Electric traction engineers
Agnew, William Alexander
Born in Newton Stewart in 1874 and died on 16 March 1958. Educated
Douglas Academy. Electrical engineering apprenticeship at King, Brown of
Edinburgh whilst studying at Heriot Watt College. Worked on hydro-electric
plant at Foyers on Loch Ness. In 1901 joined Glasgow Corporation Tramways
Department when system was being electrified. Wrote The electric tramcar
handbook for motormen, inspectors and depot workers (Ottley 2228). In
1904 moved to London to become Rolling Stock Superintendent of the Metropolitan
District Railway and became Mechanical Engineer in 1907. In 1921 he beame
Mechanical Engineer (Railways) to the Underground Electric Railways of London.
He was Chief Mechanical Engineer (Railways) in 1928 and continued in this
capacity through the formation of the LPTB until his retirement in 1935.
He was the author of Electric trains (Ottley 3106). Obituary with
portrait in J. Instn. Loco. Engrs., 1958, 48, 150. He was a
very active member of the Institution.
Also in Marshall.
Barton, Howard Horatio Charles
Born 1900. Died 22 January 1964. Educated at Marlborough and Pembroke
College, Cambridge. Engineering cadet on London Underground Railways from
1923 and from 1925 became junior rolling stock assistant taking charge of
running maintenance on Bakerloo and Piccadilly Lines. In 1927 he was appointed
Sectional Assistant in charge of the Car Body Section of Acton Works and
this was foIlowed by his appointment as Personal Assistant to Col. E. Graham,
the Assistant Mechanical Engineer at Acton. In 1930 appointed an Assistant
Transportation Superintendent (Traction), Great Indian Peninsula Railway
where he gained wide experience in many aspects of electric traction and
railway operating. When returning to England on home leave in 1936 he visited
Ceylon, Malaya, China, Japan, United States and Canada and was able to see
something of the traction systems in use in Japan and the United States.
In 1938 appointed Assistant Mechanical Engineer (Railways), London Passenger
Transport Board, in which position he was responsible for all heavy electrical
and mechanical maintenance of electric rolling stock. In 1946 joined staff
of Merz and McLellan as Head of their Traction Department where his work
took him to a number of countries, chiefly back to India (this time not merely
to Bombay), to New Zealand, to Nigeria, to Rhodesia with additional visits
to the United States and Canada, to Australia and Belgian Congo, South Africa
and most countries in Europe. Principallv he was engaged on motor project
studies involving comparison of electrification with the alternatives of
steam and diesel as motive power and in these he became something of a specialist
in which his experience of railway operation led him to emphasise the importance
of traffic considerations and where appropriate rationalisation. He was able
always to talk to railwaymen in their own language. As sole or co-author
Barton read a number of papers to learned engineering societies, of which
that in 1956 to the Electricals, entitled The Potentialities of Railway
Elertrification at the Standard Frequency and that on Monorails in
J. Instn Loco Engrs, 1962,
52, 8-59 (Paper 631) attracted considerable attention. In addition
to being Member of Council and of Committees of Institution of Lcomotive
Engineers he was active on Committees of the Mechanicals and Electricals
and was a Member of the Institute of Transport. He also concerned himself
with all matters relating to railway signalling and was an Honorary Member
of the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers. His interests were by no
means bounded by the field in which his immediate work lay. Whether as a
hobby or as an extension to his work, he was concerned with cinematography,
electronics, photography and being a special constable. At the time of his
death hc was actively engaged with a co-author in what was hoped to be an
important paper on automatic railways. Obit: J. Instn Loco. Engrs,
1963, 43, 661..
Bruce, James Graeme
Joined London Transport in 1935, when aged 22: died in 2001. Associated
with the Metadyne rolling stock on the London Underground. Author of several
books on London Transport railways and on other aspects of transport, especially
in Archive. Author of Tube trains under London...London Transport.
1977 and Steam to silver. London Transport. Former covered underground
stock; latter sub-surface (Metropolitan and District. Tube trains under London
had a Foreword by A.W. Manser, former Chief Mechanical
Engineer (Railways) to London Transport in which he acknowledged debt to
Agnew and Graff-Baker.
