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Matthias W. Baldwin
| Name | Matthias W. Baldwin |
| Ortssitz | Philadelphia (Penns.) |
| Art des Unternehmens | Lokomotiv-Industrieller |
| Anmerkungen | 1795 - 1866. Gründer der "Baldwin Locomotive Works" (s.d.). Gelernter Gold- und Silberarbeiter, machte sich 1825 selbständig und fertigte Werkzeuge für Buchbinder. Der Erfolg mit einer selbstgebauten Betriebsdampfmaschine veranlaßte ihn 1830, den Bau von Dampfmaschinen aufzunehmen, dem 1832 der Lokomotivbau folgte. Durch zähe Energie entwickelte B. in kurzer Zeit seine Werkstatt zur größten Lokomotivfabrik der Vereinigten Staaten, die bis zu seinem Tod bereits rund 1500 Lokomotiven geliefert hatte. |
| Quellenangaben | [Metzeltin: Die Lokomotive (1971), dort weitere Quellen] www.oldchesterpa.com/history_warfel_2.htm [Bishop: History of American manufacturers 2 (1868) 537] |
| Hinweise | [Journal of Franklin Inst. (1872) I, 234] [Heusinger: Handbuch für spez. Eisenbahntechnik (1882) III] [Matschoss: Männer der Technik (1925] [Dict. of Am. Biogr. (1928)] |
| Zeit |
Ereignis |
| 10.12.1795 |
Geburt von Mathias W. Baldwin in Elizabeth (N.J) als Sohn von William and Phebe (Skinner) Baldwin. Sein Vater ist ein bescheiden erfolgreicher Wagenbauer, dessen Eigentum die Vollstrecker schlecht handhaben. Die Familie lebt daher in ärmlichen Verhältnissen. Matthias geht auf gute Schulen, aber ist nicht sehr an Büchern, sondern mehr an mechanischen Dingen interessiert. Als Kind nimmt er seine Spielzeuge auseinander, um zu lernen, wie sie konstruiert sind. Er benutzt dann seine kluge Vorstellung, um eine Vielfalt von Geräten zu konstruieren, die er mit Gewandtheit und Geschick zusammenbaut. |
| 1812 |
M. Baldwin tritt im Alter von 16 Jahren eine Juwelierlehre bei Woolworth Brothers in Frankford (Pa). Nach Abschluß seiner Ausbildung zieht er nach Philadelphia zu seiner Mutter. Dort arbeitet er bei der Bijouteriefabrik Fletcher & Gardener in der Chestnut Street und wird bald einer der nützlichsten Leute im Unternehmen. Er ist ein schlauer Erneuerer und strebt immer nach Perfektion bei seiner Arbeit. Nach zwei Jahren aus Reisender beginnt er für sich selbst zu arbeitren. Baldwin verbessert viele Werkzeuge und erfindet eine neue Methode für das Vergolden, die allgemein angewendet wird. |
| 1817 |
Matthias W. Baldwin beginnt seine Tätigkeit als Gold - und Silberarbeiter in Philadelphia. |
| 1817 |
M. W. Baldwin lernt den Beruf des Juweliers und tritt bei Fletcher & Gardiner, Juweliere und Silberschmiede in Philadelphia, ein. |
| 1819 |
Matthias W. Baldwin macht sich als Juwelier selbständig. |
| 1825 |
Baldwin nimmt den Maschinenbauer David Mason in sein Geschäft auf. Sie stellen Buchbinderwerkzeuge und Zylinder für den Kaliko-Druck her. Ihre Werkstätte ist in einer kleinen Allee nördlich der Walnut Street, oberhalb der Fourth Street. - Später ziehen sie in die Minor Street, unterhalb der Sixth Street, und eine stehende Dampfmaschine für den eigenen Bedarf wird gebaut. |
| 1825 |
Eine plötzliche Rezession im Juwelier-Bereich veranlaßt ihn, nach anderen Betätigungsfeldern zu sehen. Er bildet eine Partnerschaft mit einem Maschinenschlosser, David Mason, um Buchbinderwerkzeuge und -maschinen herzustellen - diese sind bisher im Lande nicht erhältlich. Bald fügen sie die Herstellung von Baumwollstoff-Druckzylindern hinzu |
| 1826-1829 |
Baldwin baut eine 5-PS-Dampfmaschine für die eigene Werkstatt, die 40 Jahre in Betrieb ist (nach Gründung seiner Maschinenfabrik, 1825) |
| 1830 |
Das Museum in Philadelphia läßt von Baldwin ein Modell der 1830 aus England für die Camden & Amboy Railroad Co. eingeführte Lokomotive "John Bull" bauen (steht später im Smithsonian). Dieses Modell arbeitet so perfekt, daß Baldwin bald danach den Auftrag für eine Lokomotive in normaler Größe für die Philadelphia, Germantown und Norristown Railroad, die "Old Ironsides" bekommt (deren nur 6 Meilen lange Strecke wurde bisher mit Pferden betrieben). |
| 25.04.1831 |
Mit Hilfe von unvollkommenen, publizierten Beschreibungen und Skizzen der Lokomotiven, die am Wettrennen in Rainhill in England teilnahmen, baut Baldwin auf Anregung des Eigentümers des Philadelphia Museum eine Miniaturlokomotive, die am 25. April auf Kiefernbrettern, die mit Bandeisen ("hoop iron") belegt sind, in den Räumen des Museums in Bewegung gesetzt wird. Zwei kleine Wagen mit Sitzen für vier Passagiere werden angehängt, und das neuartige Schauspiel zieht Mengen von bewundernden Zuschauern an. Sowohl Anthrazit als auch Fichtenast-Kohle wird als Brennstoff verwendet, und der Auspuffdampf wird in den Schornstein geleitet, zum den Kaminzug zu erhöhen. |
| 23.11.1832 |
Am 23. November 1832 wird die erste Baldwin-Lokomotive, "Old Ironsides", getestet, sie bewährt sich, und bald folgen neue Bestellungen. |
| 23.11.1832 |
