architect-engineering firm

 

проектно-конструкторская фирма
Фирма, специализирующаяся на проектах сооружений (напр. ТЭС, АЭС)
[А.С.Гольдберг. Англо-русский энергетический словарь. 2006 г.]

Тематики

• энергетика в целом

EN

• architect-engineering firm
• AEF

 

проектно-конструкторская фирма
Фирма, специализирующаяся на проектах сооружений (напр. ТЭС, АЭС)
[А.С.Гольдберг. Англо-русский энергетический словарь. 2006 г.]

Тематики

• энергетика в целом

EN

• architect-engineering firm
• AEF

1) Общая лексика: ответственный исполнитель, контактор ((сокр. от) account executive, advertising executive), американский английский (American English), appliance electronics (сокр.) (бытовая электроника; электроника бытовых электроприборов), НЯ (нежелательные явления (Adverse Events/Effects)), adult education (сокр.) (обучение взрослых), assistant engineer (сокр.) (помощник инженера, младший инженер)

2) Компьютерная техника: Active Entity

3) Биология: aminoethyl

4) Морской термин: ( &\#198;) third class (сокр.) (третий класс (по классификации Английского Ллойда))

5) Медицина: неблагоприятная реакция на применение лекарства, нежелательное явление (adverse event), aspergillus endophthalmitis

6) Американизм: Architect And Engineering

7) Военный термин: Aerial Exploitation, Army Europe, Army education, Army in Europe, Attack Electronic, acoustic emission, acquisition executive, added entry, aeromedical evacuation, aerospace education, air engineer, airborne equipment, angle of elevation, armor, artillery, and engineers aptitude area, assistant engineer, atomic energy, auxiliary equipment, aviation engineer, air engineering( сокр.) (1. авиаинженерный 2. авиационно-технической службы ( специализация офицера) (Великобритания)), air electrical (сокр.) (авиационно-электротехнический (НАТО)), auxiliary engineering (сокр.) (инженерно-вспомогательный), availability of equipment (сокр.) (наличие оборудования)

8) Техника: abort electronics, activation energy, actual efficiency, air ejector, air-electrical, airborne electronics, aircraft equipment, alkyl polyethoxylate, appliance electronics, atmospheric emission, aviation electrician

9) Сельское хозяйство: avian encephalomyelitis, agricultural engineer

10) Шутливое выражение: Awesome Entertainment, Awful Entertainment

11) Химия: Auger Electron

12) Математика: Auxiliary Equation, абсолютная ошибка (absolute error), абсолютный экстенсор (absolute extensor), арифметическое выражение (arithmetic expression), асимптотическая эффективность (asymptotic efficiency), почти всюду (almost everywhere)

13) Экономика: All England( сокр.) (всеанглийский), American Express Company (сокр.) (компания «Америкен Экспресс»), Alaska Economic Report (сокр.) (наименование американского периодического издания по экономическим вопросам), accrued expenditure (сокр.) (нарастающие расходы, затраты нарастающим итогом)

