Engineers Cherepanov who to each other. Cherepanov brothers

It would seem that every Tagil citizen knows about who the Cherepanovs are and what they are famous for, almost from the cradle. Yes that Tagilchane - the whole country knows! It is worth typing "Cherepano ..." in the query string of any search engine, and the system will offer you hundreds of links to Internet resources dedicated to the Cherepanovs themselves or their inventions.

The popularity of our illustrious countrymen is evidenced by a funny incident that occurred in 2006 in Moscow. Then, on the eve of National Unity Day, Radio Liberty correspondents went to Red Square, to the monument to Minin and Pozharsky, to find out if Muscovites and guests of the city knew who and why this monument was erected. From more than three dozen seven people interviewed confidently said that the figures of the monument are the Ural craftsmen and inventors of the first Russian steam locomotive, the Cherepanov brothers ...

By the way, try asking “Cherepanov brothers” in the Yandex or Google search engine, and you will get a lot of links, although such resources will still be about father and son.

In the Internet space, in various near-historical forums, for the phrase "Cherepanov brothers" you can be subjected to obstruction, branded as "shkolota" or "petushnik", with the obligatory advice "go, learn materiel". And they will be... wrong.

The fact is that in the matter of creating the first Russian steam locomotive, not everything is as simple as official history presents us. Not only did not only Efim Alekseevich and Miron Efimovich take part in the creation of the steam locomotive, but the legendary Tagil mechanics were almost taken away from the legendary Tagil mechanics during the sunset of the Soviet era.

Let's try to figure it all out.

It must be said right away that the Cherepanovs were not pioneers in the development of steam engineering in the Urals. If we talk about those who were the first to introduce the power of steam in production, then one cannot help but recall Lev Fedorovich Sobakin, who arrived in the Urals from Tver in 1800. Lev Sobakin was famous for the fact that in 1787 he visited England, where he met with James Watt, and on his return to Russia he published a book about Watt's steam engine. In 1803, Sobakin built a single-cylinder steam engine for the Berezovsky gold mines. Two years later, he began working as a mechanic at the Kamsko-Votkinsky plant, where he developed various mechanisms, machine tools and steam engines. But the main passion of Lev Sobakin was the design of watches, and therefore he went down in history as a watchmaker, and not as a mechanic and inventor of steam engines.

In 1804, the Englishman Joseph Merger arrived in the Urals. He also built several steam engines for government factories, and already wanted to organize his own company here, but it soon turned out that the machines he made were very imperfect. Within a year and a half, they all failed, and Merger lost his entire clientele.

And in 1814, at the invitation of A. I. Yakovlev, the mechanic Afanasy Sidorovich Vyatkin arrived in the Urals. Yakovlev hired Vyatkin to introduce steam engines at the Verkh-Isetsky plant. Vyatkin built and tested the first of them in 1815. Nikolai Nikitich Demidov was also present at the tests of this machine, and the work of the steam unit made a strong impression on him.

Nikolai Nikitich did not come alone to the tests of the Vyatka machine, but accompanied by two of his serf mechanics Cherepanovs - brothers Yefim and Alexei ...

... Efim Alekseevich Cherepanov was born on July 27, 1774 in the traditionally large family for those years, the serf coal burner Alexei Petrovich Cherepanov. The Cherepanov family lived on Klyuchi, a working settlement of Vyiskaya Sloboda, located near Mount Vysokaya, and in addition to the head of the family and his wife, there were nine children, of which there were only three “male persons”: Efim, Gavrila and Alexei. All three brothers started working very early: their father was often ill, and the boys helped the family as much as they could.

Soon the clerks noticed that the young Cherepanovs were keenly interested in plumbing, carpentry and blast furnace business, and in free time willingly help the neighboring handicraftsmen. The sons of the coal burner were taken into account and assigned to the school. However, the very fact of being enrolled in studies did not say anything yet. Alexey Petrovich did not object to such a turnover: education gave a chance that children could become artisans, which was the ultimate dream for a charcoal burner.