Die erste Baldwin-Lokomotive "Ironsides" macht ihre Probefahrt |
| 29.06.1833 |
Baldwin erhält ein Patent auf Lokomotivräder, die aus Messing gegossen sind. Er erhofft sich eine größere Reibung durch die unterschiedlichen Materialien von Rad und Schiene. Die Räder werden auf der Lokomotive "E. L. Miller" (Fabr.-Nr. 2, für die "Charleston and Hamburg Railroad") ausprobiert. Wegen des hohen Verschleißes wird diese Bauart nicht wiederholt. |
| Juni 1834 |
Die dritte Lokomotive "Lancaster" für die State Road von Philadelphia nach Columbia, die bisher mit Pferden betrieben wurde, wird fertiggestellt. Sie ähnelt der Nr. 2 "Miller (Achsfolge 2'A, mit domförmigem Stehkessel) und ist in der Lage, auf den stärksten Steigungen 19 beladene Wagen zu ziehen. |
| 10.09.1834 |
Baldwin erhält ein Patent auf die halb-gekröpften Lokomotiv-Treibachsen. Bei diesen ist die Kröpfung nicht innerhalb der Welle, sondern direkt neben dem Rad, so daß nur 1 Kurbelwange erforderlich ist. |
| 1840 |
Baldwin erhält durch August Belmont Esq. eine Bestellung aus New York, für eine Lokomotive für Österreich. - Er hat fast eine fertiggestellt, als er erfährt, daß nur 60 psi Dampfdruck zulässig sind, während seine Lokomotive für einen Druck von 100 psi ausgelegt ist. Er konstrukturiert daher eine andere, die diese Anforderung erfüllt, und liefert sie sie im nächsten Jahr. |
| 31.12.1840 |
Baldwin erhält ein Patent auf eine Gelenklokomotive mit einer unabhängigen Achse, die zwischen den Radsätzen eines Drehgestells angeordnet ist und durch Kurbelzapfen und -stangen mit der Außenseite der Treibräder verbunden ist. Dies Achse hat ein mittiges Zahnrad und auf jeder Seite Zwischenzahnräder, die in Zahnräder auf jeder Drehgestellachse eingreifen. Die Zwischenzahnräder haben weite Zähne, so daß das Drehgestell kurvenbeweglich bei starr geführter Treibachse ist. - Der Bau einer Lokomotive wird sofort in Angriff genommen. |
| 1841 |
Fertigstellung einer Lokomotive mit zahnrad-gekuppeltem Antriebsdrehgestell (lt. Patent vom 31.12.1840). Sie hat innen gekuppelte Achsen und wird an die "Sugarleaf Coal Company" verkauft. Ihr Gewicht von 30.000 Pounds wird mit 11.775 Pfund von den Treibrädern und 18.335 Pfund vom Drehgestell. Die Treibräder haben 44" und die Drehgestellräder 22" Durchmesser. Zylindermaße: d= 13", h= 16". Bei einem Versuch auf der "Philadelphia und Reading Railroad" zieht sie 590 tons von Reading nach Philadelphia auf einen Entfernung von 54 Meilen in 5 h 20 min. Baldwin ist vom Erfolg dieser Bauart überzeugt. - Trotz dieses Erfolgs wird diese Buart nicht weiter gebaut. |
| 07.09.1866 |
Tod von Mathias W. Baldwin auf seinem Landsitz Wissinoming bei Philadelphia |
| 02.06.1906 |
Enthüllung einer lebensgroßen Statue von Matthew Baldwin, das von den Baldwin Locomotive Works der Park Commission von Philadelphia geschenkt wird. Sie steht an einer herausragenden Stelle vor der Hauptverwaltung |
| Tätig |
ab |
Bem. |
bis |
Bem. |
Kommentar |
| Leitung einer Lokomotivfabrik |
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Zeit = 1: Zeitpunkt unbekannt
| ZEIT | 1868 |
| THEMA | Firmenbeschreibung |
| TEXT | Eminent as an inventor and builder of Locomotive engines, was born in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, December 10th, 1795. He had the misfortune, in early childhood, to lose his father, who was a successful carriage builder, and the further misfortune to lose, through the mismanagement of the executor, the property which he would have inherited. He was thus dependent for his elementary instruction upon a widowed mother, who was left with five children, to overcome, by her energy, the privations incident to reduced circumstances. From his earliest years the bent of his mind was toward mechanical contrivances, and it is said that the toys he usually played with were those which he himself had made. At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to Woolworth Brothers, of Frankford, Philadelphia county, to learn the trade of jeweler, and after serving an apprenticeship of five years, entered the employ of Fletcher and Gardiner, who were then extensive manufacturers of jewelry at 130 Chestnut street. After laboring two years as journeyman in this shop, he commenced in 1819 to manufacture jewelry in a small way for his own account; and while thus occupied he invented a new process of gold plating, which was never protected by a patent, but is now very generally adopted. Instead of attaching the gold leaf to the baser metal, he soldered a thicker piece of gold to the base, and rolled the two together until they were compressed to the requisite thinness. The demand for jewelry, however, shortly after he embarked in business, so greatly declined that he abandoned its manufacture, and undertook that of Bookbinders' tools and Calico Printers' rolls, in