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Jean-Claude Verpilleux (2 May 1798 - 13 October 1875) was a French mine laborer who became a leading engineer, manufacturer and inventor. He was involved in the design of early railway locomotives, and invented innovative steam-powered "grapple boats" driven by traction wheels running along the bed of the river or canal. ==Early years== Claude Verpilleux was born at Rive de Gier in 1798, son of a canal worker. His father died when he was ten. His limited education allowed him to read, calculate, and to write with some difficulty. On 15 August 1810 he began work at a daily salary of one franc at the Montjoint mines in Rive de Gier. One of the mine concessionaires, Fleurdelix, was struck by Verpilleux's activity and intelligence, and had him help install a British steam engine, which was not working satisfactorily. Verpilleux immediately understood how the machine worked, and in 1814 at the age of 16 was placed in charge of it. He examined it carefully and improved it, then built a model of his own which proved satisfactory. When he was aged twenty-two his employer lent him the money to open a workshop for repairing and improving the English machines that were being used in the mines of the district. He opened his workshop in 1820. From 1825 to 1832 he also worked as an expert mechanic for the Terrenoire company in their workshops in the foundry at La Voulte-sur-Rhône, helping repair or improve their steam engines, while continuing to run his own workshop. From 1832 he devoted all his time to his workshop. He was able to employ his brother and the son of his wife, François Baldeyrou. The railway line running west from the coalfield at Saint-Étienne to Andrézieux on the Loire was opened in 1827, the first railway in France. From Andrézieux the coal was shipped north on flat-bottomed barges. In 1832 Verpilleux helped make a second line between Saint-Etienne and Lyon, to the east, on the Rhone. At this time the railway could not carry a locomotive weighing more than 10 tons, and the slope was too steep for any locomotives of the day. Verpilleux built a locomotive with a tender where steam power was applied to the wheels of both locomotive and tender. It could pull a train of up to 40 empty wagons back up the railway. The Séguin company realized substantial savings, and entrusted Verpilleux with the wagons between Rive-de-Gier and Saint-Etienne for the next ten years. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Claude Verpilleux」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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