Editing John Ericsson

{{Short description|Swedish-American engineer (1803–1889)}}
{{About|the Swedish-American inventor and engineer|the actors|John Ericsson (actor)|and|John Ericson|the U.S. Navy oiler|USNS John Ericsson (T-AO-194)}}
{{other people||John Erickson (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2013}}
{{Infobox person
| image             = John Ericsson 2.jpg
| birth_name        = Johan Ericsson
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1803|7|31}}
| birth_place       = [[Långban]], [[Filipstad Municipality]], [[Värmland County]], Sweden
| death_date        = {{death date and age|1899|3|8|1803|7|31}}
| death_place       = [[New York City]], U.S.
| citizenship       = Sweden<br>United States (1848–1889)
| known_for         = {{ubl|[[Ericsson cycle]]|[[Propeller#Screw propellers|Screw propeller]]|[[Torpedo]]}}
| notable_works     = {{ubl|[[Novelty (locomotive)|''Novelty'']]|[[USS Princeton (1843)|USS ''Princeton'']]|[[USS Monitor|USS ''Monitor'']]}}
| relatives         = [[Nils Ericson]] (brother)
| awards            = [[Rumford Prize]] (1862)
| signature         = John Ericsson signature.svg
}}
'''John Ericsson''' (born '''Johan Ericsson'''; July 31, 1803 – March 8, 1889) was a Swedish-American<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Ericsson |title=John Ericsson: Swedish-American Engineer |publisher=Encyclopedia Britannica |date=2019}}</ref> [[engineer]] and inventor.<ref name="haejohnericsson">{{cite web|url=http://hotairengines.org/inventors/ericsson|title=John Ericsson's life|work=hotairengines.org|access-date=6 August 2020}}</ref> He was active in England and the United States.

Ericsson collaborated on the design of the [[railroad]] steam locomotive [[Novelty (locomotive)|''Novelty'']], which competed in the [[Rainhill Trials]] on the [[Liverpool and Manchester Railway]], which were won by inventor [[George Stephenson]]'s (1781–1848), [[Stephenson's Rocket|''Rocket'']]. Later in [[North America]], he designed the [[United States Navy]]'s first screw-propelled steam-frigate {{USS|Princeton|1843|6}}, in partnership with Captain (later Commodore) [[Robert F. Stockton]] (1795–1866) of the [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]], who unjustly blamed him for a [[USS_Princeton_(1843)#1844_Peacemaker_accident|fatal accident]] on the new vessel in 1844. A new partnership with [[Cornelius H. DeLamater]] (1821–1889), of the DeLamater Iron Works in [[New York City]] resulted in the first armoured [[ironclad warship]] equipped with a rotating [[gun turret]], {{USS|Monitor}}, which dramatically saved the U.S. ([[Union Navy]]) naval blockading squadron from destruction by an ironclad [[Confederate States Navy|Confederate States naval]] vessel, {{ship|CSS|Virginia}}, at the famous [[Battle of Hampton Roads]] harbor at the southern mouth of the [[Chesapeake Bay]] (at the confluence of the [[James River (Virginia)|James]] and [[Elizabeth River (Virginia)|Elizabeth Rivers]]) in March 1862, during the [[American Civil War]] (1861-1865).

==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>

==Education==
His only formal education was a basic officer's education and training during his time in the [[Swedish Army]], achieving the military rank of [[captain (armed forces)|captain]]. On March 27, 1822, John passed a surveyor's examination in the Royal [[capital city]] of [[Stockholm]]. As a child he was taught to be a miner and surveyor by his father.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://runeberg.org/nfbg/0405.html|title=John Ericsson|publisher=Nordisk familjebok|access-date=September 1, 2016}}</ref>

