Editing John Ericsson (section)

==Early career==
[[File:John Ericsson from Hildebrand Sveriges historia.jpg|upright|thumb|left|John Ericsson]]
Johan Ericsson was born at [[Långban]] in [[Filipstad Municipality]], [[Värmland]], in the [[Kingdom of Sweden]] in [[Northern Europe]] / [[Scandinavia]]. He was the younger brother of [[Nils Ericson]] (1802–1870), a distinguished canal and railway builder in Sweden. Their father Olaf Ericsson (1778–1818) had worked as the supervisor for a [[mining|mine]] in Värmland. He had lost money in speculation and had to move his family to [[Forsvik]] in 1810. There he worked as a director of blastings during the excavation of the Swedish [[Göta Canal]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://sok.riksarkivet.se/sbl/Presentation.aspx?id=15351|title= Nils Ericson|publisher =Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (tr. Swedish biographical dictionary) |access-date= September 1, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://sok.riksarkivet.se/sbl/Presentation.aspx?id=15340|title= Ericson och Ericsson, släkt och friherrlig ätt från Nordmark |trans-title=Ericson and Ericsson, relatives and baronial family from Nordmark |publisher =Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (tr. Swedish biographical dictionary) |access-date= September 1, 2016}}</ref><ref name=b1/>

The extraordinary skills of the two Ericsson brothers were discovered by [[Baltzar von Platen (1766–1829)|Baltzar von Platen]] (1766–1829), the architect of [[Göta Canal]]. They were dubbed 'cadets of mechanics' of the [[Swedish Royal Navy]], and engaged as trainees at the canal enterprise. At the age of fourteen, John was already working independently as a [[Surveyor (surveying)|surveyor]]. His assistant had to carry a footstool for him to reach the instruments during [[surveying]] work.
At the age of seventeen he joined the [[Swedish army]] in [[Jämtland]], serving in the [[Jämtland Ranger Corps|Jämtland Ranger Regiment]], as a [[Second Lieutenant#United States|Second Lieutenant]], but was soon promoted to Lieutenant. He was sent to northern Sweden to do surveying, and in his spare time he constructed a [[heat engine]] which used the fumes from the fire instead of steam as a propellant. His skill and interest in mechanics made him resign from the army and move to England in 1826. However, his heat engine was not a success, as his prototype was designed to burn [[birch]]wood and would not work well with coal (the main fuel used in England).<ref name=JESBHL>{{cite web|url= https://runeberg.org/sbh/a0307.html|title= John Ericsson|publisher = Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon (tr. Swedish biographical hand dictionary)|access-date= September 1, 2016}}</ref>

[[File:Novelty locomotive.jpg|thumb|right|''[[Novelty (locomotive)|Novelty]]'', Braithwaite and Ericsson's entry for the [[Rainhill Trials]]. Illustration from ''The Mechanics Magazine'', 1829.]]
[[File:DampfwagenWilhelmDerIV.JPG|thumb|German drawing (1833) of the steam locomotive [[William IV of the United Kingdom|''Wilhelm IV'']] with scale in feet, built by "Braithwaite und Ericsson".]]

Notwithstanding the disappointment, he invented several other mechanisms instead based on [[steam]], improving the heating process by incorporating [[bellows]] to increase [[oxygen]] supply to the fire bed. In 1829 he and English engineer [[John Braithwaite (engineer)|John Braithwaite]]  (1797–1870) built [[Novelty (locomotive)|''Novelty'']] for the [[Rainhill Trials]] arranged by the [[Liverpool and Manchester Railway]]. It was widely praised but suffered recurring boiler problems, and the competition was won by English engineers [[George Stephenson|George]] and [[Robert Stephenson]] with [[Stephenson's Rocket|''Rocket'']].<ref>{{cite DNB |wstitle= Braithwaite, John (1797-1870) |volume= 06 |last= Boase |first= George Clement |author-link= George Clement Boase |pages= 201-202 |short= 1}}</ref>

Two further engines were built by Braithwaite and Ericsson, named ''[[William IV of the United Kingdom|William IV]]'' and ''Queen Adelaide'' after the new king and queen. These were generally larger and more robust than ''Novelty'' and differed in several details (for example it is thought that a different design of blower was used which was an 'Induced Draught' type, sucking the gases from the fire). The pair ran trials on the [[Liverpool and Manchester Railway]] but the railway declined to purchase the new designs.

Their innovative steam fire engine proved an outstanding technical success by helping to quell the memorable [[Argyll Rooms]] fire<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.british-steam-fire-engines.org/John_Ericsson.html |title=John Ericsson- Fire, Water, Land and Sea |access-date=2012-06-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120328131611/http://www.british-steam-fire-engines.org/John_Ericsson.html |archive-date=March 28, 2012 |df=mdy-all }}
</ref> on February 5, 1830<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=41478
|title=Survey of London: volumes 31 and 32: St James Westminster, Part 2 (1963, Ch.XIX)
|publisher=British History Online
|access-date=August 5, 2011
}}</ref> (where it worked for five hours when the other engines were frozen up),<ref>{{cite web
|url=https://archive.org/stream/lifeofjohnericss011402mbp/lifeofjohnericss011402mbp_djvu.txt
|title=The Life Of John Ericsson Volume I
|date=1906
|publisher=by W.C. Church, 1906 |pages=46–47
}}</ref><ref name=b1>Burnett, Constance Buel (1960) ''Captain John Ericsson: Father of the Monitor'', Vanguard Press, New York, p. 107. {{ISBN|9780814902844}}</ref> 
but was met with resistance from London's established 'Fire Laddies' and municipal authorities. An engine Braithwaite and Ericsson constructed for [[John Ross (Royal Navy officer)|Sir John Ross]]'s 1829 Arctic expedition failed and was dumped on the shores of [[Prince Regent Inlet]]. At this stage of Ericsson's career the most successful and enduring of his inventions was the [[surface condenser]], which allowed a steamer to recover fresh water for its boilers while at sea. His 'deep sea lead,' a pressure-activated fathometer was another minor, but enduring success. 

The commercial failure and development costs of some of the machines devised and built by Ericsson during this period put him into debtors' prison for an interval. At this time he also married 19-year-old Amelia Byam, a disastrous match that ended in the couple's separation until Amelia's death.

He was elected as a member to the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 1877.<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?year=1877;smode=advanced;startDoc=1|access-date=2021-05-10|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref>