulated
locomotive. This had two engine units beneath a single boiler, with the cylinders
at the inner end of each unit (that is, in the centre of the locomotive).
The engine units were attached to the draw gear and buffing gear. Some units
were compounds and known as Saxon-Meyer or Mallet-Meyer. The patent was
registered in 1861 and the first unit l' Avenir built in 1868 for a short
line which later became part of the Etat system. In 1890 the Hartmann works
in Germany Degan to build Meyer 0-4-4-0 tank locomotives for the Saxon railways,
the type being especially favoured for steep narrow-gauge lines. Some units
were still at work in the mid-seventies in the German Democratic Republic.
A British variant, was developed by Kitsons: the
Kitson-Meyer, which had a limited success
and was used on the Trans-Andean Railway which linked Argentina with Chile.
This had a girder frame, sometimes with a tender, and the cylinders were
positioned differently. See: L. M. Vilain, Les Locomotives Articulées
du Systeme Mallet dans le Monde(1969).
Michelin, Édouard
Born 23 June 1859 in Clermont-Ferrand, France; died 25 August
1940, With his elder brother André served as co-directors of
the Michelin company. Edouard seemed destined for a career as an artist,
but around 1888 he and his brother Andre returned to Clermont-Ferrand in
order to try to save the failing family business, then a manufacturer of
agricultural tools, drive belts and hoses. In 1889, he improved greatly on
the design of the pneumatic tyre for bicycles, making tyres easier to change
and repair. The invention proved its worth in the ParisBrest cycle
event organized by the newspaper Le Petit Journal in September 1891
and Michelin quickly adapted his inflatable tyres for use on motor vehicles,
of which France was becoming the world's leading producer. Success came rapidly,
and already in 1896 approximately 300 Paris taxis were running on Michelin
pneumatic tyres. His company went on to experience tremendous growth serving
the fledgling industry around the turn of the century and beyond. In the
traumatic weeks that followed the German invasion of May/June 1940, world
events overshadowed Michelin's death. Furthermore, work was advanced on
manufacturing radial ply tyres and the company was eager to keep this
revolutionary concept from the invaders. A sleepless night experienced
by Edouard in a railway sleeping car is supposed to have led to the Company's
exploitation of pneumatic tyres for railway vehicles in a few complete trains,
in railcars and in total systems notably on the Paris Metro and later in
Montreal and Mexico Cíty. Partly based on Wikipedia entry and partly
from KPJ's memory. Wikipedia lists some of the disadvantages of the Micheliin
Metro systems: the main advantage is lack of noise especially on elevated
sections.
Middelberg, Gerritt A.A.
Dutch locomotive engineer: prolific inventor. For compounding
see Derens Locomotive Mag., 1935,
41, 18. Later moved to South Africa where British regarded him
as a ruthless constructor of railways
Morandière, Jules
Worked for French Nord Railway and in 1866 proposed a three-cylinder
compound with a single high-pressure cylinder inside and two outside low
pressure cylinders in phase with each other and at 90° to the inside
cylinder. J.T. van
Riemsdijk
Nasse
Retired from possition of L'Ingenieur en Chef du Material et de la
Traction of the French State Railways on 30 November 1935. Born in 1875,
and after a brilliant academical career as student at the Ecole National
des Ponts, et Chaussées he entercd the service of the State Railways
in 1901. After passing through successive grades was finally appointed head
of the Department of Material and Traction in 1920, and his directorship
had been conspiculously identified with the many advances which had taken
place on the railway with which he has for so long been connected, Nasse
was the author of several important technical papers and contributions to
the engineering press. Locomotive
Mag., 1936, 42, 27.
Niederstrasser, Leopold
Book on steam locomotive operation see
Locomotive Mag., 1935,
41, 267: also Leitfaden fur den Dampflokomotivdienst reviewed
in Locomotive Mag., 1954,
60, 120.
Nollau, H.
Chief engineer Hollstein Railway. Studied oscillation in steam locomotives
and traced it to pistons and moved towards concept of counter-balancing.
See Bardell
Nordmann, Hans
German professor, head of testing on German State Railways: worked
on compounding, aair resistance and boiler proportions. See
Glancey and
Cox Locomotive panorama Vol. 1
and Locomotive Mag., 1938, 44,
257 and Carling Trans. Newcomen
Soc., 1972, 45, 105.
Notesse, Raoul
Born 1898; died Harrow in July 1944 due to V2 rocket attack. In 1932
joined the Belgian State Railways to work for the Chief Mechanical Engineer,
Fernand Legein. In 1933 he was sent to Britain to meet Stanier and examine
the Princess Royal Pacifics. This led to the construction of 35 Type 1 Pacifics
with 6ft 6in coupled wheels and 256 psi boilers. In 1939 the late flowering
streamlined Atlantics appeared. These had 6ft 11in coupled wheels and inside
cylinders. One was fitted with Dabeg rotary cam valve gear, and another
with Caprotti, the remainder Walschaerts. They were intended for the high
speed Brussels to Ostend light expresses. When WW2 stopped development he
was working on two three-cylinder designs with triple chimneys and mechanical
stokers: a 4-8-4 for passenger services and a 2-10-2 for freight.
Mainly Glancey
Oeynhausen, Carl von
One of two Prussian mining engineers who visited the United Kingdom
to study the railways: see Report on railways in England in
1826-27 by Carl von Oeynhausen and Heinrich von Dechen; translated
and reviewed E.A. Forward. Trans
Newcomen Soc., 1954, 29, 1-10. Disc.: 11-12.
See also Warren
Pambour, Guyonneau de
Francois Marie Guyonneau de Pambour, a French Count, and author of
A new theory of the stesam engine and the mode of calculation by means
of it of the effective power. London, 1838 Ottley 10409, and of
seminal Practical treatise on locomotive engines upon railways, 1836:
Ottley 2930. When Pambour visited Britain in 1834,
and again in 1836, Woods assisted him with his
experiments into fuel consumption and locomotive performance. Pambour's work
was widely reported, and translated into English (A Practical Treatise
on Locomotive Engines, 2nd edn, 1840). Woods clearly profited from this
experience, and was soon conducting his own experiments. Pambour's
contribution to the air resistance of trains
see Locomotive Mag., 1938,
44, 257.
Parmantier, Ange
Assistant to Vallantin on the PLM Railway. Associated with streamlined
4-4-2 which reduced Paris to Lyons time to five hours and compound 2-10-2
with all four cylinders outside, but with inside coupling rods to connect
front and rear sets of coupled wheels.
J.T. van Riemsdijk claims
was a successful design. From 1947 to 1956 Parmantier was in chief engineer
of the Est section.
Péchot, Prosper
French military engineer with rank of Lt. Colonel who developed forts
and their associated artillery to defend France. Also developed twin bogie
locomotives with double boilers on 60cm gauge to serve trenches. Absurdly
expensive book vended on Internet. Associated with Charles Bourdon.
Petiet, Jules Alexandre
Born 5 August 1813; died 29 June 1871. Chief engineer of the Nord
Railway from 1845. Head of the Ecole Centrale engineering school in Paris.
Responsible for 0-8-0T design (Wikipedia 2014-06-20)
Place, Pierre
Head of the Testing Plant at Vitry. Author of:.
Locomotive testing plants (with special reference to the Testing Plant at
Vitry). J. Instn Loco. Engrs,
1935, 25, 380-406. Disc.: 406-15. (Paper No. 338)
Poluyan
Russian designeer of high speed diesel train.
Locomotive Mag., 1936,
40, 152.
Poncet, Marcel
Assistant Chief Mechanical Engineer until 1936 when he succeeded Loizillon
as Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Eastern Railway of France and held that
position until 1945. Appointment
Locomotive Mag., 1936,
42, 132.
Radovanovic, Andreas
Patent GB 1900/12815 Improvements in Valve
Gear. Applied 16 July 1900. Published 18 August 1900
Rekhnevsky
Manager of the Aleandrovsky Works in St. Petersburg.