==Propeller design==
He then improved ship design with two screw-[[propeller]]s rotating in opposite directions (as opposed to earlier tests with this technology, which used a single screw). However, the [[British Admiralty]] of the [[Royal Navy]] disapproved of the invention in the late [[1830s]], which led to the fortunate contact with the prominent American naval captain (and later [[commodore (rank)|commodore]]) [[Robert Stockton]] (1795-1866), who had Ericsson design a propeller-driven steamer for him and invited him to bring his invention across the [[Atlantic Ocean]] to the United States of America, as it would supposedly be more welcomed in that more free-thinking place. As a result, Ericsson moved to [[New York City]] in 1839. Captain Stockton's plan was for Ericsson to oversee the development of a new class of naval warship of a larger heavier [[frigate]] with Stockton using his considerable political connections to grease the funding authorizations wheels. Finally, after the death of 9th President [[William Henry Harrison]] (1773-1841, served March-April 1841), and succession to the Presidency by his former [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] [[John Tyler]] in the spring of 1841, funds were then allocated to the Navy under the new administration for a new design. However, they only received funding enough for a 700-ton [[Sloop-of-war]] design instead of a larger [[frigate]]. The sloop eventually became the {{USS|Princeton|1843|6}}, named after Stockton's hometown in [[New Jersey]] and the famous [[Princeton University|university]] located there. 

The ship took about three years to complete and was perhaps the most advanced warship of its time. In addition to steam-powered  twin screw propellers, it was originally designed to mount a 12-inch muzzle-loading gun on a revolving pedestal. The gun had also been designed by Ericsson and used [[hoop gun|hoop construction]] to pre-tension the [[breech-loading weapon|breech]], adding to its strength and allowing safe use of a larger charge. Other innovations on the warship design included a collapsible smoke funnel and an improved recoil system for the artillery.

The relations between Ericsson and Stockton had grown tense over time and, approaching the completion of the ship, Stockton began working to force Ericsson out of the shipbuilding project. Stockton carefully avoided letting outsiders know that Ericsson was the primary inventor.{{citation needed|date=March 2017}} Stockton attempted to claim as much credit for himself as possible, even designing a second {{convert|12|in|mm|abbr=on}} gun to be also mounted on the ''Princeton''. Unfortunately, because Stockton did not totally understand the design of the first gun (originally named "The Orator", renamed "The Oregon" by Stockton), the second gun was fatally flawed.

When launched, the ''[[USS Princeton|U.S.S. Princeton]]'' was an enormous success. On October 20, 1843, she won a speed trial against the huge passenger liner, paddle steamer {{SS|Great Western}}, until then considered the fastest steamer afloat. Unfortunately, during a firing demonstration of Capt. Stockton's gun, the [[USS Princeton disaster of 1844|breech ruptured and exploded]], killing visiting onboard observers of [[United States Secretary of State|U.S. Secretary of State]] [[Abel P. Upshur]] and the [[Secretary of the Navy]], [[Thomas Walker Gilmer]] (of the [[Cabinet of the United States|Presidential Cabinet]] of 10th President [[John Tyler]], 1790-1862, served 1841-1845), as well as six others accompanying them. Stockton attempted to deflect the blame onto Ericsson,{{citation needed|date=March 2017}} with moderate success, despite the fact Ericsson's gun was sound and it was instead Stockton's second gun that had failed. Stockton also refused to pay Ericsson, and by using his political connections, Stockton blocked the U.S. Navy bureaucracy from paying him.

==Friendship with Cornelius H. DeLamater==
When Ericsson arrived from [[England]] and settled in New York City, he was persuaded by Samuel Risley of [[Greenwich Village]] to give his work to the Phoenix Foundry. There he met  industrialist and iron / steel foundry owner  [[Cornelius H. DeLamater]] (1821–1889), and soon a mutual attachment developed between the two. Rarely thereafter did Ericsson or DeLamater enter upon a business venture without first consulting the other."<ref name="Leg Docs">{{cite book | title = Legislative Document by New York State Legislature, vol 37, no. 117-118 | publisher = J.B. Lyon Co | year = 1920 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/legislativedocu12legigoog/page/n254 202]–213 | url = https://archive.org/details/legislativedocu12legigoog}}</ref> Personally, their friendship never faltered, though strained by the pressures of business and Ericsson's quick temper, DeLamater called Ericsson "John" and Ericsson called DeLamater by his middle nickname "Harry", intimacies almost unknown in Ericsson's other relationships.<ref name="Nelson">{{cite book | last = Nelson | first = James L. | title = Reign of Iron: The Story of the First Battling Ironclads | publisher = Harper Collins | year = 2005 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=d8XD-j--EVsC&q=Delamater+Iron+works+monitor&pg=PA149| isbn = 978-0-06-052404-3}}</ref> In time, the DeLamater Iron Works, situated facing the [[Hudson River]] on the waterfront / west end of West 13th Street in [[Lower Manhattan]]'s westside, became known as the Asylum where Capt Ericsson had free rein to experiment and attempt new feats. 

