SIBERT

SIBERT 12.10. 1860 Gadsden AL/USA 16.10. 1935 Bowling Green KY/USA William Luther Sibert attended until 1880 University of Alabama, but graduated only in 1884 from the US Military Academy, and from the Engineering School of Application in 1887. He was for a year in charge of the Rivers and Harbours Districts of Louisville KY, and until 1892 of local improvement works on the Green and Barren Rivers, Bowling Green KY. He was engaged in construction works of the Sault Sainte Marie Canal, connecting the Great Lakes until 1894, taking over until 1896 command of the River and Harbour District at Little Rock AL. During the Spanish-American War he commanded the engineering troops in Manila as chief engineer, returning to his country in 1900. He was then district engineer at Louisville KY, and Pittsburgh PA until 1907. Sibert was member of the Isthmian Canal Commission from 1907 to 1914, from 1909 in the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was responsible for the design and construction of the Gatun Locks and Dam, a hydraulic key element of Panama Canal, thereby collaborating with John F. Stevens (1853-1943). The 1915 book describes the main stages of this outstanding waterway from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans, including the Culebra Cut, the Gatun Dam with the spillway, and the devastating landslides. Sibert also was in charge of the West Breakwater, Colon Harbour, and of the channel excavations from Gatun to the Atlantic Ocean. He served in 1914 as chair of the Board of Engineers on flood prevention under the American Red Cross, and the Chinese Government in the Huai River Valley, China. In 1915 he was a board member on the Ohio River flood control. After war service in the Pacific Army, he retired as major general. He was appointed in 1928 chairman of the Boulder Dam Commission, of which one of the most notable dams erected in the 20th century resulted. He retired from engineer to his farm. Sibert was commander of the French Legion d’Honneur, he was awarded the LL.D. and the D.Engr. degrees from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln NE, in 1919. He was member of the American Association of Port Authorities, acting as its president from 1929 to 1930. He also was member of the American Society of Civil Engineers ASCE. Clark, E.B. (1930). William L. Sibert, the army engineer. Dorrance: Philadelphia. P Sibert, W.L. (1909). The improvement of the Ohio River. Trans. ASCE 63: 388-428. Sibert, W.L. (1912). The Gatun Dam and Locks. Scientific American 107(19): 386-387. Sibert, W.L., Stevens, J.F. (1915). The construction of the Panama Canal. Appleton: New York. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_L._Sibert P

SICKELS 20.09. 1819 Camden NJ/USA 08.03. 1895 Kansas City MO/USA Frederick Ellsworth Sickels was rodman first on the Harlem Railroad, and then apprenticed in New York, where he developed a new type of steam cut-off valve for steam engines, which was perfected until 1841, and patented in 1842. The novel valve was described as: ‘It was a form which adapted it to use with the beam-engine used on the Eastern waters of the USA, and was modified to stationary engines by a ship builder in Providence RI, who made use of it before any other form of "drop cut-off" came into general use. Sickels’ cut-off consisted of a set of steam-valves, usually independent of the exhaustvalves, and each raised by a catch, which could be thrown out at the proper moment by a wedge with which it came in contact as it rose with the opening valve. This wedge, or other equivalent device, was so adjusted that the valve should be detached and fall to its seat when the piston reached that point in its movement, after taking steam, at which expansion was to commence. From this point, no steam entering the cylinder, the piston was impelled by the expanding vapor. The valve was usually the double-poppet’. In 1990 it was described as ‘a quick-closing valve gear using poppet valves, and a trip gear to control the cut-off with gravity assisted closure. Sickels used a water-filled dashpot to decelerate the valve smoothly as it approached the end of its travel’. In 1843 and 1845 Sickels improved his design. His new type of valve made high-pressure steam engines possible, and it was copied extensively and appeared soon also in the Corliss engine. Sickels sued Corliss for patent infringement, but although he won these court cases, his modest fortune was ultimately consumed, because the patents had expired. He completed in 1854 the construction of a full-size steam steering unit, installing in 1858 the equipment on the steamer Augusta. He found no purchaser for the invention, and also no buyer during his trip to Europe. He was from 1890 a consulting engineer for the National Water Works Company of New York City, and from 1891 chief engineer of operations at Kansas City MO. Sickels was member of the American Society of Civil Engineers ASCE. Anonymous (1853). Frederick E. Sickels and Truman Cook against John F. Rodman. New York. Anonymous (1859). Frederick E. Sickels. Washington DC. Haswell, C.H. (1844). Engineers‘ and mechanics‘ pocket-book. Harper: New York. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Ellsworth_Sickels https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=39684214&PIpi=19726192 P