which he became associated with David Mason. This was probably the first manufactory of these articles that rendered this country independent of foreign supply. It was located, at first, in a small street running north from Walnut, above Fourth, but was removed in 1827 to Minor street, near Sixth. It was in this workshop that Mr. Baldwin made the designs for, and built his first steam engine, intended to supply the motive power demanded by his enlarged business. It was of novel construction, in several respects, and was finished to an extent entirely unexampled in that day. Its vertical cylinder, so placed for economy of space, its forked cross-head, and pitman guides at the sides of the cylinder, were novelties, in the disposition and form of parts, and its bevel wheels, which gave motion to the governor, were without teeth, doing their duty by friction alone, being noiseless, like the beautiful engine whose motion that governor controlled. This little engine, of five horse power, was the object of much attention among machinists, and excited general admiration by its quiet, though efficient motion, and the fine finish of all its parts. It is at this hour an efficient motive power in the great establishment of M. W. Baldwin & Co., with very slight changes in its parts, a durable evidence of the sound mechanical judgment of him who designed and executed it. His success in building this engine for his own use, induced him to embark in building stationary engines, of which, after his dissolution of partnership with Mr. Mason, he became an extensive manufacturer. In the fall of 1830, the Camden and Amboy Railroad had imported a Locomotive, which was jealously guarded from public inspection in a store-house near Philadelphia. By some means or winning device Mr. Baldwin, and his friend Franklin Peale, overcame the scruples of the man who had it in charge, and were admitted to see it. After an absorbing study for nearly half an hour, he exclaimed enthusiastically: "I can make it." His friend Peale, who was then proprietor of the Philadelphia Museum, urged him to attempt making a miniature Locomotive, to which he assented, and after about four months' labor, with no other assistance than the hurried inspection above referred to, and such drawings as the scientific journals of that day were publishing, he had a beautiful model ready for exhibition. This was placed on a track laid in the rooms of the Museum in the Arcade, April 25th, 1831, making the circuit of the whole suite, and drawing two miniature cars containing seats for four passengers, though eight was often the number, and attracted crowds to visit, for the first time in Philadelphia, or Pennsylvania, the effect of steam in railroad transportation. In 1832 Mr. Baldwin received an order from the Philadelphia and Germantown Railway, for the construction of a Locomotive for that company. This was undertaken and prosecuted energetically, notwithstanding the difficulties of few and insufficient tools and contracted space, and completed in about six months. Begun in Minor street, it was finished in Lodge alley between Seventh and Eighth streets, to which place his shops had been removed, and was placed on the road, November 23d 1832. The experiments which were made with this engine, called the "Ironsides," established the fact of its entire success as a locomotive. The newspapers of the day reported that it was capable of carrying thirty tons gross at an average speed of forty miles an hour, though its own weight, in consequence of the restrictions of the Company, was only between four and live tons. Among the notices in Poulson's American Advertiser of that period, is the following novel advertisement. NOTICE. The Locomotive Engine, built by M. W. Baldwin of this city, will depart daily, when the weather is fair, with a train of passenger cars. On rainy days, horses will be attached. No one need be told, now, that when the rails are wet, there is less adhesion than at other times, and as the grades were steep it is not surprising that one of the lightest engines ever built was unable to draw all the cars, and all the crowd that panted for the novelty of a trip by steam. The Company, however, appear not to have been satisfied with its performances, and demanded a reduction of five hundred dollars from the contract, price which was three thousand five hundred dollars. His initial experiment in building locomotives was not therefore encouraging to Mr. Baldwin, and it is probable that, at that time, he did not expect to live to see the day when No. 1500 would be placed on an engine of this description constructed in his shops. During the next three years, however, he received orders for nine or ten Locomotives; and in 1835 he removed to the corner of Broad and Hamilton streets, where, under his