Fyodor Apollonovich Pirotsky (; – ), or Fedir Apollonovych Pirotskyy () was a

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

engineer of Ukrainian ancestry, inventor of the world's first

railway electrification system Railway electrification is the use of electric power for the propulsion of rail transport. Electric railways use either electric locomotives (hauling passengers or freight in separate cars), electric multiple units ( passenger cars with their own ...

and electric tram While the commercialization of his inventions in the Russian Empire was relatively slow, Pirotsky is known to have met with

Carl Heinrich von Siemens Carl Heinrich von Siemens (often just Carl von Siemens) (3 March 1829 – 21 March 1906) was a German entrepreneur. He was born in Menzendorf, Mecklenburg, one of the fourteen children of a tenant farmer of the Siemens family, an old family o ...

and influenced Siemens' eventual introduction of the first regular electric tram line (for the

Berlin Straßenbahn The Berlin tramway () is the main tram system in Berlin, Germany. It is one of the oldest tram networks in the world, dating back to 1865 and is operated by (BVG), which was founded in 1929. It is notable for being the third-largest tram s ...

Biography

Pirotsky was born into the family of a military physician in the Lokhvytsky Uezd of the

Poltava Governorate Poltava Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire. It was officially created in 1802 from the disbanded Little Russia Governorate (1796–1802), Little Russia Governorate and had its capital in Polt ...

, in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

(modern day Lokhvytsia, in the

Poltava Oblast Poltava Oblast (), also referred to as Poltavshchyna (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) of central Ukraine. The capital city, administrative center of the oblast is the city of Poltava. Most of its territory was par ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

). His family was of

Cossack The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borders of Ukraine and Rus ...

ancestry. Pirotsky received his education at

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, where he graduated from the Konstantinovsky Cadet Corps and Mikhailovskaya Military Artillery Academy in 1866, and served in

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

with the Fortress Artillery. While stationed in Kiev Pirotsky became a friend of the famous Russian

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

Pavel Yablochkov and an enthusiast for applications of electrical energy. Sestroretsk miller rail

Work

In 1871, Pirotsky moved back to Saint Petersburg, where among other things he proposed a new type of

blast furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being supplied above atmospheric pressure. In a ...

. In 1874, he started experiments on Volkov Field in Saint Petersburg, and in 1875 put electrically powered railway cars on the Sestroretsks railway Miller's line (not far from the station Miller's pier). The electricity was transferred over a distance of approximately one kilometer. In his design, rails were connected to a Gramme generator. Both rails were isolated from the ground, one rail served as a direct conductor and one as a reverse conductor. In 1880, he modified a city two-decker horse tramway to be powered by electricity instead of horses, and on the unusual form of public transport started to serve residents of Saint Petersburg amid the vocal protests of the owners of the horsecars. The experiments continued until the end of September 1880. Some historians claim that this was the first electric tram in the world. Pirotsky did not have the money to continue his experiments, but his works stirred interest in electric trams around the world. Among people who met Pirotsky was

who was very interested and asked many questions. In 1881, the brothers Siemens started producing their own design of electric trams commercially. The first permanent electric tram line using Siemens tram cars was opened in Berlin in 1881 and the first permanent tram line in the Russian Empire was opened in Kiev in 1892. As often happens with talented people, Pirotsky was underestimated during his lifetime. Despite his famous inventions, he was sent to the Ivangorod Fortress, where in 1888 he was dismissed early with the rank of colonel. All this happened about five months before the end of 25 years of military service, which allowed him to receive the maximum pension. Pirotsky continued to serve as an artillery officer of the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

. Among other things, he installed the first underground electric cable in Saint Petersburg to transfer electricity from a cannon foundry to the Artillery School (1881). He also was the author of a project for centralizing the city's electricity production using underground cables, he proposed new constructions of blast furnaces and bakery ovens. In 1888, he retired with the rank of

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

, lived on his military pension in the town of Alyoshki (today Oleshky,

Kherson Oblast Kherson Oblast (, ; ), also known as Khersonshchyna (, ), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in southern Ukraine. It is located just north of Crimea. Its administrative center is Kherson, on the northern or right bank ...

) where he died in 1898. Since no money was found on him when he died, the burial was paid for by a credit secured by the colonel's furniture.

Sources

*Belkind L. D., Konfederatov I. Ya., Shneyberg Ya. A. (Белькинд Л. Д., Конфедератов И. Я., Шнейберг Я. А.), ''История техники, М.— Л. (History of Engineering, Moscow-Leningrad)'', 1956 .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pirotsky, Fyodor 1845 births 1898 deaths People from Poltava Oblast People from Poltava Governorate Engineers from the Russian Empire Inventors from the Russian Empire People from the Russian Empire in rail transport Sustainable transport pioneers 19th-century military personnel from the Russian Empire Ukrainian railway mechanical engineers