John Ericsson

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John Ericsson
The Novelty - Locomotive , Braithwaite and Ericsson's contribution to the Rainhill Trials . Engraving in Mechanics' Magazine of 1829

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

John Ericsson Monument in Battery Park , New York City
John Ericsson statue on Nybroplan in Stockholm

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 .

Drawing of a steam locomotive named after Wilhelm IV.

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

Commons : John Ericsson  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "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