14) Бухгалтерия: Actual Expense, annual exemption

15) Телевидение: audio erase

16) Сокращение: (type abbreviation) Ammunition ship (small; L), Aeronautical Engineer, Aircraft Establishment, American English, American Eskimo, Ammunition ship (USA), Application Execution, Armada Espanola (Spanish Navy), Assault Echelon, air escape, armament and electronics, (USN Rating) Aviation Electrician's Mate, ASCII Express, Above Elbow (amputation), Academic Edition (Microsoft), Acceptance Equipment, Access Enforcer (SAP GRC Access Control Product), Accident & Emergency, Acclaim Entertainment, Inc., Account Engineer, Accuracy of Estimation, Acela Express (Amtrak train service), Acoustic Engineer, Acquisition Economics, Acquisition Engineer/Executive, Acrodermatitis Enteropathica (zinc deficiency), Action Entry, Action Express (pistol cartridge), Active Emission, Active Enhancement, Activity End Invocation (ITU-T), Adaptive Enterprise (HP), Adaptive Equalizer, Additional Entry (USPS), Address Extension (Sprint), Adult Entertainment, Advanced Exchange, Adverse Effect, Adverse Event, Aero Postale (clothing manufacturer), Aerobic Exercise, Aeronautical Engineering, Aerosol, Aerospace Engineers/Aerospace Engineering, After Earth (Titan A.e.), Age Equivalent, Aggregate Expenditures (economics), Agricultural Engineer/Agricultural Engineering, Ahorristas Estafados (Paraguay), Air Efficiency Award (RAF), Air Entry, Air Europa, Air Evacuation, Akademia Economiczna (Polish), Albert Einstein, Algorithm Enable, Allegheny & Eastern (railroad), Allegheny Energy, Inc., Almost Everywhere (mathematics), Alpha Elites (gaming), Also Eligible (horse racing), Alveolar Echinococcosis, Alzheimer Europe, American Eagle, American Eagle Outfitters, American Express, Ammunition & Explosives, Ammunition Ship, Amplifier Extender (FS-1037c), Amtrak Express (railroad), Analog Equipment, Analytical Equipment, Anchor Site East, Angled End, Angstro"meinheit, Anion Exchange Protein, Ansaldo Energia, Antenna Electronics, Anything Else?, AppleEvent (inter-application communications for Macintosh OS), Applicant Entity, Application Engineer, Application Engineering, Application Engineers, Application Environment, Applications Environment, Applied Entomology, Apportioned Effort, Approved Equal, Aptitude Area, Arbeitseinheit, Arcane Explosion (gaming, World of Warcraft), Arch Enemy (band), Architect Evangelist (Microsoft), Architect and Engineering Firm, Architect-Engineer (also abbreviated A-E), Architectural Engineer, Architectural Engineering, Architecture Engineering, Area of Effect (gaming), Argument from Evil (philosophy), Armed Forces Africa (used with APO/FPO), Armed Forces Canada (used with APO/FPO), Armed Forces Middle East (used with APO/FPO), Armies In Europe (used with APO/FPO), Army Experiment, Articles Editor (law review), Ascent/Entry, Assigned Evaluator, Associate Editor, Associated Electrics, Inc (radio controlled cars), Associated Equipment (EMC testing), Atmospheric Explorer, Atomic Emission, Attenuation Equalizer, Attitude Ephemeris, Auroral Electrojet index, Australian Encephalitis, Australian English, Autechre (band), Auto Estrada (Motorway), Auto Exposure, Automation Equipment, Automotive Extrication (emergency & rescue services), Auxiliary Explosive (US Navy ammunition ship designation), Avian Encephalomalacia (Vitamin E Deficiency), Avian Encephalomyelitis (poultry viral disease), Mandarin Airlines (IATA airline code), United Arab Emirates (Internet TLD), above or equal

17) Университет: Academic Enrichment, Agricultural Engineering

18) Физика: actual envelope (сокр.) (фактическая огибающая), activation energy (сокр.) (энергия активации)

19) Физиология: Above the elbow, Active And Equal, Aryepiglottic Fold

20) Вычислительная техника: arithmetic element, arithmetic expression, Application Entity / Environment / Execution / Engineering (APE), Apple Events (Apple)

21) Нефть: anode effect

22) Иммунология: Adult Equivalent

23) Банковское дело: зарегистрированный представитель брокерской фирмы (account executive)

24) Фирменный знак: Acoustic Electric, Action Express, Associated Electrics

25) СМИ: Abstract Expressionism, After The End

26) Почта: Armed Forces Europe, Canada, Middle East (Префикс военной почты для Европы, Канады и Ближнего Востока)

27) Образование: Additional Exercise, Alternative Education

28) Инвестиции: account executive

29) Сетевые технологии: application entity

30) Полимеры: absolute error

31) Контроль качества: asymptotic efficiency

32) Телефония: прикладной объект

33) Химическое оружие: Architect engineer, Area engineer, acid ester of methyl-phosphonic acid, methyl-phosphonic acid ester

34) Военно-морской флот: Aviation Electrician's Mate (сокр.) (старшина—авиационный электрик)

35) Судостроение: площадь спрямлённой поверхности лопастей гребного винта (expanded blade area of a screw propeller)

36) Электротехника: accidental error, admissible error

37) Майкрософт: асимметричное шифрование

38) AMEX. Adams Resources & Energy, Inc.