See Locomotivev Mag., 1915, 21,
176
Renaud, Edouard
Inventor of poppet valve gear: patented. Fitted to Mountain type
three-clinder locomotives see Loco.
Rly Carr. Wagon Rev., 1933, 39, 32.
GB 5339/1914 Improvements in valve mechanism for locomotive and other
engines. Applied 4 March 1913; published 2 March 1914.
See Loco Rly Carr. Wagon Rev.,
1932, 38, 428.
Renevey
For twenty years in charge of motive power on PLM. Director of OCEM
in 1935. Author of L'évolution de la locomotive à vapeur.
(Bulletin PLM No. 21 May 1932). At ILocoE Dinner in 1935:
Locomotive Mag., 1935, 41,
94.
Ricour, Théophile
Born 1831, Died 1916. Igenieur des Ponts et Chaussées and Chief
of Rolling Stock and Traction of the Northern Railway of Spain from 1861
to 1867, during which time counter-pressure brake was developed. From 1878
to 1886 he was Chief of Rolling Stock and Traction of the État, the
French State railway where he introduced the brick arch (with arch tubes)
in 1880 and what Carling termed the first practical piston valves.
Carling and
Loco. Mag., 1913, 19,
206. Le Fleming in
Ransome-Wallis Concise encyclopedia..
Locomotive Mag., 1922, 22,
37, (piston valves). Book: Notice sur diverses modifications introduites
dans le mécanisme des machines locomotives, 1884.
Ridder, Gustave Nicolas Joseph de
Born in Bruxelles on 31 May 1795; died Mée-sur-Seine in France
on 27 May 1862 (Wikipedia). Came to Britain with Pierre Simons and Jean-Baptiste
Vifquain to study railways at the behaest of the Minister of the Interior
Charles Rogier. Constructed a metre gauge (approx.) line from Antwerp to
Ghent which reached Saint-Nicholas on 3 November 1844. He also designed the
locomotives: outside-frame 2-2-2STs. One was exhibited at the Great Exhibition
and Payes de Waes (built by Postula at the Renaud Works in Brussels
in 1842 is preserved in the Belgian national railway musuem.
Locomotive Mag., 1903, 8,
286.. Rutherford. Backtrack,
2007, 21, 358. Also 0-4-2T (Crampton type) see
Locomotive Mag., 1944, 50,
13.
Riggenbach, Niklaus
Born at Gebweiler in Alsace on 21 May 1817
(Marshall states place of birth as
Basel in Switzerland) and died on 25 July 1899 at Olten. From 1840 to 1842
and from 1844 to 1853 he worked for Emil Kessler at Karlsruhe. He then moved
to the Swiss Central Railway, initially at Basle, and from 1855 at Olten.
With the support of Koechlin of the Mulhouse he patented his rack system
used on the Rigi Railway opened 21 May 1871.
Carling.
Le Fleming in Ransome-Wallis
Concise encyclopedia. who states that a form of
counter-pressure braking was fitted to the locomotives working on his rack
system.
Rihosek, Johann
Born in Maków Podhalanski, Galicia, now Poland on 5 June 1869.
He died 21 November 1956 in Vienna. Studied at Technical University, Vienna,
and trained at Floridsdorf Locomotive Works. In1897 he joined the Austrian
State Railways and worked in the design office under Karl
Gölsdorf, finally as his assistant. In 1916, following the death
of the Gölsdorf, Rihosek succeeded him as CME and continued to design
locomotives for the different lines of central Europe. He played an important
part in developing the vacuum brake and later the air brake (many patents).
Among his best-known locomotive designs was the '81' class 2-10-0 (1920)
for heavy goods and passenger work on the Semmering, Tauern and Arlberg lines.
One of these is preserved at the Vienna Railway Museum. When he retired in
1924 he was appointed lecturer (later professor) of locomotive engineering
at Vienna University, and when he retired from the chair in 1939 he continued
to write on locomotive subjects.
Marshall and Wikipedia (vital statistics).
See also letter in Locomotive
Mag., 1935, 41, 403
Rinecker, Franz
Born in Würzburg, Germany, on 16 December 1843 and died there
on 10 April 1899. Studied mathematics and engineering at Polytechnic School,
Karlsruhe, and at Zurich. Began practical work in November 1864 as asst engr
on Bavarian State Rs, laying out and building part of the Munich-Ingolstadt
Railway until November 1867. From May 1869 to June 1873 he was employed on
the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad and then on the Pennsylvania
Railroad, laying out and building new lines. Returned to Europe and from
January 1874 until May 1876 was divisional engineer on the Swiss Central
Railway for surveys and construction of the Liestal-Waldenburg (750mm gauge)
and Liestal-Oensingen lines. Between 1876-83 he was involved in technical
studies on the Abt rack system (see Abt). In August 1883
he established the fum of Rinecker, Abt & Co in Würzburg and was
engaged on many Abt rack railways including Harzbahn, Germany; Usui Toge
Railway, Japan; Transandine Railway; Nilgiri Railway, India; Snowdon Railway,
Wales; Mount Lyell Railway, Tasmania; and Mount Morgan Railway, Queensland.
Marshall.
Roosen, Richard Otto
Born in Hamburg on 13 October 1901; died Kassel on 2 March 1980
(Wikipedia). Designed eight cylinder (arranged in V fashion and driving into
the axles) 2-8-2 with Friedrich Witte. Also involved with Henschel condensing
locomotives and with pulverized fuel. See ILocoE
Paper 607 and
Paper No. 251. Book: Ein leben
für die lokomotive. 1976.
Roy, Edmond
Inventor of radial axle box patented in 1857 (Grace's Guide and
Locomotive Mag., 1909,
15, 144)
Saluz, Peter Otto
Born in Lavin, Graubünden, Switzerland, on 6 April 1847; died
Chur 8 September 1914. Civil engineer, Rhaetian Railways. Educated at Chur
and Technical High School, Zurich, where he gained a diploma in civil engineerin
in 1870. After two years on road and water schemes, in 1873, he was appointed
engineer on the Swiss North Eastern Railway. In 1879 he worked on the St
Gotthard Railway. 1885-8 he was municipal engineer at Chur. Early in 1889
he went to the Government Railway Dept in Bern. His work on the Rhaetian
Railway (RhB) began in 1898 when he was appointed engineer on the Reichenau-Ilanz
section. From 1905 he was chief engineer on the difficult Davos-Filisur,
Bever-Schuls and Ilanz-Disentis sections.
Marshall.
Sartiaux, Albert
Engineer-in-Chief of the Traffic and Working Department. Northern
Railway. Paper on cab signalling in
Proc. Instn. Mech. Engrs.,
1914, 87, 463. Associated with Charing Cross to Bagdad Railway;
Locomotive Mag., 1918,
24, 17.
Sanzin, Rudolf
Born in Mürzzuschlag, Austria on 4 June 1874; died in Trieste
on 2 June 1922. His father was an official with the Austrian Southern Railway.
He studied at the Graz University of Technology until 1900. The following
year he was himself given a job with the Südbahn, but did his doctorate
in 1904 at Graz (with a dissertation entitled Investigations into the performance
of a locomotive and confirmation of the optimum loading of the same). The
subsequent publications came to the attention of the railway ministry, with
the result that Karl Gölsdorf recruited him to the ministry, where he
worked as a design engineer. Later on, he became the head of the department
for the design of electric locomotives in the then Electrification Office.
He obtained post-doctoral qualifications at Graz in 1906 and at the Vienna
University of Technology in 1909, where he was appointed as a reader in 1919.
He was also an avid artist and produced numerous drawings and water colours.
