Isaac Dripps was born in Belfast, Ireland on April 14, 1810. He was of Scotch and Irish parents who emigrated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with him when he was an infant. lie attended the city public schools, completing the curriculum at the age of sixteen, and then was apprenticed to Thomas Holloway, at that time the largest builder of steamboat machinery in Philadelphia.
Dripps attended the city public schools, completing the curriculum at the age of sixteen, and then was apprenticed to Thomas Holloway, at that time the largest builder of steamboat machinery in Philadelphia. Here he remained for a little over five years, rising rapidly until he was given full charge of fitting and erecting all machinery built by the company.
Dripps remained for a little over five years, rising rapidly until he was given full charge of fitting and erecting all machinery built by the company.
In 1830 this company organized a subsidiary to operate a steam railroad between Camden and Amboy, New Jersey, and ordered an English locomotive.
When the “John Bull, ” as it was named, arrived in Philadelphia in August 1831, Dripps, then a little over twenty-one, was induced to join the railroad company and was given the task of transporting the knocked-down locomotive from Philadelphia to Bordentown, New Jersey, and of erecting it there. He had never seen a locomotive before, but with the aid of meager drawings accomplished the job, constructing at the same time a tender and subsequently a cow-catcher for it, and finally served as engineer on its trial trip November 12, 1831.
For the succeeding twenty-two years he continued with the Camden & Amboy Railroad.
At first he was in charge of locomo-Drisler tive construction in the company’s shops at Hoboken.
He then was made superintendent of machinery with the additional duty of maintenance of all steamboats operated by the company, and toward the end of his service was superintendent of motive power and machinery.
In 1859 he accepted the position of superintendent of motive power and machinery of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad and moved with his family to Fort Wayne, Indiana.
During the succeeding ten years he completely rebuilt the mechanical department.
Not only the shops but also much of the machinery and tools were designed by him and, when completed, the establishment was looked upon as the model shop of the country, far superior to anything then extant in the United States.
Flere he undertook the construction of the most extensive railroad-shops in the country, when his health failed and he was compelled to resign on March 31, 1872.
He served in the company, however, for the succeeding six years as a special agent, devoting most of his time to experimental work, particularly on the determination of the frictional resistance of various classes of locomotives.
His health failing to improve, he gave up his work entirely in 1878 and retired to his son’s home in Philadelphia.
In the course of his career he devised innumerable mechanisms, tools, and the like for use in the construction of locomotives, freight and passenger cars, and steamboat machinery, but never patented any of them.
Dripps was made superintendent of motive power and machinery of the Pennsylvania Railroad on April 1, 1870, with headquarters at Altoona, Pennsylvania. He designed for one of the early steamboats of the Union Line a unique type of screw propeller, and also for the first time on any vessel installed the rudder aft of the propeller.
Dripps married after1830 and was survived by his son William.
