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  Jervis, John Bloomfield
  CANDIDATE DETAILS
AffiliationNonpartisan   
NameJohn Bloomfield Jervis
Address
Rome, New York , United States
EmailNone
WebsiteNone
Born December 14, 1795
Died January 12, 1885 (89 years)
ContributorThomas Walker
Last ModifedJuan Croniqueur
Oct 07, 2022 02:11am
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InfoJohn Bloomfield Jervis (1795 – 1885) was an American civil engineer. Working as chief engineer for the Delaware and Hudson Canal and Railroad, he designed the Stourbridge Lion, as well as the first steam locomotives with a leading bogie that became the 4-2-0 locomotive type. The 4-2-0 type is called Jervis in his honor.

Jervis was born at Huntington, New York (on Long Island), and raised in Rome, New York (then called Fort Stanwix).

Jervis was hired for work on the Erie Canal as an axeman in 1817. While working in the construction teams, he studied engineering and by 1819 he became the lead engineer on the canal's 50 mile (80 km) long center section.

In 1827, Jervis became the chief engineer for the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company. In this position, he designed the Stourbridge Lion, which was built by Foster, Rastrick and Company of England.

In 1831, he became the chief engineer for the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad, a predecessor of the New York Central.

Jervis was the first railroad engineer to design a 4-2-0 steam locomotive; the 4-2-0 type is called the Jervis type in his honor. A 4-2-0 is a locomotive with a four-wheel leading truck that guides the locomotive into curves and two powered driving wheels on a rear axle underneath the locomotive's firebox.

In 1836, Jervis was chosen as the chief engineer on the 41-mile (66 km) long Croton Aqueduct, which operated from 1842 to 1891, bringing fresh water to New York City. Many of Jervis's original diagrams for this project are now preserved at both the Smithsonian Institution and the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. The High Bridge which still stands across the Harlem River in New York City, connecting Manhattan and the Bronx, was part of this project.

After successful work on the Croton Aqueduct, Jervis also worked on the Boston Aqueduct.

In the 1850s and into the early 1860s he worked on railroads in the Midwestern United States, serving as chief engineer for both the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana Railroad, Chicago and Rock Island Railroad (a predecessor of the Rock Island Railroad) and finally the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway.

Jervis retired in 1864 to his homestead in Rome, New York, but he did not simply rest on his laurels in his retirement. In 1869, he helped form the Merchants Iron Mill, known today as the Rome Iron Mill.

Much of the remainder of Jervis's life was spent writing. He published The Question of Labor and Capital on economics in 1877.

Upon his death, Jervis bequeathed his homestead to the city of Rome to use as the location for a public library. His personal library now forms the John B. Jervis collection of the Jervis Public Library.

In 1927, the Delaware and Hudson Railroad built an experimental steam locomotive that was designed to run at 400 psi (2.8 MPa or 28 kgf/cm²) steam pressure; this locomotive, road number 1401, was named John B. Jervis.

The city of Port Jervis, New York is also named in his honor.

Railway Property (1859)
The Construction and Management of Railways (1861)
Labor and Capital (1877)

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