In 1942 the Sanzingasse street in Vienna's Favoriten district was named in
his honour. Wikipediia (2016-04-22). See reference to report od 2-12-0 Golsdorf
locomotive in Locomotive Mag.,
1928, 34, 386
Sauvage, Edouard
Born in Paris on 16 August 1850. Died 1937: Sauvage was one of the
nineteenth-century designers who made a success of compounding, even though
he himself did not follow up his success very enthusiastically. As
engineer-in-chief on the Nord Railway he built the first French three-cylinder
compound. This was a 2-6-0 with its single high-pressure cylinder inside
and its two low-pressure cylinders outside the frames. The arrangement was
later developed by W.M. Smith of the North
Eastern Railway in England. and passed from there to the Midland Railway.
Sauvage's 2-6-0, like its successors in Britain, could be operated as a compound,
a simple, or as semi-compound (by admitting some steam direct from the boiler
to supplement that entering the low-pressure cylinders). Chapelon's 4-8-4
prototype 242A1 reverted to this arrangement. Later, Sauvage transferred
to the Est, and then the Ouest Railways, and taught at the Academie des Arts
Metiers. In 1910 he gave a series of lectures
on superheating in London which were subsequently published in book
form.
Books
La machine locomotive : manuel pratique donnant la
description des organes et du fonctionnement de la locomotive à
lusage des mécaniciens et des chauffeurs. 1st edition,
Librairie Polytechnique Baudry et Cie, Paris, 1894, XVI+374 p
8th edition reviewed
Locomotive Mag., 1927,
33, 374
10th edition with Chapelon in 1947: reviewed
Locomotive Mag., 1948,
54, 98.
Lectures on superheating on Continental
locomotives. London: University of London Press/ Hodder
& Stoughton,
Papers
Recent locomotive practice in France.
Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs.,
1900, 59, 375-433.
Compound locomotives in France.
Proc. Instn mech. Engrs,
1904, 66, 327-80. Disc.: 380-467.
Participants to the Discussion included John F. Robinson (pp.
398-400) and Churchward (400-04).
Schleyder, Karl (or Charles)
Austrian. Patents
17511. Applied 1 August 1911. Published 11 January 1912. Improved apparatus
for consuming smoke, ashes and other returned products of combustion in the
furnace of locomotive and other steam boilers, and other furnaces. Applicant:
Schleyder Ash and Smoke Consum
11456. Applied 16 May 1906. Published 9 May 1907. Improvements in means
for consuming smoke and soot in locomotive and other furnaces.
9207. Applied 21 April 1904. Published 9 February 1905. Improvements in
or relating to locomotive and other furnaces
8732. Applied 14 April 1898. Published 18 February 1899. Improvements
in or relating to deflectors or baffles for the furnaces of locomotive and
other steam generators
8731. Applied 14 April 1898. Published 14 April 1899. Improvements in
or relating to blast apparatus for locomotive and other steam
generators.
Schlick, Ernst Otto
Born 16 June 1840 in Grimma; died 10 April 1913 in Hamburg. studied
at the Dresden Technical University from 1858. In 1863 in Dresden he founded
a dockyard and engineering workshop which was later bought by Austrians.
From 1869 to 1875 he worked as a naval engineer, firstly in Pest and then
in Fiume, both in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1875 he became managing
director of the Norddeutschen Werft in Kiel, where he oversaw the building
of many freight steamers and also some warships, including the German Royal
Yacht Hohenzollern. In 1904 he presented to the Institute of Architects
a paper on a gyroscopic rolling brake for vessels; and details a large flywheel
to be installed on ships to end sea-sickness. He worked with
A.F. Yarrow and
Tweedy on counterbalancing high speed engines
published in 1898.
Schmidt, Wilhelm
According to Marshall Wilhelm
Schmidt was born in Wegeleben, near Halberstadt in Saxony on 18 February
1858 and died at Bethel near Bielfeld on 16 February 1924
(Locomotive Mag., 1924,
30, 96). As the first engineer to make a practical success of
the superheater, Wilhelm Schmidt established himself as the most influential
locomotive engineer of the twentieth century. His firetube superheater of
1901, rapidly fitted to thousands of locomotives throughout the world, raised
thermal efficiency by up to 30% without creating (as did so many innovations)
new problems that outweighed the advantages. His later experiments with novel
high-pressure boilers in his native Germany and elsewhere were not successful.
See extract from seminal Fowler paper on
Schmidt's contribution.
Patents
23171/1893. Tubular boiler combined with
superheater. Applied 2 December 1893. Published 6 January 1894.
15296/1894. An improved tubulous boiler with superheater. Applied
10 August 1894. Published 24 May 1895.
9026/1895. Improvements in steam-boilers with superheater.
Applied 7 May 1895. Published 7 March 1896.
5908/1897 New or improved means or devices for superheating steam
in steam boilers. Applied 5 March 1897. Published 15 January 1898.
11952/1898. Improvements in and connected with self-acting
temperature-regulating devices for superheaters. Applied 26 May 1898.
Published 26 May 1899.
19173/1899. Improvements in and connected with superheating
arrangements with separate firings. Applied 23 September 1899. Published
1 September 1900.
22538/1899. Improvements in and connected with boilers for locomotives
or similar tube-boilers. Applied 11 November 1899. Published 10 November
1900 (with Elsner Hermann)
10019/1905. A new and useful joint for the fire tubes of boilers.
Applied 12 May 1905. Published 12 May 1906.
17485/1905. A new and improved arrangement of steam-superheater.
Applied 29 August 1905. Published 26 July 1906.
5734/1907. Improvements in and relating to superheater arrangements
for flue-tube boilers. Applied 9 March 1907. Published 27 June 1907.
24655/1907. Improvements in and relating to steam superheaters.
Applied 7 November 1907. Published 13 February 1908.
8519/1908 Improvements in and relating to steam superheating.
Applied 16 April 1908 (14 September 1907 in Germany). Published 16 July
1908.
10325/1908 Improvements in and relating to superheaters suitable
for boilers of the locomotive type. Applied 12 May 1908 (18 October 1907
in Germany). Published 1 October 1908.
12432/1908 Improvements in and relating to steam superheating.
Applied 9 June 1908. Published 3 September 1908.
12751/1908. Improvements in and relating to superheaters suitable
for tubular boilers. Applied 13 June 1908 (13 June 1907in Germany). Published
13 Auigust 1908.
5175/1909. Improvements in and relating to steam superheating
devices. Applied 3 March 1909 (4 March 1908 in Germany). Published 10
June 1909.
10792/1909. Improvements in and relating to U-bends suitable for
superheater tubes. Applied 6 May 1909 (12 February in Germany). Published
2 September 1909.
276/1910. Improvements in steam superheaters for locomotives.
Applied 5 January 1910. Published 22 September 1910 (with Peter
Thomsen).
2098/1910. Improvements in and relating to combined water tube
boiler and superheater arrangements. Applied 27 January 1910 (18 February
in Germany). Published 6 October 1910.
17959/1911. Improvements in and relating to superheaters.
with Peter Thomsen. Applied 8 August 1911 (10 August 1910 in Germany).
Published 30 December 1911.
1287/1915 Improvements in and relating to water-tube boilers.
Applied 26 January 1915 (27 January 1914 in Germany). Published 12 August
1915.
Also US Patent 816,607 Piston valves. Applied 7 November 1904;
published 3 April 1906
Hugh M. Le Fleming in P. Ransome-Wallis, Concise encylopedia of world railway locomotives (1959) neatly summarised Schmidt's superheaters into three types: (1) large central flue with horizontal elements first applied on Prussian State Railways in 1898; (2) smokebox apparatus with annular tubing to which the firebox gases were conducted by a large central flue at the bottom of the barrel. As the large flue only resulted in 10% heat loss, high temperature superheat was obtained, first used in Prussia in 1899; (3) the fire tube type with elements housed in larger diameter flue tubes, first applied in Belgium in 1901 and within a decade was being fitted to nearly all large locomotives worldwide.