39) Клинические исследования: нежелательное явление

1) Общая лексика: ответственный исполнитель, контактор ((сокр. от) account executive, advertising executive), американский английский (American English), appliance electronics (сокр.) (бытовая электроника; электроника бытовых электроприборов), НЯ (нежелательные явления (Adverse Events/Effects)), adult education (сокр.) (обучение взрослых), assistant engineer (сокр.) (помощник инженера, младший инженер)

2) Компьютерная техника: Active Entity

3) Биология: aminoethyl

4) Морской термин: ( &\#198;) third class (сокр.) (третий класс (по классификации Английского Ллойда))

5) Медицина: неблагоприятная реакция на применение лекарства, нежелательное явление (adverse event), aspergillus endophthalmitis

6) Американизм: Architect And Engineering

7) Военный термин: Aerial Exploitation, Army Europe, Army education, Army in Europe, Attack Electronic, acoustic emission, acquisition executive, added entry, aeromedical evacuation, aerospace education, air engineer, airborne equipment, angle of elevation, armor, artillery, and engineers aptitude area, assistant engineer, atomic energy, auxiliary equipment, aviation engineer, air engineering( сокр.) (1. авиаинженерный 2. авиационно-технической службы ( специализация офицера) (Великобритания)), air electrical (сокр.) (авиационно-электротехнический (НАТО)), auxiliary engineering (сокр.) (инженерно-вспомогательный), availability of equipment (сокр.) (наличие оборудования)

8) Техника: abort electronics, activation energy, actual efficiency, air ejector, air-electrical, airborne electronics, aircraft equipment, alkyl polyethoxylate, appliance electronics, atmospheric emission, aviation electrician

9) Сельское хозяйство: avian encephalomyelitis, agricultural engineer

10) Шутливое выражение: Awesome Entertainment, Awful Entertainment

11) Химия: Auger Electron

12) Математика: Auxiliary Equation, абсолютная ошибка (absolute error), абсолютный экстенсор (absolute extensor), арифметическое выражение (arithmetic expression), асимптотическая эффективность (asymptotic efficiency), почти всюду (almost everywhere)

13) Экономика: All England( сокр.) (всеанглийский), American Express Company (сокр.) (компания «Америкен Экспресс»), Alaska Economic Report (сокр.) (наименование американского периодического издания по экономическим вопросам), accrued expenditure (сокр.) (нарастающие расходы, затраты нарастающим итогом)