The ''Iron Witch'' was next constructed, the first iron steamboat.<ref name="Maritme Book">{{cite book | title = Old Steamboat Days on the Hudson River | publisher = The Grafton Press | year = 1907 | chapter = CHAPTER 6 Steamboat Evolution | url = http://www.hrmm.org/diglib/oldsteam/chapter6.html | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100826072908/http://www.hrmm.org/diglib/oldsteam/chapter6.html | archive-date = August 26, 2010 | df = mdy-all }}</ref> The first hot-air invention of Capt Ericsson was first introduced in the ship ''Ericsson'',<ref name="haeericsson1852">{{cite web|url=http://hotairengines.org/open-cycle-engine/ericsson-1851/story-of-ericsson-caloric-ship |title=Ericsson's Caloric Engine of 1852 |work=hotairengines.org |access-date=6 August 2020}}</ref> built entirely by DeLamater. The DeLamater Iron Works also launched the first submarine boat, first self-propelled torpedo, and first torpedo boat.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1921/12/11/109828409.pdf |title=Honors for Capt Ericsson|newspaper=The New York Times|date=December 11, 1921 }}</ref> When DeLamater died on February 2, 1889, Ericsson could not be consoled. Ericsson's own death only one month later in March 1889, was not surprising to his close friends and acquaintances."<ref name="Carr">{{cite book | last = Carr | first = Edward A. T. |author2=Michael W. Carr |author3=Kari Ann Carr | title = Faded Laurels, The History of Eaton's Neck and Asharoken | publisher = Heart of the Lakes Publishing | year = 1994 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=OP4MAQAACAAJ&q=faded+laurels | isbn = 978-1-55787-119-0}}</ref>

==Hot air engine==
Ericsson then proceeded to invent independently the caloric, or [[hot air engine|hot air, engine]] in the 1820s which used hot air, [[Caloric theory|caloric]] in the scientific parlance of the day, instead of steam as a working fluid. A similar device had been patented earlier in 1816 by the Reverend [[Robert Stirling]] (1790-1878),<ref name="haestirling1816">{{cite web|url=http://hotairengines.org/closed-cycle-engine/stirling-1816 |title=The Stirling 1816 hot air engine |work=hotairengines.org |access-date=6 August 2020}}</ref> whose technical priority of invention provides the usual term 'Stirling Engine' for the device. Ericsson's engine was not initially successful due to the differences in combustion temperatures between burning Swedish wood and firing of British coal. In spite of his setbacks, Ericsson was later awarded the [[Rumford Prize]] of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1862 for his invention.<ref>{{cite web|url=   https://www.amacad.org/archives/history/prizes  |title =  John Ericsson, Rumford Prize, 1862|website=  American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=December 1, 2019}}</ref>

In 1830, Ericsson patented his second engine,<ref name="haeericsson1830">{{cite web|url=http://hotairengines.org/open-cycle-engine/ericsson-1830 |title=Ericsson's 2nd engine |work=hotairengines.org |access-date=6 August 2020}}</ref> that can work either with steam, air or water. This rotative engine objective is to reduce the engine within more convenient limits without any corresponding loss of power.

