☆～ VETERAN, WORLD WAR I (1914-1918) ～☆
Throughout the long and eminently successful career of Bion Joseph Arnold, his initiative, ingenuity and resourcefulness was and still is recognized by not only his fellow engineers but also by the general public for his inventions, extensive consulting practice and the installation and direction of numerous public utility services.
He was educated in the Ashland, Nebraska public schools, the University of Nebraska and at Hillsdale College, Michigan, where he received Bachelor of Science degrees in 1884; later, he took a postgraduate course in electrical engineering at Cornell and in 1897 he earned his Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Nebraska, along with many honorary degrees at various times.
In his boyhood Col. Arnold constructed models of farm implements, a steam engine, steam plant, a bicycle and, remarkably, a 1/16-scale working model of a standard Burlington locomotive complete in all details.
The locomotives which entranced him as a child drew his interest as a young man to railroads and their problems. Fame found him in 1893 by his design and construction of the Intramural Elevated Railway at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago. This marked the first commercial installation of the third rail on a large scale, and it led to a wide practice as a consulting engineer for steam and electric railways.
From 1902 to 1907 he was Chicago's consulting engineer, and responsible for overseeing the construction of its street railways. Later he did the initial work of installation for such roads as the Chicago and Milwaukee Electric Railway (later the Chicago, North Shore and Milwaukee Ry. [the North Shore Line] } the Lansing, St. Johns and St. Louis Railway in Michigan, and other transportation systems in San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Toronto and Providence. For the latter he developed in 1900 an AC single-phase system.
He converted the Grand Trunk Railroad through the St. Clair Tunnel from steam to electrical operation from Port Huron, Michigan to Sarnia, Ontario. The single-phase high-voltage system for heavy electric railway work was adopted there for the first time.
Other important commissions Col. Arnold carried out included development of the electrification of Grand Central Terminal in New York and the development of that city's subway system, a five-year $60 million task.
He was a consultant on both surface and underground traction projects for cities all over the country, and a consulting engineer for numerous railroad commissions. In addition to his critical work on railways, he invented a magnetic clutch and improved storage batteries.
He maintained headquarters at Chicago.
During World War I, Col. Arnold was assigned as Lieut. Col., Aviation Section in 1917 to make a complete survey of Army and Navy aircraft supply and production conditions and to take charge of the development and production of aerial torpedoes. He was commissioned a Colonel in the Auxiliary Corps in 1925.
Col. Arnold served the Institute on various committees and as president of the AIEE in 1903 and 1904, and was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Western Society of Engineers, and American Society for Promotion of Engineering Education.
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Bion Arnold acted as consulting engineer for the New York Central and the Grand Trunk Railway companies and was a member of the commission that designed and installed the system by which the New York Central Railroad propelled all trains within thirty miles of the Grand Central station by electricity.
Mr. Arnold's family moved to Nebraska where he attended school until entering Hillsdale (Michigan) College, which gave him the degree of Bachelor of Science in 1884, and the honorary degree of Master of Physics in 1889. In 1903 his alma mater conferred on him a testimonial diploma in recognition of his "distinguished learning and achievement in invention and mechanical and electrical engineering."
Mr. Arnold also attended Cornell University and held an honorary degree from the University of Nebraska. At 27 years old he was mechanical engineer of the Great Western Road, resigning the position to enter a post-graduate course at Cornell. Not satisfied with a position in which many an older engineer would have been contented, he was willing to start anew in order to equip himself for further advance in his profession.
After leaving Hillsdale College, Mr. Arnold's next position was with the Upton Manufacturing Company of Port Huron. From there he went to the Edward P. Allis Company of Milwaukee. In 1887-1888 he was mechanical engineer of the Chicago & Great Western Railroad; from 1888 to 1889, general agent of the Thomson-Houston Electric Company of St. Louis, and from 1890 to 1893, consulting engineer for the General Electric Company. Since that time he had been in business for himself.
