Carl Roman Abt (16 July 1850 – 1 May 1933Herring, Peter (2000).) was a Swiss

mechanical engineer Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations o ...

, inventor and entrepreneur. He made groundbreaking innovations in rack-and-pinion railways, giving his name to one of the most widely used systems developed for mountain railways, the Abt rack system.

Biography

Abt was born on 16 July 1850 in Bünzen. In 1882, while working in Paris, he designed and patented his rack-railway system that enabled at least one tooth of the rack to be permanently engaged. It was first used at the Rübeland Railway in the

Harz The Harz (), also called the Harz Mountains, is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' der ...

mountains (Germany). Abt also developed the self-regulating Abt Switch for

funicular A funicular ( ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep grade (slope), slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to ...

railways and led the construction of 72

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 su ...

s worldwide including the Visp-Zermatt,

Gornergrat The Gornergrat (; ) is a rocky ridge of the Pennine Alps, overlooking the Gorner Glacier south-east of Zermatt in Switzerland. It can be reached from Zermatt by the Gornergrat rack railway (GGB), the highest open-air railway in Europe. Betwee ...

, Furka Oberalp and Ferrovia Monte Generoso railways. The most famous railway built with the Abt system is the

Arica–La Paz railway The Arica–La Paz railway or Ferrocarril de Arica–La Paz (FCALP) is a railway built by the Chilean government under the Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1904 between Chile and Bolivia. It was inaugurated on 13 May 1913 and is the shortest ...

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

. In 1903, as president of the Gotthardbahn company, Abt led buy-back negotiations with the

German Confederation The German Confederation ( ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, which had been dissolved ...

during the

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with priv ...

of private railway companies. He received many honours, including an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

(Doctor honoris causa) from the Technical University of Hannover and the

John Scott Medal John Scott Award, created in 1816 as the John Scott Legacy Medal and Premium, is presented to men and women whose inventions improved the "comfort, welfare, and happiness of human kind" in a significant way. "...the John Scott Medal Fund, establish ...

in 1889. He was also a patron and connoisseur of the arts, a member of the Swiss Federal Art Commission from 1904 to 1907 and the president of the Swiss Art Association from 1905 to 1911.

Pastimes

Abt was a keen collector of hammered gold artwork; he would not let go of any coin or medal whose special beauty aroused his artistic interest. His coin and art collection was auctioned off after his death.

Abt switch

Abt switch is a

railroad switch A railroad switch (American English, AE), turnout, or (set of) points (Commonwealth English, CE) is a mechanical installation enabling railway trains to be guided from one Rail tracks, track to another, such as at a Junction (rail), ...

system invented by Carl Roman Abt. It is widely used in

railways. Railway vehicles used in the Abt switch don't have wheels with one flange as in ordinary railways, but instead use wheels with two flanges and wide wheels without flanges. Normally, two cars are used in a funicular, and it is a single track except for the

passing loop A passing loop (UK usage) or passing siding (North America) (also called a crossing loop, crossing place, refuge loop or, colloquially, a hole) is a place on a single line railway or tramway, often located at or near a station, where trains o ...

. Each vehicle always passes the track on the same side at the passing loop, using wheels with two flanges on the outer side and wheels without flanges on the opposite side. The rail on the outside of the passing loop is sandwiched by the two flanges same as the rail in the single track section, and there is no break. The inner rails have cuts where the cable and flanges of the outer wheels pass. Wide wheels pass the cuts without hindrance. Unlike an ordinary railway switch, an Abt switch has no moving parts.

Gallery

SMR Axle on display at Llanberis 05-07-24 20.jpeg, Abt rack system West Coast Wilderness Railway Mount Lyell No. 3.JPG, Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company No. 3, an Abt type locomotive

References

Sources

*Herring, Peter (2000). ''Ultimate Train'', Dorling Kindersley Limited, London, 2000, p. 144. *Wägli, Hans G. (2005). ''Carl Roman Abt.'' In: ''Sieben Bergbahnpioniere.'' Zürich 2005. S. 23–34. Schweizer Pioniere der Wirtschaft und Technik. Bd. 81.

External links

*
Works about Carl Roman Abt
in the catalogue of the

Swiss National Library The Swiss National Library (, , , ) is the national library of Switzerland. Part of the Federal Office of Culture, it is charged with collecting, cataloging and conserving information in all fields, disciplines, and media connected with Switzerla ...

World Rack Railways
Deutsche Biographie {{DEFAULTSORT:Abt, Carl Roman 1850 births 1933 deaths People from Muri District 19th-century Swiss inventors Swiss mechanical engineers Swiss railway mechanical engineers Swiss railway pioneers Rack railways 20th-century Swiss engineers 19th-century Swiss engineers Swiss expatriates in France