engineering

Otto Jabelmann

Otto Jabelmann is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Otto Jabelmann rather than just read about it. In short: Otto Jabelmann was an American locomotive designer, best known for being the designer of the Big Boy Locomotives, the heaviest locomotives ever built. Early life Jabelmann was born in Cheyenne, Wyoming to Louis and Anna Jabelmann.

Key takeaways

Otto Jabelmann belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Otto Jabelmann to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Otto Jabelmann from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Otto Jabelmann was an American locomotive designer, best known for being the designer of the Big Boy Locomotives, the heaviest locomotives ever built.

Early life Jabelmann was born in Cheyenne, Wyoming to Louis and Anna Jabelmann. He attended high schools in Cheyenne, Seattle and Ann Arbor. He studied engineering at University of Michigan and Stanford University. He married Teresa M. Jabelmann in 1927.

Career In July 1 1936 Union Pacific placed Jabelmann in charge of the department with the title of assistant superintendent of motive power and machinery. He was headquarted in Omaha. His first job was to create a steam-turbine locomotive with electrical transmission, the first of its kind in the states. He called for a complete rebuild of the steam program claiming smaller and older engines could not keep up with soaring demand for tonnage and speed, let alone the sheer volume of trains needed. In 1940 William Jeffers, the president of the Union Pacific order Jabelmann to design a locomotive capable of pulling unassisted trains over Sherman Hill and the Wasatch Range. He concluded that the locomotive would have to have 135,000 pounds of tractive effort and an adhesion factor of four and to meet the demands. Within three months, Union Pacific’s Department of Research and Mechanical Standards designed the giant locomotive and the American Locomotive Company (ALCo) of Schenectady, New York agreed to build the new Class. In an amazing feat of engineering and manufacturing, it only took about a year to complete the entire project, six months to design and fabricate the engine parts and another six months to deliver the first locomotive.

Death In June 1941, Jabelmann suffered a heart attack. Despite doctor’s advice, he continued with his work. During World War II, W. Averell Harriman, UP chairman of the board, took on a government role. He was sent to London by then U.S. president [[Franklin D. Roosevelt ]] to speed up the Lend-Lease act. While in England he saw the effect the war was having on the railways and asked Jabelmann to come over to help the situation. Despite every doctor recommeding Jabelmann not to travel he didn't want to let his country down so he secretly went to New York to receive a doctor's approval. He travelled to London in the fall of 1942 and in January 6th, 1943 he suffered another heart attack while at a London railway station, this time fatal.

In Popular Culture One of Jabelmanns locomotives, Union Pacific 844 was used in the intro of Shining Time Station and featured frequently in the series as Rainbow Sun. Other works of Jabelmann include the Union Pacific Challenger and the Union Pacific FEF series

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Otto Jabelmann

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Otto Jabelmann claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Otto Jabelmann before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Otto Jabelmann ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Otto Jabelmann

In research: Otto Jabelmann appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Otto Jabelmann in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Otto Jabelmann is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1891 births, 1943 deaths, 20th-century American designers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Otto Jabelmann outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Otto Jabelmann in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Otto Jabelmann means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Otto Jabelmann out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Otto Jabelmann in simple terms?

Otto Jabelmann was an American locomotive designer, best known for being the designer of the Big Boy Locomotives, the heaviest locomotives ever built. Early life Jabelmann was born in Cheyenne, Wyoming to Louis and Anna Jabelmann.

Why does Otto Jabelmann matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Otto Jabelmann?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Otto Jabelmann.