The legend says that once one of the masters threw a castle into the street, which the clerk of the Vyisky factory brought to him for repair. The castle, according to the master, was not subject to repair. What was the surprise of the master when two days later Efim Cherepanov brought him this castle in working condition. The master reported about the skillful undergrowth to the clerk, and he appointed Yefim as an apprentice to the master for making box furs. And two years later, Yefim was appointed "foreman of plumbing at the dam superintendent."

Efim's career was rapidly going uphill. However, the attendants noted that “... this Efimko achieves everything only with his ingenuity, and neglects his literacy ... ... he knows the score, but he can read badly, only leading with his finger ... " Efim Cherepanov's dislike for books was also noted by contemporaries later.

Nevertheless, when Countess Saltykova asked Nikolai Demidov to help her in the construction of the plant, Nikolai Nikitich sent three of his artisans to St. Petersburg: “... Firsov, Lobov and Cherepanov Sr., for a period until the plant is allowed to open”. The Saltykova plant was launched in 1801, and the Tagil artisans returned home.

Upon returning from the "business trip" Yefim was waiting for different news.

The middle brother - Gavrila - died of an unknown disease, but the younger brother - Alexei - came to the attention of the clerks, like a skilled mechanic. Despite his young age, he "... he was awarded with silver and has many thanks for his considerable efforts and ingenuity." By the way, Yefim himself was already expecting a promotion ...

…IN official history Nikolai Nikitich Demidov is presented as a spendthrift, a spender, and a person who is absolutely not interested in production. In reality, there are many documents that testify to the contrary. If under Nikolai's father, Nikita Akinfievich, the training of working people in literacy and specialties was episodic, then Nikolai Nikitich paid great attention to the training of his own qualified personnel. The same, however, as the modernization of production. Any "smart lad" was registered with clerks and sent to study. Particularly talented people had every chance to continue their studies abroad, and upon completion of it, become clerks and even managers ...

Nikolai Nikitich Demidov

In 1802, Yefim Cherepanov was appointed dam foreman at the Vyisky plant. Soon the clerks report to Demidov: ; “Efimko Alekseev [dam] economy strictly observes, repaired the alignments and did it in his own way, from which they stopped breaking, and also put different machines on the move and they work better than before ... "

Soon, Yefim marries, and a year later his son Miron will be born, who has become known to all of us as the first assistant to his father and the only co-author of the first Russian steam locomotive.

Alexei Cherepanov was born in 1787. From childhood, Alexei tried to be like Yefim in everything, and by the age of 14 he had established himself as a "diligent student, inclined to comprehend the sciences." Like his older brother, Alexey Alekseevich quickly moved along career ladder. At the age of 16, Alexei, as part of a group of artisans, goes to the Kama to help the breeder and senator Vsevolod Andreyevich Vsevolozhsky ...

... Already in Soviet times, in the factory archives of the Vsevolozhsky, sketches and a description of "the device of a steam engine on a river boat and a land stagecoach" were found, made by Alexei Cherepanov. These documents date back to 1803. At that time, apparently, the proposal of the young Tagil artisan was left without attention, but already in 1817 Vsevolozhsky built the first Russian steamship on the Kama, and he himself took it to Kazan. And in 1828, the idea of ​​a “steam stagecoach” was partially implemented: at one of Vsevolod Andreevich’s factories in the city of Pozhva, its working model was built, demonstrating the possibility of creating a land vehicle on steam power. And although these projects were implemented under the guidance of foreign Tets engineers, they were based on the inventions of Alexei Cherepanov ...

Steam carriage of the Pozhvinsky plant

... Meanwhile, the career of Alexei Cherepanov is moving rapidly. He travels a lot in Russia, carrying out orders from Nikolai Demidov related to the arrangement of mechanical business at different factories. In 1813, Alexei Alekseevich, being on another "business trip" in Moscow, personally met Nikolai Nikitich Demidov and reported to him his thoughts on the transfer of conversion production to steam power. The owner liked the idea, and he sends Alexei to the iron foundry in Kronstadt to get acquainted with the equipment. The result of this trip was disappointing: Alexei Alekseevich reported to the office that the "English cars" were expensive and extremely unreliable. But in general, Demidov was pleased with the work of Alexei and thought about creating his own production of steam engines. In the meantime, another, more urgent job was found for Cherepanov Jr.: he was put in charge of the wire production at the Nizhny Tagil plants. Soon Demidov also needed a tinning plant, and Alexei Cherepanov was also entrusted with organizing it. Confidence in the young serf mechanic grew. Soon the owner sends a serf mechanic to Arkhangelsk with the task of auditing the commodity office.