14) Бухгалтерия: Actual Expense, annual exemption

15) Телевидение: audio erase

16) Сокращение: (type abbreviation) Ammunition ship (small; L), Aeronautical Engineer, Aircraft Establishment, American English, American Eskimo, Ammunition ship (USA), Application Execution, Armada Espanola (Spanish Navy), Assault Echelon, air escape, armament and electronics, (USN Rating) Aviation Electrician's Mate, ASCII Express, Above Elbow (amputation), Academic Edition (Microsoft), Acceptance Equipment, Access Enforcer (SAP GRC Access Control Product), Accident & Emergency, Acclaim Entertainment, Inc., Account Engineer, Accuracy of Estimation, Acela Express (Amtrak train service), Acoustic Engineer, Acquisition Economics, Acquisition Engineer/Executive, Acrodermatitis Enteropathica (zinc deficiency), Action Entry, Action Express (pistol cartridge), Active Emission, Active Enhancement, Activity End Invocation (ITU-T), Adaptive Enterprise (HP), Adaptive Equalizer, Additional Entry (USPS), Address Extension (Sprint), Adult Entertainment, Advanced Exchange, Adverse Effect, Adverse Event, Aero Postale (clothing manufacturer), Aerobic Exercise, Aeronautical Engineering, Aerosol, Aerospace Engineers/Aerospace Engineering, After Earth (Titan A.e.), Age Equivalent, Aggregate Expenditures (economics), Agricultural Engineer/Agricultural Engineering, Ahorristas Estafados (Paraguay), Air Efficiency Award (RAF), Air Entry, Air Europa, Air Evacuation, Akademia Economiczna (Polish), Albert Einstein, Algorithm Enable, Allegheny & Eastern (railroad), Allegheny Energy, Inc., Almost Everywhere (mathematics), Alpha Elites (gaming), Also Eligible (horse racing), Alveolar Echinococcosis, Alzheimer Europe, American Eagle, American Eagle Outfitters, American Express, Ammunition & Explosives, Ammunition Ship, Amplifier Extender (FS-1037c), Amtrak Express (railroad), Analog Equipment, Analytical Equipment, Anchor Site East, Angled End, Angstro"meinheit, Anion Exchange Protein, Ansaldo Energia, Antenna Electronics, Anything Else?, AppleEvent (inter-application communications for Macintosh OS), Applicant Entity, Application Engineer, Application Engineering, Application Engineers, Application Environment, Applications Environment, Applied Entomology, Apportioned Effort, Approved Equal, Aptitude Area, Arbeitseinheit, Arcane Explosion (gaming, World of Warcraft), Arch Enemy (band), Architect Evangelist (Microsoft), Architect and Engineering Firm, Architect-Engineer (also abbreviated A-E), Architectural Engineer, Architectural Engineering, Architecture Engineering, Area of Effect (gaming), Argument from Evil (philosophy), Armed Forces Africa (used with APO/FPO), Armed Forces Canada (used with APO/FPO), Armed Forces Middle East (used with APO/FPO), Armies In Europe (used with APO/FPO), Army Experiment, Articles Editor (law review), Ascent/Entry, Assigned Evaluator, Associate Editor, Associated Electrics, Inc (radio controlled cars), Associated Equipment (EMC testing), Atmospheric Explorer, Atomic Emission, Attenuation Equalizer, Attitude Ephemeris, Auroral Electrojet index, Australian Encephalitis, Australian English, Autechre (band), Auto Estrada (Motorway), Auto Exposure, Automation Equipment, Automotive Extrication (emergency & rescue services), Auxiliary Explosive (US Navy ammunition ship designation), Avian Encephalomalacia (Vitamin E Deficiency), Avian Encephalomyelitis (poultry viral disease), Mandarin Airlines (IATA airline code), United Arab Emirates (Internet TLD), above or equal

17) Университет: Academic Enrichment, Agricultural Engineering

18) Физика: actual envelope (сокр.) (фактическая огибающая), activation energy (сокр.) (энергия активации)

19) Физиология: Above the elbow, Active And Equal, Aryepiglottic Fold

20) Вычислительная техника: arithmetic element, arithmetic expression, Application Entity / Environment / Execution / Engineering (APE), Apple Events (Apple)

21) Нефть: anode effect

22) Иммунология: Adult Equivalent

23) Банковское дело: зарегистрированный представитель брокерской фирмы (account executive)

24) Фирменный знак: Acoustic Electric, Action Express, Associated Electrics

25) СМИ: Abstract Expressionism, After The End

26) Почта: Armed Forces Europe, Canada, Middle East (Префикс военной почты для Европы, Канады и Ближнего Востока)

27) Образование: Additional Exercise, Alternative Education

28) Инвестиции: account executive

29) Сетевые технологии: application entity

30) Полимеры: absolute error

31) Контроль качества: asymptotic efficiency

32) Телефония: прикладной объект

33) Химическое оружие: Architect engineer, Area engineer, acid ester of methyl-phosphonic acid, methyl-phosphonic acid ester

34) Военно-морской флот: Aviation Electrician's Mate (сокр.) (старшина—авиационный электрик)

35) Судостроение: площадь спрямлённой поверхности лопастей гребного винта (expanded blade area of a screw propeller)

36) Электротехника: accidental error, admissible error

37) Майкрософт: асимметричное шифрование

38) AMEX. Adams Resources & Energy, Inc.