He designed the Intramural Railway at the World's Columbian Exposition, and its equipment was an innovation in electrical engineering. The electrical plant of the Chicago Board of Trade - which was copied by many office buildings where economy of space was desired - was planned and installed by him.
The Chicago & Milwaukee Electric Railway, equipped by him, demonstrated to the world the practicability of his theory of long-distance electrical railroading. One of the mountain lines of the Burlington system was also equipped by him. Mr. Arnold held patents covering his inventions and had written various technical articles of value to his profession.
He had always been a pronounced advocate of the merits of the storage battery and had probably done more than any other man to demonstrate and prove its efficiency and economy of operation. So positive were his opinions when he installed the sub-station rotary converter storage-battery system for the Chicago & Milwaukee Electric Railway that he financially guaranteed the efficiency and operation of the entire line. So great were the savings over previous methods of operation that today's electric lines are generally equipped with the same system. His pioneer work in single-phase traction caused another advance in the art of electric railroading and made practicable the electrification of many steam roads.
The problem of operating the trains of the New York Central with electricity was one of great difficulty, and upon its successful solution was decided whether electricity was to be installed as an alternate motive power for railroads.
Numerous reports on Chicago's traction questions were presented by Mr. Arnold since he first took up the work. The first comprehensive plan for routing, equipping and operating all lines — elevated. surface or subway — was presented on November 1. 1902 after four months' investigation. Supplementary reports since followed. Traction negotiations in other cities were also based on these reports of the Chicago situation.
Mr. Arnold was president of the Arnold Company, an electrical engineering corporation working for many of the principal steam railway companies of the country. He also was president of the Kenosha (Wisconsin) Electric Railway Company, a member and a former president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, and was one of its five representatives at the International Electrical Congress at Paris in 1900. He was a trustee of Hillsdale College and served as a trustee of the Western Society of Engineers. He was first vice-president and chairman of the executive committee of the International Electrical Congress at St. Louis in 1904.
Throughout the long and eminently successful career of Bion Joseph Arnold, his initiative, ingenuity and resourcefulness was and still is recognized by not only his fellow engineers but also by the general public for his inventions, extensive consulting practice and the installation and direction of numerous public utility services.
He was educated in the Ashland, Nebraska public schools, the University of Nebraska and at Hillsdale College, Michigan, where he received Bachelor of Science degrees in 1884; later, he took a postgraduate course in electrical engineering at Cornell and in 1897 he earned his Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Nebraska, along with many honorary degrees at various times.
In his boyhood Col. Arnold constructed models of farm implements, a steam engine, steam plant, a bicycle and, remarkably, a 1/16-scale working model of a standard Burlington locomotive complete in all details.
The locomotives which entranced him as a child drew his interest as a young man to railroads and their problems. Fame found him in 1893 by his design and construction of the Intramural Elevated Railway at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago. This marked the first commercial installation of the third rail on a large scale, and it led to a wide practice as a consulting engineer for steam and electric railways.
From 1902 to 1907 he was Chicago's consulting engineer, and responsible for overseeing the construction of its street railways. Later he did the initial work of installation for such roads as the Chicago and Milwaukee Electric Railway (later the Chicago, North Shore and Milwaukee Ry. [the North Shore Line] } the Lansing, St. Johns and St. Louis Railway in Michigan, and other transportation systems in San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Toronto and Providence. For the latter he developed in 1900 an AC single-phase system.
He converted the Grand Trunk Railroad through the St. Clair Tunnel from steam to electrical operation from Port Huron, Michigan to Sarnia, Ontario. The single-phase high-voltage system for heavy electric railway work was adopted there for the first time.
Other important commissions Col. Arnold carried out included development of the electrification of Grand Central Terminal in New York and the development of that city's subway system, a five-year $60 million task.
