was a Japanese engineer and the driving force behind the building of the first bullet train (

Shinkansen The , colloquially known in English as the bullet train, is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan. Initially, it was built to connect distant Japanese regions with Tokyo, the capital, to aid economic growth and development. Beyond l ...

). Shima was born in Osaka in 1901, and educated at the

Tokyo Imperial University , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

, where he studied

Mechanical Engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, an ...

. His father was part of a group of officials that had built up Japan's emerging railroad industry.

Career in Japan National Railways

Hideo Shima joined the Ministry of Railways (

Japanese Government Railways The Japanese Government Railways (JGR) was the national railway system directly operated by the Japanese Ministry of Railways ( ja, 鉄道省, Tetsudō-shō, ) until 1949. It was a predecessor of Japanese National Railways and the later Japan Ra ...

) in 1925, where, as a rolling-stock engineer, he designed steam locomotives. Using new techniques to balance the

driving wheels On a steam locomotive, a driving wheel is a powered wheel which is driven by the locomotive's pistons (or turbine, in the case of a steam turbine locomotive). On a conventional, non-articulated locomotive, the driving wheels are all coupled to ...

and new

valve gear The valve gear of a steam engine is the mechanism that operates the inlet and exhaust valves to admit steam into the cylinder and allow exhaust steam to escape, respectively, at the correct points in the cycle. It can also serve as a reversing ...

designs, he helped design Japan's first 3-cylinder locomotive - the Class C53, which was based on the Class C52 imported from the United States. Shima also participated in the design and fabrication of a standard heavy duty truck which was mass-produced by Isuzu when

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

broke out. This experience helped in the rapid growth of the Japanese automobile industry after the war. The Hachikō Line derailment in 1947 was a turning point in his career. JGR used the opportunity to obtain permission from SCAP to modify all wooden passenger cars (approximately 3,000 were in use then) to a steel construction within a few years. Shima was also involved in the design and development of the Class C62 and Class D62 steam locomotives for express passenger trains and heavy-duty freight trains, respectively. It was during these years that he came up with an innovation that would later be employed in the bullet trains—the use of trains driven by electric motors in the individual rail cars, rather than by an engine at the front ("distributed-power multiple-unit control systems"). As Shima's career progressed, he became the head of the national railway's rolling stock department in 1948. But, after the establishment of

Japanese National Railways The abbreviated JNR or , was the business entity that operated Japan's national railway network from 1949 to 1987. Network Railways As of June 1, 1949, the date of establishment of JNR, it operated of narrow gauge () railways in all 46 pref ...

in 1949, a train fire at a station in Yokohama that killed more than 100 people in 1951 led him to resign in the Japanese tradition of taking responsibility. He worked briefly for

Sumitomo Metal Industries was a steel manufacturer based in Osaka, Japan until it merged with Nippon Steel in 2012 to form Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation, the third largest steel manufacturer in the world as of 2015. Its origins as a modern company date from 189 ...

, but was asked by Shinji Sogō, the president of JNR, to come back and oversee the building of the first

line, in 1955. Shinkansen Series0 R67 JNRcolor

In addition to its innovative propulsion system, the Shinkansen also introduced features like air suspension and air-conditioning. Shima's team designed the sleek cone-shaped front from which the bullet train got its name. The cost of the first Shinkansen line also cost Shima his job. The building of the first line, which needed 3,000 bridges and 67 tunnels to allow a clear and largely straight path, led to such huge cost overruns that he resigned in 1963, along with the president, Shinji Sogō, who had backed Shima's ideas, even though the line proved to be popular and well-used.

Post JNR career

In 1969, Shima began a second career, becoming the head of the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA), where he pushed the development of hydrogen engines to power rockets. He retired in 1977.

Awards

Hideo Shima was honored by the Government of Japan when the Emperor presented him with the Order of Cultural Merit. As one of the most prominent engineers in post-war Japan, he has also been awarded numerous international prizes and honors, including the

Elmer A. Sperry Award The Elmer A. Sperry Award, named after the inventor and entrepreneur, is an American transportation engineering prize. It has been given since 1955 for "a distinguished engineering contribution which, through application, proved in actual service, ...

by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the

James Watt International Medal The James Watt Medal is an award for excellence in engineering established in 1937, conferred by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in the United Kingdom. It is named after Scottish engineer James Watt (1736–1819) who developed the Watt steam ...

(Gold) by the British

Institution of Mechanical Engineers The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) is an independent professional association and learned society headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that represents mechanical engineers and the engineering profession. With over 120,000 member ...

. Hideo Shima is survived by three sons and a daughter.

Locomotive designs

* JNR Class C10 2-6-4T * JNR Class C11 2-6-4T * JNR Class C12 2-6-2T * JNR Class 4110 0-10-0T * JNR Class E10 2-10-4T * JNR Class C50 2-6-0 * JNR Class C56 2-6-0 * JNR Class C58 2-6-2 * JNR Class C63 2-6-2 * JNR Class C51 4-6-2 * JNR Class C52 4-6-2 * JNR Class C53 4-6-2 * JNR Class C54 4-6-2 * JNR Class C55 4-6-2 * JNR Class C57 4-6-2 * JNR Class C59 4-6-2 * JNR Class C60 4-6-4 * JNR Class C61 4-6-4 * JNR Class C62 4-6-4 * JNR Class 9600 2-8-0 * JNR Class D50 2-8-2 * JNR Class D51 2-8-2 * JNR Class D52 2-8-2 * JNR Class D60 2-8-4 * JNR Class D61 2-8-4 * JNR Class D62 2-8-4

References

External links

Elmer A. Sperry Award List

James Watt International Gold Medal Recipients
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shima, Hideo 1901 births 1998 deaths University of Tokyo University of Tokyo alumni History of rail transport in Japan Japanese people in rail transport Space program of Japan