S/A WILLIAM SIEMENS, F.R.S. 165 



In the discussion of the Paper 



" ON MODERN LOCOMOTIVES, designed luith a view 

 to ECONOMY, DURABILITY, and FACILITY OP 

 REPAIR, toiji'tlicr ti-ith some particulars of the DUTY 

 PERFORMED, ami of the COST OF REPAIRS," by JOHN 

 ROBINSON, M. Insfc. C. E., 



M u. SIEMENS * said he was one of the members of the jury in 

 Vienna, where the subject of the contre-vapeur was discussed, and 

 the exceptional reward of a Diploma of Honour was awarded to 

 M. Le Chatelier for that remarkable invention, which was fully 

 appreciated throughout the Continent. It was a contrivance that 

 should always be used ; otherwise the result would be a failure. 

 He imagined that on the London and North-Western line it had 

 not been adopted as a system, but had been put into the hands of 

 the engine driver to be employed occasionally ; sometimes it 

 might have been used properly, whereas at other times probably 

 the water was not put on when reversing. In M. Le Chatelier 

 not only France but Europe had lost one of her ablest engineers. 

 He was a man of very extensive information, of a genial nature, 

 and a true-hearted friend ; and he had never known any one 

 more ready to investigate and to appreciate any new idea. M. Le 

 Chatelier had suggested several important improvements in steam 

 economy. He was the first to draw attention to the great advan- 

 tages of perfect balancing and also of perfect jacketing in using 

 steam expansively. He had, with his friend M. Deville, devised a 

 practical process for the production of aluminium, and had made 

 many valuable suggestions in regard to metallurgical processes. 

 The earnest activity of his mind was such that he could give 

 attention to these matters, and to the high education of his 

 children, while holding the responsible appointments of engineer- 

 in-chief to many large undertakings. 



* Excerpt Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Vol. 

 XXXVII. Session 1873-74, p. 27. 



