Egide Walschaerts

Egide Walschaerts (21 January 1820 – 1901) was a Belgian mechanical engineer, best known as the inventor of the Walschaerts valve gear for use in steam locomotives.

He was born in Belgium at Fl. Mechelen (Fr. "Malines"). In 1838 he was recognised as an excellent modeller, presenting his work at a local exhibition at Mechelen/Malines that so impressed the minister Rogier who was opening the exhibition that he arranged a place for Walschaerts at Liège University. In 1842 he joined the Belgian State Railways as works manager, a position he held all his life, first at Mechelen/Malines, then at Brussels Midi. Whilst at Mechelen/Malines in 1844 he developed a new type of valve gear (a mechanism that allows for adjustment of the travel of the valves that distribute the steam to the cylinders and enables a steam locomotive to be put into reverse and to economise steam). A locomotive built at the Tubize workshops fitted with the Walschaerts valve gear was awarded a gold medal at the 1873 Universal Exhibition in Vienna. This valve gear has come to be used in the majority of steam locomotives, and became almost universal throughout the 20th Century.

According to Payen [Payen Jacques (1987?): "Walschaerts, sa coulisse, sa vie" in Les Cahiers Chapelon, no 5, pp 26-31.] , in 1874 Walschaerts developed a particularly successful version of the Corliss stationary engine that won a gold medal at the 1878 Exposition Universelle in Paris.

The following image illustrates the working of the Walschaerts gear, click on it for a technical explanation.

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