By 1833, Capt. Ericsson built his third engine,<ref name="haeericsson1833">{{cite web|url=http://hotairengines.org/closed-cycle-engine/ericsson-1833 |title=Ericsson's 3rd engine |work=hotairengines.org |access-date=6 August 2020}}</ref> a hot air engine (or caloric engine) that is exhibited in London: "the engine will prove the most important mechanical invention ever conceived by the human mind, and one that will confer greater benefits on civilized life than any that has ever preceded it" (John O. Sargent). This engine included a [[Regenerative heat exchanger|regenerator]] that would inspire many other hot air engine inventors.{{Citation needed|date=December 2018}}

[[File:Caloric Ship Ericsson, burthen 2200 tons, Built for John B Kitching and Associates, A B Lowber, Commander RMG PU6745.jpg|thumb|Caloric ship ''Ericsson'', 2,200 [[tons burthen]], built for John B Kitching and Associates, A B Lowber, Commander]]
The caloric ship, powered by the fourth Ericsson engine was built in 1852.<ref name="haeericsson1852-ship">{{cite web|url=http://hotairengines.org/open-cycle-engine/ericsson-1851 |title=Ericsson's caloric ship |work=hotairengines.org |access-date=6 August 2020}}</ref>

A group of New York merchants and financiers headed by John B Kitching, Edward Dunham, President of the Corn Exchange Bank, and G.B. Lamar, president of the Bank of the Republic, backed the project and in April, 1852, the keel of the ship was laid at the yard of Perine, Patterson, and Stack in Williamsburgh. At about the same time the construction of the engine was commenced by Messrs Hogg and Delamater.
Hull and machinery were built in the greatest possible secrecy, both Ericsson and his financial backers being convinced that their ship would revolutionize ocean transport by its economy and safety, and that competitors would if possible copy the design of at least the engine.
On September 15, 1852, the ship was launched and in November the engine was turned over at the dock under its own power. It will be a failure.
Smaller experimental engines based on the same patent design and built before the caloric ship will prove to be working efficiently.

In his later years, the caloric engine would render Ericsson comfortably wealthy, as its boilerless design made it a much safer and more practical means of power for small industry than steam engines. Ericsson's incorporation of a 'regenerator' heat sink for his engine made it tremendously fuel-efficient. Apparently in the post Civil War era some time before or around 1882, from the publishing date, a ship was purchased by a Captain Charles L. Dingley called the ''Ericsson'' with a weight of 1,645 tons that was built by John Ericsson (Although the above section on John Ericsson's Friendship with Cornelius H. DeLamater says that the ship known as the ''Ericsson'' was built by the DeLamater Iron Works) to try out the hot air engine as a motive power in open ocean navigation.<ref name="Hittell">{{cite book | last = Hittell | first = John Shertzer | title = The Commerce and Industries of the Pacific Coast of North America, Comprising the Rise, Progress, Products, Present Condition, and Prospects of the Useful Arts on the Western Side of Our Continent, and Some Account of Its Resources, with Elaborate Treatment of Manufactures; Briefer Consideration of Commerce, Transportation, Agriculture, and Mining; and Mention of Leading Establishments and Prominent Men in Various Departments of Business | publisher = San Francisco A.L. Bancroft & Co Publishers | year = 1882 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=KH8rAQAAMAAJ&pg=PP1}}</ref>

Decades later, in 1883 John Ericsson built a solar air engine<ref name="haeericssonsolar">{{cite web|url=http://hotairengines.org/solar-engine/ericsson-1868/study |title=Ericsson's Solar Engine see section 'Ericsson's Solar Hot Air Engine' |work=hotairengines.org |access-date=6 August 2020}}</ref> of 1 HP. The leading feature of the sun motor is that of concentrating the radiant heat by means of a rectangular trough having a curved bottom lined on the inside with polished plates, so arranged that they reflect the sun's rays toward a cylindrical heater placed longitudinally above the trough.
This heater, it is scarcely necessary to state, contains the acting medium, steam or air, employed to transfer the solar energy to the motor; the transfer being effected by means of cylinders provided' with pistons and valves resembling those of motive engines of the ordinary type. Practical engineers, as well as scientists, have demonstrated that solar energy cannot be rendered available for producing motive power, in consequence of the feebleness of solar radiation.