He was a consultant on both surface and underground traction projects for cities all over the country, and a consulting engineer for numerous railroad commissions. In addition to his critical work on railways, he invented a magnetic clutch and improved storage batteries.
He maintained headquarters at Chicago.
During World War I, Col. Arnold was assigned as Lieut. Col., Aviation Section in 1917 to make a complete survey of Army and Navy aircraft supply and production conditions and to take charge of the development and production of aerial torpedoes. He was commissioned a Colonel in the Auxiliary Corps in 1925.
Col. Arnold served the Institute on various committees and as president of the AIEE in 1903 and 1904, and was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Western Society of Engineers, and American Society for Promotion of Engineering Education.
==========================
Bion Arnold acted as consulting engineer for the New York Central and the Grand Trunk Railway companies and was a member of the commission that designed and installed the system by which the New York Central Railroad propelled all trains within thirty miles of the Grand Central station by electricity.
Mr. Arnold's family moved to Nebraska where he attended school until entering Hillsdale (Michigan) College, which gave him the degree of Bachelor of Science in 1884, and the honorary degree of Master of Physics in 1889. In 1903 his alma mater conferred on him a testimonial diploma in recognition of his "distinguished learning and achievement in invention and mechanical and electrical engineering."
Mr. Arnold also attended Cornell University and held an honorary degree from the University of Nebraska. At 27 years old he was mechanical engineer of the Great Western Road, resigning the position to enter a post-graduate course at Cornell. Not satisfied with a position in which many an older engineer would have been contented, he was willing to start anew in order to equip himself for further advance in his profession.
After leaving Hillsdale College, Mr. Arnold's next position was with the Upton Manufacturing Company of Port Huron. From there he went to the Edward P. Allis Company of Milwaukee. In 1887-1888 he was mechanical engineer of the Chicago & Great Western Railroad; from 1888 to 1889, general agent of the Thomson-Houston Electric Company of St. Louis, and from 1890 to 1893, consulting engineer for the General Electric Company. Since that time he had been in business for himself.
He designed the Intramural Railway at the World's Columbian Exposition, and its equipment was an innovation in electrical engineering. The electrical plant of the Chicago Board of Trade - which was copied by many office buildings where economy of space was desired - was planned and installed by him.
The Chicago & Milwaukee Electric Railway, equipped by him, demonstrated to the world the practicability of his theory of long-distance electrical railroading. One of the mountain lines of the Burlington system was also equipped by him. Mr. Arnold held patents covering his inventions and had written various technical articles of value to his profession.
He had always been a pronounced advocate of the merits of the storage battery and had probably done more than any other man to demonstrate and prove its efficiency and economy of operation. So positive were his opinions when he installed the sub-station rotary converter storage-battery system for the Chicago & Milwaukee Electric Railway that he financially guaranteed the efficiency and operation of the entire line. So great were the savings over previous methods of operation that today's electric lines are generally equipped with the same system. His pioneer work in single-phase traction caused another advance in the art of electric railroading and made practicable the electrification of many steam roads.
The problem of operating the trains of the New York Central with electricity was one of great difficulty, and upon its successful solution was decided whether electricity was to be installed as an alternate motive power for railroads.
Numerous reports on Chicago's traction questions were presented by Mr. Arnold since he first took up the work. The first comprehensive plan for routing, equipping and operating all lines — elevated. surface or subway — was presented on November 1. 1902 after four months' investigation. Supplementary reports since followed. Traction negotiations in other cities were also based on these reports of the Chicago situation.
Mr. Arnold was president of the Arnold Company, an electrical engineering corporation working for many of the principal steam railway companies of the country. He also was president of the Kenosha (Wisconsin) Electric Railway Company, a member and a former president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, and was one of its five representatives at the International Electrical Congress at Paris in 1900. He was a trustee of Hillsdale College and served as a trustee of the Western Society of Engineers. He was first vice-president and chairman of the executive committee of the International Electrical Congress at St. Louis in 1904.
