André Chapelon
| André Chapelon | |
|---|---|
| Born |
26 October 1892 Saint-Paul-en-Cornillon, Loire, France |
| Died | 22 July 1978 (aged 85) |
| Alma mater | École Centrale Paris |
André Chapelon (26 October 1892 – 22 July 1978) was a noted French mechanical engineer and designer of advanced steam locomotives. A graduate engineer of Ecole Centrale Paris, he was one of very few locomotive designers who brought a rigorous scientific method to their design, and he sought to apply up-to-date knowledge and theories in subjects such as thermodynamics and gas/fluid flow to the field. Chapelon's work was an early example of what would later be called modern steam and influenced the work of many later designers of such locomotives (such as that of Livio Dante Porta).
André Xavier Chapelon was born in Saint-Paul-en-Cornillon, Loire, France on 26 October 1892. According to family relatives, his great-grandfather James Jackson immigrated to France from England in 1812, one of many who came to France in the 19th Century to teach steel production methods. He achieved a distinction in Mathematics and Science and served as an Artillery Officer during World War I before returning to the École centrale Paris in 1919 from which he graduated as Ingenieur des Arts et Manufactures in 1921. He joined the Chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée (PLM) as a probationer in the Rolling Stock and Motive Power section at Lyon-Mouche depot, but foreseeing poor prospects he left in 1924 and joined the Société Industrielle des Telephones, soon becoming as assistant manager. In 1925 he joined the Chemin de Fer de Paris à Orléans (PO) and, along with Finnish Engineer Kyösti Kylälä jointly designed the Kylchap exhaust system. While his principles met with scepticism No. 3566, the first locomotive rebuilt to Chapelon's design was an outstanding success and from 1929 to 1936 several other locomotives were rebuilt to Chapelon's designs.
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