Wilhelm Schmidt (engineer)

Wilhelm Schmidt, known as Hot Steam Schmidt (German: Heißdampf-Schmidt) (1858–1924) was a German engineer and inventor who achieved the breakthrough in the development of superheated steam technology for steam engines. Wilhelm Schmidt was born in Wegeleben, Germany, on 18 February 1858.

At school Wilhelm Schmidt had difficulties with reading, writing and arithmetic, a case of dyslexia. For example, he was unable to recite the alphabet without hesitation all his life. Nor could he memorise poetry or prose. He developed a passion for drawing, however, and for machines.

Schmidt began his professional career as a machine fitter. He studied at the technical high school in Dresden under Gustav Zeuner.

In 1883 he took a post as a civil engineer in Kassel, where he developed superheated steam technology to the point where it could be practically used. In 1908 he transferred his home and the base of his firm to Benneckenstein in the Harz. He was not the first person to work with superheated steam, but his predecessors had only used steam temperatures up to 250 °C; Schmidt was the first to risk increasing this to 350 °C.

For further trials with superheated steam on the Ilsenburg – Wernigerode railway, there was a trials organisation near Wernigerode station. It was here that Schmidt founded the Schmidt Superheated Steam Company (Schmidtsche Heissdampfgesellschaft).

By using superheated steam the thermal efficiency of a steam engine could be raised by as much as 50%. This technology had a substantial influence on the development of the steam locomotive and steamship, as well as all other applications where steam engines were used. Schmidt also invented other items, such as the superheater (around 1890) or the piston valve, which he developed together with Robert Garbe of the Prussian state railways.

...
Wikipedia