Burke, Dominic
Irish Christian Brother who developed an exhibition line to demonstrate
electric traction in Cork in 1889. The line led to an early involvement of
Charles Merz's skill in electric traction and his business partnership with
William McClellan. See Hennessey:
Backtrack, 2008, 22, 390 ..
Cock, C.M.
Successor to Raworth on the Southern Railway and Chief Electrical
Engineer of the Railway Executive.
Bonavia (British Rail: the first
25 years) noted that in May 1948 the BTC had arranged for a joint
British Railways and London Transport Committee, chaired by C.M. Cock, to
be set up to consider the system (or systems) of electrification to be adopted
in future projects, reviewing in particular the conclusions of the Pringle
Committee of 1927 which had proposed direct current at either 1,500 volts
with overhead collection for general use, and 750 volts third rail for certain
areas. The Cock Committee broadly confirmed this, but did not rule out the
possibility of using, as it put it, 'single-phase alternating current at
50 cycles or a lower frequency for secondary lines with light traffic, subject
to the proviso that it is not prejudicial to operation on adjacent lines
equipped with a standard system'. This opened the way for the decision taken
in 1951 to use the short Lancaster-Morecambe-Heysham line, which the Midland
Railway had electrified many years ago on the 6,600 volts 25-cycle single-phase
system, as a testing-ground for electrification at the industrial frequency
of 50 cycles (Hz), which seemed to offer important advantages, especially
in cutting down the cost of the distribution network. This system had already
been tried in Hungary as early as 1934 and the SNCF was proceeding to install
it on an important main line in Eastern France. This probably implies that
Rogers gives excessive credence to Riddles involvement in the Lancaster/Morecambe
project.
Papers
Cock, C.M. Motive power for railways.
J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1952, 42, 281-305. [Presidential
Address]
Electrification at 50 cycles: Mercury arc rectifiers:
Morecambe/Heysham-Lancaster trial about to start. Mentions Aix-les-Bains
to La Roche-sur-Foron in France and even earlier system in Germany (1936)
between Freiberg and Seebrugg. "For various reasons, including economic
consideration, the British Transport Commission has accepted the 15,000 volt
d.c. system as standard for British Railways but the 50 cycles system has
not been ruled out for electrification of secondary lines with light
traffic"
Cock, C.M. The Deltic locomotive. J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1958, 48, 723-57. (Paper No. 591)
Dalziel, James
1876-1947. Chief Electrical Assistant on the Midland Railway. Together
with Josiah Sayers was responsible for high voltage
AC Lancaster-Morecambe-Heysham electrification of 1908, and both travelled
with Sir Guy Granet to USA on fact finding mission to discover what to do
with recently acquired LTSR alias C2C. Author of several papers. See
R.A.S. Hennessey. 'Sparks' – the
electrical consultants. Backtrack, 2008, 22, 564-9.
Davidson, Robert
Born in 1804 in Aberdeen, and died there in 1894: Scottish inventor
who built the first known electric locomotive in 1837. He was a prosperous
chemist and dyer, and was educated at Marischal College, where he studied
for one year on a scholarship . There he became interested in the new electrical
technologies and from 1837 made small electric motors. Davidson staged an
exhibition of electrical machinery at Edinburgh in 1840, and later at the
Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly in London. Amongst the machines shown were
electrically operated lathes and printing presses. His electric railway
locomotive was tested on the Edinburgh-Glasgow line in 1842. Above
from Wikipedia and John Thomas
Springburn story.
Body, J.H.R. A note on electro-magnetic engines. Trans Newcomen Soc., 1933, 14, 103-7.
Dawson, Sir Philip
Probably born in Paris on 6 October 1866, and died in Berlin on 24
September 1938. Educated at Ghent University (unverifiable Internet source).
Consultant to LBSCR who proposed the 6,600 V high frequency AC overhead
electrification of LBSCR which was not adopted by the Southern Railway. In
Railway mechanical engineering he listed himself as Consulting engineer to
the LBSCR and to the Great Eastern Railway as well as Vice President of the
Commission for the Electrification of Belgian State Railways. Continued to
advocate main line electrification through the 1920s and 1930s.
Duffy fails to give any biographical
information. Author of Electric traction on railways in
Railway Mechanical Engineering
(1923). See also R.A.S. Hennessey.
'Sparks' – the electrical consultants. Backtrack, 2008,
22, 564-9 which adds that he became a Conservative MP and that
O.S. Nock was one of his
pupils..
