Edmund Heusinger von Waldegg
Encyclopedia
Edmund Heusinger von Waldegg (12 May 1817 - 2 February 1886) was a German mechanical engineer and railway pioneer.
Edmund Heusinger was born in Langenschwalbach (present day Bad Schwalbach
) in the state of Hesse
in central Germany
on 12 May 1817. In 1841 he became a master-workman with the Taunus Railway (Taunusbahn). In 1854 he was awarded a contract to build the Homburg Railway. He invented inter alia a new type of valve gear
for steam locomotives that was to become the most widely-used valve gear in the world. Because the Belgian, Egide Walschaerts
, invented the same system independently, it is usually called the Walschaerts valve gear outside the German-speaking world.
Edmund Heusinger von Waldegg died on 2 February 1886 in Hanover
, in northern Germany.
Edmund Heusinger was born in Langenschwalbach (present day Bad Schwalbach
Bad Schwalbach
Bad Schwalbach is the district seat of Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany.- Geographic Location :Bad Schwalbach is a spa town some 20 km northwest of Wiesbaden. It lies at 289 to 465 m above sea level in the Taunus, along the small river Aar...
) in the state of Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
in central Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
on 12 May 1817. In 1841 he became a master-workman with the Taunus Railway (Taunusbahn). In 1854 he was awarded a contract to build the Homburg Railway. He invented inter alia a new type of valve gear
Valve gear
The valve gear of a steam engine is the mechanism that operates the inlet and exhaust valves to admit steam into the cylinder and allow exhaust steam to escape, respectively, at the correct points in the cycle...
for steam locomotives that was to become the most widely-used valve gear in the world. Because the Belgian, Egide Walschaerts
Egide Walschaerts
Egide Walschaerts was a Belgian mechanical engineer, best known as the inventor of the Walschaerts valve gear for use in steam locomotives.He was born in Belgium at Fl. Mechelen...
, invented the same system independently, it is usually called the Walschaerts valve gear outside the German-speaking world.
Edmund Heusinger von Waldegg died on 2 February 1886 in Hanover
Hanover
Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...
, in northern Germany.
External links
- There is a relevant English-language forum at Railways of Germany