Horatio Allen
- Erie Railroad
- American Society of Civil Engineers
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Signature_of_Horatio_Allen.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/95/Delaware_%26_Hudson_RR_high-pressure_locomotive%2C_Horation_Allen_%28CJ_Allen%2C_Steel_Highway%2C_1928%29.jpg/220px-Delaware_%26_Hudson_RR_high-pressure_locomotive%2C_Horation_Allen_%28CJ_Allen%2C_Steel_Highway%2C_1928%29.jpg)
Horatio Allen (May 10, 1802 – December 31, 1889) was an American civil engineer and inventor, and President of Erie Railroad in the year 1843–1844.
Biography
Born in Schenectady, New York, he graduated from Columbia University in 1823, and was appointed Assistant Engineer of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company (precursor to the railroad). In 1827 he quit the Canal Company and went to England to study the emerging rail road technology, particularly locomotives. He was therefore asked to arrange for the construction of 3 locomotives for the Canal Company's projected railway (as per his June 25, 1880 letter to the editor of the New York Times). There he made the acquaintance of engineer George Stephenson. In 1829 he operated the first steam locomotive, one of the ones he ordered for the D&H, to run in America, the Stourbridge Lion, which ran successfully at Honesdale, Pennsylvania on August 8, 1829.
From 1829 to 1834 he was the chief engineer of the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company, at that time the longest railway in the world (about 136 miles/218 km). He was the inventor of the so-called "swiveling truck" for railway cars. He wrote The Railroad Era: First Five Years of its Development (1884).
In his other activities, from 1838 to 1842 he was principal assistant engineer of the Croton Aqueduct, the major water supply system for New York City; in 1842 he became connected with the Novelty Iron Works, a major builder of marine steam and other engines; at various times chief engineer and president of the Erie Railway; consulting engineer for the Panama Railway and the Brooklyn Bridge; and in 1872 and 1873 was president of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
In 1924 the Delaware and Hudson Railway built its first experimental high-pressure locomotive, No. 1400 and named it "Horatio Allen".[1]
Publications
- Allen, Horatio (November 1953). "Diary of Horatio Allen 1828 (England)". Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin. 89 (89): 97–138. JSTOR 43520168.
- M. N. Forney, Memoir of Horatio Allen (reprinted from the Railroad and Engineering Journal)
See also
References
- ^ "The Horatio Allen Nº 1400". The Museum of Retro Technology. Retrieved July 30, 2017.
External links
- The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention & Innovation
- Horatio Allen at Find a Grave
Business positions | ||
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Preceded by William Maxwell | President of Erie Railroad 1843–1844 | Succeeded by |
- v
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- James Laurie (1853–1867)
- James Pugh Kirkwood (1868)
- William Jarvis McAlpine (1868–1869)
- Alfred Wingate Craven (1870–1871)
- Horatio Allen (1872–1873)
- Julius Walker Adams (1874–1875)
- George Sears Greene (1876–1877)
- Ellis Sylvester Chesbrough (1878)
- William Milnor Roberts (1879)
- Albert Fink (1880)
- James Bicheno Francis (1881)
- Ashbel Welch (1882)
- Charles Paine (1883)
- Don Juan Whittemore (1884)
- Frederic Graff (1885)
- Henry Flad (1886)
- William Ezra Worthen (1887)
- Thomas Coltrin Keefer (1888)
- Max Joseph Becker (1889)
- William Powell Shinn (1890)
- Octave Chanute (1891)
