Hermann Lemp
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Hermann Lemp | |
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Born | August 8, 1862 |
Died | March 31, 1954 |
Nationality | Swiss-American |
Occupation | Electrical engineer |
Hermann Lemp born: Heinrich Joseph Hermann Lemp (August 8, 1862 – March 31, 1954) was a
Born and educated in Switzerland, he emigrated to America aged 19, hoping to work with
He met Rudolf Diesel on his visit to the USA in 1911, and was an invited observer at the trials of Diesel's direct-drive 1,000 hp (750 kW) locomotive in 1912. The diesel engine was too powerful for the mechanical gears. Lemp, with his colleagues, persuaded GE that diesel traction had a future, but that a non-mechanical transmission system was required. The proposed transmission was electrical, using the diesel engine to power a generator that supplied current to the traction motors. However, such a system would need a device to coordinate engine and generator output. He invented one, patented in 1914. This patent provided the basis for the systems used by many other locomotive and diesel makers.
GE did not enter the locomotive field then, but did authorize the purchase of Junker's patent for high speed diesel engines, and the manufacture of some small experimental locomotives.
However, GE's later, successful locomotives used Lemp's improved system, patented after
His system of control is also used in other applications apart from railways, such as on giant earth-moving equipment.
Lemp died at his home in Ridgewood, New Jersey, on March 31, 1954.
References
- Railway Gazette (London) Diesel Traction Review (supplement)- two articles in same: 'The Early History of Electric Transmission Control', October 1952, p 254-256, and 'Diesel-Traction Inventor' (Herman Lemp obituary)' June 1954 p124.
- Descriptions of GE locomotives in Pinkepank 'Diesel Spotter's Guide' Kalmbach Publishing.
- Self-propelled vehicle Patent 1,589,182 at Google Patents