After this incident, Nikolai Nikitich announced that he intended to make Alexei Cherepanov a clerk in the near future.

... Meanwhile, under the influence of his brother, Yefim also begins to take an interest in steam engines. His career at the Nizhny Tagil factories is also moving uphill. At the factories, the Cherepanovs are highly respected. Bailiffs and the manager address them by their first name and patronymic, their children receive special education, and Demidov celebrates the brothers with prizes. But unexpectedly for everyone, in 1817 Alexei Alekseevich Cherepanov dies of pneumonia. He was only 30 years old...

...Three years after the death of his brother, Efim Cherepanov announces the successful testing of his first steam engine. It was a device of relatively small power, setting in motion lathe. The introduction of the machine made it possible to release two workers and seriously increase the productivity of the machine. Then, in 1820, Efim Alekseevich was testing another steam engine. Initially, he suggested using it to pump water from the mine of the Vyisky mine, but in the end the machine was installed in a mill for grinding grain.

Scheme of the first Cherepanov steam engines

The introduction of these machines convinced Nikolai Demidov of the possibility of self-construction of such units. The breeder gives the order to send Efim Alekseevich to England so that he gets acquainted with the peculiarities of the production and use of steam engines.

In the summer of 1821, Cherepanov went to England.

The banker E. Spence, who received the guest, was perplexed in a letter to Demidov: “... How can a simple master, besides not knowing in English to figure everything out? What will he be able to understand in English technology and in metallurgical production?

Nevertheless, Efim Cherepanov toured the facilities in Hull and Lydda, paying special attention to steam engines. Efim Alekseevich reported to Demidov about one of these machines: “... In a minute, this machine pumps up to 500 buckets of water to a height of 17 meters ... ... It does not interfere with the use of one in our copper mine". In the then center of British metallurgy - the city of Lydda - Cherepanov first saw a steam engine moving on land. It was a three-axle platform on which a horizontally positioned boiler was mounted. The car was moving along the rails. The wheels of the middle axle captured the teeth on the rails, and the wheels of the two extreme axles moved along the smooth rail. “I watched the Murray steam engine that carries coal at one time two thousand pounds over a distance of four miles three times a day "- Efim Cherepanov wrote in the report, - “This machine is very outlandish, but for us it is worthless for the reason [that] the English masters are quick to do what they want, but their machines do not last long, and therefore they are often under repair ...”. Watt's steam engines, which were used in the iron rolling process, made a much greater impression on the Ural master.

In 1823, Demidov appointed Cherepanov as the chief mechanic of all factories in the Nizhny Tagil district. At first, he had to deal only with the restructuring and repair of dams, chests, water wheels and other mechanisms. However, soon Efim Alekseevich presents his third four-horsepower steam engine. This machine was also installed at the mill, where it grinded up to 90 pounds of rye per day.

Two years later, Efim Alekseevich, on the orders of Demidov, goes to Sweden. On this trip, he took his son, Miron. From Sweden, the father and son Cherepanovs drove to St. Petersburg, where they examined Byrd's steam engines installed there at the Kolpino and Izhora plants. The reason for this visit was that the entrepreneur and breeder Bird had a monopoly on the sale of steam engines of his own design in the territory. Russian Empire, and more than once offered Demidov to order cars for the Ural factories. At the same time, Bird was racking such prices that Nikolai Nikitich began to more and more incline to the fact that own production steam engines inevitably ...

... In 1826, by decree of Nikolai Demidov, a "Mechanical Establishment" was created at the Vyisky plant - a kind of design bureau. Well-known Tagil mechanics began to work in the "institution" - Pyotr Makarov, Stepan Kozopasov, Frol Monzin, Miron Cherepanov, Pavel Steblov. Efim Alekseevich Cherepanov was put at the head of the "institution".

