John Ericsson | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Johan Ericsson (1803-07-31)July 31, 1803 |
| Died | March 8, 1899(1899-03-08) (aged 95) New York City, U.S. |
| Citizenship | Sweden United States (1848–1889) |
| Known for | |
| Notable work | |
| Relatives | Nils Ericson (brother) |
| Awards | Rumford Prize (1862) |
| Signature | |
 | |
John Ericsson (bornJohan Ericsson; July 31, 1803 – March 8, 1889) was a Swedish-American[1]engineer and inventor.[2] He was active in England and the United States.
Ericsson collaborated on the design of therailroad steam locomotiveNovelty, which competed in theRainhill Trials on theLiverpool and Manchester Railway, which were won by inventorGeorge Stephenson's (1781–1848),Rocket. Later inNorth America, he designed theUnited States Navy's first screw-propelled steam-frigateUSS Princeton, in partnership with Captain (later Commodore)Robert F. Stockton (1795–1866) of theU.S. Navy, who unjustly blamed him for thefatal accident of that new vessel. A new partnership withCornelius H. DeLamater (1821–1889), of the DeLamater Iron Works inNew York City resulted in the first armouredironclad warship equipped with a rotatinggun turret,USS Monitor, which dramatically saved the U.S. (Union Navy) naval blockading squadron from destruction by an ironcladConfederate States naval vessel,CSS Virginia, at the famousBattle of Hampton Roads harbor at the southern mouth of theChesapeake Bay (at the confluence of theJames andElizabeth Rivers) in March 1862, during theAmerican Civil War (1861-1865).
Johan Ericsson was born atLångban inFilipstad Municipality,Värmland, in theKingdom of Sweden inNorthern Europe /Scandinavia. He was the younger brother ofNils Ericson (1802–1870), a distinguished canal and railway builder in Sweden. Their father Olaf Ericsson (1778–1818) had worked as the supervisor for amine in Värmland. He had lost money in speculation and had to move his family toForsvik in 1810. There he worked as a director of blastings during the excavation of the SwedishGöta Canal.[3][4][5]
The extraordinary skills of the two Ericsson brothers were discovered byBaltzar von Platen (1766–1829), the architect ofGöta Canal. They were dubbed 'cadets of mechanics' of theSwedish Royal Navy, and engaged as trainees at the canal enterprise. At the age of fourteen, John was already working independently as asurveyor. His assistant had to carry a footstool for him to reach the instruments duringsurveying work.At the age of seventeen he joined theSwedish army inJämtland, serving in theJämtland Ranger Regiment, as aSecond Lieutenant, but was soon promoted to Lieutenant. He was sent to northern Sweden to do surveying, and in his spare time he constructed aheat engine which used the fumes from the fire instead of steam as a propellant. His skill and interest in mechanics made him resign from the army and move to England in 1826. However, his heat engine was not a success, as his prototype was designed to burnbirchwood and would not work well with coal (the main fuel used in England).[6]
Notwithstanding the disappointment, he invented several other mechanisms instead based onsteam, improving the heating process by incorporatingbellows to increaseoxygen supply to the fire bed. In 1829 he and English engineerJohn Braithwaite (1797–1870) builtNovelty for theRainhill Trials arranged by theLiverpool and Manchester Railway. It was widely praised but suffered recurring boiler problems, and the competition was won by English engineersGeorge andRobert Stephenson withRocket.[7]
Two further engines were built by Braithwaite and Ericsson, namedWilliam IV andQueen Adelaide after the new king and queen. These were generally larger and more robust thanNovelty and differed in several details (for example it is thought that a different design of blower was used which was an 'Induced Draught' type, sucking the gases from the fire). The pair ran trials on theLiverpool and Manchester Railway but the railway declined to purchase the new designs.
Their innovative steam fire engine proved an outstanding technical success by helping to quell the memorableArgyll Rooms fire[8] on February 5, 1830[9] (where it worked for five hours when the other engines were frozen up),[10][5] but was met with resistance from London's established 'Fire Laddies' and municipal authorities. An engine Braithwaite and Ericsson constructed forSir John Ross's 1829 Arctic expedition failed and was dumped on the shores ofPrince Regent Inlet. At this stage of Ericsson's career the most successful and enduring of his inventions was thesurface condenser, which allowed a steamer to recover fresh water for its boilers while at sea. His 'deep sea lead,' a pressure-activated fathometer was another minor, but enduring success.