39) Клинические исследования: нежелательное явление

SUBJECT AREA: Ports and shipping

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From 1844 until 1962, the Clyde shipyard of William Denny and Brothers, Dumbarton, produced over 1,500 ships, trained innumerable students of all nationalities in shipbuilding and marine engineering, and for the seventy-plus years of their existence were accepted worldwide as the leaders in the application of science to ship design and construction. Until the closure of the yard members of the Denny family were among the partners and later directors of the firm: they included men as distinguished as Dr Peter Denny (1821(?)–95), Sir Archibald Denny (1860–1936) and Sir Maurice Denny (1886– 1955), the main collaborator in the design of the Denny-Brown ship stabilizer.

One of the most influential of this shipbuilding family was William Denny, now referred to as William 3! His early education was at Dumbarton, then on Jersey and finally at the Royal High School, Edinburgh, before he commenced an apprenticeship at his father's shipyard. From the outset he not only showed great aptitude for learning and hard work but also displayed an ability to create good relationships with all he came into contact with. At the early age of 21 he was admitted a partner of the shipbuilding business of William Denny and Brothers, and some years later also of the associated engineering firm of Denny \& Co. His deep-felt interest in what is now known as industrial relations led him in 1871 to set up a piecework system of payment in the shipyard. In this he was helped by the Yard Manager, Richard Ramage, who later was to found the Leith shipyard, which produced the world's most elegant steam yachts. This research was published later as a pamphlet called The Worth of Wages, an unusual and forward-looking action for the 1860s, when Denny maintained that an absentee employer should earn as much contempt and disapproval as an absentee landlord! In 1880 he initiated an awards scheme for all company employees, with grants and awards for inventions and production improvements. William Denny was not slow to impose new methods and to research naval architecture, a special interest being progressive ship trials with a view to predicting effective horsepower. In time this led to his proposal to the partners to build a ship model testing tank beside the Dumbarton shipyard; this scheme was completed in 1883 and was to the third in the world (after the Admiralty tank at Torquay, managed by William Froude and the Royal Netherlands Navy facility at Amsterdam, under B.J. Tideman. In 1876 the Denny Shipyard started work with mild-quality shipbuilding steel on hulls for the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company, and in 1879 the world's first two ships of any size using this weight-saving material were produced: they were the Rotomahana for the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand and the Buenos Ayrean for the Allan Line of Glasgow. On the naval-architecture side he was involved in Denny's proposals for standard cross curves of stability for all ships, which had far-reaching effects and are now accepted worldwide. He served on the committee working on improvements to the Load Line regulations and many other similar public bodies. After a severe bout of typhoid and an almost unacceptable burden of work, he left the United Kingdom for South America in June 1886 to attend to business with La Platense Flotilla Company, an associate company of William Denny and Brothers. In March the following year, while in Buenos Aires, he died by his own hand, a death that caused great and genuine sadness in the West of Scotland and elsewhere.

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SUBJECT AREA: Ports and shipping

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Kenneth Barnaby was an eminent naval architect, as were his father and grandfather before him: his grandfather was Sir Nathaniel Barnaby KGB, Director of Naval Construction, and his father was Sydney W.Barnaby, naval architect of John I. Thornycroft \& Co., Shipbuilders, Southampton. At one time all three were members of the Institution of Naval Architects, the first time that this had ever occurred with three members from one family.

Kenneth Barnaby served his apprenticeship at the Thornycroft shipyard in Southampton and later graduated in engineering from the Central Technical College, South Kensington, London. He worked for some years at Le Havre and at John Brown's shipyard at Clydebank before rejoining his old firm in 1916 as Assistant to the Shipyard Manager. In 1919 he went to Rio de Janeiro as a chief ship draughtsman, and finally he returned to Thornycroft, in 1924 he succeeded his father as Naval Architect, and remained in that post until his retirement in 1955, having been appointed a director in 1950.

Barnaby had a wide knowledge and understanding of ships and ship design and during the Second World War he was responsible for much of the development work for landing craft, as well as for many other specialist ships built at the Southampton yard. His experience as a deep-sea yachtsman assisted him. He wrote several important books; however, none can compare with the Centenary Volume of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects. In this work, which is used and read widely to this day by naval architects worldwide, he reviewed every paper presented and almost every verbal contribution made to the Transactions during its one hundred years.

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SUBJECT AREA: Architecture and building, Civil engineering

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The American skyscraper was, in the 1870s and 1880s, very much the creation of what came to be known as the Chicago school of architecture. It was the most important American contribution to the urban architectural scene. At this time conditions were ripe for this type of office development, and in the big cities, notably Chicago and New York, steeply rising land values provided the incentive to build high; the structural means to do so had been triggered by the then low costs of making quality iron and steel. The skyscraper appeared after the invention of the passenger lift by Otis and the pioneer steel-frame work of Jenney. In 1875 Holabird was working in Jenney's office in Chicago. By 1883 he had set up in private practice, joined by another young architect, Martin Roche (1855–1927), and together they were responsible for the Tacoma Building (1887–9) in Chicago. In this structure the two front façades were entirely non-load-bearing and were carried by an internal steel skeleton; only the rear walls were load-bearing. The design of the building was not revolutionary (this had to wait for L.H. Sullivan) but was traditional in form. It was the possibility of being able to avoid load-bearing outer walls that enabled a building to rise above some nine storeys, and the thirteen-storeyed Tacoma Building pointed the way to the future development of the skyscraper. The firm of Holabird \& Roche continued in the following decades in Chicago to design and construct further high-quality, although lower, commercial buildings such as those in South Michigan Avenue and the McClurg Building. However, they are best remembered for their contribution in engineering to the development of high-rise construction.

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SUBJECT AREA: Architecture and building, Civil engineering

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Auguste Perret belonged to the family contracting firm of A. \& G.Perret, which early specialized in the use of reinforced concrete. His eight-storey building at 25 bis Rue Franklin in Paris, built in 1902–3, was the first example of frame construction in this material and established its viability for structural design. Both ground plan and façade are uncompromisingly modern, the simplicity of the latter being relieved by unobtrusive faience decoration. The two upper floors, which are set back, and the open terrace roof garden set a pattern for future schemes. All of Perret's buildings had reinforced-concrete structures and this was clearly delineated on the façade designs. The concept was uncommon in Europe at the time, when eclecticism still largely ruled, but was derived from the late nineteenth-century skyscraper façades built by Louis Sullivan in America. In 1905–6 came Perret's Garage Ponthieu in Paris; a striking example of exposed concrete, it had a central façade window glazed in modern design in rich colours. By the 1920s ferroconcrete was in more common use, but Perret still led the field in France with his imaginative, bold use of the material. His most original structure is the Church of Notre Dame at Le Raincy on the outskirts of Paris (1922–3). The imposing exterior with its tall tower in diminishing stages is finely designed, but the interior has magnificence. It is a wide, light church, the segmented vaulted roof supported on slender columns. The whole structure is in concrete apart from the glass window panels, which extend the full height of the walls all around the church. They provide a symphony of colour culminating in deep blue behind the altar. Because of the slenderness of the columns and the richness of the glass, this church possesses a spiritual atmosphere and unimpeded sight and sound of and from the altar for everyone. It became the prototype for churches all over Europe for decades, from Moser in prewar Switzerland to Spence's postwar Coventry Cathedral.

In a long working life Perret designed buildings for a wide range of purposes, adhering to his preference for ferroconcrete and adapting its use according to each building's needs. In the 1940s he was responsible for the railway station at Amiens, the Atomic Centre at Saclay and, one of his last important works, the redevelopment after wartime damage of the town centre of Le Havre. For the latter, he laid out large open squares enclosed by prefabricated units, which display a certain monotony, despite the imposing town hall and Church of St Joseph in the Place de L'Hôtel de Ville.

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SUBJECT AREA: Ports and shipping

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Almost all of Watson's life was spent in or around the City of Glasgow; his formal education was at the city's High School and at the age of 16 he entered the yard and drawing offices of Robert Napier's Govan Shipyard. Three years later he crossed the River Clyde and started work in the design office of the Pointhouse Shipyard of A. \& J.Inglis, and there received the necessary grounding of a naval architect. Dr John Inglis, the Principal of the firm, encouraged Watson, ensured that he was involved in advanced design work and allowed him to build a yacht in a corner of the shipyard in his spare time.