The first product that came out of the walls of the Mechanical Establishment was a 40 horsepower steam engine designed to pump groundwater at the Anatolsky copper mine. In February 1828, this machine entered into permanent operation.

After the death of Nikolai Nikitich Demidov, the management of the factories passed to his sons - Pavel and Anatoly. Pavel Nikolaevich was busy public service and factory affairs was interested in so far as. But young Anatoly immediately turned his attention to the problem of technical re-equipment of factories. Anatoly Nikolaevich appointed a curator to Cherepanov's "Mechanical Establishment" - a young, educated serf manager Fotiy Shvetsov, giving him broad powers. Before Cherepanov, Anatole set the task of not only “boldly introducing steam mechanisms at factories and mines,” but also teaching especially capable undergrowths. In addition, the “institution” was tasked with preparing as many projects as possible for the introduction of steam engines in the course of the year. metallurgical production and for its maintenance. And a year later, Cherepanov's Design Bureau presented to Anatoly Demidov almost a dozen different projects using steam engines: mechanisms for pumping water, steam hammers, a project for a river steamer and a “land steamer”. A number of these proposals were accepted, a number were rejected, a number were sent for revision. Among the latter was the steam locomotive project.

One of the steam engines developed in Cherepanov's "Mechanical Establishment"

In addition to meeting the needs of the Tagil factories, steam engines were also built in the "Mechanical Establishment" for "export", that is, by order of other breeders. So, in 1828-1830. a machine for pumping water at the Vladimir mine of a copper mine, a steam engine for the Kyshtym plant of the Rastorguevs, and several steam engines for mills were created and put into operation.

Their cars not only cost Demidov twice, or even three times, cheaper than Berdov's, but, as it turned out, they were in good demand among breeders and merchants of the Urals and Siberia ...

(to be continued)

N.B.: The last, fourth part of the audiobook based on the trilogy by E. Fedorov "Stone Belt", is available for download:

Creators of the first railway in Russia, the first Russian steam locomotive, turning, screw-cutting, planing, drilling, nailing and other machines

The Ural metallurgical plants not only allowed Russia to make a powerful economic breakthrough - the dawn of the domestic industry was born here. The enterprises founded by the Demidovs embodied the creativity of many Russian craftsmen, original craftsmen, whose work became the beginning of Russian engineering.

In 1833, Prince Demidov-San Donato sent his serf mechanic Miron Cherepanov to England for a short-term internship. The reason for investing in the education of a thirty-year-old serf was not only the desire for a European approach production management, but also solid benefits, which, in the end, literally made the Demidovs rich. The candidate was also not chosen by chance.

Miron Cherepanov's father, Efim Alexandrovich, began his career as a "fur" master, a specialist in air-inflating devices. Then he became a dam master - a position of particular responsibility, to which not everyone could be appointed. Yefim Alexandrovich's natural talent, conscientiousness, skill in many crafts, ensured him the fame of one of the most prominent Tagil masters. Of course, he brought up all these qualities in his son. Together they provided the Demidovs with a number of unique inventions. Turning, screw-cutting, planing, drilling, nailing machines have turned mining plants into real production. In 1824, Efim Cherepanov designed a four-horsepower steam engine, and four years later, the Cherepanovs built an original gold-washing machine that washed 800-1000 pounds of gold-bearing sand per day. One Cherepanov unit replaced 24 miners and eight horses. This development turned out to be so profitable that the owners ordered Efim Alexandrovich and Miron Efimovich to build two more similar machines.

Nizhny Tagil 1833. This is the birthplace of the Russian steam locomotive, invented. But at that time there was no such word "steam locomotive" in the Russian language. And the car was named "land steamer".

Monument Cherepanov Efim Alekseevich and Miron Efimovich in Nizhny Tagil. Installed in 1956

The inventors are often referred to as the "Cherepanov brothers" - this is a well-established mythology. That is a concept that is firmly rooted in the minds of most people.

Two Cherepanov brothers lived in the Vyisky plant: Efim and Alexei, both by patronymic Alekseevich - serfs of the uncrowned kings of the Urals Demidovs.