See: R. Garbe, Application of Highly superheated Steam (1908) ; Glasers Annalen, April 1924; E. O. Jochmann, Die Entwicklung des Hochdruckdampfes in Deutschland (1958); Journal of the Institution of Locomotive Engineers, Nos. 5, 211.
Piston valves. Locomotive Mag., 1922, 28, 37
Schonerer, Matthias Ritter von
Born Vienna 10 January1807; died Vienna 31 October 1881. Austrian
civil engineer. Studied in Prague and Vienna and in 1824 worked on the early
Linz-Budweis Railway. Between 1829 and 1832 assisted with construction of
the horse-worked Unz-Gmunden Railway. He then travelled extensively in Britain
and the USA. From 1839 he was employed on the locomotive-worked Vienna-Gloggnitz
Railway, becoming superintendent in 1842, director of construction 1846-53,
in 1850 working on several sections of the Semmering Railway. 1854-6 he built
the Bruck an der Leitha to Raab and Neu Szöny line. From 1856 until
his death he was technical consultant of the Kaiserin Bisabeth Bahn.
Marshall
Schubert, Johanm Andreas
Bom on 19 March 1808 in Wernesgrün, Sachsen, to poor parents.
He was "adopted" by a wealthy couple and brought up by them in Leipzig and
then Konigstein, studying at the Dresden Building College. It was here that
he developed his mathematical skills for problem solving. In 1828 he was
appointed a teacher in Book-keeping at the Technical College, later Technical
University, and, due to his skill, also assisted the Professor of Mathematics
until in 1832 he succeeded him. For the rest of his life he remained a teacher
and "polytechnic lecturer". As a teacher he received from the Kingdom of
Saxony permission and a scholarship to undertake a study-tour of England
(the same tour as Beyer's second) The Liverpool &
Manchester Railway was one of many surprises that Schubert encountered, since
modern railway operation was already being practiced here. However, the main
purpose of his study mission was to visit English textile factories, for
the benefit of Saxon industry. The Leipzig-Dresden Railway imported locomotives
from England, and Schubert at once noticed their technical weaknesses. He
wanted to demonstrate that it was also possible for Saxony to construct
locomotives and so managed to construct, within nine months, a machine which
he named Saxonia. The Saxonia was able to be present at the
opening of the Leipzig-Dresden railway on 8 April 1839, but was not permitted
to haul one of the special trains; she had to follow on behind and at
Priesterwitz, through a deliberate mislaying of the points, was involved
in an accident (although receiving only slight damage.) She did not therefore
manage to reach Dresden on the opening day. In 1836 Schubert was elected
as Chairman of the Board of the "Aktienmaschinenbauverein" in Obigau, near
Dresden. Saxonia was built in this works and here more of Schubert's
ideas, regarding construction of steam ships for use on the Elbe, were to
be brought to reality. However, no contracts were awarded for these, nor
were any locomotives ordered, so that Saxonia remained a unique item,
even though she had more economical running characteristics than the locomotives
brought from England. Schubert lacked the necessary business sense, and a
lobby. Although he had clearly demonstrated the effectiveness of his locomotive
there was no demand for them, and eventually the Ubigau works went bankrupt.
In 1843 Oberingenieur Wilke got the contract to develop plans for the Leipzig-Hof
line (via Reichenbach and Plauen), and thereby to cross the Goltzsch and
Elster valleys with viaducts. Schubert published his own theory for arched
viaducts and took over the detailed design work. When the line opened Schubert
was not among the honoured guests he had not been invited, since in
the 1848/9 revolutions he had sympathised with those who had wanted to bring
down the government. Nevertheless in 1859 he received the Ritterkreuz of
the Saxon Order and in 1860 the Citizenship of Dresden. In 1865 he received
the title 'Regierungsrat' (Counsellor), and died five years later, on 6 October
1879, in Dresden. It appears that although the Saxon Government was indeed
very progressive when it came to investment and sponsoring study trips, and
although one could become a Professor at 24, it still helped (as always)
to have the right friends and contacts in Government. This might also help
to explain why Beyer chose to turn down the job of textile mill manager in
1834 and make a second trip to Manchester, this time taking his teacher (a
21-year-old student and a 26-year-old teacher!); the teacher's efforts to
build up locomotive manufacturing capacity in his home country foundered
upon official opposition, whereas the student's efforts in England met with
greater success. One is tempted to wonder whether these two matters were
linked in some way. Walter Rothschild,
Backtrack, 1999, 13, 53
from an article by Reiner Preuss on Johann Andreas Schubert in Lok Magazin
No. 212, 5/98, p.109. Hart.
Railway World, 1972, 33,
34.
Schucan, Achilles
Born Avignon, France on 1 March 1844; died in Chur, Switzerland
on 18 July 1927. Engineer and managing director of Rhaetian R (RhB), Switzerland.
Whilst he was still a child his family moved to their native Engadin. He
was educated at the canton school and the Federal Polytechnic, Zurich, where
he gained a diploma in engineering in 1844. He began his engineering career
on roads, later turning to railways and eventually becoming leading engineer
in the Swiss Railway Dept at Bern. In 1879 he transferred to the Federal
Railway Inspectorate. To gain experience in railway management in 1885 he
took over the poverty-stricken Seetal Railway which he brought to a position
of security within three years. In 1888 he was appointed chief engineer of
the metre-gauge Landquart-Davos Railway, the nudeus of the Rhaetian system.
On its completion in 1889 he continued the line through Chur to Thusis,
transferred his headquarters to Chur and as managing director of what, in
1896, became the Rhaetian Railways (RhB), he guided the affairs of the company
to the completion of the 172 mile network, supervising also the preliminary
electrification work on the Engadin section. He retired in 1918. See also
son Paul (below). Marshall
Schucan, Paul
Born in ? Bern on 10 December 1879; died of acute dysentery in Salta,
Argentina, 5 September 1930. Swiss civil engineer. Son of Achilles Schucan
(above). Educated at Davos and Chur, and Federal Polytechnic, Zurich, qualifying
as engineer in 1902. After a year on the RhB he worked on the Bodensee-Toggenburg
Railway 1904-6. 1906 assistant engineer on the RhB Davos-Filisur section.
1909-12 resident engineer on Engadin section at Zernez. 1913 section engineer
on the Furka Railway Anderrnatt-Disentis. 1919 became chief engineer of the
RhB but in 1923 he went out to Argentina as chief engineer on a survey for
a railway across the Andes. Marshall
Schwartzkopff, Louis
Berliner Maschinenbau A.G was founded in 1852 by Louis Schwartzkopff
who was formerly rolling stock manager of the Magdeburg-Wittenberg Railway.
They built their first locomotive in 1867, a 2-4-0 goods engine for the
Niederschlesisch-Markische Railway.
Locomotive Mag., 1936,
42, 62.
Séguin, Marc
A contemporary of Stephenson, Marc Séguin was one of the pioneers
of French railways. He visited the Stockton & Darlington Railway in 1825
and subsequently, and was associated with the St Etienne-Andrezieux Railway
and, more intimately, with the line to Lyon. In 1827 he began experimenting
with the multi-tubular boiler, and he constructed a model of a locomotive
with such a boiler somewhat earlier than Robert Stephenson's construction
of the Rocket, which was the first full-sized locomotive with multiple
tubes. It would appear, for lack of contrary evidence, that the English and
French inventions of this locomotive boiler were independent of each other.
According to C.F. Dendy Marshall
was born in Annonay on 20 April 1776 and his mother was a sister of the
Montgolfiers. Marshall notes that Seguin
died in his place of birth on 24 February 1875, also notes that he trained
under Joseph Montgolfier. See
also Skeat's George Stephenson..
Hugh M. Le Fleming in P.
Ransome-Wallis, Concise encylopedia of world railway locomotives
(1959) .
Book De l'influence des chemins de fer. Paris. 1839. reprinted
Lyons in 1887..
