Alexander Allan | |
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Born | 1809 |
Died | 2 June 1891 |
Nationality | British |
Occupation | Engineer |
Engineering career | |
Discipline | Mechanical engineering |
Institutions | Institution of Mechanical Engineers |
Significant design | straight-link valve gear |
Alexander Allan (1809-1891) was a Scottish mechanical engineer. He was born at Montrose, Angus, in 1809 and died at Scarborough, Yorkshire on 2 June 1891. [2]
Allan was born in Montrose, Angus, Scotland in 1809. [3] He undertook a apprenticeship to Mr. Gibb, a millwright. [3] In 1832 aged about 23 he took a position at Robert Stephenson and Company, Newcastle upon Tyne. [3] By 1834 he had moved to Liverpool and taken up a position with George Forrester and Company who were about to begin building railway locomotives. [3]
Allan was works manager for George Forrester and Company until 1840. [4] He was the engineer sent for a year to supervise the maintenance of the three Forrester engines Vauxhall, Dublin and Kingstown for the first year of their service at Dublin and Kingstown Railway in 1834. [5]
From 1843 to 1853 he was Works Manager at the Crewe Works of the Grand Junction Railway, later London and North Western Railway, under Francis Trevithick. [6] He later claimed the credit for designing the Crewe type locomotive with inclined cylinders and double frames, but this claim has been challenged. [7] From 1853 to 1865 he was Locomotive Superintendent of the Scottish Central Railway. Allan was an original member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1847.
Allan made a number of inventions, including a balanced slide valve, but the best-known is his straight-link valve gear of 1855.