Both were very gifted. It was the younger Alexei who made the first sketches of the "land stagecoach" and "infected" his older brother with this idea. This was in 1803. In 1817, Alexei died, but he left behind his son Ammos, who was also involved in the project and helped his uncle and cousin Miron a lot. Thus, to say "the Cherepanov brothers created the first Russian steam locomotive" is quite correct and probably even fair.

Father and son Cherepanovs.

The main designers of the "land stagecoach" are Efim Alekseevich and his son Miron Efimovich Cherepanov. It was to them that a monument was erected on Theater Square in Nizhny Tagil. Father and son are strikingly similar in appearance, like twins. And even Tagil residents sometimes call the monument "the Cherepanov brothers." The fact that this is father and son is not written. They are still very similar to Marx and Engels there. Apparently, Soviet sculptors are accustomed to sculpting the founders of communism, well, they made a blueprint.

The talented self-taught mechanic Efim Cherepanov created many different devices to facilitate the work of workers. For his engineering talents, Nikita Demidov appointed Cherepanov as the mine's chief mechanic. “I did this so that others, seeing you as an example of how I reward, could then try to reach my favors themselves,” Demidov wrote to the master. Efim Cherepanov from 1822 until his death was the chief mechanic of all factories in Nizhny Tagil. And Miron was a deputy and a student, and after the death of his father, he took his place.

Yefim and Miron Cherepanov.

Efim Cherepanov knew that steam engines were operating at factories abroad and dreamed of building the same in Russia in the Urals from domestic materials. Cherepanov wrote about this to Demidov in St. Petersburg. But he did not believe that a simple man, a self-taught mechanic, was able to design a complex steam engine.

There would be no happiness, but misfortune helped. There was a fire at the factory where the Cherepanovs worked. The fire destroyed the water wheels that set the factory mechanisms in motion. Then the inventors received permission to build their own steam engine. It took two years to create it. The Cherepanovs put their first steam mechanism with a capacity of 4 horsepower into operation in 1824. Then, inspired by this success, the Cherepanovs built two more steam engines. I came to look at the wonders of technology chief boss mining plants in the Urals. His admiration knew no bounds. Talented inventors Yefim and Miron Cherepanov should be awarded a gold medal! Petersburg, this caused a commotion. Award a gold medal to a serf? This have not happened before. It is forbidden! Uncomfortable! It was decided to replace the gold medal with a silver one, but on the Annensky ribbon.

idea land steamer The Cherepanovs peeped in England. Nikita Demidov, concerned about the fall in demand for Ural iron, sent artisans abroad to find out the secrets of production. However, British industrialists immediately recognized Russian mechanics as spies and to factories, and even more so, they were not allowed to see the drawings. But the Cherepanovs needed only to see the miracle of modern technology - the famous "rocket" of the English inventor Stephenson, in order to understand that it was precisely the mechanization of labor that Russian production lacked.

Stephenson's rocket was not the world's first steam locomotive. The first steam locomotive was designed by another English engineer Richard Trevithick in 1803. He also built a ring railway, along which his steam locomotive rolled a cart with passengers. The first real railroad was built by George Stephenson in 1830. The line, about 40 kilometers long, connected the two major English cities of Liverpool and Manchester. Stephenson's locomotives carried the first cargo and the first passengers along it. Nowhere in the world are there steam locomotives or railways it wasn't there then.

Traveling around Russia was not an easy task in those days. People moved from place to place in horse-drawn carts or even on foot. Then between major cities eight-seater carriages began to go - stagecoaches, which the people called "nilizhances" because it was impossible to lie down there. For several hours or even days, passengers had to shake in such a stage, closely clinging to each other.

In the wildest dreams of the Cherepanovs, the railway network could cover the whole of Russia, and it would be possible to carry not only goods, but also passengers along it. At first, failure awaited the inventors - the boiler of the locomotive did not heat up well and did not produce required amount pair. In addition, the locomotive did not want to back up. But Russian ingenuity overcame technical difficulties. The Cherepanovs increased the number of fire tubes in the boiler to 80, and it began to heat up properly. Reverse movement was achieved using a mechanism consisting of an eccentric wheel. which set in motion steam spools, which regulated the direction of steam supply to the steam cylinder, which made the wheels of the locomotive rotate in the right direction.