See: Transactions of the Newcomen Society,
Vol. VII pp. 63 et seq (on his
observations on the British scene in 1825) and
97 et seq on his multi-tubular
boiler
Séjourné, Paul
Born Orleans, France on 21 December 1851; died Paris 15 January 1939.
French civil engineer. In 1871 he began training at the Polytechnic School,
Mende, and qualified as bridge and road engineer in 1877. His first railway
work was on the Montauban-Castres line on which he built the bridges at Castalet,
Lavaur and Antoinette. 1899-1902 he built the great bridge on the Petrusse
in Luxembourg with a span of 279ft. In 1900 he entered the PLM as chief of
const ruction and remained on that railway until 1928. He built some of the
most difficult mountain lines in France: the Tarentaise line; Moutiers Bourg
St Maurice, opened 1913; Frasne-Vallorbe inclining Mont d'or tunnel, 3 miles
1,388 yds long; and, with Andre Martinet (1878-1947), the Nice-Breil sur
Roya line, opened 1914. He also began the Le Puy Lalevade and
Chorges-Barcelonette lines. Between 1901-22 he was professor at the National
School of Bridges and Roads. In 1913-16 he published his book Grandes
Voûtes (Large arches) in 6 volumes. From 1910 he served on the
editorial panel of Le Génie Civil In 1924 he was made Member
of the Academie des Sciences and in 1918 was awarded the Prix
Caméré.Marshall
Serpollet, Léon
Born 4 October 1858; died in Paris on 5 January 1907 (1 February according
to Wikipedia (2020-03--03) ) at age of 48. Inventor of flash-type boiler
used in steam cars: Gardner-Serpollet and the Darracq-Serpolet steam omnibus.
and steam trams See: C.E. Lee Rise
and fall of the steam-driven omnibus. Trans. Newcomen Soc., 1949,
27, 181. and MacNair
Backtrack, 2020, 34, 164.
Sigl, Georg
Born Breitenfurth, Lower Austria, 13 January 1811; died Vienna 9 May
1887. Austrian locomotive engineer and industrialist. In 1840 he founded
a works in Berlin to manufacture power printing presses. In 1846 he moved
to Vienna where he combined manufacture of presses with other machinery.
In 1851-2 he built the first power lithograph press in Europe and installed
the first pneumatic post installations in Berlin, Munich and Vienna. In 1857
he established workshops at Vienna and Wiener Neustadt where many types of
locomotives were built for Austria and other countries, One of his locomotives,
0-6-0 No 106 Fusch, built for the Vienna-Linz Railway in 1868, is
preserved outside Linz station.
Marshall
Solacroup, E.
Locomotive and Rolling Stock Superintendent Orleans Railway: paper
on cab signalling. Proc. Instn
Mech Engrs., 1914, 87, 491
Steffan, Hans
Belgische locomotiven. 1916-18
See Locomotivve Mag.,
1949, 55, 46
Stevart, Armand [Stévart]
Belgian inventor of scissors valve gear vide Phil Dambly.
Vapeur en Belgique. J. Blanchart. 1989. pp. 27 & 106 et
Miles Macnair Backtrack, 2014,
28, 390 Also Locomotive
Mag., 1936, 42, 352.
Strahl, Georg
German locomotive engineer: his theoretical work on the relationship
between chimney and blast pipe led to Loubser and
Cox's Paper 388 of the ILocoE.
Publications in 1908 and immediately post-WW1
Strub, Emil Viktor
Born Trimbach; near Otten in Switzerland, on 13 July 1858; died from
heart failure in Zurich on 12 December1909. On leaving school he went to
Aarau to study mechanical engineering, where, as was Abt,
he was influenced by Riggenbach who interested
him in mountain railways. After further technical studies at Mitweida, and
at the engineering works of Hohenzollern and Esslingen, in 1888 he was appointed
to the Federal Railway Department as a leading engineer in a new office concerned
with mountain railways. In 1891 he was appoinnted inspector on the newly
opened Bernese Oberland Railway. During 1897-8 he directed the Jungfrau Railway,
then under construction, having come to this through the prize competition
organized by the erectors Guyer-Zeller to celebrate their 90th year. He won
the first prize for the formation work. On the Jungfrau Railway his rack
system was used far the first time. (It was replaced by the Lamelle system
rack in 1955.) The teeth of the Strub rack are machined out of the head of
a flat-bottomed type of rail, similar to an ordinary running rail. The
manufacturer of the Strub rack was undertaken from the start by L von Rollschen
Ironworks, Gerlafingen, with which Strub worked for the rest of his life.
By 1909 it was in use in Switzerland, France, Germany and Italy. From 1898
Strub established his own engineering office, in Montreaux until 1901 and
then in Zurich, where from l905 he worked with H.H. Peter. His work led to
a succession of Swiss mountain raiways in 1889-1909. In 1902 his book Die
Bergbahnen der Schweiz bis 1800 was published.
Marshall
Stumpf, Johann
Born in Mülheim, Germany on 4 April 1862; died in Berlin on 18
November 1936. Developer of the Stumpf 'Uniflow' steam engine. Studied under
Riedler at the Technical High School in Aachen. In 1888 when Riedler moved
to the Technical High School at Charlottenburg he chose Stumpf as his assistant.
With Riedler Stumpf greatly improved pumping machinery. In 1893 he went to
Chicago with Riedler and became chief engineer of Allis Chalmers where he
supervised building of pumps, compressors and Corliss steam engines. In 1896
he was appointed professor of steam engines at the Technical High School
at Charlottenburg where he designed his Uniflow steam engine. The principle
had been first applied in England in 1845 on a 2-2-2 engine built under
J.I. Cudworth for the SER and was further developed
by L.J. Todd in 1885. In this system the steam
is exhausted through ports in the middle of the cylinder. To achieve this
the piston has to be nearly half the length of the cylinder. The idea is
to maintain a uniform direction of steam flow, avoiding reversal at each
piston stroke. The Stumpf system was applied in England by
Vincent Raven on the NER, first on S2 class 2-cylinder
4-6-0 No 825 in 1913, and on Z1 class 4-4-2 No 2212 in 1918. Both showed
coal economy, but the use of the Stumpf arrangement was not extended. In
1920 Stumpf was awarded a Doctorate in Engineering at Aachen Technical High
School . The system tried on the North Eastern Railway was described by
Tuplin North Eastern
Steam. Briefly, the system worked well and obtained a small economy
in fuel consumption, but at the price structure prevailing at that time the
extra constructional and maintenance costs were greater than the coal economy.
See also application to Prussian State Railways where described as "through
flow": Locomotive Mag., 1910,
16, 152-3. H.W. Dickinson's A
short history of the steam engine makes it clear that the concept
of the uniflow engine reached back to Montgolfier and Jacob Perkins (who
patented the idea) and Leonard Jennett Todd (Patent No. 7801): Dickinson
then gives Stumpf of Charlottenburg University his due citing a paper by
T.B. Perry Proc. Inst. Mech.
Eng., 1920, 99, 731.
Marshall and
Throp Trans. Newcomen Soc.,
43, 19. Le Fleming
noted that there were three types of Uniflow system: (i) with vertical
poppet admission valves in 1908; (ii) with piston valves in 1912; (iii) with
the exhaust passage designed as a Venturi tube in 1920. Developments were
cut short by the prior adoption of superheating and WW1. R.I. Hill. The Uniflow
engine: a re-appraisal. Trans
Newcomen Soc., 1985, 57 59-73, .
Publication
The Unaflow steam engine. 1912 (translated Stumpf Uniflow Engine Co.,
Syracuse (NY))
Patents The first four came from the
earlier Newcomen Society paper; the latter selected from at least thirty
Espacenet Patents
5429/1908 Application (original: 7 March 1908), UK 6 March 1909, Accepted
15 July 1909. Improvements in four-cylinder locomotive engines
25,531/1910 Application 3 November 1910, Accepted 2 March 1911.