The commercial failure and development costs of some of the machines devised and built by Ericsson during this period put him into debtors' prison for an interval. At this time he also married 19-year-old Amelia Byam, a disastrous match that ended in the couple's separation until Amelia's death.
He was elected as a member to theAmerican Philosophical Society in 1877.[11]
His only formal education was a basic officer's education and training during his time in theSwedish Army, achieving the military rank ofcaptain. On March 27, 1822, John passed a surveyor's examination in the Royalcapital city ofStockholm. As a child he was taught to be a miner and surveyor by his father.[12]
He then improved ship design with two screw-propellers rotating in opposite directions (as opposed to earlier tests with this technology, which used a single screw). However, theBritish Admiralty of theRoyal Navy disapproved of the invention in the late1830s, which led to the fortunate contact with the prominent American naval captain (and latercommodore)Robert Stockton (1795-1866), who had Ericsson design a propeller-driven steamer for him and invited him to bring his invention across theAtlantic Ocean to the United States of America, as it would supposedly be more welcomed in that more free-thinking place. As a result, Ericsson moved toNew York City in 1839. Captain Stockton's plan was for Ericsson to oversee the development of a new class of naval warship of a larger heavierfrigate with Stockton using his considerable political connections to grease the funding authorizations wheels. Finally, after the death of 9th PresidentWilliam Henry Harrison (1773-1841, served March-April 1841), and succession to the Presidency by his formerVice PresidentJohn Tyler in the spring of 1841, funds were then allocated to the Navy under the new administration for a new design. However, they only received funding enough for a 700-tonSloop-of-war design instead of a largerfrigate. The sloop eventually became theUSS Princeton, named after Stockton's hometown inNew Jersey and the famousuniversity located there.
The ship took about three years to complete and was perhaps the most advanced warship of its time. In addition to steam-powered twin screw propellers, it was originally designed to mount a 12-inch muzzle-loading gun on a revolving pedestal. The gun had also been designed by Ericsson and usedhoop construction to pre-tension thebreech, adding to its strength and allowing safe use of a larger charge. Other innovations on the warship design included a collapsible smoke funnel and an improved recoil system for the artillery.
The relations between Ericsson and Stockton had grown tense over time and, approaching the completion of the ship, Stockton began working to force Ericsson out of the shipbuilding project. Stockton carefully avoided letting outsiders know that Ericsson was the primary inventor.[citation needed] Stockton attempted to claim as much credit for himself as possible, even designing a second 12 in (300 mm) gun to be also mounted on thePrinceton. Unfortunately, because Stockton did not totally understand the design of the first gun (originally named "The Orator", renamed "The Oregon" by Stockton), the second gun was fatally flawed.
When launched, theU.S.S. Princeton was an enormous success. On October 20, 1843, she won a speed trial against the huge passenger liner, paddle steamerSS Great Western, until then considered the fastest steamer afloat. Unfortunately, during a firing demonstration of Capt. Stockton's gun, thebreech ruptured and exploded, killing visiting onboard observers ofU.S. Secretary of StateAbel P. Upshur and theSecretary of the Navy,Thomas Walker Gilmer (of thePresidential Cabinet of 10th PresidentJohn Tyler, 1790-1862, served 1841-1845), as well as six others accompanying them. Stockton attempted to deflect the blame onto Ericsson,[citation needed] with moderate success, despite the fact Ericsson's gun was sound and it was instead Stockton's second gun that had failed. Stockton also refused to pay Ericsson, and by using his political connections, Stockton blocked the U.S. Navy bureaucracy from paying him.
When Ericsson arrived fromEngland and settled in New York City, he was persuaded by Samuel Risley ofGreenwich Village to give his work to the Phoenix Foundry. There he met industrialist and iron / steel foundry ownerCornelius H. DeLamater (1821–1889), and soon a mutual attachment developed between the two. Rarely thereafter did Ericsson or DeLamater enter upon a business venture without first consulting the other."[13] Personally, their friendship never faltered, though strained by the pressures of business and Ericsson's quick temper, DeLamater called Ericsson "John" and Ericsson called DeLamater by his middle nickname "Harry", intimacies almost unknown in Ericsson's other relationships.[14] In time, the DeLamater Iron Works, situated facing theHudson River on the waterfront / west end of West 13th Street inLower Manhattan's westside, became known as the Asylum where Capt Ericsson had free rein to experiment and attempt new feats.