☆～ VETERAN, WORLD WAR I (1914-1918) ～☆
Throughout the long and eminently successful career of Bion Joseph Arnold, his initiative, ingenuity and resourcefulness was and still is recognized by not only his fellow engineers but also by the general public for his inventions, extensive consulting practice and the installation and direction of numerous public utility services.
He was educated in the Ashland, Nebraska public schools, the University of Nebraska and at Hillsdale College, Michigan, where he received Bachelor of Science degrees in 1884; later, he took a postgraduate course in electrical engineering at Cornell and in 1897 he earned his Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Nebraska, along with many honorary degrees at various times.
In his boyhood Col. Arnold constructed models of farm implements, a steam engine, steam plant, a bicycle and, remarkably, a 1/16-scale working model of a standard Burlington locomotive complete in all details.
The locomotives which entranced him as a child drew his interest as a young man to railroads and their problems. Fame found him in 1893 by his design and construction of the Intramural Elevated Railway at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago. This marked the first commercial installation of the third rail on a large scale, and it led to a wide practice as a consulting engineer for steam and electric railways.
From 1902 to 1907 he was Chicago's consulting engineer, and responsible for overseeing the construction of its street railways. Later he did the initial work of installation for such roads as the Chicago and Milwaukee Electric Railway (later the Chicago, North Shore and Milwaukee Ry. [the North Shore Line] } the Lansing, St. Johns and St. Louis Railway in Michigan, and other transportation systems in San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Toronto and Providence. For the latter he developed in 1900 an AC single-phase system.
He converted the Grand Trunk Railroad through the St. Clair Tunnel from steam to electrical operation from Port Huron, Michigan to Sarnia, Ontario. The single-phase high-voltage system for heavy electric railway work was adopted there for the first time.
Other important commissions Col. Arnold carried out included development of the electrification of Grand Central Terminal in New York and the development of that city's subway system, a five-year $60 million task.
He was a consultant on both surface and underground traction projects for cities all over the country, and a consulting engineer for numerous railroad commissions. In addition to his critical work on railways, he invented a magnetic clutch and improved storage batteries.
He maintained headquarters at Chicago.
During World War I, Col. Arnold was assigned as Lieut. Col., Aviation Section in 1917 to make a complete survey of Army and Navy aircraft supply and production conditions and to take charge of the development and production of aerial torpedoes. He was commissioned a Colonel in the Auxiliary Corps in 1925.
Col. Arnold served the Institute on various committees and as president of the AIEE in 1903 and 1904, and was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Western Society of Engineers, and American Society for Promotion of Engineering Education.
==========================
Bion Arnold acted as consulting engineer for the New York Central and the Grand Trunk Railway companies and was a member of the commission that designed and installed the system by which the New York Central Railroad propelled all trains within thirty miles of the Grand Central station by electricity.
Mr. Arnold's family moved to Nebraska where he attended school until entering Hillsdale (Michigan) College, which gave him the degree of Bachelor of Science in 1884, and the honorary degree of Master of Physics in 1889. In 1903 his alma mater conferred on him a testimonial diploma in recognition of his "distinguished learning and achievement in invention and mechanical and electrical engineering."
Mr. Arnold also attended Cornell University and held an honorary degree from the University of Nebraska. At 27 years old he was mechanical engineer of the Great Western Road, resigning the position to enter a post-graduate course at Cornell. Not satisfied with a position in which many an older engineer would have been contented, he was willing to start anew in order to equip himself for further advance in his profession.
After leaving Hillsdale College, Mr. Arnold's next position was with the Upton Manufacturing Company of Port Huron. From there he went to the Edward P. Allis Company of Milwaukee. In 1887-1888 he was mechanical engineer of the Chicago & Great Western Railroad; from 1888 to 1889, general agent of the Thomson-Houston Electric Company of St. Louis, and from 1890 to 1893, consulting engineer for the General Electric Company. Since that time he had been in business for himself.