Papers
Mechanical features of electric traction.
Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs., 1897,
54, 43-123
Emerson, Alexander Hockley
President (1969-70) Institution Locomotive Engineers (Journal,
1969, 59, 5 (portrait facing page). Born at North House, New England,
Peterborough adjacent to the coaling plant. received early training as
Mechanical/ Electrical Premium Apprentice under Sir Nigel Gresley at
Peterborough, Doncaster, South Gosforth (Newcastle) and Grimsby (Immingham)
from 1926 to 1934. In 1935 served as a Senior Draughtsman in the office of
the Chief Electrical Engineer, LNER, King's Cross, first concerned with Outdoor
Machinery, New Works Projects and then on Railway Electrification Schemes.
This included the early reports and technical work for the Liverpool
Street/Shenfield, Manchester/Sheffield/Wath, South Tyneside Electrification
Schemes which were initiated before WW2. During WW2 was seconded to Dukinfield
factory near Manchester as Assistant Resident Engineer (Electrical Engineering)
and returned to the LNER in late 1943 to pursue Electrification Schemes and
other post-war projects which were being planned in the Chief Electrical
Engineer's office. In February 1950 appointed Resident Electrical Engineer,
Manchester, to take charge of the outside erection and supervision of the
building of the Manchester/Sheffield/Wath Electrification and the locomotives
for it. This was followed by his appointment as Electric Traction Engineer,
Manchester, on 17th September 1951, where he remained to complete the
electrification of these lines and set up the maintenance organisation for
this project, and integrated it with the organisations for the Manchester/Bury
and the MSJ&A lines on the London Midland Region. In July 1955 Emerson
moved to Derby to become associated with the main line electrification between
Euston, Manchester and Liverpool, first as Assistant Electrical Engineer
(Modernisation) and following as Electrical Engineer for the London Midland
Region. In 1963 he was appointed Assistant Chief Mechanical & Electrical
Engineer, LM Region, Derby, and in January 1966 Chief Mechanical & Electrical
Engineer, Euston and Derby, succeeding A.E. Robson, the immediate Past-President,
when the latter moved to the British Railways Workshops. See Maintentance
on the move (Chairman's Address, Rly
Div. J., 1970, 1, 3. (RDA 1/70)
Graff-Baker, William Sebastian
David McKenna in his Management of design. (Sir Seymour Biscoe Tritton
lecture). J. Instn Loco Engrs.,
1966, 56, 318-29 noted that Graff-Baker was Chief Mechanical Engineer
of London Transport between 1935 until his death in 1952. Responsible for
the 1938 tube stock. Design philosophy: 1. Will it work? 2. Is it as simple
as possible? 3. Can it be easily maintained in service? 4. Can it be readily
manufactured? 5. Does it look well? .
Paper Min. Proc. Instn Civil
Engineers, 1933, 236, 82..
Heilmann, Jean Jacques
Developer of steam electric locomotives in 1890s in association with
Charles Brown. Originally envisaged as the
power unit to drive electric motors distributed through the train. The prototype
was named Fusée (Rocket). It ran on bogies, was fitted
with a Lentz-type boiler and produced DC electricity via a dynamo driven
by a two-cylinder compound engine. See
Rutherford's Railway reflections, Backtrack, 1998, 12, 333
and Duffy.
Hopkinson, Edward
Born 28 May 1859. Educated at Owens College and Emmanuel College,
Cambridge, where he was a Fellow. Information from Who Was Who. Worked
in association with his brother John. Both were major innovators on electric
traction. See Hennessey: Backtrack,
2008, 22, 390 for his major contribution to electric
traction.:
Hopkinson, John
Born 27 July 1849. Educated at Queenwood School, Owens College and
Trinity College, Cambridge. Brilliant mathematician (senior wrangler), but
his greatest contribution was to electrical engineering, and especially to
electric traction. From 1890 he was Professor of electrical engineering at
King's College, London. FRS. He died in a tragic Alpine climbing accident
together with his children. on 27 August 1898. Biography in ODNB by T.H.
Beare revised by S. Hong. Worked in association with his brother
Edward (who is not in ODNB).
See Hennessey: Backtrack, 2008,
22, 390 for his major contribution to electric traction.
