Isaac Dripps (April 17, 1810 – December 28, 1892) was an American machinist and inventor. He worked on the locomotive ''

John Bull John Bull is a national personification of the United Kingdom in general and England in particular, especially in political cartoons and similar graphic works. He is usually depicted as a stout, middle-aged, country-dwelling, jolly and matter- ...

'' and built seven locomotives. Dripps was a superintendent and partner of various railroad machinery shops. He has several patents to his name.

Early life

Dripps was born in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

, Ireland on April 17, 1810. He came to the United States with his parents when a child. The family settled in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Career

Dripps became a machinist apprentice to steamboat machinery manufacturer Thomas Holloway of Philadelphia in 1826 at the age of sixteen. He became a foreman there when he was twenty years old in 1830. He was in charge of extensive repairs to the ''USS Swan'' in New York harbor in 1831 when he was twenty-one years old. Dripps then was enticed by Robert Lewis Stevens, president of

Camden & Amboy Railroad The United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company (UNJ&CC) was a railroad company which began as the important Camden & Amboy Railroad (C&A), whose 1830 lineage began as one of the eight or ten earliest permanent North AmericanList of Earliest Am ...

, to work for them. He was employed there from 1831–1853. He worked on the locomotive "John Bull" during that time. In the fall of 1833 Dripps was made superintendent of the company's railroad machinery. He took charge of the company's shops and built seven locomotives at

Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,690 i ...

. Dripps was supervisor of overhauling the steamship "Commodore Stockton" afterwards renamed the "New Jersey" built in England by Captain

John Ericsson John Ericsson (born Johan Ericsson; July 31, 1803 – March 8, 1889) was a Swedish-American inventor. He was active in England and the United States. Ericsson collaborated on the design of the railroad steam locomotive ''Novelty'', which com ...

in 1839. This boat had two screws, revolving in opposite directions to prevent listing of the boat. That function was mechanically complicated and troublesome. Dripps overhauled the boat in 1840. In the process he put in a simple engine and built a six-bladed single propeller screw that drove the boat for over two decades. He is thus credited with designing the propeller for the first commercially successful screw-propelled steamboat. Dripps was a partner of the Trenton Locomotive & Machine Works at

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...

. He built their state-of-the art railroad repair shops. When the Fort Wayne railroad was leased by the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

Dripps was appointed inspector of all the company shops and machinery. In 1869 Dripps retired.

Family

Dripps married in 1830. From this marriage there was 1 child, William. From 1878 until his death on December 28, 1892, Dripps resided with his son in Philadelphia.

Patents

*Dripps invented the first locomotive cowcatcher which the Camden and Amboy Railroad used in 1833. It was used on the ''John Bull'' railroad locomotive.
US78074A- Railroad car stove for heat, Patent No. 78074, dated May 19, 1868US82810A – Improvement in railroad-oar, Patent No. 82810, dated October 6, 1868US98675A – Railroad car truck, Patent No. 98675, dated January 11, 1870US117753A – Improvement in railway journal-boxes, Patent No. 117753, dated August 8, 1871US156455A – Improvement in railway-car trucks, Patent No. 156455, dated November 3, 1874

Legacy

Dripps conducted a series of tests in 1878 with different classes of locomotives on the mountain curves and grades near

Renovo, Pennsylvania Renovo is a borough in Clinton County, Pennsylvania, United States, northwest of Lock Haven. In 1900, 4,082 people lived there, and in 1910, 4,621 lived there, but in the 2010 census the borough population was 1,228. The borough is located on t ...

that resulted in the adoption of the ''Class R'' consolidation locomotive as the standard freight engine. Dripps was the first working locomotive engineer, the first railway master mechanic and the first superintendent of machinery of an American railroad.

References

Sources

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dripps, Isaac 1810 births 1892 deaths Irish emigrants to the United States (before 1923) People from Philadelphia American people in rail transportation American railroad mechanical engineers Locomotive builders and designers Engineers from Pennsylvania