Herbert William Garratt
Herbert William Garratt | |
---|---|
London, United Kingdom | |
Died | 25 September 1913 (aged 49) |
Occupation | Train Builder |
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Herbert William Garratt (8 June 1864 – 25 September 1913) was an English
Garratt began his engineering career by serving an apprenticeship under John Carter Park, then locomotive superintendent of the
Design and impact of Garratt locomotives
Garratt was granted a patent for an innovative locomotive design in 1908.
Garratt's design for an articulated steam locomotive featured an engine unit at each end carrying coal and water supplies, and a boiler unit suspended between them on pivots. The design was deployed in many regions throughout Africa, South America, South-east Asia, Australia and New Zealand. In these regions, difficult terrain often prevailed, adding to construction costs. Usually the railway lines suffered from low load-bearing capacity because they had been built cheaply; Garratt locomotives, with their weight usually distributed over 12 to 16 driving wheels and 8 to 16 non-driving wheels, minimised destructive forces on rails. Additionally, because they were articulated, they could generally traverse sharper curves than non-articulated locomotives. Their higher ability to penetrate previously impassable regions often had the effect of increasing human and economic interactions between settlements, reducing the isolated nature of previously remote areas of the world.
Garratt locomotives were particularly effective on
Notes
- ^ The firebox space between locomotive frames on a non-articulated locomotive built for 2 ft 6 ins (762 mm) gauge, for example, is only about 40 per cent of the space on a 4 ft 81⁄2 ins (1435 mm) standard gauge locomotive.
References
- ^ "Beyer Peacock & Co Ltd". Science Museum Group. Science Museum Group. 2019. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
Bibliography
- Herbert William Garratt. Retrieved 9 February 2005.
- Beyer Peacock Garratt Locomotives. Retrieved 4 December 2007.
- Durrant, A E (1969). The Garratt Locomotive. David & Charles Locomotive Studies. Newton Abbott, Devon, UK: OCLC 729984551.