==Ship design==
On September 26, 1854, Ericsson presented Emperor [[Napoleon III of France]] with drawings of iron-clad armored [[battleship]]s with a [[dome]]-shaped gun tower, and even though the French emperor praised this particular plan of an invention, he did nothing to bring it to practical application or to obtain and build such a revolutionary vessel for the [[French Navy]]. In 1851 he designed the [[Ericsson cycle#Caloric ship Ericsson|Caloric ship Ericsson]].

==USS ''Monitor''==
[[File:Monitor model2.jpg|thumb|Replica of USS ''Monitor'']]
{{Main|USS Monitor}}
Shortly after the [[American Civil War]] broke out in 1861, the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]] began constructing an ironclad ram upon the burnt hull hulk of the {{USS|Merrimack|1855|6}} which had been partially burned and then scuttled / sunk by evacuating Federal troops before it was captured by militia forces loyal to the local [[Commonwealth of Virginia]]. Nearly concurrently, the [[United States Congress]] had recommended to the [[United States Department of the Navy|U.S. Navy Department]] in August 1861 that armored ships be built for the American Navy. Ericsson still had a dislike for the U.S. Navy because of his personal experience with now Commodore Stockton, but he was nevertheless convinced by 16th President [[Abraham Lincoln]]'s hard-working new [[United States Secretary of the Navy|Secretary of the Navy]],  [[Gideon Welles]] (1802-1878, served 1861-1869), and railroad executive / shipbuilder [[Cornelius Scranton Bushnell]] (1829-1896), to submit an ironclad ship design to them. Ericsson later presented drawings of {{USS|Monitor}}, a novel design of armored ship which included a rotating turret housing a pair of large cannons. Despite controversy over the unique design, based on Swedish lumber rafts,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Davis|first1=Burke|title=The civil war: strange & fascinating facts|date=1982|publisher=Fairfax Press|location=New York, NY|isbn=0517371510|page=[https://archive.org/details/civilwarstrangef00davi/page/145 145]|edition=1st|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/civilwarstrangef00davi/page/145}}</ref> the keel was eventually laid down in a New York shipyard and the experimental ironclad was launched on March 6, 1862. The ship went from plans to launch in approximately 100 days, an amazing achievement.

On March 8, the former heavy steam frigate USS ''Merrimack'', rechristened as the {{ship|CSS|Virginia}}, for the new [[Confederate States Navy]], was wreaking havoc on the wooden [[Union Navy]] Blockading Squadron in the lower / southern [[Chesapeake Bay]] of [[Virginia]], sinking {{USS|Congress|1841|6}} and {{USS|Cumberland|1842|6}} and damaging / running aground the [[USS Minnesota (1855)|USS Minnesota]] off-shore of the northside peninsula from [[Newport News, Virginia|Newport News]]. The new ''Monitor'' appeared the next day, initiating the first battle between ironclad warships on March 9, 1862, at the [[Hampton Roads]] harbor of southeastern [[Virginia]]. The battle ended in a tactical stalemate between the two ironclad warships, neither of which appeared capable of sinking the other, only causing minor damage on its opponent, but strategically saved the remaining Federal fleet from losing any more now obsolete wooden warships and defeat.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://sok.riksarkivet.se/sbl/Presentation.aspx?id=15375|title= John Ericsson|publisher = Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (tr. Swedish biographical dictionary) |access-date= September 1, 2016}}</ref> After this, numerous [[Monitor warship type|monitors]] were built for the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union's]] [[United States Navy]], including additional twin turret versions, and contributed greatly to the further continued success of the blockade of Southern coasts and port cities with naval victory of the Union over the rebellious states. Despite their low draft and subsequent problems in navigating in high seas, plus frequent engine break-downs, many basic design elements of the ''Monitor'' class were copied in future warships by other designers and navies around the world. The rotating gun turret in particular is considered one of the greatest technological advances in naval history, still found on modern warships today.