Kando, Kalman von
1869-1931. Kálmán von Kandó was a a Hungarian
who worked with Ganz & Co. to develop three phase electric traction which
required twin wired catenary and motive power which could only operate at
a limited number of fixed speeds. Nevertheless, the Valtellina line of the
Rete Adriatica, Italy, employed this system and the Metropolitan Railway
toyed with employing this system on the Circle line! See
R.A.S. Hennessey. 'Sparks' – the
electrical consultants. Backtrack, 2008, 22, 564-9
Kennedy, Alexander Blackie William
Born in Stepney, London on 17 March 1847, and died in his Albany (London)
home on 1 November 1928. Educated City of London School, following which
he was a marine apprentice at J. & J. Dudgeon of Milwall. He was Chief
Draughtsman at Palmers of Jarrow on Tyne, then at T.M. Tennant of Leith.
By 1874 he was professor of engineering at University College, London and
was eventually involved in consultancies with Donkin (to work on boilers)
and then with Jenkin. He resigned his professorship in 1889. One of his major
projects was the Waterloo & City Railway which instigated the use of
power cars. He was involved with the conduit system adopted for the tramways
operated by the London County Council. Other projects included the British
Aluminium Company's works at Kinlochleven and the GWR's sole electrification
project: the Hammersmith & City line. He was a consultant to both the
LSWR and LNWR. He was involved in several major committees: the Electrification
of Railways Advisory Committee which reported in July 1921 (this advocated
1500 and 750V DC) and Sir John Pringle's Electrifiaction of Railways Advsory
Committee of 1928 which led to the Weir Report See
R.A.S. Hennessey. 'Sparks' – the
electrical consultants. Backtrack, 2008, 22, 564-9.
ODNB biography by E.I. Carlyle revised Graeme
J.N. Gooday.
Jones, Herbert
Chief Electrical Engineer LSWR, then appointed Chief Electrical Engineer
of the Southern Railway. Retired in 1938. Mentioned by Rutherford in
Backtrack, 2008, 22,
100.
Leonard, Harry Ward
Born 8 February 1861 and died in New York on 18 February 1915 (Wikepedia):
inventor of Ward Leonard control system for electric motors: US Patent 463,802.
See also Duffy (especially page
46 et seq)
McClellan, William
Partner with Merz. See Hennessey:
Backtrack, 2008, 22, 390 .
Manser, A.W.
Chief Mechanical Engineer (Railways) London Transport. Major influnce
on the adoption of rubber in suspension for rolling stock.
Presidential Address Instn Loco.
Engrs..
Merz, Charles Hesterman
Born in Newcastle upon Tyne into Quaker family on 5 October 1874.
Educated at Bootham School and Armstrong College, Newcastle. Apprenticed
to the Newcastle upon Tyne Electric Supply Co. (NESCO) and at Robey's of
Lincoln. As a young man working in Cork he showed that by diversity between
lighting and traction rhe magnitude of the total load would be reduced. This
led to the North East Coast grid and to electrification of the North Tyneside
lines of the North Eastern Railway, and to the Shildon to Newport
electrification. Died in a WW2 air raid at his home in Kensington on 14/15
October 1940. See ODNB entry by R.A.S.
Redmayne revised by Albert Snow. Creator of the National Grid and major
contributor to the development of railway electric traction in Britain, and
more especially throughout the world in association with William McClellan.
See Hennessey: Backtrack, 2008,
22, 390 :
Nelson, George Horatio
Born in Islington, London on 26 October 1887. Educated at Finsbury
Technical College. Major electrical engineer and industrialist. He won a
Mitchell Exhibition and a Brush Studentship, becoming a premium apprentice
at Brush's Loughborough works. At 22 he was made chief outside engineer.
Appointed Managing Director of English Electric in 1930. Eventually became
Lord Nelson of Stafford in 1960. Died at his Stafford works on 16 July 1962.
ODNB entry by C.S. Nichols and
Rutherford article in Bactrack,
2008, 22, 100.
