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=                        Daniel_Kinnear_Clark                        =
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                            Introduction
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Daniel Kinnear Clark (17 July 1822 - 22 January 1896) was a Scottish
consulting railway engineer. He served as Locomotive Superintendent to
the Great North of Scotland Railway between 1853 and 1855, and also
wrote comprehensive books on railway engineering matters.


                             Biography
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Clark was born at Edinburgh on 17 July 1822. He served an
apprenticeship with Thomas Edgington & Son, a Glasgow ironworks.
He then worked for another private firm, followed by the North British
Railway. In 1851, he set up as a consulting engineer in London; he was
30 years old. He became a Member of the Institute of Mechanical
Engineers in 1854.

The Great North of Scotland Railway (GNoSR) had been established in
1845 with the aim of building a railway to connect Aberdeen with
Inverness. Although authorised in 1846, construction did not begin
until 1852, with the first section of line being opened in 1854. While
the line was still under construction, it became necessary to consider
the provision of locomotives in time for the opening. Workshops at
Kittybrewster for the repair of locomotives were under construction,
and Clark was appointed Superintendent of the Locomotive Works in
October 1853. For the opening of the line, he designed two basically
similar classes of 2-4-0 tender locomotives, one with driving wheels 5
ft in diameter for passenger service, and the other, for goods trains,
having 5 ft driving wheels. Seven passenger engines and five goods
were ordered from William Fairbairn & Sons of Manchester, since
Kittybrewster Works was not intended for locomotive construction: no
new engines were built there until 1887. The first section of the line
(from  to ) was opened for traffic on 12 September 1854, but by
October only five of the passenger engines had been delivered, and
just two more had arrived by the time of his resignation; the five
goods engines arrived a few months later.

At his appointment, the GNoSR had made it a condition that Clark
should live in Aberdeen, to be close to his duties; but he felt that
living in northern Scotland 'would be inimical to his advancement in
his profession', preferring to work through an assistant based at
Kittybrewster. A dispute with the GNoSR board ensued, and Clark
resigned in March 1855. His replacement, J. F. Ruthven, had been works
foreman under Clark. He also had a short tenure, and when he in turn
resigned in May 1857, he too became a consultant, and often worked
with Clark.

Clark returned to consultancy, and patented a device for preventing
smoke from being emitted when coal was burned in locomotive fireboxes.
The primary feature of this device was a series of air inlets in the
firebox sides, air being forced in by steam jets when the regulator
was closed. It was invented in 1857, tried out by the North London
Railway and the Eastern Counties Railway, and following further trials
in 1858 by Clark's former employer, the GNoSR, was adopted in 1859 as
a standard fitting by the latter railway. It was used on all GNoSR
locomotives built during the terms of office of Clark's successors
Ruthven (1855-1857) and William Cowan (1857-1883), and was still being
fitted to new engines as late as 1890 by Cowan's successor James
Manson, although in modified form.

Clark wrote several books including the two-volume 'Railway
Machinery', which was considered an authoritative text when it was
published in 1855. He became a Member of the Institution of Civil
Engineers on 27 January 1863.

Clark died in London on 22 January 1896.


                            Bibliography
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Original Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Kinnear_Clark