Improvements relating to manoeuvring and like gear for uni-directional
flow steam engines
16,442 /1910 Application (original: 5 March 1910) 9 July 1910, Accepted
23 March 1911. Improvements relating to valves
16,383/1910 Application (original: 18 June 1910) 8 July 1910, Accepted
20 October 1910. Improvements relating to uni-directional flow steam
engines
GB 21553/1908 Improvements in the valve gear of steam engines.
GB 16109/1908 Improvements in or relating to steam engines more
particularly of the locomotive type
GB 8372/1908 Improvements in or relating to steam engines more
particularly of the locomotive type
GB 5429/1909 Improvements in four-cylinder locomotive engines.
Stuymecher
Flemish shed master at Albacete on Madrid, Saragosa & Alicante
Railway applied steam to all four cylinder ends via the drain cocks and brought
trains down gradients successfully. Carling Brief history of the counter-pressure
brake Trans Newcomen Soc.,
1982, 55, 1
Taschinger, Otto
German scientist who orked on air resistance and streamlining of railcars
and on noise isolation of railways.
Thelander, Thorsten
Director of the Electrical Department, Royal Board of Railways, Stockholm,
Sweden. Papers: Electrification of the Swedish state railways in its engineering
and economic aspects : general survey of fundamental principles and their
practical applications. 1952. Analysis of competitive relations between railway
operation systems. 1956.
Thuile
Engineer to the Port of Alexandria Authority in Egypt, set up a company
titled La Societe Des Trains Internationaux, in which unlike the Orient Express,
the same locomotive would haul his luxury train the breadth of Europe. He
did indeed die during the trials but sad to relate it was his brainchild
that killed him. In June l900, running between Chartres and Orleans his
locomotive, Trains Internationaux No.1 derailed and, according to
the French National Railway Museum at Mulhouse, in English translation, "hurled
its unfortunate designer fatally against a lineside pole". Internet source
(2013-01-25) states Robin Barnes as
source. See also Loco. Mag,
1900, 5, 155.
Tilp, Emil
Prussian inventor of coupling system for locomotives to tenders: USP
170,415
Troske
Early experimenter on compounding and correct proportions foor steam
circuits in locomotives; probably German as cited with von Borries.
Urban, Maurice
In charge of locomotive engineering on the Belgian Central Railway
in the 1870s. Introduced a form of steam tender. Jacquet shows modifications
made by him to E.B. Wilson 2-4-0 loccomotives:
Locomotive Mag., 1931, 37, 348.
Old Belgian locomotives (Locomotive
Mag., 1903, 9, 200)
illustrated and included a side elevation diagram of a Type Urban 2-4-0
Vallantin, René G.E.
Joined railway service in 1907 after a professional training at the
Ecole Polytechnique and the Ecole d'application du Genie Maritime followed
by a period of service with the State as a marine engineer. His first appointment
was in the Central Rolling Stock Dept., Locomotive and Tender Division, of
which he became the Principal Engineer in 1912, and so remained until 1916
when he was appointed with the same official rank to the Department of Material
and Traction, becoming Engineer in Chief in succession to Marechal in 1919.
Chief Mechanical Engineer of the PLM Railway in France.
Presented Paper 274 on compounding to
Institution of Locomotive Engineers in 1931.
J.T. van Riemsdijk notes
that Vallantin locomotives suffered serious crank axle failures. Considered
by Carpenter Vallantin prevented Chapelon from achieving full success.
Retirement notice: Locomotive
Mag., 1936, 42, 165.
Verpilleux, Jean-Claude
Born in Rive de Gier on 2 May 1798; died there on 13 October 1875.
(Wikipedia 2017-02). Humble origins, but "understood" machinery like George
Stephenson. Associated with Seguin. Fitted cylinders
to a tender of a locomotive on the Lyon - St Etieene Railway in 1843. See
Locomotive Mag., 1934, 40,
174 or Ahrons and Bulleid
paper of the booster, J. Instn Loco.
Engrs, 1928, 18, 239. (Paper 228) Other inventions included
a "grapple boat" a system of steam haulage on sheltered waters and
a steam car for use on public roads. Macnair.
Backtrack, 2017, 31,
155.
Wagner, Richard Paul
Born in Berlin on 25 August 1882 and died in Wellberg on 14 February
1953. (Marshall). Forenames
off Wikipedia on 2012-11-09. Studied mechanical engineering at Charlottenburg
Technical College. While studying he spent a year on the railway and passed
the engine driver's test on 17 November 1905. During training as government
construction superintendent with the railway administration of Berlin &
Magdeburg he made several educational visits to England. He passed the
constructional administration exam with distinction and was awarded an
educational tour to the USA. His civil service began with the
Maschineninspektion, Wittenberge. Worked in the Dortmund locomotive department
and in inspection. In 1920 he was commissioned to establish a new locomotive
research department, In 1922 called to railway central office and for 20
years was head of locomotive construction section. The establishment of the
German Reichsbahn on 11 November 1924 made necessitated a reduction in the
number of locomotive types taken over from the various state railways. Wagner
established a standard locomotive design in co-operation with German locomotive
builders. He was responsible for numerous developments in locomotive design
including the use of high and super pressure, turbine drive, coal-dust fuel,
and light shunting locos. In 1924 he was nominated Oberregierungsbaurat (chief
of const ruction department). In 1929 he became honourary Member Institution
of Locomotive Engineers. In 1931 awarded hon doctorate by Aachen Tech College.
1938 nominated departmental president. Forced to retire by Nazi regime in
1942 (and replaced by Friedrich Witte)
see Glancey. Wagner was the only
German to be made a Member of the Royal Society of Arts. After WW2 he gave
further service to aid the restoration of the German Railways. 1946--8 acted
as administrative director for supply, planning and buying section, first
at the General Reichsbahn admin at Bielefeld, Prussia, and lastly at the
head admin of the German Bundesbahn (DB) in Offenbach. Following his final
retirement Wagner remained active as presiding Member of the German Standards
Inst, as president of the technical standards committee steam locos and as
collaborator in the technical committee on locos in the DB.
Papers
Some new developments of the Stephenson boiler. J. Instn Loco.
Engrs, 1930, 20, 5-21. Disc.: 21-47.
(Paper No.
253)
High speed and the steam locomotive.
J. Instn Loco. Engrs, 1935,
25, 254-69. Disc.: 269-85. 5 illus., 6 diagrs. (Paper No.
336).
Walschaerts, Egide
According to Marshall the name
is Walschaerts, not Walschaert. He was was born in Mechlin (Malines)
on 21 January 1820 and died in Sint Gilles Brussels on 18 February 1901.
A Jacquet (Locomotive Mag., 1932,
38, 313) gives a different date of birth 20 rather than 21 and
the surname without an "s"). Nevertheless, Jacquet does describe the historical
application of this highly significant form of valve gear.
Walschaerts, a foreman of the Belgian State Railway, made several inventions
of which one, his valve gear, was very successful and was widely used throughout
the world, especially for outside cylinder locomotives in the twentieth century.
The modern version of this gear was patented in 1848 by his nominee,
Edmund Fischer. He does not appear to have greatly
benefited from this success, and remained without promotion for four
decades.
For a small country, Belgium has contributed a surprising number of
men who have influenced the design of the steam locomotive. The Belpaire
boiler and Walschaerts valve gear were both Belgian products, and both belonged
to that group of innovations which seemed to their inventors not to create
a revolution, but simply to promise a better way of doing things. Both were
widely, but never totally, accepted by locomotive builders and operators.
The valve gear may be regarded as the nervous system of the steam locomotive.