Raworth, Alfred
Alfred Raworth was the son of John Smith Raworth, consulting electrical
engineer to the British Electric Traction Company and one of the pioneers
of Britain's electrical industry. He held a large number of patents relating
to the generation, distribution and utilization of electricity. Alfred Raworth
was educated at St. Aubyn's, Lowestoft and Dulwich College, and then served
apprenticeships with Browett, Lindley & Co. Ltd. of Patricroft, Manchester,
and the Brush Electrical Engineering Co., Loughborough. From 1903 to 1912
he acted as assistant to his father and showed himself to have a fertile
engineering brain, designing new equipment such as regenerative braking circuits
and stepless traction controllers. In March 1912 he was appointed chief assistant
to Herbert Jones, chief electrical engineer of the London & South Western
Railway and he helped to prepare a report to the directors on the electrification
of a substantial section of the company's suburban
system.
Raworth, however, who had been intimately concerned with the project
was no longer around to witness the opening as he had joined the Royal Naval
Air Service and was commissioned as Lieutenant, RNVR. In February 1918, on
Walker's recommendation, the SECR obtained his release from the RNAS and
appointed him its electrical engineer.
The SECR had obtained powers for electrification as early as 1903,
at the same time as the GER, but like the latter company made no attempt
to implement any plans. Lack of capital and also doubts that any major economies
could, in fact, be made by electrification saw the idea in abeyance until
1912 when a report was commissioned from the Newcastle firm of consulting
electrical engineers, Merz & McLellan. Their report was issued the following
year and recommended a system of 1,500V dc using either overhead or third
rail collection. In the meantime the neighbouring LBSCR had begun overhead
electrification on an ac system of 6,600V at 25 Hertz and the view was held
by some on the SECR that the Brighton system should be adopted. All of these
ideas were shelved with the onset of WW1.but following the appointment of
Raworth the whole field was opened up again and after the Armistice he was
sent to the USA for three months to study the various electric railways and
equipment in operation.
His proposals were contained in a report to the SECR dated October
1919. Three stages were contemplated: firstly 94 route miles of London
inner-suburban lines — to be operated by EMUs, secondly, main line
extensions to Gillingham, Tonbridge, Oxted, Redhill and Dorking also using
EMUs and finally the replacement of freight and main line steam-hauled trains
by the use of electric locomotives in the electrified zone. The final total
was envisaged as 241 route miles.
Raworth's distribution scheme, however, was novel and most ingenious.
A company-owned generating station was proposed at Angerstein Wharf , Charlton
and power would be supplied at 3,000V dc. Four rails would be used, as on
the London underground lines, but on Raworth's system the central conductor
rail would be fed at -1,500V dc and the side conductor rail at +1,500V dc,
the return being through the running rails. This method of feeding current
(known as 3-wire distribution) used much lighter feeder cables and thus saved
on copper. With this system only one substation would be needed for the
inner-suburban electrification (instead of 26 for an equivalent 600V LSWR
arrangement) and only four would have been required for the complete project.
Stray leakage currents to earth, which were a potential problem with
telecommunications and scientific instruments (such as those at Greenwich
observatory), were thought to be negligible because the opposite polarities
of the conductor rails would cause them to cancel out. The LYR 1,200V dc
third rail Manchester-Bury line was investigated and the permanent way staff
interviewed. It was found that with side contact and protected rails the
high voltage was neither a danger nor caused extra maintenance problems.
Each EMU set was to have two 1,500V motors, one collecting from the positive
conductor and the other from the negative.
However ingenious Raworth's plan and however much cheaper it would
have been there were already many other influences around to thwart any 'best
option' solution. In March 1920, the Ministry of Transport appointed an
Electrification of Raliways Advisory Committee under the chairmanship of
Alexander Kennedy. Its brief vas to study the existing electrified railways
nd schemes in hand and to recommend a uni ormity of approach. There were
also the future railway amalgamations on the horizon and following the passing
of the Railways Act rf 19th August 1921, negotiations were commenced between
the various constituent companies. An Electricity Act of 1919 had made compulsory
approval by the Electricity Commissioners of any scheme for a generating
tation. There was a great body of opinion in and out of the electrical industry
that a national grid was necessary and that electricity users should purchase
their energy requirements from suppliers rather than building their own
specialist power stations.
The Angerstein Wharf project was rejected in 1922 and with amalgamation
approaching, the LSWR became hostile to the proposed SECR system; the prospect
of three completely different systems on the future Southern Railway filled
the provisional management committee with a good deal of unease. The BoT
Electrification Committee had come down in favour of 750V or 1,500V dc for
all future lectrification schemes (either third-rail or overhead). Once the
Southern Railway was in being, one of the first decisions made by the board
was to electrify the SECR suburban lines on the LSWR system, ie 600V dc third
rail.