TheIron Witch was next constructed, the first iron steamboat.[15] The first hot-air invention of Capt Ericsson was first introduced in the shipEricsson,[16] built entirely by DeLamater. The DeLamater Iron Works also launched the first submarine boat, first self-propelled torpedo, and first torpedo boat.[17] When DeLamater died on February 2, 1889, Ericsson could not be consoled. Ericsson's own death only one month later in March 1889, was not surprising to his close friends and acquaintances."[18]
Ericsson then proceeded to invent independently the caloric, orhot air, engine in the 1820s which used hot air,caloric in the scientific parlance of the day, instead of steam as a working fluid. A similar device had been patented earlier in 1816 by the ReverendRobert Stirling (1790-1878),[19] whose technical priority of invention provides the usual term 'Stirling Engine' for the device. Ericsson's engine was not initially successful due to the differences in combustion temperatures between burning Swedish wood and firing of British coal. In spite of his setbacks, Ericsson was later awarded theRumford Prize of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1862 for his invention.[20]
In 1830, Ericsson patented his second engine,[21] that can work either with steam, air or water. This rotative engine objective is to reduce the engine within more convenient limits without any corresponding loss of power.
By 1833, Capt. Ericsson built his third engine,[22] a hot air engine (or caloric engine) that is exhibited in London: "the engine will prove the most important mechanical invention ever conceived by the human mind, and one that will confer greater benefits on civilized life than any that has ever preceded it" (John O. Sargent). This engine included aregenerator that would inspire many other hot air engine inventors.[citation needed]
The caloric ship, powered by the fourth Ericsson engine was built in 1852.[23]
A group of New York merchants and financiers headed by John B Kitching, Edward Dunham, President of the Corn Exchange Bank, and G.B. Lamar, president of the Bank of the Republic, backed the project and in April, 1852, the keel of the ship was laid at the yard of Perine, Patterson, and Stack in Williamsburgh. At about the same time the construction of the engine was commenced by Messrs Hogg and Delamater.Hull and machinery were built in the greatest possible secrecy, both Ericsson and his financial backers being convinced that their ship would revolutionize ocean transport by its economy and safety, and that competitors would if possible copy the design of at least the engine.On September 15, 1852, the ship was launched and in November the engine was turned over at the dock under its own power. It will be a failure.Smaller experimental engines based on the same patent design and built before the caloric ship will prove to be working efficiently.
In his later years, the caloric engine would render Ericsson comfortably wealthy, as its boilerless design made it a much safer and more practical means of power for small industry than steam engines. Ericsson's incorporation of a 'regenerator' heat sink for his engine made it tremendously fuel-efficient. Apparently in the post Civil War era some time before or around 1882, from the publishing date, a ship was purchased by a Captain Charles L. Dingley called theEricsson with a weight of 1,645 tons that was built by John Ericsson (Although the above section on John Ericsson's Friendship with Cornelius H. DeLamater says that the ship known as theEricsson was built by the DeLamater Iron Works) to try out the hot air engine as a motive power in open ocean navigation.[24]
Decades later, in 1883 John Ericsson built a solar air engine[25] of 1 HP. The leading feature of the sun motor is that of concentrating the radiant heat by means of a rectangular trough having a curved bottom lined on the inside with polished plates, so arranged that they reflect the sun's rays toward a cylindrical heater placed longitudinally above the trough.This heater, it is scarcely necessary to state, contains the acting medium, steam or air, employed to transfer the solar energy to the motor; the transfer being effected by means of cylinders provided' with pistons and valves resembling those of motive engines of the ordinary type. Practical engineers, as well as scientists, have demonstrated that solar energy cannot be rendered available for producing motive power, in consequence of the feebleness of solar radiation.
On September 26, 1854, Ericsson presented EmperorNapoleon III of France with drawings of iron-clad armoredbattleships with adome-shaped gun tower, and even though the French emperor praised this particular plan of an invention, he did nothing to bring it to practical application or to obtain and build such a revolutionary vessel for theFrench Navy. In 1851 he designed theCaloric ship Ericsson.
