Riccardo Bianchi

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Riccardo Bianchi (* 20th August 1854 in Casale Monferrato , † 4. November 1936 in Turin ) was an Italian engineer and railway - Manager .

Life

Bianchi studied engineering at the Politecnico di Torino with a Laurea degree (corresponding to a Bachelor's degree ). He then did an internship at the railway depot in Bologna , where he obtained the diploma tecnico industriale . He then worked as a university scholarship holder in England .

In 1880 Bianchi successfully took part in a competition of the Società per le Ferrovie dell'Alta Italia , whereupon he was assigned to the maintenance service of this railway company. Since operating the turnout and signal levers in the mechanical interlockings of the time required a lot of force, Bianchi developed a hydraulic system (with a water- glycerine mixture) to set the points and signals, for which he obtained a patent in 1883. Such a (worldwide first) hydraulic system with 10 levers was installed in Abbiategrasso in 1886 . This system worked so well that Bianchi's system found widespread use on the Italian railway network and abroad until the end of the Second World War .

In 1891 Bianchi became head of the maintenance service and in 1900 head of the driving service. In 1901 he became general director of the Società per le strade ferrate della Sicilia . When this railway company was incorporated into the Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (FS) in 1905 , the Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti made him General Director of the FS, although Bianchi was content with his previous salary. His new task was enormous, as the assembled railways were in a very neglected condition and used different rails , brakes ( suction air brakes , air brakes ) and couplings .

Bianchi managed to standardize the Italian railways within 10 years. He set up his own office in Cardiff to ensure a reliable supply of English coal . With the help of the government, he won the investment funds for the construction of large railway depots and the main lines Rome-Formia-Napoli and Bologna-Florence . After the Avezzano earthquake in 1915 , there was a dispute with the Transport Minister Ciuffelli, whereupon Bianchi submitted his resignation.

In 1917 Bianchi became senator of the Kingdom of Italy at his own request . Shortly after he left the post of minister of marine transport and railway transferred, from which it but in 1918 resigned to avoid complications in Parliament intrigue . He carried out numerous government assignments and advised authorities and banks .

Honors

literature

  • Giuseppe Pavone: Riccardo Bianchi. Una vita per le ferrovie italiane . Collegio Ingegneri Ferroviari Italiani, Roma 2005.
  • Nestore Giòvene: Riccardo Bianchi . Rivista tecnica delle ferrovie italiane 26, 51 (1937), No. 1, pp. 1-7.
  • 1905-1955. Il Cinquantenario delle Ferrovie dello Stato . Ingegneria ferroviaria 9 (1955), No. 5-6, pp. 333-528; 1905-1955. Il Cinquantenario delle Ferrovie dello Stato , Albignasego, Duegi Editrice-Roma, Collegio ingegneri ferroviari italiani, 2002, ISBN 88-900979-0-6 .
  • Ettore Lo Cigno: Un grande ingegnere: Riccardo Bianchi . In: La gestione di Stato delle Ferrovie Italiane (1905-1955) . Ferrovie dello Stato, Roma 1956, pp. 1-18.
  • Franco Bonelli: Riccardo Bianchi . Dizionario biografico degli Italiani, Volume 10, Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana, Roma 1968, pp. 169-173 (accessed February 10, 2016).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mario Moretti: L'Apparato Centrale Idrodinamico . I Treni oggi No. 102, Salò, ETR, March 1990, pp. 20-21.
  2. ↑ Maurizio Panconesi: Ferrovie dello Stato. Il primo anno di esercizio FS 1905-1906 .

Web links

  • Entry in the Senatori dell'Italia liberale database of the Historical Archives of the Italian Senate
personal data
SURNAME Bianchi, Riccardo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian engineer and railway manager
DATE OF BIRTH August 20, 1854
PLACE OF BIRTH Casale Monferrato
DATE OF DEATH November 4, 1936
Place of death Turin