Jakob Buchli

Jakob Buchli (born March 4, 1876 in Chur , † April 1, 1945 in Winterthur ) was a Swiss mechanical engineer who worked in the field of locomotive construction.

After his engineering training at the Swiss Federal Polytechnic in Zurich , which lasted from 1897 to 1901, he stayed at the Polytechnic as assistant to Aurel Stodola for another year . After an internship with the United Swiss Railways, Buchli joined SLM in Winterthur in 1902 , where he was involved in the design of the mechanical part of the first large electric locomotives. From 1907 he took over the management of the design office as the successor to the Norwegian engineer Olaf Kjelsberg , who moved to the management of the company.

In 1910 Buchli moved to the BBC in Baden , where he was responsible for electrical traction as chief engineer until 1924 . Under his leadership, the three- and two - rod drive for high-altitude engines was first developed, which did not require jackshafts by using slotted rods. The three-rod drive was first used on the SBB Fb 2/5 . This was followed by the construction of a drive that was suitable for high-speed engines, managed without heavy coupling rods, but still allowed the engines to be accommodated in the sprung box. This development, patented in 1918, was first called the BBC single-axle drive , but is now commonly known as the Buchli drive . Another development by Buchli was the Java frame , which improved the running properties of locomotives in curves by allowing the drive axis to be adjusted radially. Both designs were used in the extremely successful SBB Ae 4/7 locomotives .

In 1924 Buchli moved back to SLM, where he replaced Olaf Kjelsberg as director of the company and held the position until 1930. Despite the management tasks, Buchli still developed technical constructions, such as the SLM universal drive , the Buchli steering frame , the duplex bogie for express train coaches and the SLM high-pressure locomotive equipped with a 3-cylinder steam engine with a working pressure of 60 bar.

In 1932 Buchli was elected to the Board of Directors of SLM, where he was appointed President in 1934.

Buchli was an honorary doctor of the Technical University of Darmstadt and a member of the Utonia Zurich Academic Gymnastics Association .

literature

• Jakob Buchli (obituary) . In: Schweizerische Bauzeitung . tape 125 , no. 20 , 1945, p. 246-247 ( online ).

Web links

• Thomas Fuchs: Buchli, Jakob. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .