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1 Ransome, Robert
SUBJECT AREA: Agricultural and food technology[br]b. 1753 Wells, Norfolk, Englandd. 1830 England[br]English inventor of a self-sharpening ploughshare and all-metal ploughs with interchangeable pans.[br]The son of a Quaker schoolmaster, Ransome served his apprenticeship with a Norfolk iron manufacturer and then went into business on his own in the same town, setting up one of the first brass and iron foundries in East Anglia. At an early stage of his career he was selling into Norfolk and Suffolk, well beyond the boundaries to be expected from a local craftsman. He achieved this through the use of forty-seven agents acting on his behalf. In 1789, with one employee and £200 capital, he transferred to Ipswich, where the company was to remain and where there was easier access to both raw materials and his markets. It was there that he discovered that cooling one part of a metal share during its casting could result in a self-sharpening share, and he patented the process in 1785.Ransome won a number of awards at the early Bath and West shows, a fact which demonstrates the extent of his markets. In 1808 he patented an all-metal plough made up of interchangeable parts, and the following year was making complete ploughs for sale. With interchangeable parts he was able to make composite ploughs suitable for a wide variety of conditions and therefore with potential markets all over the country.In 1815 he was joined by his son James, and at about the same time by William Cubitt. With the expertise of the latter the firm moved into bridge building and millwrighting, and was therefore able to withstand the agricultural depression which began to affect other manufacturers from about 1815. In 1818, under Cubitt's direction, Ransome built the gas-supply system for the town of Ipswich. In 1830 his grandson James Ransome joined the firm, and it was under his influence that the agricultural side was developed. There was a great expansion in the business after 1835.[br]Further ReadingJ.E.Ransome, 1865, Ploughs and Ploughing at the Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester in 1865, in which he outlined the accepted theories of the day.J.B.Passmore, 1930, The English Plough, Reading: University of Reading (provides a history of plough development from the eighth century to the in ter-war period).Ransome's Royal Records 1789–1939, produced by the company; D.R.Grace and D.C.Phillips, 1975, Ransomes of Ipswich, Reading: Institute of Agricultural History, Reading University (both provide information about Ransome in a more general account about the company and its products; Reading University holds the company archives).AP -
2 Ransome, Frederick
[br]b. 18 June 1818 Rushmere, Suffolk, Englandd. 19 April 1893 London, England[br]English engineer and inventor of a type of artificial stone.[br]Frederick Ransome was the son of James Ransome (1782–1849) and grandson of Robert Ransome, founder of the well-known Ipswich firm of engineers. He did not become a partner in the family firm, but devoted his life to experiments to develop an artificial stone. These experiments were recorded in a paper which he presented to the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1848 and in a long series of over thirty patents dating from 1844. The material so formed was a sandstone, the particles of which were bonded together by a silicate of lime. It could be moulded into any required form while in its initial soft state, and when hard was suitable for surface-dressing or carving. It was used for many public buildings, but time proved it unsuitable for outside work. Ransome also used his artificial stone to make grinding wheels by incorporating emery powder in the mixture. These were found to be much superior to those made of natural stone. Another use of the artificial stone was in a porous form which could be used as a filter. In later years Ransome turned his attention to the manufacture of Portland cement and of a cheaper substitute incorporating blast-furnace slag. He also invented a rotary kiln for burning the cement, the first of these being built in 1887. It was 26 ft (7.9 m) long and 5 ft (1.5 m) in diameter; although reasonably successful, the development of such kilns of much greater length was carried out in America rather than England. Ransome was elected an Associate of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1848 and served as an Associate of[br]Bibliography1848, "On the manufacture of artificial stone with a silica base", Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers 7:57.RTS -
3 Agricultural and food technology
See also: INDEX BY SUBJECT AREA[br]Jia SixieLi BingSong YingxingTownshend, CharlesWang ZhenXu GuangqiBiographical history of technology > Agricultural and food technology
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4 Architecture and building
Biographical history of technology > Architecture and building
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5 Civil engineering
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6 Walschaert, Egide
SUBJECT AREA: Steam and internal combustion engines[br]b. 20 January 1820 Mechlin, Belgiumd. 18 February 1901 Saint-Lilies, Brussels, Belgium[br]Belgian inventor of Walschaerrt valve gear for steam engines.[br]Walschaert was appointed Foreman of the Brussels Midi workshops of the Belgian State Railways in 1844, when they were opened, and remained in this position until 1885. He invented his valve gear the year he took up his appointment and was allowed to fit it to a 2–2–2 locomotive in 1848, the results being excellent. It was soon adopted in Belgium and to a lesser extent in France, but although it offered accessibility, light weight and mechanical efficiency, railways elsewhere were remarkably slow to take it up. It was first used in the British Isles in 1878, on a 0–4–4 tank locomotive built to the patent of Robert Fairlie, but was not used again there until 1890. By contrast, Fairlie had already used Walchaert's valve gear in 1873, on locomotives for New Zealand, and when New Zealand Railways started to build their own locomotives in 1889 they perpetuated it. The valve gear was only introduced to the USA following a visit by an executive of the Baldwin Locomotive Works to New Zealand ten years later. Subsequently it came to be used almost everywhere there were steam locomotives. Walschaert himself invented other improvements for steam engines, but none with lasting effect.[br]Further ReadingP.Ransome-Wallis (ed.), 1959, The Concise Encyclopaedia, of World Railway Locomotives, London: Hutchinson (includes both a brief biography of Walschaert (p.502) and a technical description of his valve gear (p. 298)).E.L.Ahrons, 1927, The British Steam Railway Locomotive 1825–1925, London: The Locomotive Publishing Co., pp. 224 and 289 (describes the introduction of the valve gear to Britain).J.B.Snell, 1964, Early Railways, London: Weidenfeld \& Nicolson, 103.PJGR
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