==Later designs==
Later Ericsson designed other naval vessels and weapons, including a type of [[torpedo]] and a [[destroyer]], a [[torpedo boat]] that could fire a cannon from an underwater port. He also provided some technical support for [[John Philip Holland]] in his early submarine experiments. In the book ''Contributions to the Centennial Exhibition'' (1877, reprinted 1976) he presented his "sun engines", which collected solar heat for a [[hot air engine]]. One of these designs earned Ericsson additional income after being converted to work as a methane gas engine.

==Death and ensuing controversy==
[[File:The White Squadron's Farewell Salute to the Body of John Ericsson, New York Bay, August 23, 1890.jpg|thumb|The White Squadron's Farewell Salute to the Body of John Ericsson, New York Bay, August 23, 1890]]

Ericsson died on March 8, 1889, the anniversary of the Battle of Hampton Roads, in which his ''Monitor'' famously played a central role.<ref>{{cite web
|url=https://archive.org/stream/lifeofjohnericss011402mbp/lifeofjohnericss011402mbp_djvu.txt
|title=The Life Of John Ericsson Volume I
|date=May 11, 2024
|publisher=by W.C. Church, 1906 |page=2
}}</ref> His wish to be buried in his native land sparked a series of articles in the ''[[New York Times]]'' alleging that, by selecting the third-rate {{USS|Essex|1874}} to transport his remains, the US Navy was not paying proper respect to Ericsson.<ref>"[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1890/07/13/103252368.pdf A Hero's Memory Slighted]", NY Times, July 13, 1890.</ref> The Navy responded and sent the remains on the {{USS|Baltimore|C-3|6}}, escorted by other ships such as {{USS|Nantucket|1862|6}}. On August 23, 1890, the fleet departed with a twenty-one gun salute and the Swedish flag hoisted on every ship of the squadron.<ref>"[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1890/08/20/103260018.pdf Honour to Capt. Ericsson]", NY Times, August 20, 1890.</ref><ref>"[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1890/08/19/106041308.pdf To Salute Sweden's Flag]", ''The New York Times'', August 19, 1890.</ref> Around 100,000 people turned out for the funeral procession and departure ceremonies, including several veterans of the USS ''Monitor''.<ref>"[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1890/08/24/103261223.pdf Back To His Native Land]", ''The New York Times'', August 24, 1890.</ref>

His final resting place is at [[Filipstad]] in [[Värmland]], Sweden.

==Inventions==
*The [[surface condenser]]
*The [[hot air engine]]
*The world's first [[Monitor (ship)|monitor]], {{USS|Monitor}}, was both designed and built by Ericsson for the [[Union Navy]] in the [[American Civil War]]
*[[Torpedo]] technology, especially ''Destroyer'', an advanced [[torpedo boat]]
*The [[Solar thermal collector|solar machine]], using concave mirrors to gather sun radiation strong enough to run an engine.
*{{USS|Princeton|1843}}
*[[Hoop gun]] construction
*the [[propeller]]

==Fellowships==
*Foreign member of the [[Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]] in 1850, Swedish member from 1863
*[[Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences]] in 1852
*Honorary Doctorate at [[Lund University]] in 1868

==Monuments and memorials==
{{multiple image
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| image1 = John Ericsson commemorative stamp, issue of 1926.jpg
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| caption1 = 1926 US Commemorative Stamp
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| caption2 = Statue in Battery Park, New York City
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}}

The stamp commemorating John Ericsson on April 20, 1926, coincided with the unveiling of the Ericsson Memorial in [[West Potomac Park]], Washington, DC directly south of the Lincoln Memorial. The stamp pictures the memorial design by J. H. Frazer. The seated figure of Ericsson has the figures above and behind him of Vision, Labor and Adventure.<ref>"[http://arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=1&cmd=1&mode=1&tid=2032941 Ericsson Memorial Issue]", Arago: people, postage & the post, Smithsonian National Postal Museum, viewed September 29, 2014.</ref>

