Édouard Beugniot (1822-1878) was a French engineer, designer of the

Beugniot lever The Beugniot lever (''Beugniot-Hebel'') is a mechanical device used on a number of locomotives to improve curve running. It was named after its inventor Édouard Beugniot. Overview Around 1860, when Beugniot was the chief engineer at the firm of ...

, a system for articulating the driving axles of railway locomotives.

Career

Jean Gaspard Edouard Beugniot was born in

Masevaux Masevaux ( is the French name of Màsmìnschter (), a former Communes of France, commune in the Haut-Rhin Departments of France, department in north-eastern France. Demographic evolution History On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new com ...

on 12 February 1822. His parents were Jean Claude Beugniot, who worked at the spinning factory of

Nicolas Koechlin The Koechlin family (; ; originally also spelled Köchlin and Köchli) is a French Alsatian family of Swiss origin originally hailing from Stein am Rhein near Schaffhausen. They expanded over several generations via Zurich and emigrated to Mulh ...

in the same city, and Henriette Berger-Pfeffel. At age 15, Édouard Beugniot left Masevaux to go to

Mulhouse Mulhouse (; ; Alsatian language, Alsatian: ''Mìlhüsa'' ; , meaning "Mill (grinding), mill house") is a France, French city of the European Collectivity of Alsace (Haut-Rhin department, in the Grand Est region of France). It is near the Fran ...

as an apprentice mechanic in the foundry of André Koechlin & Cie, whose founder

André Koechlin André Koechlin (1789–1875) was a French people, French industrialist and the railroad equipment maker from the Koechlin family. Life André Koechlin was born in France to the Koechlin family, where he was the grandson of Samuel Koechlin, son ...

was the first cousin of Nicolas Koechlin. In 1844, Édouard Beugniot was 22 when he was appointed head of the locomotive department of André Koechlin & Cie. Two years later he qualified as a civil engineer. When the company became

Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques The Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques (the Alsatian Corporation of Mechanical Engineering), or SACM, is an engineering company with its headquarters in Mulhouse, Alsace, which produced railway locomotives, textile and printing ma ...

, he directed the locomotive construction sector at the Mulhouse plant and worked with

Alfred de Glehn Alfred George de Glehn (15 September 1848 – 8 June 1936) was a notable English-born French designer of steam locomotives and an engineer with the Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques (SACM). His steam engines of the 1890s combined el ...

. Beugniot designed a system for articulating the driving axles of railway locomotives, known as the

Family

Édouard married Maria Charlotte Clémentine Leydle. They had only one child, Marie Jeanne Claudine Henriette Beugniot born in 1859, who married Auguste Jean Hyacinthe Salin in 1878.

Death

Édouard Beuniot died on 25 October 1878. He is buried in the Cemetery rue Lefebvre in Mulhouse. His grave has a bust signed Wiedmaier with, on the pedestal, the inscription "To Edouard Beugniot, engineer, his workers and his collaborators".

Publication

* Édouard Beugniot et Lebleu, Mémoire sur une locomotive de montagne système E.Beugniot construite par MM.A.Koechlin et Cie : suivi du rapport présenté au nom du comité de mécanique sur la locomotive de montagne de M.E.Beugniot (séance du 28 novembre 1860), Mulhouse, A.Koechlin et Cie, 1860, 97 p..

Honours

* Chevalier de l’ordre des Saints Maurice et Lazare (from King Victor Emmanuel) * Officier de l’ordre de Charles III (from the Spanish government)

Career

Family

Death

Publication

Honours

References

Further reading