Walschaerts valve gear
Accionamiento de la distribución de tipo Walschaerts
- Date
- 1844 · confidence high
- Place
- Brussels, Belgium
- Credited to
- Egide Walschaerts (with a later parallel development by Edmund Heusinger von Waldegg in Germany)
- Field
- Movement
What it is
A valve gear mechanism that regulates steam admission and exhaust in locomotive pistons, devised by Belgian engineer Egide Walschaerts and widely used until the end of the steam era.
What it led to
- became the most widespread steam valve gear system in locomotives from the late 19th century
- improved efficiency and reverse-running control in steam locomotives
- influenced the design of the Heusinger gear, its German variant