Jean-Claude Verpilleux was a French mine laborer who became a leading engineer, manufacturer and inventor.
13 Facts About Claude Verpilleux
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Claude Verpilleux 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.
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Claude Verpilleux was born at Rive de Gier in 1798, son of a canal worker.
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Claude Verpilleux immediately understood how the machine worked, and in 1814 at the age of 16 was placed in charge of it.
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Claude Verpilleux examined it carefully and improved it, then built a model of his own which proved satisfactory.
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Claude Verpilleux was able to employ his brother and the son of his wife, Francois Baldeyrou.
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In 1832 Claude Verpilleux helped make a second line between Saint-Etienne and Lyon, to the east, on the Rhone.
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Claude Verpilleux built a locomotive with a tender where steam power was applied to the wheels of both locomotive and tender.
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In September 1842 the Claude Verpilleux brothers patented a tender locomotive equipped with two cylinders.
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Claude Verpilleux began a fertile collaboration with his contemporary, the engineer Francois Bourdon.
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On 16 February 1851 Claude Verpilleux demonstrated a three-wheeled steam-driven car, which traveled by road between Rive-de-Gier and Saint-Etienne at a speed of up to 16 kilometres per hour.
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Jean-Claude Verpilleux was mayor of Rive-de-Gier in 1869 and 1874.
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Claude Verpilleux was made a Knight of the Legion of Honor in 1841, and an Officer of the Legion of Honor in 1874.