supervision, the Works grew to an astonishing magnitude. Previous to 1835 Mr. Baldwin had made many important inventions, tending to perfect the locomotive engine in its various parts and operative proportions. The plan of attaching the cylinders to the outside of the smoke-box, now almost universally adopted, originated with him, and also the metallic ground joints, and various minor improvements, upon which the present perfection of the Locomotive depends. The curious reader who may desire to see a detailed account of his inventions, is referred to the Journal of the Franklin Institute, April 1835, or to the extended sketch of Mr. Baldwin's life by the Rev. Wolcott Calkins, now passing through the press, for private circulation, under the supervision of his son-in-law and executor, John Clayton, Esq. His subsequent career as a mechanic and manufacturer, after his removal to Broad street, until his decease, September 7th, 1866, is remarkable for the fertility of invention displayed in originating novelties in mechanism, and no less remarkable for the steady heroism evinced amidst financial difficulties and embarassments. One of the subjects to which he devoted all the powers of his mind, and achieved a decided triumph, was in adapting Locomotives to carrying heavy freights around sharp curves, and up ascending grades. Probably the most important invention that he ever made, was the flexible truck Locomotive, patented August, 1842. He no doubt contributed more than any other man to the great result that Locomotives can now penetrate wherever man can go to cultivate the earth with profit. There are engines of his construction that daily draw after them fifty tons of freight and passengers, up grades rising at the rate of two hundred and ninety-six feet to the mile, and swing their trains of eight wheel cars around curves of less than three hundred feet radii. In fact his mechanical career exhibited so much genius, ready adaptation to new pursuits, buoyant and unfaltering faith in the midst of discouragement, patience, foresight and persistence in untried fields of labor, that he may be said to have led public enterprise in this country, and to have been a public benefactor, both by the new branches of industry that lie stimulated, and by the encouraging example he presented to young men, embarking in honorable enterprises with high aspirations. Though the influence that Mr. Baldwin exercised upon the political movements of the day was comparatively limited in extent, he discharged his duties in this respect with his usual zeal and independence. In 1837 he was appointed a member of the convention to amend the Constitution of the State of Pennsylvania, and in that body took a decided stand on points that have become vital principles in the general progress of mankind, and always on the side of liberty, freedom, and justice. In 1853 he was elected a member of the State Legislature, and amidst the mazes of diplomacy adhered to the straightforward and consistent course that was a characteristic of his whole life. From early youth he appears to have been impressed with the vital importance of a practical religion, that influenced him, more or less, in all the transactions of his business career. It was not, however, until 1831 that he made a formal profession of his faith, when he joined the Presbyterian Church under the pastorate of the Rev. Albert Barnes. From this time forward his religious fervor never abated, and so zealous was he in the formation of religious associations, and the erection of churches, that he was called the great church builder of Philadelphia. His charities were so unbounded, and his contributions to religious objects so vast, that his income, great as it had become within the last few years of his business life, was almost entirely absorbed in this direction. Mr. Baldwin was a member of various Scientific Institutes and organizations; but was especially noted for his devotion to horticulture and the fine arts. He was president for several years of the Horticultural Society of Philadelphia, and contributed largely to the attractiveness of its exhibitions by a liberal display of the beauties of his conservatory. His favorite country residence at Wissinoming was embellished by every variety of flower, tree and tropical fruit, constituting a paradise that Shenstone would have envied. His houses and rooms, both in city and country, were filled to their utmost capacity with pictures which he had purchased at liberal prices. His loss was felt and mourned by all classes of society in the city of his adoption, but by none more sincerely than the admirers of the Fine Arts and the friends of Horticulture. |
| QUELLE | [Bishop: History of American manufacturers 2 (1868) 537] |
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