In 1833, the first steam locomotive built in Russia by Russian engineers from domestic materials was ready. In August 1834, he went along the cast-iron wheels - as the rails were then called, laid along the Vyisky field from the factory to the copper mine. The length of the path was just over 800 meters.

The locomotive weighed almost 2.5 tons. It could transport about 200 pounds of ore, which is more than 3 tons at a speed of 12-15 miles per hour. The locomotive driver was Miron Cherepanov - one of its creators, the first passengers of 40 daredevils from the crowd of onlookers. During the tests of the first steam locomotive, a second one was already in development, which was supposed to become larger and much more powerful than the first.

He differed in design. The wheels of the running pair, on which there was no drive, were reduced in size by the Cherepanovs. Six months later, the second locomotive of the Cherepanovs was put on the rails. He pulled a load of already a thousand pounds at a speed of almost 16 km / h.

But the steam locomotives of the Ural inventors did not find a worthy application for themselves. Horse-drawn contractors did not want to lose their income. And soon, along the rails laid by the Cherepanovs for land steamers, wagons with ore began to be dragged by horses.

The news of the construction of the first railway in Russia near St. Petersburg was hard for the Cherepanovs. Foreign engineers were invited to lay rails, steam locomotives were bought in England and Belgium. To draw attention to the domestic steam locomotive, the Cherepanovs built its model for an industrial exhibition in St. Petersburg. But no one could be interested in their invention there. This model is still preserved in the museum. railway transport in St. Petersburg. According to it and according to the partially preserved drawings of the first steam locomotives, an exact copy of the first Russian steam locomotive was made in 1949, which now stands in front of the railwaymen's recreation center opposite the railway station in Yekaterinburg.

Efim Alekseevich and Miron Efimovich Cherepanov (first half of the 19th century)

Ordinary Russian people - father and son: Efim Alekseevich and Miron Efimovich Cherepanov - were the builders of the first steam-powered railway in Russia, the creators of the first Russian steam locomotives and the builders of steam engines for mines and factories. The Cherepanovs invented and built many metalworking machines and other machines.

The father and son of the Cherepanovs are residents of the Urals. Here they worked and created, here they finished their life path. The Cherepanovs were serfs of the famous rich Demidovs. Efim Alekseevich Cherepanov received his freedom only in 1833, when he was about 35 years old. Miron received an official release from the serfdom in 1836. The Cherepanovs' vacation cards, while formally releasing them from serfdom, did not actually release them. Their families remained enslaved, their yard and house stood on the land of the Nizhny Tagil Demidov factories. Nevertheless, the Main Factory Office ordered that special measures be taken so that the Cherepanovs, having received freedom, could not go anywhere. To this end, the factory office took from the Cherepanovs a special "obligation to serve the gentlemen-principals," that is, the Demidovs, who entrusted the management of the Nizhny Tagil factories to the office.

The Demidovs tied the Cherepanovs to their factories, in addition, with constant cash rewards and valuable gifts. There were especially many awards during the life of Nikolai Nikitich Demidov, the last of the Demidov family, who understood the needs of the factory economy and at the end of his life skillfully managed the factories, so that they brought steadily increasing incomes.

Wandering around Western Europe, N. N. Demidov drew attention to the importance of steam engines for factories. But Demidov understood this much later than other Ural breeders.

The first of the known steam engines in the Urals was installed at Turchaninov's Gumeshevsky mine as early as 1799. After that, steam engines appeared at the Yugovsky, Zlatoust and Verkhne-Isetsky plants. At the Demidov factories, the first steam engine began to work in 1824.

The dam foreman Efim Alekseevich Cherepanov did an excellent job of installing such a machine, having spent "the most insignificant cost" on the construction. The car was small: "by force against four horses." It powered a mill that processed up to 90 pounds of grain per day. In honor of its builder, the silver vase, decorated with intricate ornamentation and tourmalines, was engraved with the inscription:

YEFIM ALEKSEEVICH CHEREPANOV Arrangement of the first steam engine in the mines and factories of Nizhny Tagil in 1824.

Cherepanov, both father and son, managed to visit St. Petersburg and abroad, in Sweden. Here they could get acquainted with the advanced technology of that time.

