Christer Peter Sandberg (1832-1913) of Sandberg
1865 Christer Peter Sandberg, Engineer, Swedish Government Railway Service, Stockholm, Sweden.[1] - Swedish Railways
1868 Established his own consulting firm - Sandberg
1876 Birth of son Christer Peter Sandberg (1876-1941) in Sweden
1878 Birth of son Oscar Fridolf Alexander Sandberg
1913 Obituary [2]
CHRISTER PETER SANDBERG was born at Venersborg, Sweden, on 8th October 1832.
After completing his technical education, he was employed at various blast-furnaces and ironworks in his native country, and in 1855 he received a premium from the Swedish Iron and Steel Association to enable him to pursue still further his practical study in iron manufacture.
In 1860 he came to England on behalf of the Swedish Government as inspecting engineer for rails intended for the Swedish Railways, and held this position until the time of his death.
In 1862 he was sent by the Swedish Iron and Steel Association to Spain, Italy, and Austria, to study and report upon the iron industries of these countries.
In 1868 he also established a general consulting practice for permanent-way material, and soon acquired a world-wide reputation on this subject.
For many years he had been consulting and inspecting engineer to the Swedish, Chinese, and Siamese Governments, and during this period he read a number of Papers before British and American Institutions.
In 1890 he contributed a Paper to this Institution on "Steel Rails, considered Chemically and Mechanically." His sections of rails, known as the Sandberg sections, were first brought out in 1878, and a later design in 1894. For his services in regard to railways he received decorations from his native country, from France, Belgium, Russia and China.
His death took place, after a short illness, at his residence in Sydenham, London, on 4th December 1913, at the age of eighty-one.
He was elected a Member of this Institution in 1890. He was also a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, of the Iron and Steel Institute, and of the Societe des Ingenieurs Civils de France.
1914 Obituary [3]
CHRISTER PETER SANDBERG died on December 4, 1913, after a short illness. He was born at Venersborg, Sweden, in 1832, and after completing his technical education, he was employed at various blastfurnaces and ironworks in his native country. In 1855 he received a premium from the Jernkontoret to enable him to pursue further his practical studies in iron and steel metallurgy. He came to England in 1860 on behalf of the Swedish Government as inspecting engineer for rails intended for the Swedish Railways, and held this position until the time of his death. In 1868 he also established a general consulting practice for permanent-way material, and soon acquired a world-wide reputation on this subject. He saw the great future which was possible for the Bessemer process and its application to the manufacture of rails, to which he devoted all his attention.
In all his researches he approached the problem both from the point of view of the user of the rails and from that of the metallurgist, his investigations bearing upon the composition of the steel best suited for various climatic and traffic conditions, and upon the economical conditions of actual manufacture. He read a number of papers before scientific institutions both in this country and abroad. At meetings of the American Institute of Mining Engineers held in 1880 and 1881, he dealt with the manufacture of long rails from the economical standpoint, and with the value of chemical analyses of the rail steel as a guide to the control of the usual mechanical tests. On numerous occasions, when taking part in the discussion on papers dealing with permanent-way material, he strongly reiterated his opinion that for cold climates it was safer to have in the rail steel as little phosphorus as possible, and to secure hardness by the presence of carbon.
In 1886 he read a paper before the Institution of Civil Engineers, in which he urged the adoption of a 100-1b. flange rail, 51 inches deep, the proportions in the section being 43 per cent. in the head, 22 per cent. in the web, and 35 per cent. in the flange. This rail had twice as much wearing surface as the 66-1b. rail then in use. Shortly after, the Belgian State Railways decided to adopt the heavy rail he recommended, and they have maintained this section ever since. In a paper he read at the Stockholm meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute in 1898, he dealt with the hardness of steel rails.
In regard to the hardness of rails and to their capacity for withstanding a crushing effect, particularly at the ends, it is interesting to note that he carried out crushing tests as early as 1894, with a view to applying them to rail inspection. In his experience, the comparison of a rail made of acid Bessemer steel of normal composition, with one of exactly the same composition but made of basic open-hearth steel, showed the latter to be a much softer rail. He had found in the course of his numerous investigations that the various elements suitable had of necessity to vary; in other words, that a universal composition for rails to suit all cases could not be arrived at satisfactorily. These views on the composition of rail steel, and especially on the high value of the added silicon content, he emphasized at the Engineering Conference of the Institution of Civil Engineers held in 1907, when he read a paper on " The Chemical Composition of Steel Rails and Latest Developments." His success in the line which he had made the study of his lifetime may be illustrated by the statement that the Sandberg silicon rails, his latest improvement in rail-steel manufacture, have lengthened the life of rails from 25 per cent. to, in some cases, threefold. Up to the present time the British, colonial and foreign railways have ordered a total of 900,000 tons of such rails.
He was one of the oldest members of the Institution of Civil Engineers, having been elected in 1866. He was awarded a Telford gold medal and a premium for his paper to that Institution, read in 1886. He was also a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, and a life member of the Societe des Ingenieurs Civils de France. For his services in regard to railways he received decorations from his native country, from France, Belgium, Russia, and China. In his general railway consulting practice, his most distinguished work has been for the Chinese Government Railways and, more recently, for the Siamese Government Railways.
He was a warm supporter of the Iron and Steel Institute, and a constant attendant at the meetings. He was elected a member in 1898.
1914 Obituary [4]