Niklaus Riggenbach (21 May 1817 – 25 July 1899) was the inventor of the

Riggenbach rack system A rack railway (also rack-and-pinion railway, cog railway, or cogwheel railway) is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with ...

and the counter-pressure brake. He was also an

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

and

locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...

builder. Niklaus Riggenbach, from

Rünenberg Rünenberg is a municipality in the district of Sissach in the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland. History Rünenberg is first mentioned in 1101 as ''Runachperh''. It is the native place of: * Johann August Sutter, pioneer of California * N ...

, Basel-Landschaft,

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, was born in

Guebwiller Guebwiller (french: Guebwiller, ; Alsatian language, Alsatian: ''Gàwiller'' ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Haut-Rhin Departments of France, department in Grand Est currently in north-eastern France. It was a Subprefectures in Fran ...

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

. After the death of his father, his mother returned to

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

with her eight young children. At age 16 Riggenbach began an

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

ship as a

mechanic A mechanic is an artisan, skilled tradesperson, or technician who uses tools to build, maintain, or repair machinery, especially cars. Duties Most mechanics specialize in a particular field, such as auto body mechanics, air conditioning and r ...

, going abroad after completing his training. In 1837 he found his way to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, where he accepted employment. By taking technical courses in night school, he acquired considerable knowledge in

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

and

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

. With the opening of the Paris-St. Germain railroad line in 1839 he found his vocation to build locomotives. In June 1840 he moved to

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, and found employment in the machine works of

Emil Kessler Emil Julius Carl Kessler (20 August 1813 - 16 March 1867) was a German businessman and founder of the Maschinenfabrik Esslingen ('Esslingen Engineering Works'). Biography Kessler was born in Baden-Baden, attended school there and later studied con ...

. Here he soon rose to managing director and was involved in the construction of no less than 150 locomotives. One of these steam engines was the "

Limmat The Limmat is a river in Switzerland. The river commences at the outfall of Lake Zurich, in the southern part of the city of Zurich. From Zurich it flows in a northwesterly direction, after 35 km reaching the river Aare. The confluenc ...

" of the '' Schweizerischen Nordbahn'' (Swiss Northern Railway), opened on 9 August 1847, also called the Spanisch-Brötli line, which he ferried to Switzerland in order to test it on the Zürich-Baden line. As construction of the

Basel-Olten line The Hauenstein Railway is a major railway line in Switzerland connecting the cities of Basel and Olten. The original line was built between 1853 and 1858 under the Unterer Hauenstein Pass, an ancient pass through the Jura Mountains, including a ...

began in 1853, the board of directors of the ''Schweizer Centralbahn Gesellschaft'' (

Swiss Central Rail Association The Swiss Central Railway (''Schweizerische Centralbahn''; SCB or S.C.B.) was one of the five major private railway companies of Switzerland. The SCB with a track length of 332 kilometres was integrated into the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) in 190 ...

) appointed him chief of the machine works. He made several official trips to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, and crawled under a fair number of

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

s and into their boilers, "to make the good even better." Various improvements in railroading bear his name. In 1856 he became a master machinist and boss of the new main workshop of the ''Centralbahn'' in Olten. Under his direction this workshop evolved into a full-fledged engine works, building the company's own locomotives and bridges. Track grip (

adhesion Adhesion is the tendency of dissimilar particles or surfaces to cling to one another ( cohesion refers to the tendency of similar or identical particles/surfaces to cling to one another). The forces that cause adhesion and cohesion can be ...

) on the Hauenstein line caused him concern. The difficulties led Riggenbach to the concept of the

rack railway A rack railway (also rack-and-pinion railway, cog railway, or cogwheel railway) is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with ...

. After many attempts he discovered that one could negotiate steeper stretches of

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

by bolting a

rack Rack or racks may refer to: Storage and installation * Amp rack, short for amplifier rack, a piece of furniture in which amplifiers are mounted * Bicycle rack, a frame for storing bicycles when not in use * Bustle rack, a type of storage bin ...

between the

rails Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters *Rail (rail transport) or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' ( ...

, which a toothed wheel or cog on the underside of the locomotive could engage. He built his first locomotive in 1862, and on 12 August 1863 France awarded him

Patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

No. 59625 for the invention. The Vitznau-Rigi line was inaugurated in 1871 as the first

mountain railway A mountain railway is a railway that operates in a mountainous region. It may operate through the mountains by following mountain valleys and tunneling beneath mountain passes, or it may climb a mountain to provide transport to and from the sum ...

to use the Riggenbach system in Europe. The locomotives were equipped with his counter-pressure braking system.

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Niklaus Riggenbach Niklaus Riggenbach (21 May 1817 – 25 July 1899) was the inventor of the Riggenbach rack system and the counter-pressure brake. He was also an engineer and locomotive builder. Niklaus Riggenbach, from Rünenberg, Basel-Landschaft, Sw ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Riggenbach, Niklaus 1817 births 1899 deaths People from Guebwiller 19th-century Swiss inventors Swiss railway mechanical engineers Rack railways

See also

References

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