At the early age of 22 Watson set up as a naval architect with his own company, which is still in existence 120 years later. In 1875, assisted by two carpenters, Watson built the 5-ton yacht Vril to his own design. This vessel was the first with an integral heavy lead keel and its success ensured that design contracts flowed to him for new yachts for the Clyde and elsewhere. His enthusiasm and increasing skill were recognized and soon he was working on the ultimate: the America's Cup challengers Thistle, Valkyrie II, Valkyrie III and Shamrock II. The greatest accolade was the contract for the design of the J Class yacht Britannia, built by D. \& W.Henderson of Glasgow in 1893 for the Prince of Wales.

The company of G.L.Watson became the world's leading designer of steam yachts, and it was usual for it to offer a full design service as well as supervise construction in any part of the world. Watson took a deep interest in the work of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and was its technical consultant for many years. One of his designs, the Watson Lifeboat, was a stalwart in its fleet for many years. In public life he lectured, took an active part in the debates on yacht racing and was recognized as Britain's leading designer.

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SUBJECT AREA: Aerospace, Steam and internal combustion engines

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Harry Ricardo was the eldest child and only son of Halsey Ricardo (architect) and Catherine Rendel (daughter of Alexander Rendel, senior partner in the firm of consulting civil engineers that later became Rendel, Palmer and Tritton). He was educated at Rugby School and at Cambridge. While still at school, he designed and made a steam engine to drive his bicycle, and by the time he went up to Cambridge in 1903 he was a skilled craftsman. At Cambridge, he made a motor cycle powered by a petrol engine of his own design, and with this he won a fuel-consumption competition by covering almost 40 miles (64 km) on a quart (1.14 1) of petrol. This brought him to the attention of Professor Bertram Hopkinson, who invited him to help with research on turbulence and pre-ignition in internal combustion engines. After leaving Cambridge in 1907, he joined his grandfather's firm and became head of the design department for mechanical equipment used in civil engineering. In 1916 he was asked to help with the problem of loading tanks on to railway trucks. He was then given the task of designing and organizing the manufacture of engines for tanks, and the success of this enterprise encouraged him to set up his own establishment at Shoreham, devoted to research on, and design and development of, internal combustion engines.

Leading on from the work with Hopkinson were his discoveries on the suppression of detonation in spark-ignition engines. He noted that the current paraffinic fuels were more prone to detonation than the aromatics, which were being discarded as they did not comply with the existing specifications because of their high specific gravity. He introduced the concepts of "highest useful compression ratio" (HUCR) and "toluene number" for fuel samples burned in a special variable compression-ratio engine. The toluene number was the proportion of toluene in heptane that gave the same HUCR as the fuel sample. Later, toluene was superseded by iso-octane to give the now familiar octane rating. He went on to improve the combustion in side-valve engines by increasing turbulence, shortening the flame path and minimizing the clearance between piston and head by concentrating the combustion space over the valves. By these means, the compression ratio could be increased to that used by overhead-valve engines before detonation intervened. The very hot poppet valve restricted the advancement of all internal combustion engines, so he turned his attention to eliminating it by use of the single sleeve-valve, this being developed with support from the Air Ministry. By the end of the Second World War some 130,000 such aero-engines had been built by Bristol, Napier and Rolls-Royce before the piston aero-engine was superseded by the gas turbine of Whittle. He even contributed to the success of the latter by developing a fuel control system for it.

Concurrent with this was work on the diesel engine. He designed and developed the engine that halved the fuel consumption of London buses. He invented and perfected the "Comet" series of combustion chambers for diesel engines, and the Company was consulted by the vast majority of international internal combustion engine manufacturers. He published and lectured widely and fully deserved his many honours; he was elected FRS in 1929, was President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1944–5 and was knighted in 1948. This shy and modest, though very determined man was highly regarded by all who came into contact with him. It was said that research into internal combustion engines, his family and boats constituted all that he would wish from life.

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