Its function is to open and close the admission and exhaust ports of the
cylinder at the appropriate points in each cycle; steam must enter behind
the piston and be free to exhaust in front of it. In the early days this
was all the valve gear was expected to do, apart from providing some means
of break- ing the cycle in order to initiate reverse movement. However, it
was soon realized that the ability to change the 'cut-off', that is, to cut
off the admission of steam before the piston had completed its stroke, would
be a great advantage. Steam admission through the whole length of the stroke
was only needed when pulling a heavy load at low speed; at other times it
was more economical to cut off the steam prematurely, thereby utilizing the
expansive potential of the steam already in the cylinder to maintain pressure
on the piston face. In the nineteenth century the most popular form of valve
gear was the Stephenson link motion, which enabled the point of cut-off to
be finely adjusted from the footplate while the locomotive was in motion.
Its widespread adoption enabled the locomotive to be driven in accordance
with the task facing it; that is, how its steam could be utilized at any
given moment was in the control of the locomotive crew.
During the steam era well over a hundred different designs of valve gear
were devised, but perfection was never attained and only a handful were adopted
on a large scale. Apart from the obvious aim of providing a good steam
distribution, a valve gear had to be reliable, economical in space and weight,
and easy to maintain. The Walschaert gear, which to a large extent re- placed
the Stephenson motion in the twentieth century, offered reliability, light
weight, moderate space requirements, and (unlike the Stephenson gear) a constant
lead at all points of cut-off. Apart from being lighter than the Stephenson
gear, it also dis. pensed with the need for two eccentrics for each cylinder
( which entailed four eccentrics on one driving axle, undesirable because
of stress and because of space restriction). The working of these gears can
hardly be explained without the use of models, the various movements of the
different rods, levers, and links being very complex. However, the first
of the reference sources given on presents a helpful diagram of the gear.
Egide Walschaert was born in Malines in 1820 and died near Brussels in 1901.
Apart from his contribution to the steam locomotive, his life casts a
not-too-favourable light on Belgian society in the nineteenth century
.
The Belgian government took the Industrial Revolution very seriously,
more seriously and earlier even than Germany Railways were carefully planned,
and a heavy engineering industry fostered. Moreover, a technical meritocracy
seemed to be the ultimate aim of the government's sponsorship of technical
education with its accompanying emphasis on diplomas and certificates. But
Walschaerts, no doubt to his lasting sorrow, did not have a diploma, and
for forty-one years, from 1844 to the day he retired, got no pro- motion.
He began his working life as a mechanic in the Malines locomotive repair
works, and his mechanical aptitude led to his appointment in 1844 as foreman
at the Brussels-Midi locomotive shops. It was in this same year that his
valve gear arrangement was patented.
Working as a mere foreman for the highly bureaucratized Belgian State
Railways, Walschaerts was not allowed to apply for patents in his own name.
But he soon found a nominee, one F. Fischer, who consented to file the patent
in his own name (which is why in some parts of the world the Walschaerts
valve gear was long known as the Fischer valve gear). The design as patented
in 1844 is rather different from the later Walschaerts' gear, although the
principle is the same. By 1848 Walschaert had devised the improved gear,
which is similar to the modern Walschaert gear. This he was allowed to fit
to a locomotive attached to his Brussels-Midi locomotive depot, an
inside-cylinder 2-2-2. Apparently the trial was successful, although it was
the private Belgian companies, not the State Railway, that adopted it for
all their outside-cylinder locomotives. As elsewhere, the Stephenson gear
remained the favourite for inside-cylinder machines.
In 1848 a Prussian engineer, Heusinger invented, and in 1849 patented,
a valve gear almost identical to Walschaert's 1848 version. This was tried
out on a tank locomotive in 1850. At the time there was some acrimonious
dispute about whether Walschaert or Heusinger was the true inventor of the
'Walschaert' gear. However, it was always accepted that this was no case
of plagiarism, but of independent and almost simultaneous invention. After
thirty years Heusinger acknowledged that Walschaerts had priority, but in
central Europe the valve gear continued to be known as the Heusinger gear,
as indeed was only right. Walschaerts did not make his fortune with this
invention. He was only a foreman, and he remained a foreman. In a meritocracy,
it is not merit, but certificates of merit, that bring advancement.
See Questions and answers No. 42
Locomotive Mag., 1924, 30, 99
References to
See: P. Ransome-Wallis, Concise
Encyclopedia of World Railway Locomotives (1959) Le Fleming used incorrect
form of Walschaert(s); Loco. Carr.
Wagon Rev., 1932, 38, 313;
Loco. Carr. Wagon Rev., 1933,
39, 59.
Weiss, Max
Died October 1930
(Locomotive Mag., 1930,
36, 396). Chief engineer of rolling stock Swiss Federal Railways
(Locomotive Mag., 1930,
36, 278). Designed 2-10-0 for Gothard route in 1914
(Locomotive Mag., 1914,
20, 72), but design not credited to him (only via online
source).
Welti, Kaspar (or Karl?)
In 1868 invented a rack system with a herringbone or chevron arrangement
of rack installed on line near Lake Zurich. Swiss engineer. Wikipedia and
Miles Macnair: Backtrack, 2017,
31, 710
Wiener, Lionel Edouard
Born in Brussels on 13 April 1879; died Bordeaux on 6 September 1940.
Belgian locomotive engineer who was also a professor of engineering.
Author of several books on history of Belgian
railways and in Belgian Colonies in Africa and on articulated locomotives
(last avaialable in English langauge edition). Also under pseudonym of Lionel
Renieu wrote comic operas See also
Locomotive Mag., 1935, 41, 249 to incomplete reference
to a monograph by him on early former of booster.
Obituary Locomotive Mag., 1941,
47, 38.. See also books.
Wiesinger, Kurt
Professor at Zurich Technical College. First encountered in
Locomotive Mag. (1929, 35,
299) in connection with a high pressure condensing locomotive. Patented
a high speed railway system (USP 1529101: High speed railway; applied
7 Matrch 1924; published 10 March 1925) and model built with rails turned
inwards to hold vehicle on track.
Willoteaux. Marcel
Invented an improved form of piston valve used by Chapelon:
GB Patent 337,621. Improvements in or relating to piston valves.
Applied 21 November 1928. Published 6 November 1930.
Witte, Friedrich
Born 1900; died 1977. Listed in
Glancey, who does tell us much
about him except to note that the Nazi regime engineered him in to replace
the highly respected Wagner. Witte with
Richard Roosen of Henschel had designed an eight cylinder
2-8-2 No. V19 001 and this was shipped to the USA. Following WW2 Witte prroduced
simple basic locomotives for the DB.
Wittfeld, Gustav
Born in Aachen, Germany, on 27 October 1855; died. 24 September 1923.
After attending state school he studied at the polytechnic in Aachen from
1874 to 1878. Then joined the Prussian State Railways. He spent his early
years in the railway divisions of Bromberg, Cassel, Frankfurt am Main, Cologne
and Berlin. He was promoted to government master builder in 1884 and was
involved in the construction of Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof. After transferring
to the Berlin railway division in 1891 he again joined the department for
the construction and procurement of locomotives within the Prussian state
railways. He played a major part in the committee set up for Prussian locomotive
construction standards. In 1902, at the instigation of Wittfeld, the Prussian
railway administration and AEG began trials with single-phase alternating
current for use as a source of traction. The testing lasted until 1906 and
took place on the 4.1 km long suburban route from Niederschöneweide
to Spindlersfeld (near Berlin) using 6 kV 25 Hz AC. This technology was used
initially when the Hamburg-Altona City and Suburban Railway was electrified,
a venture in which Wittfeld was also involved. Wittfeld was the first to
recorgnise the importance of single-phase AC for electric traction and was
a driving force behind the electrification of the first standard gauge railway
in Germany from Dessau to Bitterfeld opened on 1 April 1911.