Upon returning from Sweden to Nizhny Tagil, the Cherepanovs set about building a steam engine for the Copper Mine, which was then one of the main wealth of the Demidovs. The copper mine produced over 40,000 poods of copper per year. But copper mining was hindered by water that flooded the mine. That is why large funds were allocated for the construction of drainage machines. The Cherepanovs built a thirty-strong steam engine at the Copper Mine, and after it the second and third steam engines, even more advanced and powerful. Miron Efimovich also visited England, where he studied "the dressing of flat iron by means of rolling shafts, the languishing and melting of steel in the local manner." He met in England and with the device of various steam engines, examined the steamers and steam locomotives.

Ordinary Russian people, the dam foreman and his son, became specialists with a wealth of technical experience. The Cherepanov mechanical establishment, set up at the Vyisky plant, a few kilometers from Nizhny Tagil, became the foremost center of Russian technical thought.

The mechanical establishment of the Cherepanovs served the entire Nizhny Tagil group of the Demidov factories, which included: Nizhne-Tagilsky, Vyisky, Nizhne-Laisky, Verkhne-Laisky, Chernoistochinsky, Visimo-Shaitansky, Nizhne-Saldinsky, Verkhne-Saldinsky and Visimo-Utkinsky plants.

Blast furnaces, dozens of ironworking forges, batteries of copper-smelting furnaces, gold and platinum mines, iron and copper mines required a lot of mechanisms. The management of all work on the construction and use of factory mechanical installations, and in large part the very construction of such, was entrusted to the Cherepanovs. Efim Alekseevich and Miron Efimovich had to develop projects, build and install various blowers, blow hammers, rolling mills, sawmills and many other mechanical installations. The Cherepanovs were obliged to monitor the condition of the factory and other dams. They repaired the dams, under their supervision, the rebuilding of the chest and vessel cuts in the dams was constantly carried out. The Cherepanovs, in addition, built steam engines for factory needs. They built steam engines, critically considering Russian and Foreign experience, constantly striving to improve the machines they create.

Land "steamboat" Cherepanovs

The Cherepanovs were the greatest Russian pioneers in mechanical engineering. They created not only many different machines for factories and mines, but, more importantly, they built many original machines for the production of machines.

The Cherepanovs created wonderful machines: lathes, screw-cutters, planers, and drills. They developed projects and built machines for the production of nails, stamping plants and much more.

The most glorious deed of the Cherepanovs was the creation of the first Russian steam locomotive and the first Russian steam-powered railway.

The first steam locomotive in Russia, created by the Cherepanovs, was launched in August 1834.

The Cherepanovs' steam locomotive ran along "wheel ducts" (rails), which had a total length of about 800 meters. He transported about three and a half tons at a speed of up to 15 kilometers per hour. In 1835, they wrote about this steam locomotive: “The steamer itself consists of a cylindrical boiler 5 1/2 feet long, 3 feet in diameter and two steam recumbent cylinders 9 inches long, 7 inches in diameter. After the first experiments, to enhance the heat, added a certain number of steam-forming copper tubes into the boiler, and now there are up to 80 of them. reverse movement the machine, without turning, is now produced by changing the intake of vapor to the other side, by the action of an eccentric wheel that sets in motion the steam spools. A supply of combustible material, consisting of charcoal, and the water required for action, follows the steamer in a special van, which is further attached to a decent wagon for any luggage or for passengers, including 40 people.

Having successfully built their first steam locomotive, the Cherepanovs immediately set about building a second, more powerful one. By March 1835, the second locomotive of the Cherepanovs, significantly more power than the first one was built. It could carry up to 17 tons.

The work of the Cherepanovs on the creation of steam locomotives was crowned with complete success. This is evidenced by documents reporting the successful operation of "land steamers" a few years after their construction.

The work of the Cherepanovs gave Russia the right to take a place among the first four countries in the world at the time of the introduction of steam-powered railways. These countries are England, USA, France, Russia.

However, the works of the Cherepanovs did not receive either the deserved popularity or proper development. Passed by few people noticed brief reports about their work, published in 1835 in the "Mining Journal" and in the "Commercial Gazette". Only in 1902 did another brief report about the Cherepanovs steam locomotive appear in the Mining Journal.

