Jean-Baptiste Flame

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Jean-Baptiste Flamme (born October 19, 1847 in Mons , died May 25, 1920 in Brussels ) was a Belgian engineer . As chief engineer of the Belgian State Railways, he was responsible for all of their rolling stock . He made a major contribution to the establishment of superheated steam technology for driving steam locomotives and developed several successful types of locomotives. He also worked on test methods for locomotives using power measurement vehicles .

In 1901 he successfully installed a Schmidt- type flame tube superheater in a locomotive for the first time . Under his leadership, work was carried out to compare wet steam and superheated steam engines in locomotives of the 35 series and to use superheated steam technology in compound engines. Finally, like his Prussian colleague Robert Garbe , he decided to use engines with simple steam expansion for new buildings. One of the first successful series of superheated steam locomotives was the series 23 (from 1931 series 53) of quadruple coupled shunting locomotives with an output of 700 hp, 400 of which were built from 1905 to 1926 and in some cases until the end of steam traction in Belgium were in operation.

Flamme was the first to advise the use of superheated steam locomotives with four-cylinder engines and to put this into practice. This type of drive was tested in class 19 locomotives from 1905. It was used very successfully from 1909 in the 36 series (for freight trains) and from 1910 in the 10 series (for express trains). These locomotives, which were mainly used on the steep routes through the Ardennes , proved to be the most powerful of their kind in Europe when they were put into service. Flamme's work inspired George Hughes, chief engineer of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway , and his chief designer John Robert Billington in 1913/1914 to design a four-cylinder 1'E freight locomotive, which was not realized due to the war. As early as 1914 it was decided to equip the tried and tested class 8 locomotives with superheaters, but the First World War delayed implementation of the project until 1921.

A superheater for locomotive boilers developed by Flamme was patented in 1919. He was also named for a type of steering rack designed to improve the cornering of long locomotives, which was used in the Belgian 36 series .

bibliography

  • André Dagant: Les locomotives à vapeur de l'Etat Belge à la SNCB (1835–1966) . Editions Veys, Tielt, 1982.
  • Phil Dambly: Nos inoubliables vapeurs . Editions “Le Rail”, Bruxelles, 1968.
  • Ernest Stewart Cox: World Steam in the Twentieth Century . Ian Allen, London, 1969.
  • Jean-Baptiste Flamme, engineer honoraire des mines, administrateur de la traction et du matériel des chemins de fer de l'Etat belge: Le matériel des chemins de fer à l'Exposition universelle et internationale de Bruxelles de 1910 . Dunod et Pinat, Paris, 1911.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b John Marshall: Biographical dictionary of railway engineers , 2nd edition, Railway & Canal Historical Society, London, 2003. (First edition by David & Charles, Newton Abbot 1978).
  2. ↑ George Hughes . Steamindex.com. January 5, 2011.
  3. ^ Jean-Baptiste Flamme: Superheaters Applied to Locomotives on the Belgian State Railways . In: Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers . 69, 1905, pp. 409-427. doi : 10.1243 / PIME_PROC_1905_069_006_02 .
  4. ↑ a b c d e Phil Dambly: Huitième période, 1904–1914. - Régime flame . In: Nos inoubliables vapeurs (Retrieved May 2, 2016).
  5. ^ Horwich engineers . Steamindex.com. May 22, 2015.
  6. ↑ Jean Baptiste Flame: Surchauffeur de chaudière tubulaire. Brevet d'Invention No. 494.854 . Office National de la Propriété Industrielle, Paris, 1919.
personal data
SURNAME Flame, Jean-Baptiste
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Belgian engineer
DATE OF BIRTH October 19, 1847
PLACE OF BIRTH Mons
DATE OF DEATH May 25, 1920
Place of death Brussels