In 1904, with Wittfeld's involvement, two 2'B2'n3v - experimental steam
locomotives emerged: Altona 561 and Altona 562 with streamlining and a cab
at the front. An extensive account of the three-cylinder compound version
is given in Locomotive Mag., 1934,
40, 244. After these proved a failure due to the cost of the trial,
Gustav Wittfeld turned increasingly to electric traction and designed the
Prussian Class ES, EP and EG electric locomotives. The design of the Class
AT 3 accumulator cars (later DRG Class ETA 178) is closely associated with
the name of Wittfeld. They were still in service until the early 1960s. These
designs and his perseverance earned Wittfeld the reputation of being a
trailblazer in the field of electric traction. In 1917 he became an honorary
Doctor of Engineering at the TH Charlottenburg for his work on the
electrification of the railways. In 1918 he was promoted to Wirklicher Geheimer
Oberbaurat and retired in 1920. As his successor he appointed Wilhelm Wechmann,
later to become Chief Electrical Engineer of the Deutsche Reichsbahn. Remainder
from Internet..
Wöhler, August
Born 22 June 1819; died 21 March 1914. German engineer, remembered
for his systematic investigations of metal fatigue. Born in Soltau, the son
of local teacher Wöhler showed early mathematical ability and won a
scholarship to study at the Technische Hochschule in Hannover, under the
direction of Karl Karmarsch. In 1840, he was recruited to the Borsig works
in Berlin where he worked on the manufacture of railway track. In 1843, after
a brief stay in Hannover, he started to receive instruction in locomotive
driving in Belgium, returning as an engineer on the Hannover to Lehrte line.
By 1847, Wöhler was chief superintendent of rolling stock on the Lower
Silesia-Brandenberg Railroad. His growing reputation led to his appointment
in 1852 by the Prussian minister of commerce to investigate the causes of
fracture in rolling stock axles, work that was to occupy Wöhler over
the next two decades. The railway was nationalised in 1854 and the recognition
of his keen administration and technical leadership resulted in his appointment
as director of the newly formed Imperial Railways, based at the board's
headquarters in Strasbourg, a post he held until his retirement in 1889.
Wöhler started his axle investigations by research into the theory of
elasticity and was led, in 1855, to a method for predicting the deflection
of lattice beams that anticipated the work of Émile Clapeyron. He
also introduced the practice of supporting one end of a bridge on roller
bearings to allow for thermal expansion. Wikipedia Anglicized (19 January
2011)
Wolff, Adolf
Born in 1894; died 1964. Involved with Deutsche Reichsbahn' 4-6-4
built by Borsig which ran high speed tests at speeds approaching 200 km/h
in 1936-8. Book Dampflokomotiven der New York Centralbahn für hohe
Geschwindigkeit; Beispiele und Betrachtungen zum amerikanischen
Lokomotivbau. 1951.
Wurmb, Carl
Born Neumarkt, near Wels, Austria, on 8 September 1850; died Vienna
31 January 1907. Studied at Zurich Polytechnic. After experience on the
Südbahn, Salzkammergutlokalbahn, and Arlberg Railway he was appointed
general inspector of light railways to the Ministry of Trade in 1894. 1901
appointed section head and Imperial and Royal Director for construction of
railways in the Railway Ministry, and was responsible for construction on
many Austrian Alpine lines including the Tauern, Phyrn, and Karawanken. Following
criticism of the high cost of the Tauern Railway in 1905 he resigned. After
his death a statue of him was erected in Salzburg.
Marshall.
Yefmovich,. Miron
Miron Yefmovich (1803-1849). Yefim Alekseyevich
Cherepanov had visited Britain to inspect early railways and locomotives:
this led to construction of first Russian steam locomotive by Cherepanov
and Yefmovich in 1833/4 and a second in 1835. See Wikepedia.
Zara, Guiseppe
Born in Fermo, Italy and died in San Remo in February 1913. Innovator
of Zara truck used both in Italy and on Norwegian 2-8-4 and Southern Pacific
locomotives. Patents included:
11825/1904 Equilibrium valve for admitting
steam to the valve chests of locomotives. Published 31
December 1904. Application number: 11825/1904 Applied 24 May
1904.
GB190827654 (A) ? 1909-04-22 Friction Appliance to Prevent the Oscillations
of Railway Carriages
GB190500484 (A) ? 1905-09-21 Improvements in and connected with the Axle
Boxes of Locomotives
Zeh, Johann
Had been a designer at Gunther's, later Sigl's, locomotive works at
Weiner Neustadt, about thirty miles south of Vienna, since 1842, devised
a closely similar shut-off valve in the blastpipe, known as the Zehsche Klappe
and this was applied to some of the locomotives of the then Kaiserin Elisabeth
Westbahn, the main line to the west of Vienna, to which Zeh had moved in
1858, such as the Class 12 2-4-0s built from 1853 to 1863 and a class of
2-4-0s of 1859, in or before 1860. It was possible, with the engine in forward
gear to bring trains of 300 tons down long 1 in 100 gradients and, on the
Südbahn, trains of 100 tons down the 1 in 40 grades of the Semmering,
the locomotives being 0-8-0s dating from 1860 rebuilt from Engerth 0-6-4Ts.
No information is available as to how many locomotives were fitted with Zeh's
device before it was overtaken by later developments. He put his valves nearer
the cylinders than Allan, using a separate valve for each outside cylinder.
Carling: Trans Newcomen Soc.
1983, 55, 1-32.
Zeuner, Gustav Anton
Born 30 November 1828 in Chemnitz; died 17 October 1907 in Dresden.
His first training in the subject of engineering was at the Chemnitz
Königliche Gewerbeschule (Royal Vocational School), today Chemnitz
University of Technology, where he studied from 1843-1848; then onto the
Bergakademie (Mining Academy) in Freiberg, where he studied mining and
metallurgy. working with the mineralogist Albin Julius Weisbach. The university
course was disrupted by revolutions which took place in Germany. Zeuner joined
the revolutionaries on the barricades in Dresden during the May Uprising
in 1849, but was pardoned. He was able to complete his course, and completed
his PhD at the University of Leipzig in 1853, but was banned from teaching
at any Saxon university. In 1853, Zeuner took over as the editorship of Der
Civilenginieur Zeitschrift für das Ingenieurwesen, the first German
periodical specialising in mechanics, which ran until 1896. He continued
in this position until 1857, even after moving to Zürich in 1855 to
work as a professor for technical mechanics at the ETH Zürich, the Swiss
Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich where Zeuner made his model
of a locomotive front end in 1858; he recognised its potential for creating
momentum but was only interested in the theory and did not develop the design
any further. Also in Zürich (in 1869) Zeuner invented the three-dimensional
population graph now sometimes known as a Zeuner diagram. In 1871 Zeuner
returned to Germany and was once again able to work with Weisbach when he
succeeded his old friend as director of the Freiberg Mining Academy. He also
taught there until 1875 as a professor of mechanics and the study of mining
machinery. This was possible because of an amnesty granted to revolutionaries
in 1862. In 1873, while still director of Freiberg Mining Academy, Zeuner
also took on the post of director at the Royal Saxon Polytechnicum in Dresden
(now Technische Universität Dresden). Zeuner's efforts there led to
the introduction of the humanities; the extension of the range of subjects
taught resulted in the polytechnic's rise to a full-scale polytechnic university
in 1890. In 1889, aged 61, Zeuner gave up his position as director of the
polytechnic to work as a lecturer until his retirement in 1897. On retiring
he was made an emeritus professor. Publications Die Schiebersteuerungen
mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Lokomotivsteuerungen (Slide-valve
controls with particular emphasis on locomotive controls) Freiberg 1858
Grundzüge der mechanischen Wärmetheorie (Basics of mechanical
heat theory) 1860 Technische Thermodynamik (Technical Thermodynamics)
1887 Wikipedia 2012
Treatise on Valve-Gears, with special consideration of
the link-motions of Locomotive Engines. ... Third edition,
revised and enlarged. Translated from the German ... by M. Müller: several
English language editions available.
2018-06-07