Richard von Helmholtz

Richard Wilhelm Ferdinand von Helmholtz ( born September 28, 1852 in Königsberg, † September 10, 1934 in Munich) was a German engineer and designer of steam locomotives.

Life

Richard von Helmholtz was the son of the physicist Hermann von Helmholtz and his first wife Olga, née von Velten. The family followed the vocations, the father in 1855 and 1858 to Bonn to Heidelberg, where Richard grew up and attended high school. After visiting the Stuttgart Polytechnic and an internship at Borsig in Berlin, he studied mechanical engineering at the Technical University of Munich, among others, Johann Bauschinger and Carl von Linde.

After his studies he began in 1876 his work as a designer at the Krauss locomotive factory in Munich, where he soon rose to become head of the design office. In this position, he appointed over the decades, especially after the 1885 made ​​withdrawal of Georg Krauss from the management, contributes greatly to the fortunes of the company until his retirement in 1918. During his career, he dealt with all components of the steam locomotive, such as improving and simplification of Heusinger control, but also with less conspicuous parts such as the development of a new sand spreader design.

1887 was his pioneering scientific study of the behavior of locomotives in curves and the wear of wheel and rail. From this theoretical work followed as a practical result of 1888, the construction of the Krauss- Helmholtz steering rack, which in many locomotives running axles - not only steam locomotives - was used. The Austrian designer Karl Gölsdorf pulled from the researches of Helmholtz even further conclusions and developed the sideways sliding dome axis, the so-called Gölsdorf -axis, which has become the standard in locomotive.

Under von Helmholtz example, the following types of locomotives were designed and built at Krauss:

  • The Bavarian D VIII
  • Bayerische AA I, a built only one copy of the variant B XI with preload axis
  • Bayerische D XII ( Pt2 / 5) and the almost identical P2.II the Palatine, a 174 piece built with a total machine without a fixed wheelbase
  • The Palatine P 5
  • The Bavarian Pt 2/3

Quite a few of the Helmholtz locomotives proved themselves well and are been for 50 years in operation. With such a long innovative activity however was inevitable that some conceptions subsequently found to be erroneous. This happened for example in 1900 built and shown at the World Exhibition in Paris Palatine P 3.II, an express locomotive with preload axis for improvement in start. The machine is not proved, in 1902, the biasing axis was removed and the machine is converted into a normal 2'B1' locomotive.

During his tenure at Krauss von Helmholtz published numerous articles on the history of development of locomotives, mainly in the locomotive, one published in Vienna magazine for railway purposes. After his retirement, he expanded this literary activity. Based on their own archives and the library of Krauss, which he supervised way, and favored by an excellent memory into old age he was concerned, partly as a writer and partly as an editor, with the account of the historical development of the steam locomotives.

Works

  • Richard von Helmholtz, Wilhelm Staby: The development of the locomotive in areas of the Association of German Railway Administrations. . Oldenbourg, Munich and Berlin 1930 (Reprint: Callwey, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-7667-0542-3. )
  • Richard von Helmholtz: The historic locomotives of the Baden State Railways. Reichsbahndirektion Karlsruhe, 1936 (Reprint: German Society for Railway History, 1982, ISBN 3-921700-36-1 ).
University of Stuttgart Krauss-Maffei George Krauss Valve gear Trailing wheel Bavarian AA I Bavarian B XI Bavarian D XII Neue Deutsche Biographie Integrated Authority File
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