- Mendes Cohen (1892)
- William Metcalf (1893)
- William Price Craighill (1894)
- George Shattuck Morison (1895)
- Thomas Curtis Clarke (1896)
- Benjamin Morgan Harrod (1897)
- Alphonse Fteley (1898)
- Desmond Fitzgerald (1899)
- John Findley Wallace (1900)
- John James Robertson Croes (1901)
- Robert Moore (1902)
- Alfred Noble (1903)
- Charles Hermany (1904)
- Charles Conrad Schneider (1905)
- Frederic Pike Stearns (1906)
- George Henry Benzenberg (1907)
- Charles Macdonald (1908)
- Onward Bates (1909)
- John Anderson Bensel (1910)
- Mordecai Thomas Endicott (1911)
- John Agustus Ockerson (1912)
- George Filmore Swain (1913)
- Hunter McDonald (1914)
- Charles David Marx (1915)
- Elmer Lawrence Corthell (1916)
- Clemens Herschel (1916)
- George Herndon Pegram (1917)
- Arthur Newell Talbot (1918)
- Fayette Samuel Curtis (1919)
- Arthur Powell Davis (1920)
- George Smedley Webster (1921)
- John Ripley Freeman (1922)
- Charles Fredrick Loweth (1923)
- Carl Ewald Grunsky (1924)
- Robert Ridgeway (1925)
- George Stewart Davison (1926)
- John Frank Stevens (1927)
- Lincoln Bush (1928)
- Anson Martson (1929)
- John Francis Coleman (1930)
- Francis Lee Stuart (1931)
- Herbert Samuel Crocker (1932)
- Alonzo John Hammond (1933)
- Harrison Prescott Eddy (1934)
- Arthur Smith Tuttle (1935)
- Daniel Webster Mead (1936)
- Louis Clarence Hill (1937)
- Henry Earle Riggs (1938)
- Donald Hubbard Sawyer (1939)
- John Phillip Hogan (1940)
- Fredrick Hall Fowler (1941)
- Ernest Bateman Black (1942)
- Ezra Bailey Whitman (1943)
- Malcolm Pirnie (1944)
- John Cyprian Stevens (1945)
- Wesley Winans Horner (1946)
- Edgar Morton Hastings (1947)
- Richard Erwin Dougherty (1948)
- Franklin Thomas (1949)
- Ernest Emmanuel Howard (1950)
- Gail Abner Hathaway (1951)
- Carlton Springer Proctor (1952)
- Walter Leroy Huber (1953)
- Daniel Voiers Terrell (1954)
- William Roy Glidden (1955)
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- Louis Richard Howson (1958)
- Francis de Sales Friel (1959)
- Frank Alwyn Marston (1960)
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- Edmund Friedman (1963)
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- Richard Henry Tatlow III (1968)
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- Charles William Yoder (1974)
- William McCoy Sangster (1975)
- Arthur Joseph Fox Jr. (1976)
- Leland Jasper Walker (1977)
- William Read Gibbs (1978)
- Walter Emanuel Blessey (1979)
- Joseph Simeon Ward (1980)
- Irvan Frank Mendenhall (1981)
- James Redding Sims (1982)
- John H. Wiedeman (1983)
- S. Russell Stearns (1984)
- Richard W. Karn (1985)
- Robert Dewey Bay (1986)
- Daniel Bythewood Barge Jr. (1987)
- Albert Abraham Grant (1988)
- William J. Carroll (1989)
- John A. Focht Jr. (1990)
- James E. "Tom" Sawyer (1991)
- Celestino R. "Chuck" Pennoni (1992)
- James E. McCarty (1993)
- James W. Poirot (1994)
- Stafford E. Thornton (1995)
- Charles A. Parthum (1996)
- Edward O. Groff (1997)
- Luther W. Graef (1998)
- Daniel S. Turner (1999)
- Delon Hampton (2000)
- Robert W. Bein (2001)
- H. Gerard Schwartz Jr. (2002)
- Thomas L. Jackson (2003)
- Patricia D. Galloway (2004)
- William P. Henry (2005)
- Dennis R. Martenson (2006)
- William F. Marcuson III (2007)
- David G. Mongan (2008)
- D. Wayne Klotz (2009)
- Blaine D. Leonard (2010)
- Kathy J. Caldwell (2011)
- Andrew W. Herrmann (2012)
- Gregory E. DiLoreto (2013)
- Randall S. Over (2014)
- Robert D. Stevens (2015)
- Mark W. Woodson (2016)
- Norma Jean Mattei (2017)
- Kristina L. Swallow (2018)
- Robin Kemper (2019)
- K.N. Gunalan (2020)
- Jean-Louis Briaud (2021)
- Dennis D. Truax (2022)
- Maria C. Lehman (2023)