He designed the Intramural Railway at the World's Columbian Exposition, and its equipment was an innovation in electrical engineering. The electrical plant of the Chicago Board of Trade - which was copied by many office buildings where economy of space was desired - was planned and installed by him.
The Chicago & Milwaukee Electric Railway, equipped by him, demonstrated to the world the practicability of his theory of long-distance electrical railroading. One of the mountain lines of the Burlington system was also equipped by him. Mr. Arnold held patents covering his inventions and had written various technical articles of value to his profession.
He had always been a pronounced advocate of the merits of the storage battery and had probably done more than any other man to demonstrate and prove its efficiency and economy of operation. So positive were his opinions when he installed the sub-station rotary converter storage-battery system for the Chicago & Milwaukee Electric Railway that he financially guaranteed the efficiency and operation of the entire line. So great were the savings over previous methods of operation that today's electric lines are generally equipped with the same system. His pioneer work in single-phase traction caused another advance in the art of electric railroading and made practicable the electrification of many steam roads.
The problem of operating the trains of the New York Central with electricity was one of great difficulty, and upon its successful solution was decided whether electricity was to be installed as an alternate motive power for railroads.
Numerous reports on Chicago's traction questions were presented by Mr. Arnold since he first took up the work. The first comprehensive plan for routing, equipping and operating all lines — elevated. surface or subway — was presented on November 1. 1902 after four months' investigation. Supplementary reports since followed. Traction negotiations in other cities were also based on these reports of the Chicago situation.
Mr. Arnold was president of the Arnold Company, an electrical engineering corporation working for many of the principal steam railway companies of the country. He also was president of the Kenosha (Wisconsin) Electric Railway Company, a member and a former president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, and was one of its five representatives at the International Electrical Congress at Paris in 1900. He was a trustee of Hillsdale College and served as a trustee of the Western Society of Engineers. He was first vice-president and chairman of the executive committee of the International Electrical Congress at St. Louis in 1904.
Throughout the long and eminently successful career of Bion Joseph Arnold, his initiative, ingenuity and resourcefulness was and still is recognized by not only his fellow engineers but also by the general public for his inventions, extensive consulting practice and the installation and direction of numerous public utility services.
He was educated in the Ashland, Nebraska public schools, the University of Nebraska and at Hillsdale College, Michigan, where he received Bachelor of Science degrees in 1884; later, he took a postgraduate course in electrical engineering at Cornell and in 1897 he earned his Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Nebraska, along with many honorary degrees at various times.
In his boyhood Col. Arnold constructed models of farm implements, a steam engine, steam plant, a bicycle and, remarkably, a 1/16-scale working model of a standard Burlington locomotive complete in all details.
The locomotives which entranced him as a child drew his interest as a young man to railroads and their problems. Fame found him in 1893 by his design and construction of the Intramural Elevated Railway at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago. This marked the first commercial installation of the third rail on a large scale, and it led to a wide practice as a consulting engineer for steam and electric railways.
From 1902 to 1907 he was Chicago's consulting engineer, and responsible for overseeing the construction of its street railways. Later he did the initial work of installation for such roads as the Chicago and Milwaukee Electric Railway (later the Chicago, North Shore and Milwaukee Ry. [the North Shore Line] } the Lansing, St. Johns and St. Louis Railway in Michigan, and other transportation systems in San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Toronto and Providence. For the latter he developed in 1900 an AC single-phase system.
He converted the Grand Trunk Railroad through the St. Clair Tunnel from steam to electrical operation from Port Huron, Michigan to Sarnia, Ontario. The single-phase high-voltage system for heavy electric railway work was adopted there for the first time.
Other important commissions Col. Arnold carried out included development of the electrification of Grand Central Terminal in New York and the development of that city's subway system, a five-year $60 million task.