Raworth, no doubt, learned a great lesson from these events –
that engineering perfection may have to give way to pragmatism, compromise
and the acceptance of managerial decisions based on non-technical parameters,
he soon set about making the best of things under the new company he became
once again deputy of Herbert Jones who had been made chief electrical engineer
of the Southern. After completion of the electrification of the ex SECR suburban
lines in 1925, Raworth's new title became 'electrical engineer for
new vorks' and for the rest of his career he organized and guided the extending
web of the Southern's electrified lines as laid down by the overall policy
of the general manager and the board of directors
Patents.
Tayler, A.T.H. 600/750V
DC electric and electro-diesel locomotives of the Southern Railway and its
successors. Trans. Newcomen Soc., 1996, 68,
231-65.
Ellson, George
discussion on Cox, E.S. Balancing of locomotive
reciprocating parts. J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1943, 33, 219-220.
(Paper No. 432)
Chief Engineer, Southern Railway, ommented upon
the Merchant Navy class which had been designed without balance weights and
to experiments conducted on the a member of the two-cylinder H15 class from
which the balance weights had been removed. He also commented upon Raworth's
electric locomotive and on electric multiple units..
Not in Marshall
Raworth, Arthur Basil
Raworth, John Ernest
Raworth, John Smith
Duffy (page 83) notes
that John S. Raworth of Raworth's Traction Patents was a major influence
on the design of both the initial Metropolitan Railway locomotives supplied
in 1906 and the subsequent series supplied in 1922.and that this influenced
Southern Railway electric traction design under Alfred Raworth.
Raworth patents (where AR=Alfred; AB=Arthur Basil; JE=John Ernest and JS=John sMith
473,180 Improvements in control systems for
electric motors. AR with English Electric. Published 4 October
1937
473,179 Improvements in control systems for electric motors.
AR with English Electric. Published 4 October 1937
473,137 Improvements in control systems for electric motors.
AR with English Electric. Published 4 October 1937
141,488 Improvements in the regenerative control of electrically
propelled vehicles or trains. AR. Applied 26 March 1919. Published 22
April 1920
19541/1911 Improvements in or in connection with the propulsion
of cycles. AR. Published 16 May 1912
17875/1910 Improvements in or relating to rotary pumps. JSR
with Thomas Browett. Published 27 April 1911.
21363/1907 Improvements in or in connection with the control of
electric motors. JSR and ABR. Published 9 July 1908
12443/1907 Improvements relating to the regulation or control of
electric motors. JSR and AR. Applied 29 May 1907. Published 28 May 1908
24923/1906 Improvements in or in connection with the control of
the electric circuits in systems of electric traction or haulage. JSR.
Published 6 February 1908
23075/1906 Improvements in controllers for electrically propelled
vehicles. JSR and AR. Applied 18 October 1906. Published 28 February
1907
15115/1906 Improvements in or connected with revolution counters.
JER. Published 28 March 1907
11238/1906 Improvements in induction motors. JER. Published
25 April 1907
1830/1906 Improvements in connection with the control of the electric
circuits in systems of electric traction. AR. Applied 24 January 1906.
Published 3 May 1906
24810/1905 Improvements in the electrical control and propulsion
of vehicles or trains of vehicles. JSR and ABR. Published 29 November
1906.
14630/1905 Improvements in controllers for electrically propelled
vehicles. JSR. Published 12 July 1906.
11614/1905 Improvements in or relating to controlling devices for
use in the electrical propulsion of vehicles or trains of vehicles. JSR
Published 19 April 1906
19751/1904 Improvements in or relating to motor propelled
vehicles. JSR. Published 13 July 1905
17975/1904 Improvements in the control of electrically propelled
vehicles. JSR. Published 18 August 1905
9565/1904 Improvements in electric tramway or railway vehicles.
JSR. Published 23 February 1905.
