Emile Lamm (24 November 1834 – 12 July 1873, in
) was a French-born American
inventor
An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...
and
dentist
A dentist, also known as a dental surgeon, is a health care professional who specializes in dentistry (the diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the oral cavity and other aspects of the craniofacial c ...
.
Lamm was born in
Aÿ
Aÿ (; also Ay) is a former commune in the Marne department in northeastern France. On 1 January 2016 it was merged into the new commune Aÿ-Champagne.
Champagne
Aÿ is most famous as a centre of the production of Champagne. Aÿ's vineyards a ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, but moved to
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is bord ...
in 1848 at the age of 14. He patented various improvements in techniques of gold dental fillings, and developed a number of innovative designs for
street railway
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport ar ...
s.
These later were inspired by wishes to improve the
Streetcars in New Orleans
Streetcars in New Orleans have been an integral part of the city's public transportation network since the first half of the 19th century. The longest of New Orleans' streetcar lines, the St. Charles Avenue line, is the oldest continuously oper ...
, as there was a desire for faster and more powerful propulsion than
horsecar
A horsecar, horse-drawn tram, horse-drawn streetcar (U.S.), or horse-drawn railway (historical), is an animal-powered (usually horse) tram or streetcar.
Summary
The horse-drawn tram (horsecar) was an early form of public rail transport, w ...
s could provide,
while
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 loco ...
s created noise, smoke, and soot that was undesirable in city streets. The most successful of Lamm's designs was "Lamm's Fireless Engine", which ran on the
St. Charles Avenue Streetcar line in New Orleans in the 1870s and 1880s, and also saw wide use in the
street railways of Paris.
References
1834 births
1873 deaths
19th-century American inventors
People from New Orleans
American people in rail transportation
French emigrants to the United States
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