He was a consultant on both surface and underground traction projects for cities all over the country, and a consulting engineer for numerous railroad commissions. In addition to his critical work on railways, he invented a magnetic clutch and improved storage batteries.
He maintained headquarters at Chicago.
During World War I, Col. Arnold was assigned as Lieut. Col., Aviation Section in 1917 to make a complete survey of Army and Navy aircraft supply and production conditions and to take charge of the development and production of aerial torpedoes. He was commissioned a Colonel in the Auxiliary Corps in 1925.
Col. Arnold served the Institute on various committees and as president of the AIEE in 1903 and 1904, and was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Western Society of Engineers, and American Society for Promotion of Engineering Education.
==========================
Bion Arnold acted as consulting engineer for the New York Central and the Grand Trunk Railway companies and was a member of the commission that designed and installed the system by which the New York Central Railroad propelled all trains within thirty miles of the Grand Central station by electricity.
Mr. Arnold's family moved to Nebraska where he attended school until entering Hillsdale (Michigan) College, which gave him the degree of Bachelor of Science in 1884, and the honorary degree of Master of Physics in 1889. In 1903 his alma mater conferred on him a testimonial diploma in recognition of his "distinguished learning and achievement in invention and mechanical and electrical engineering."
Mr. Arnold also attended Cornell University and held an honorary degree from the University of Nebraska. At 27 years old he was mechanical engineer of the Great Western Road, resigning the position to enter a post-graduate course at Cornell. Not satisfied with a position in which many an older engineer would have been contented, he was willing to start anew in order to equip himself for further advance in his profession.
After leaving Hillsdale College, Mr. Arnold's next position was with the Upton Manufacturing Company of Port Huron. From there he went to the Edward P. Allis Company of Milwaukee. In 1887-1888 he was mechanical engineer of the Chicago & Great Western Railroad; from 1888 to 1889, general agent of the Thomson-Houston Electric Company of St. Louis, and from 1890 to 1893, consulting engineer for the General Electric Company. Since that time he had been in business for himself.
He designed the Intramural Railway at the World's Columbian Exposition, and its equipment was an innovation in electrical engineering. The electrical plant of the Chicago Board of Trade - which was copied by many office buildings where economy of space was desired - was planned and installed by him.
The Chicago & Milwaukee Electric Railway, equipped by him, demonstrated to the world the practicability of his theory of long-distance electrical railroading. One of the mountain lines of the Burlington system was also equipped by him. Mr. Arnold held patents covering his inventions and had written various technical articles of value to his profession.
He had always been a pronounced advocate of the merits of the storage battery and had probably done more than any other man to demonstrate and prove its efficiency and economy of operation. So positive were his opinions when he installed the sub-station rotary converter storage-battery system for the Chicago & Milwaukee Electric Railway that he financially guaranteed the efficiency and operation of the entire line. So great were the savings over previous methods of operation that today's electric lines are generally equipped with the same system. His pioneer work in single-phase traction caused another advance in the art of electric railroading and made practicable the electrification of many steam roads.
The problem of operating the trains of the New York Central with electricity was one of great difficulty, and upon its successful solution was decided whether electricity was to be installed as an alternate motive power for railroads.
Numerous reports on Chicago's traction questions were presented by Mr. Arnold since he first took up the work. The first comprehensive plan for routing, equipping and operating all lines — elevated. surface or subway — was presented on November 1. 1902 after four months' investigation. Supplementary reports since followed. Traction negotiations in other cities were also based on these reports of the Chicago situation.
Mr. Arnold was president of the Arnold Company, an electrical engineering corporation working for many of the principal steam railway companies of the country. He also was president of the Kenosha (Wisconsin) Electric Railway Company, a member and a former president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, and was one of its five representatives at the International Electrical Congress at Paris in 1900. He was a trustee of Hillsdale College and served as a trustee of the Western Society of Engineers. He was first vice-president and chairman of the executive committee of the International Electrical Congress at St. Louis in 1904.