716/1904 Improvements in and relating to the control and propulsion
of vehicles propelled by electric motors. JSR. Published 31 December
1904
22901/1903 Improvements in or relating to means or apparatus suitable
for actuating and holding steering, braking, reversing, lifting and regulating
mechanism. JSR. Published 29 September 1904
22551/1903 Improvements in or relating to electric motors and
controlling devices for use in the electrical propulsion of vehicles or trains
of vehicles. JSR. Published 6 October 1904
10723/1903 Improvements in the control of electrically propelled
vehicles. JSR. Published 31 March 1904
5494/1903 Improvements in electric motors and regulating devices
for railway trains or vehicles actuated by electrical energy. JSR. Published
9 March 1904
3658/1903 Improvements in the motors and regulating devices for
electrically propelled vehicles. JSR. Published 11 February 1904
3657/1903 Improvements in regulating devices for electrically propelled
vehicles. JSR. Published 11 February 1904
2192/1903 Improvements in electrically propelled tramcars.
JSR. Published 28 January 1904
11911/1896 Improvements in connecting rods. JSR. Published
22 May 1897
8237/1896 Apparatus for indicating and recording variations in
the angular velocity or rotating bodies. JSR. Published 13 March 1897
24751/1895 Improvements in steam engines. JSR. Published 18
April 1896
19664/1895 Improvements in packing rings suitable for engine and
other pistons, buckets and valves for pumps and compressors, and for other
purposes. JSR. Published 12 September 1896
18972/1895 Improvements in steam engines. JSR. Published 5
September 1896
4442/1895 Improvements in steam engines. JSR. Published 25
February 1896
3506/1895 Improvements in steam turbines. JSR. Published
4 January 1896
3504/1895 Improvements in automatic expansion governors. JSR.
Published 21 December 1895
12476/1894 Improved system of switching and regulating apparatus
for central stations for the generation and distribution of electrical
energy. JSR. Published 8 June 1895
5913/1894 Improvements in alternating current generators. JSR.
Published 26 January 1895
1243/1894 Improvements in friction gearing. JSR. Published
8 December 1894
1242/1894 Improvements in or relating to steam turbines. JSR.
Published 3 November 1894
84/1894 Improvements in reduction gearing for steam turbines.
JSR. Published 10 November 1894
25090/1893 Improvements in the regulation and expansion of steam
in steam turbines. JSR. Published 3 November 1894
25086/1893 Improvements in the construction of steam turbines.
JSR. Published 17 November 1894
18170/1893 Improvements in electrical contacts. JSR. Published
28 October 1893.
17999/1893 Improvements in steam traps. JSR and William Geipel.
Published 28 July 1894
11384/1893 Improved method of and apparatus for regulating the
electro-motive force of electric generators. JSR. Published 14 April
1894.
Richards, Henry Walter Huntingford
Electrical enginer of the LNER: recruited from the Souther Railway
in 1924. Had previously been employed by LBSCR whre he had been involved
in 6.6kV AC electrification. Involved with Manchester Sheffield Wath
electrification. After Thompson replaced Gresley Richards became Chief Electrical
Engineer of the LNER. Hughes:
LNER
Paper
Primary considerations relating to steam, electric, and diesel-electric traction.
Min. Proc. Instn Civ. Engrs.,
1933, 236, 23-81. (Paper 4908).
Sayers, Josiah
Telegraph Superintendent of Midland Railway and co-instigator of
Lancaster-Morecambe-Heysham electrification with James
Dalziel. See R.A.S. Hennessey. 'Sparks'
– the electrical consultants. Backtrack, 2008, 22,
564-9.
Siemens, Ernst Werner von
Born in Lenthe near Hanover on 13 December 1816 and died in Berlin
on 6 December 1892. Educated at Gymnasium in Lübeck. Improver of telegraphy
including invention of duplex system and gutta percha insulation for long
distance cables. Improvements to dynamo and first parctical electric railway
demonstrated at Berlin Trades Exhibition in 1879. Worked with his brother
William. Biography in Marshall.
Siemens, Charles William [Karl Wilhelm]
Born in Lenthe near Hanover on 4 April 1823 and died in London on
19 November 1883. Educated at Gymnasium in Lübeck and Göttingen
University. Went to United Kingdom in 1843 to introduce electro-plating (a
joint invention with his elder brother Ernst) at Elkington & Mason in
Birmingham. He returned in 1844 with another joint invention, the chromatic
governor, installed in the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. He remained in
Britain and in 1858 established Siemens Bros. for manufacturing cables,
electrical instruments and machinery. He developed the Siemens-Martin method
of steel making using a regenerative gas furnace with Pierre Emile Martin.
