The Belpaire firebox is a type of firebox used on steam locomotive

Steam locomotive

A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...

s. It was invented by Alfred Belpaire

Alfred Belpaire

Alfred Jules Belpaire was a Belgian locomotive engineer who invented the square-topped Belpaire firebox in 1860....

 of Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

. It has a greater surface area

Surface area

Surface area is the measure of how much exposed area a solid object has, expressed in square units. Mathematical description of the surface area is considerably more involved than the definition of arc length of a curve. For polyhedra the surface area is the sum of the areas of its faces...

 at the top of the firebox, improving heat transfer and steam production. Its rectangular shape makes attaching the firebox to the boiler more difficult, but this is offset by simpler interior bracing of the firebox.

The Pennsylvania Railroad

Pennsylvania Railroad

The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....

 used Belpaire fireboxes on nearly all of its steam locomotives. The distinctive square shape practically became a PRR trademark, as no other American railroad except the Great Northern used Belpaire fireboxes in significant numbers.

In Britain, the Belpaire design was a standard feature on most Great Western Railway

Great Western Railway

The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...

 locomotives, and a significant number of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway

London, Midland and Scottish Railway

The London Midland and Scottish Railway was a British railway company. It was formed on 1 January 1923 under the Railways Act of 1921, which required the grouping of over 120 separate railway companies into just four...

's locomotives also employed the design. Some other British railway companies used the Belpaire firebox on a handful of locomotives, but not to any major extent.

See also

• Round-topped boiler
  Round-topped boiler
  A round-topped boiler is a type of boiler used for some designs of steam locomotive and portable engine. It was an early form of locomotive boiler, although continuing to be used for new locomotives through to the end of steam locomotive manufacture in the 1960s.They use the early form of firebox,...
  
  
• Wootten firebox
  Wootten firebox
  The Wootten firebox is a type of firebox used on steam locomotives. The firebox was very wide to allow combustion of anthracite coal waste, known as Culm. Its size necessitated unusual placement of the crew, examples being camelback locomotives...