Charles Joseph Van Depoele

2023-06-30T13:29:53Z

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{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Charles Joseph Van Depoele
|image = vandepoele.jpg
|caption = Charles Joseph Van Depoele
|birth_name = Carolus Josephus Vandepoele
|birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1846|4|27}}
|birth_place = [[Lichtervelde]], [[West Flanders|Province of West-Flanders]], Belgium
|death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1892|3|18|1846|4|27}}
|death_place = [[Lynn, Massachusetts]], US
|resting_place = St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery<br>Lynn, Massachusetts, US
|resting_place_coordinates =
|nationality = Belgian
|other_names =
|known_for = [[electric railway]]
|education =
|employer =
|occupation = [[electrical engineering|electrical engineer]]
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'''Charles Joseph Van Depoele''' (27 April 1846 – 18 March 1892) was a Belgian-American [[electrical engineering|electrical engineer]], inventor, and pioneer in [[electric railway]] technology, including the first [[trolley pole]].

==Biography==
===Early life in Belgium===
Van Depoele was born as Carolus Josephus Vandepoele in [[Lichtervelde]], [[West Flanders|Province of West-Vlaanderen]], Belgium, the son of Pieter-Joannes Vandepoele, a furniture maker from [[Ghent]], and his wife, Marie-Theresia Algoet.<ref>{{in lang|nl}} Carolus Josephus Vandepoele, [https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-20369-21341-76?cc=2139860&wc=M94F-FFP:1622731502 Birth Certificate No. 61], filed 27 April 1846, Register of Births for the Year 1846, Lichtervelde, Belgium; in: ''FamilySearch'', "Belgium, West Flanders, Civil Registration, 1582–1910", Lichtervelde, ''Geboorten'' [Births], 1852, Image No. 297, item 4.</ref> Three months after his birth, the family moved to [[Bruges]]. At a young age, he dabbled in electricity, and became so thoroughly infatuated with the subject that he entered upon a course of study and experiment in [[Poperinghe]]. In 1861, while at college, he produced his first light with a battery of forty [[Bunsen cell]]s. Later, he moved to [[Lille]], [[France]], where he attended regularly the lectures and experiments of the [[Imperial Lyceum]] from 1864 to 1869.

===Move to the US===
In 1869 he moved to the [[United States]] and took up his residence in [[Detroit]], where he made a living by manufacturing furniture. He did not abandon his electrical pursuits, experimenting with [[electric lighting]], [[electric generator]]s and [[electric motor]]s, and eventually forming the Van Depoele Electric Manufacturing Company.

===Electric railways===
[[File:Electric traction for railway trains; a book for students, electrical and mechanical engineers, superintendents of motive power and others (1911) (14755541821).jpg|thumb|Electric locomotive car and train. Van Depoele, Minneapolis, 1883]]
As early as 1874, Van Depoele began investigations into the field of electric locomotion. Van Depoele's first [[electric railway]] was laid in [[Chicago]] early in 1883, and he exhibited another at an exposition in that city later in the same year. In 1885, he invented and demonstrated the first [[trolley pole]],<ref name="middleton">[[William D. Middleton|Middleton, William D.]] (1967). ''The Time of the Trolley'', pp. 63–65, 67. Milwaukee: [[Kalmbach Publishing]]. {{ISBN|0-89024-013-2}}.</ref> a device used by electric [[Tram|streetcars (trams)]] to collect current from [[overhead line|overhead wires]], introducing it publicly on a line installed temporarily at the [[Toronto Industrial Exhibition]] in autumn 1885,<ref name="middleton"/> reportedly reaching 65 mph.<ref>{{cite news|title=Telegraphic Summary|url=http://www.ourfutureourpast.ca/newspapr/np_page2.asp?code=n47p0005.jpg|accessdate=21 May 2013|newspaper=Calgary Tribune|date=16 September 1885|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924100702/http://www.ourfutureourpast.ca/newspapr/np_page2.asp?code=n47p0005.jpg|archive-date=24 September 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> Fellow inventor [[Frank J. Sprague]] was studying similar ideas at the same time.<ref name="middleton"/> Sprague improved the design<ref name="dunbar">Dunbar, Charles S. (1967). ''Buses, Trolleys & Trams''. Paul Hamlyn Ltd. (UK), p. 46. Republished 2004 with {{ISBN|978-0753709702}}.</ref> and is sometimes credited as the trolley pole's inventor.

Near the end of 1887, thirteen North American cities had electric railways in operation; nine of these systems were designed by Van Depoele, and used overhead lines to transmit electric current from an [[electrical generator]] to the [[electric locomotive]]s on the rails.

===Electric lighting===
Van Depoele sold his electric motor business and related patents to the [[Thomson-Houston Electric Company]] in early 1888. He briefly thereafter devoted his efforts to his electric lighting business, until he sold that concern also to Thomson-Houston in mid-1889.

==Patents==
A prolific inventor, Van Depoele was granted at least 243 United States [[patent]]s between 1881 and 1894 for various electric inventions including railway systems, lights, generators, motors, current regulators, pumps, telpher systems, batteries, hammers, rock drills, brakes, a gearless locomotive, a coal-mining machine, and a pile-driver.

==Recognition==
He received the most recognition for his role in the development of electric railways; George Herbert Stockbridge wrote in 1891, "It is probably only just to Mr. Van Depoele to say that he is entitled to more credit than any other one man for the exploitation of electricity as a motive power."

==Death==
Van Depoele died on 18 March 1892 at the age of 45 in [[Lynn, Massachusetts]], leaving a wife and several children.

''This article incorporates text from the references listed below, publications now in the [[public domain]].''

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* Obituary, "Charles J. Van Depoele." ''Western Electrician'', 26 March 1892 (Volume 10, No. 13), [http://home.frognet.net/~ejcov/cjvand10.html page 193].
* "Obituary"., ''Transactions of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers'', 19 April 1892 (Volume 9, No. 4), [https://books.google.com/books?id=DUtLAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA175 pages 175–178].
* Charles Holt, "Development of Electric Railways.", ''The New England Magazine'', October 1888 (Volume 6, No. 36), pages 551–566.
* Douglas McKillop, "The Father of the Trolley: A Biographical Sketch of Charles J. Van Depoele", ''The Electrical Age'', December 1905 (Volume 35, No. 6), [https://books.google.com/books?id=CDhMAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA440 pages 440–443].
* Frankland Jannus, "Life and Labor of Van DePoele", ''The Electrical Journal'', 1 May 1896 (Volume 1, No. 23), [https://books.google.com/books?id=dx4xAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA449 pages 449–453].
* "Notes and Queries.", ''Manufacturer and Builder'', October 1887 (Volume 19, No. 10), pages 239–240.
* George Herbert Stockbridge, "Later History of Electricity.", ''The New England Magazine'', April 1891 (Volume 10, No. 2), pages 183–193.

==External links==
*[http://www.spartacus-educational.com/USAdepoele.htm Charles Van Depoele]
*[http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HBS.Baker.EAD:bak00333 Charles Van Depoele Papers] at Baker Library Special Collections, Harvard Business School

{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Depoele, Charles Joseph}}
[[Category:1846 births]]
[[Category:1892 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century American inventors]]
[[Category:19th-century Belgian inventors]]
[[Category:Belgian emigrants to the United States]]

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Charles Joseph Van Depoele