He took a prominent part in the generation, transmission and exploitatioin
of electricity for lighting and traction, including on the Portrush &
Giants Cuaseway Tramway. Biography in
Marshall.. ODNB entry by H.T. Wood revised
by Brian Bowers which notes that he was a "born inventor" and a "shrewd
and capable man of business". President of the IMechE. His IMechE. obituary
(Proc., 1884, 35, 69-71) lists the following papers: Regenerative
Condenser, 1851 ; Expansion of Isolated Steam, and Total Heat of Steam, 1852;
Pendulum Chronometric Governor, 1853; Screw and Spiral Water-Metere, 1854
and 1856; Regenerative Furnace, 1857; Covering Telegraph Wires with India-rubber,
1860; Regenerative Gas Furnace, 1862; Liquid Chronometric Governor, 1866
; Presidential Address, 1872; High-pressure Vessels, 1878 in addition to
those listed below.
Papers
On Le Chatelier's plan of using counter-pressure steam as a break
[sic] in locomotive engines. Proc.
Instn Mech. Engrs., 1870, 21, 21-36. Disc.: 37-59 + Plates
1-5.
On a steam jet for exhausting air etc. and the results of its application.
Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs.,
1872, 23, 97-110. Disc. 110-17 + Plates 13-20. 20
diagrs.
Sprague, Frank Julian
Born in Milford (Connecticut) on 25 July 1857 and died in New York
on 25 October 1934 (Marshall). Inventor
of control system for multiple-units, and control systems for lifts.
See also Duffy
Swift, H.H.
Assistant to Richards, Electric Engineer of the LNER. Previously with
English Electric. After Nationalization rose to become Chief Mechanical &
Electrical Engineer of the Southern Region.
Hughes LNER.. Also authorized
rebuilding of Bulleid Pacifics. (Geoffrey
Hughes: letter Backtrack, 1997, 11, 688).
Traill, William Atcheson
With his brother Dr Anthony Traill, and the
Hopkinsons responsible for developing the early
electric Giant's Cuaseway Railway near Portrush in Ireland.
See article by Vickers, Backtrack,
2003, 17, 635. and ODNB entry also by Vickers, and ODNB entry
for Anthony Traill by E.J. Gwynn revised by C. Curthoys. William was born
at Bushmills in 1844 and died there on 5 July 1933. He was a geologist and
joined the Geological Survey of Ireland in 1868. Anthony was born at Ballylough
on 1 November 1838 and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He eventually
became Provost of Trinity College where he died on 15 October 1914. In 1912
William conducted a party of engineers over the Giant's Causeway Railway:
Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs,
1912, 83, 809..
Weir, William Douglas
Born on 12 May 1877 in Glasgow, the eldest of three children of James
Weir (1843–1920) who with his brother George had in 1873 founded a marine
engineering and maintenance company. James patented several inventions (including
the Weir feed-pump), which in 1886 the brothers began to manufacture in a
machine shop and smithy at Cathcart near Glasgow. These premises were developed
into the Holm Foundry, and the business of G. and J. Weir was formed into
a limited liability company in 1895. William Douglas was educated at Allan
Glen's School and at Glasgow High School. At sixteen he entered an apprenticeship
in the family business. He was successively director (1898), managing director
(1902–15), and chairman (1910–53) of G. and J. Weir. He was made
Viscount Weir in 1938 (presumably in association with the Glasgow Exhibition
of that year). He was an administrator in both World Wars and chaired the
Weir Committee on railway electrification (reported 1931: the other members
were Wedgwood of the LNER and Sir William
McLintock). Previously he had reported on the National Grid in 1925.. He
died on 2 July 1959, at Eastwood Park, Giffnock in greater Glasgow. The bare
bones of this entry came from an ODNB biography
by Richard Davenport-Hines, who does not mention either railway
electrification or the Glasgow Exhibition. See also
R.A.S. Hennessey. 'Sparks' – the
electrical consultants. Backtrack, 2008, 22, 564-9. The
ODNB should consult Hennessey's work and other literature to produce a more
balanced entry..
2008-12-19