The wonderful undertaking of the Cherepanovs was forgotten for a long time and thoroughly. In 1837, many reports appeared in the press related to the completion of the construction of the Tsarskoye Selo railway, but the name of the Cherepanovs was not even mentioned. Most of all, and above all, their masters, the Demidovs, who liked to boast of their wealth, act as patrons of art, establish awards for scientific work etc. Pavel and Anatoly Demidov, the sons of Nikolai Nikitich, who died in 1828, were especially distinguished by such love for their own exaltation and pose. Cherepanovs, which are by no means limited only to what is described here. However, neither Pavel nor Anatoly Demidov even tried to pay tribute to the work of their "home mechanics".

The attitude of the "gentlemen of the owners" affected the Cherepanovs' attitude towards the case in Tagil. In 1837, a selection of exhibits was made here "for the exhibition of samples of factory, factory, handicraft and all kinds of products of local industry being established in the Perm province." The exhibits included a variety of things: from cast-iron busts of factory owners, candlesticks, sheet iron, nails, bayonet copper, talcum powder, dishes, malachite - to a fox trap and "rarities from the fossil kingdom" headed by "mammoth tooth". There was no place only for the wonderful creations of the Cherepanovs.

In 1838, an order was received at the Nizhny Tagil factories to select for an industrial exhibition in St. Petersburg something that could glorify the Demidov factories. This time the Cherepanovs were lucky: "they were instructed to make a steam locomotive for the exhibition in a small form." The case, however, ended with the fact that in the boxes sent to the St. Petersburg exhibition in 1839, the place of the model of the first Russian steam locomotive was occupied, according to the "paintings", by the "cast-iron mare" and "cast-iron stallion".

However, Russian science and technology did not forget the names of the father and son of the Cherepanovs. The builders of the first Russian steam locomotive and the first Russian steam-powered railway took pride of place among the innovators of technology.

News of a land steamer built at the Ural factories in 1833, "Mining Journal)), 1835, part II, book 5; News of another land steamer built at the Ural factories in 1835, ibid., part III, book 7; Tonkov R. R., From the history of steam engines in Russia, ibid., 1902, No. 5; Barmin A., Overland steamer, "Ural Contemporary", 1938, No. 1; Danilevsky V. V. , Cherepanovs (manuscript).

Russian inventor and industrial engineer.

Efim Alekseevich (1774-1842) and Miron Efimovich (1803-1849) Cherepanovs, Russian inventors and industrial engineers, father and son. They were from the serfs of the Demidovs, a famous family of factory owners.

From 1822 until his death, Yefim was the chief mechanic of all factories in Nizhny Tagil. His son Miron was his pupil and was appointed his deputy in 1819 and eventually replaced his father after his death.

The Cherepanovs significantly improved the mechanisms used in metallurgy, gold, iron and copper mining, as well as sawmills and flour mills. However, the most interesting aspect of the Cherepanovs' work is the steam engines, which they stubbornly tried to introduce into industrial production. Starting from 1820, the Cherepanovs built about 20 steam engines with power from 2 to 60 hp. In 1833, Miron Cherepanov was sent to England, where he studied the construction of railways. Upon their return, in 1833-1834 they created the first steam locomotive in Russia, and then in 1835 - a second, more powerful one. They also built iron railroads from one of their factories to a copper mine. For the construction of a railway 854 m long, Miron Cherepanov received a free license (Efim received it a little earlier, also for the construction of steam engines). Despite the successful completion of the project, and their locomotives, the Cherepanovs' invention did not find support outside the factory, and subsequently, their steam locomotives were replaced by horse-drawn ones.

It should not be assumed that the steam engines built by the Cherepanovs were not used because of the inertia of the administration of the factories. It was something completely different. Surprisingly - in ecology. The only source of energy in those parts was wood. Deforestation has reached unimaginable levels. The forest had to be transported over vast distances at that time. It was simply unrealistic to use steam engines in such conditions. It took time for a whole structure to take shape at the same time: coal mines, railways to them, coal steam engines (steam locomotives) for transporting coal to coal steam engines - the engines of factories.