Charles Joseph Van Depoele
| Charles Joseph Van Depoele | |
|---|---|
Charles Joseph Van Depoele
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| Born |
Carolus Josephus Vandepoele 27 April 1846 Lichtervelde, Province of West-Flanders, Belgium |
| Died | 18 March 1892 (aged 45) Lynn, Massachusetts, USA |
| Cause of death | heart failure |
| Resting place | St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery Lynn, Massachusetts, USA |
| Nationality | Belgium |
| Occupation | electrical engineer |
| Known for | electric railway |
Charles Joseph Van Depoele (27 April 1846, Lichtervelde, West Flanders, Belgium – 18 March 1892, Lynn, Massachusetts, USA) was an electrical engineer, inventor, and pioneer in electric railway technology, including the first trolley pole.
Van Depoele was born as Carolus Josephus Vandepoele in Lichtervelde, Province of West-Vlaanderen, Belgium, the son of Pieter-Joannes Vandepoele, a furniture maker from Ghent, and his wife, Marie-Theresia Algoet. Three months after his birth, the family moved to Bruges. At a young age, he dabbled in electricity, and became so thoroughly infatuated with the subject that he entered upon a course of study and experiment in Poperinghe. In 1861, while at college, he produced his first light with a battery of forty Bunsen cells. Later, he moved to Lille, France, where he attended regularly the lectures and experiments of the Imperial Lyceum from 1864 to 1869.
In 1869 he moved to the United States and took up his residence in Detroit, where he made a living by manufacturing furniture. He did not abandon his electrical pursuits, experimenting with electric lighting, electric generators and electric motors, and eventually forming the Van Depoele Electric Manufacturing Company.
As early as 1874, Van Depoele began investigations into the field of electric locomotion. Van Depoele's first electric railway was laid in Chicago early in 1883, and he exhibited another at an exposition in that city later in the same year. In 1885, he invented and demonstrated the first trolley pole, a device used by electric streetcars (trams) to collect current from overhead wires, introducing it publicly on a line installed temporarily at the Toronto Industrial Exhibition in autumn 1885, reportedly reaching 65 mph. Fellow inventor Frank J. Sprague was studying similar ideas at the same time. Sprague improved the design and is sometimes credited as the trolley pole's inventor.
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