Robert Vinçotte

Robert Vinçotte

Robert Vinçotte (* 1844 in Antwerp , † 1904 in Schaerbeek / Schaarbeek ) was a Belgian test engineer and entrepreneur .

Life

Vinçotte's father Jean-Henri Vinçotte (1807-1890) was a teacher. After studying at the Université catholique de Louvain and the University of Liège , he was a professor in Antwerp and then in Ghent and finally school inspector.

Vinçotte studied at the University of Liège and graduated in 1865 as Ingénieur honoraire des mines and Docteur en sciences physiques et mathématiques . He then became a math teacher at the Atheneum in Brussels . He also investigated explosions of steam boilers . He found that in the UK there was 1 boiler explosion per 6,000 boilers, while in Belgium there was 1 explosion per 1,000 to 1,200 boilers. The main reasons he cited were poor construction and maintenance, which could be avoided through regular inspections.

In 1872 Vinçotte was asked by Maurice Urban, director of the National Society of the Belgian Railways , to set up an organization to inspect steam boilers in factories. In August 1872, 13 industrial managers decided to set up the non-profit Association pour la surveillance des chaudières à vapeur for the biannual inspection of steam boilers and training of staff financed by membership fees, of which Vinçotte became director. At the end of the year there were almost 500 members. Vinçotte shared the testing work with two other engineers and traveled to Düsseldorf and the USA to familiarize himself with the innovations in steam engine and boiler technology. In 1881 he went back to the USA on behalf of the Belgian government to study the security measures there. This resulted in a set of rules for the construction of steam boilers. After ten years of testing, only 0.17% of the boilers tested every six months failed. In 1875 he asked the Belgian government to legally oblige the steam boiler operators to carry out inspections by the Association, which finally took place in 1884. In 1885 he received the Knight's Cross of the Order of Leopold II. In 1887, a budget surplus was used for life insurance for employees.

Vinçotte died in 1904 after returning from a business trip to Italy . His successor was his son Robert Vinçotte Jr. In 1905 the Association expanded its business area by including electrical devices and systems in the inspections. In 1910 the Association controlled more boilers than the corresponding organizations in Germany and France combined. In 1922 the association was named Association Vinçotte pour la surveillance des chaudières à vapeur . In 1935, the name was shortened to Association Vinçotte (AV) because of the extended testing framework . In 1989 the AV merged with the Association des Industriels de Belgique pour l'étude et la propagation des engins et mesures propres à préserver les ouvriers des accidents du travail (AIB), founded by Henri Adan in 1890, to form AIB-Vinçotte , which is active worldwide.

Vinçotte's younger brother was the sculptor Thomas Vinçotte .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Vinçotte, Richard: Cinquantième Anniversaire de la Fondation de l'Association Vinçotte pour la Surveillance des Chaudières à Vapeur . Ch. De Bruycker, Brussels 1922.
2. ↑ VERSCHOREN, Philippe: Histoire de Vinçotte jusqu'à 2004 . Vinçotte International.
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Vinçotte history (accessed September 13, 2017).
4. ↑ Vinçotte International (accessed September 13, 2017).