John Ericsson
John Ericsson (born July 31, 1803 in Långbanshyttan , † March 8, 1889 in New York ), actually Johan Ericsson , was a Swedish engineer and inventor .
Life in Europe
He joined the Swedish army at the age of 17, where he was promoted to lieutenant in 1822 . He left the army in 1829 and went to England . Here, together with the Englishman John Braithwaite, he built the steam locomotive The Novelty , which took part in the legendary Rainhill race. In his other work he dealt with propellers for ships (the Ericsson propeller was named after him) and with hot air engines . He created the first propeller-driven merchant ship , the Novelty . In 1828, the first steam syringe he developed, which revolutionized fire fighting, is also documented.
Life in america
In 1839, at the instigation of Captain Robert Field Stockton , Ericsson went to the United States and built several ships there, including the warship USS Princeton and the first ironclad in the US Navy, the USS Monitor , which was used in the American Civil War .
With the Princeton, a propeller was used underwater for the first time , which triggered a new line of development in shipbuilding. Ericsson also contributed to the improvement of torpedoes , then called Destroyer .
He also built a hot-air motor-propelled ship, but it did not work. One of his later inventions was the solar machine , which was designed to collect sunlight in a special burning mirror and make it directly usable as a heat source .
John Ericsson died on March 8, 1889 in New York. His body was transferred to Sweden in 1890 and buried in a specially built mausoleum in Filipstad .
Ericsson's older brother Nils was also an engineer.
Works
- Solar investigations . New York (1875) with its solar machine demolished
- Contributions to the Centennial Exhibition . New York (1877)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ "Watt is a steam engine? . . . " On fire department history article accessed on August 15, 2019
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Ericsson, John |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swedish engineer |
DATE OF BIRTH | July 31, 1803 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Långbanshyttan |
DATE OF DEATH | March 8, 1889 |
Place of death | new York |