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Alfred Belpaire

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Nationality
  
Belgian

Role
  
Engineer

Name
  
Alfred Belpaire


Occupation
  
locomotive engineer

Alma mater
  
Ecole Centrale Paris

Education
  
Ecole Centrale Paris

Alfred Belpaire

Full Name
  
Alfred Jules Belpaire

Born
  
25 September 1820 (
1820-09-25
)
Ostend, United Kingdom of the Netherlands

Known for
  
Invented the Belpaire firebox

Died
  
January 27, 1893, Schaerbeek, Belgium

Alfred Jules Belpaire (25 September 1820 – 27 January 1893) was a Belgian locomotive engineer who invented the square-topped Belpaire firebox in 1864.

Belpaire was born in Ostend, and first studied at the Athenaeum School in Antwerp. He then became a student at the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures in Paris, France from 1837 to 1840 where he obtained a degree in mechanical engineering.

Belpaire was then employed at the Belgian State Railways , where he worked as a mechanical engineer for more than 50 years. He was first director of the railway workshops at Mechelen and then from 1850 put in charge of all materials and based in Brussels. He first developed a firebox to burn poor quality coals and then around 1860 generalised his invention into a robust thermally efficient design which bears his name. His firebox was used in locomotives in his native Belgium and also then extensively in Britain, North America and around the world.

Alfred Belpaire was one of the founders of the Congrès International des Chemins de Fer , of which he was president in 1891.

He died in Schaarbeek, aged 72.

Honours

  • Grand Officier in the Order of Leopold.
  • Grand Officier in the Legion of Honour.
  • Knight grand Cross in the Order of Saint Stanislaus.
  • Knight Commander in the Order of Charles III.
  • Officier in the Order of the Oak Crown.
  • References

    Alfred Belpaire Wikipedia