Shortly after theAmerican Civil War broke out in 1861, theConfederacy began constructing an ironclad ram upon the burnt hull hulk of theUSS Merrimack which had been partially burned and then scuttled / sunk by evacuating Federal troops before it was captured by militia forces loyal to the localCommonwealth of Virginia. Nearly concurrently, theUnited States Congress had recommended to theU.S. Navy Department in August 1861 that armored ships be built for the American Navy. Ericsson still had a dislike for the U.S. Navy because of his personal experience with now Commodore Stockton, but he was nevertheless convinced by 16th PresidentAbraham Lincoln's hard-working newSecretary of the Navy,Gideon Welles (1802-1878, served 1861-1869), and railroad executive / shipbuilderCornelius Scranton Bushnell (1829-1896), to submit an ironclad ship design to them. Ericsson later presented drawings ofUSS Monitor, a novel design of armored ship which included a rotating turret housing a pair of large cannons. Despite controversy over the unique design, based on Swedish lumber rafts,[26] the keel was eventually laid down in a New York shipyard and the experimental ironclad was launched on March 6, 1862. The ship went from plans to launch in approximately 100 days, an amazing achievement.
On March 8, the former heavy steam frigate USSMerrimack, rechristened as theCSS Virginia, for the newConfederate States Navy, was wreaking havoc on the woodenUnion Navy Blockading Squadron in the lower / southernChesapeake Bay ofVirginia, sinkingUSS Congress andUSS Cumberland and damaging / running aground theUSS Minnesota off-shore of the northside peninsula fromNewport News. The newMonitor appeared the next day, initiating the first battle between ironclad warships on March 9, 1862, at theHampton Roads harbor of southeasternVirginia. The battle ended in a tactical stalemate between the two ironclad warships, neither of which appeared capable of sinking the other, only causing minor damage on its opponent, but strategically saved the remaining Federal fleet from losing any more now obsolete wooden warships and defeat.[27] After this, numerousmonitors were built for theUnion'sUnited States Navy, including additional twin turret versions, and contributed greatly to the further continued success of the blockade of Southern coasts and port cities with naval victory of the Union over the rebellious states. Despite their low draft and subsequent problems in navigating in high seas, plus frequent engine break-downs, many basic design elements of theMonitor class were copied in future warships by other designers and navies around the world. The rotating gun turret in particular is considered one of the greatest technological advances in naval history, still found on modern warships today.
Later Ericsson designed other naval vessels and weapons, including a type oftorpedo and adestroyer, atorpedo boat that could fire a cannon from an underwater port. He also provided some technical support forJohn Philip Holland in his early submarine experiments. In the bookContributions to the Centennial Exhibition (1877, reprinted 1976) he presented his "sun engines", which collected solar heat for ahot air engine. One of these designs earned Ericsson additional income after being converted to work as a methane gas engine.
Ericsson died on March 8, 1889, the anniversary of the Battle of Hampton Roads, in which hisMonitor famously played a central role.[28] His wish to be buried in his native land sparked a series of articles in theNew York Times alleging that, by selecting the third-rateUSS Essex (1874) to transport his remains, the US Navy was not paying proper respect to Ericsson.[29] The Navy responded and sent the remains on theUSS Baltimore, escorted by other ships such asUSS Nantucket. On August 23, 1890, the fleet departed with a twenty-one gun salute and the Swedish flag hoisted on every ship of the squadron.[30][31] Around 100,000 people turned out for the funeral procession and departure ceremonies, including several veterans of the USSMonitor.[32]
His final resting place is atFilipstad inVärmland, Sweden.
The stamp commemorating John Ericsson on April 20, 1926, coincided with the unveiling of the Ericsson Memorial inWest Potomac Park, Washington, DC directly south of the Lincoln Memorial. The stamp pictures the memorial design by J. H. Frazer. The seated figure of Ericsson has the figures above and behind him of Vision, Labor and Adventure.[33]
Monuments in honor of John Ericsson have been erected at:
Ships named in his honor:
Organizations:
Mount Ericsson, a mountain summit located in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, is named in his honor.
Ericsson is a major character inHarry Harrison's novels ofalternate history, theStars and Stripes trilogy.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
