1. Herman Haupt was an American civil engineer and railroad construction engineer and executive.
23 Facts About Herman Haupt
1. 2.
Jacob, a merchant, died when Herman was 12 years old, leaving Anna to support three sons and two daughters.
3.
Herman Haupt worked part-time to pay his school tuition, then in 1831 was appointed to the United States Military Academy at the age of 14 by President Andrew Jackson.
4.
Herman Haupt graduated in 1835 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 3rd US Infantry that July.
5.
In 1839, Herman Haupt patented a bridge construction technique called the Herman Haupt Truss.
6.
In 1840, Herman Haupt was appointed a professor of mathematics and engineering at Pennsylvania College.
7.
Herman Haupt drew the attention of J Edgar Thomson who became chief engineer of the Pennsylvania Railroad.
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Herman Haupt returned to the railroad business in 1847, accepting a position as construction engineer on the Pennsylvania Railroad, then becoming its general superintendent from 1849 to 1851.
9.
From 1851 until 1853, Herman Haupt was the chief engineer of the Southern Railroad of Mississippi, then became the Pennsylvania Railroad's chief engineer until 1856; in the latter position he completed the Mountain Division with the Allegheny Tunnel, opening the line through to Pittsburgh.
10.
Herman Haupt was the chief engineer on the five-mile Hoosac Tunnel project through the Berkshires in Western Massachusetts from 1856 to 1861.
11.
Herman Haupt was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society in 1871.
12.
Herman Haupt preferred civilian crews, including those consisting of former slaves, to military ones.
13.
Herman Haupt experimented with bridge demolition using "torpedoes", as mines were called at the time, inserted in holes drilled in trusses.
14.
Herman Haupt discussed in a November 1862 report various methods of destroying locomotives, determining that firing a cannon ball through the boiler rendered it irreparable, while locomotives with fireboxes drained then fired could be repaired.
15.
Herman Haupt tested a lightweight 2-clamp "rail-twister" invented by his subordinate Eben C Smeed, for use in raids behind enemy lines.
16.
Herman Haupt's appointment was eventually rescinded on September 5,1863, and he left the service on September 14.
17.
Herman Haupt's hastily organized trains kept the Union Army well supplied, and he organized the returning trains to carry thousands of Union wounded to hospitals.
18.
Herman Haupt became wealthy from investments in railroads, mining, and Pennsylvania real estate, but eventually lost most of his fortune, in part due to political complications involving the completion of the Hoosac Tunnel.
19.
Herman Haupt invented a drilling machine that won the highest prize of the Royal Polytechnic Society of Great Britain and was the first to prove the practicability of transporting oil in pipes.
20.
Herman Haupt authored several papers and books: Hints on Bridge Building, The General Theory of Bridge Construction, Plan for the Improvement of the Ohio River, Military Bridges and Reminiscences.
21.
Herman Haupt died of a heart attack at age 88 in Jersey City, New Jersey, stricken while traveling on the Pennsylvania Railroad in a Pullman car named "Irma" on a journey from New York to Philadelphia.
22.
Herman Haupt is buried in West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.
23.
Herman Haupt's son Lewis M Haupt was a noted civil engineer and professor.