Monuments in honor of John Ericsson have been erected at:
*[[John Ericsson National Memorial]] on [[The Mall (Washington, DC)|The Mall]] in [[Washington, D.C.]]
*John Ericsson Room at the [[American Swedish Historical Museum]] in [[Philadelphia]]
*[[John Ericsson Statue]] in [[Battery Park]] in [[New York City]]. Public Middle School 126 in the [[Greenpoint,_Brooklyn|Greenpoint]] section of [[Brooklyn]] is also named for him.
*[[Nybroplan]] in [[Stockholm]]
*[[Kungsportsavenyn]] in [[Gothenburg]]
*John Ericsson Street, in [[Lund]], Sweden
*John Ericsson fountain, [[Fairmount Park]], [[Philadelphia]]
*Neighborhood of [[Ericsson, Minneapolis]]
*[[Långban]]shyttan, his birthplace, in Sweden

Ships named in his honor:
* {{USS|Ericsson}}

Organizations:
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080409003237/http://www.johnericssonleaguegopil.org/ The John Ericsson Republican League of Illinois] is a Swedish-American partisan organization.

Mount Ericsson, a mountain summit located in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, is named in his honor.

==In popular culture==
Ericsson is a major character in [[Harry Harrison (writer)|Harry Harrison's]] novels of [[alternate history]], the ''[[Stars and Stripes trilogy]]''.

==See also==
* [[Independence (steamboat)|''Independence'' (steamboat)]], first steamboat to run on the Great Lakes, employing propellers designed by Ericsson
* [[American Swedish Historical Museum]], John Ericsson Room
* [[Experiment (horse powered boat)]]
* {{HSwMS|Sölve}} – a Swedish monitor built 1875 and designed by Ericsson. It is currently in a Maritime Museum in [[Gothenburg]] [[Sweden]]
* [[Ericsson cycle]], a [[thermodynamic cycle]] for [[heat engines]] named after John Ericsson.
*[[Ericsson Line]]
{{clear}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons}}
{{Appletons' poster|year=1900|Ericsson, John|John Ericsson}}
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=jKgTAAAAYAAJ ''The Life of John Ericsson''] By William Conant Church, published 1911, 660 pages.
*[http://www.nps.gov/joer/ John Ericsson National Memorial] in Washington
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070829220345/http://www.johnericsson.org/ John Ericsson Society, New York – Centennial Anniversary year 2007]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20030813051141/http://www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/54.html John Ericsson] at National Inventors Hall of Fame
*[http://www.monitor.noaa.gov/ Monitor National Marine Sanctuary]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20031107120043/http://www.delectus.se/soren/staty/F/John_Ericsson_Fallstedt.html John Ericsson Statue] in Gothenburg
*[http://www.stirlingengines.org.uk/pioneers/pion4.html Some Pioneers in Air Engine Design – John Ericsson]
* [http://www.stirlingengines.org.uk/sun/sola2.html John Ericsson's solar engine]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120328231142/http://www.scientificamericanpast.com/Scientific%20American%201870%20to%201879/4/med/sci2191870.htm 1870-02-19: CAPTAIN ERICSSON'S GUN CARRIAGE]
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=C3uNoWvmR48C The Original United States Warship ''Monitor''] Correspondence between [[Cornelius Scranton Bushnell]], John Ericsson, [[Gideon Wells]], published 1899, 52 pages, compiled by William S. Wells.
*{{Cite PSM|wstitle=Sketch of John Ericsson|month-and-year=November 1893|volume=44}}
*{{Cite Nuttall|title=Ericsson, John |short=x}}
*{{Cite AmCyc|wstitle=Ericsson, John |short=x}}
*[http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/nyhs/Ericsson/index.html The John Ericsson Collection at the New York Historical Society] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170203083100/http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/nyhs/Ericsson/index.html |date=February 3, 2017 }}
*[http://hotairengines.org/inventors/ericsson A history of John Ericsson's hot air engines.]
{{Battle of Hampton Roads|state=autocollapse}}
{{American Civil War|Leaders}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ericsson, John}}
[[Category:1803 births]]
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[[Category:American Civil War industrialists]]
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[[Category:19th-century Swedish inventors]]
[[Category:Swedish mechanical engineers]]
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[[Category:History of firefighting]]
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[[Category:Members of the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala]]
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