Vauclain, Samuel

Vauclain, Samuel (Matthews) (1856–1940) engineer, inventor; born in Port Richmond, Pa. His father helped Matthias Baldwin build his first locomotive. After an apprenticeship with the Pennsylvania Railroad shops, the younger Vauclain joined the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia (1883) and remained with the company for the rest of his life. He perfected a series of improvements to locomotives and became a world authority on locomotive design. As president (from 1919) and later board chairman (from 1929) of Baldwin, he was noteworthy for his hostility to labor unions, once firing 2,500 workers he considered to be "agitators."