narrow+patent

narrow patent

narrow patents

SUBJECT AREA: Land transport, Railways and locomotives

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Fairlie worked on railways in Ireland and India, and established himself as a consulting engineer in London by the early 1860s. In 1864 he patented his design of locomotive: it was to be carried on two bogies and had a double boiler, the barrels extending in each direction from a central firebox. From smokeboxes at the outer ends, return tubes led to a single central chimney. At that time in British practice, locomotives of ever-increasing size were being carried on longer and longer rigid wheelbases, but often only one or two of their three or four pairs of wheels were powered. Bogies were little used and then only for carrying-wheels rather than driving-wheels: since their pivots were given no sideplay, they were of little value. Fairlie's design offered a powerful locomotive with a wheelbase which though long would be flexible; it would ride well and have all wheels driven and available for adhesion.

The first five double Fairlie locomotives were built by James Cross \& Co. of St Helens during 1865–7. None was particularly successful: the single central chimney of the original design had been replaced by two chimneys, one at each end of the locomotive, but the single central firebox was retained, so that exhaust up one chimney tended to draw cold air down the other. In 1870 the next double Fairlie, Little Wonder, was built for the Festiniog Railway, on which C.E. Spooner was pioneering steam trains of very narrow gauge. The order had gone to George England, but the locomotive was completed by his successor in business, the Fairlie Engine \& Steam Carriage Company, in which Fairlie and George England's son were the principal partners. Little Wonder was given two inner fireboxes separated by a water space and proved outstandingly successful. The spectacle of this locomotive hauling immensely long trains up grade, through the Festiniog Railway's sinuous curves, was demonstrated before engineers from many parts of the world and had lasting effect. Fairlie himself became a great protagonist of narrow-gauge railways and influenced their construction in many countries.

Towards the end of the 1860s, Fairlie was designing steam carriages or, as they would now be called, railcars, but only one was built before the death of George England Jr precipitated closure of the works in 1870. Fairlie's business became a design agency and his patent locomotives were built in large numbers under licence by many noted locomotive builders, for narrow, standard and broad gauges. Few operated in Britain, but many did in other lands; they were particularly successful in Mexico and Russia.

Many Fairlie locomotives were fitted with the radial valve gear invented by Egide Walschaert; Fairlie's role in the universal adoption of this valve gear was instrumental, for he introduced it to Britain in 1877 and fitted it to locomotives for New Zealand, whence it eventually spread worldwide. Earlier, in 1869, the Great Southern \& Western Railway of Ireland had built in its works the first "single Fairlie", a 0–4–4 tank engine carried on two bogies but with only one of them powered. This type, too, became popular during the last part of the nineteenth century. In the USA it was built in quantity by William Mason of Mason Machine Works, Taunton, Massachusetts, in preference to the double-ended type.

Double Fairlies may still be seen in operation on the Festiniog Railway; some of Fairlie's ideas were far ahead of their time, and modern diesel and electric locomotives are of the powered-bogie, double-ended type.

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SUBJECT AREA: Land transport, Railways and locomotives

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At the age of 16 Charles Spooner helped his father, James, to build the Festiniog Railway, a horse-and-gravity tramroad; they maintained an even gradient and kept costs down by following a sinuous course along Welsh mountainsides and using a very narrow gauge. This was probably originally 2 ft 1 in. (63.5 cm) from rail centre to rail centre; with the introduction of heavier, and therefore wider, rails the gauge between them was reduced and was eventually standardized at 1 ft 11 1/2 in (60 cm). After James Spooner's death in 1856 Charles Spooner became Manager and Engineer of the Festiniog Railway and sought to introduce steam locomotives. Widening the gauge was impracticable, but there was no precedent for operating a public railway of such narrow gauge by steam. Much of the design work for locomotives for the Festiniog Railway was the responsibility of C.M.Holland, and many possible types were considered: eventually, in 1863, two very small 0–4–0 tank locomotives, with tenders for coal, were built by George England.

These locomotives were successful, after initial problems had been overcome, and a passenger train service was introduced in 1865 with equal success. The potential for economical operation offered by such a railway attracted widespread attention, the more so because it had been effectively illegal to build new passenger railways in Britain to other than standard gauge since the Gauge of Railways Act of 1846.

Spooner progressively improved the track, alignment, signalling and rolling stock of the Festiniog Railway and developed it from a tramroad to a miniaturized main line. Increasing traffic led to the introduction in 1869 of the 0–4–4–0 double-Fairlie locomotive Little Wonder, built to the patent of Robert Fairlie. This proved more powerful than two 0–4–0s and impressive demonstrations were given to engineers from many parts of the world, leading to the widespread adoption of narrow-gauge railways. Spooner himself favoured a gauge of 2 ft 6 in. (76 cm) or 2 ft 9 in. (84 cm). Comparison of the economy of narrow gauges with the inconvenience of a break of gauge at junctions with wider gauges did, however, become a continuing controversy, which limited the adoption of narrow gauges in Britain.

Bogie coaches had long been used in North America but were introduced to Britain by Spooner in 1872, when he had two such coaches built for the Festiniog Railway. Both of these and one of its original locomotives, though much rebuilt, remain in service.

Spooner, despite some serious illnesses, remained Manager of the Festiniog Railway until his death.

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SUBJECT AREA: Textiles

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Heathcote was the son of a small farmer who became blind, obliging the family to move to Long Whatton, near Loughborough, c.1790. He was apprenticed to W.Shepherd, a hosiery-machine maker, and became a frame-smith in the hosiery industry. He moved to Nottingham where he entered the employment of an excellent machine maker named Elliott. He later joined William Caldwell of Hathern, whose daughter he had married. The lace-making apparatus they patented jointly in 1804 had already been anticipated, so Heathcote turned to the problem of making pillow lace, a cottage industry in which women made lace by arranging pins stuck in a pillow in the correct pattern and winding around them thread contained on thin bobbins. He began by analysing the complicated hand-woven lace into simple warp and weft threads and found he could dispense with half the bobbins. The first machine he developed and patented, in 1808, made narrow lace an inch or so wide, but the following year he made much broader lace on an improved version. In his second patent, in 1809, he could make a type of net curtain, Brussels lace, without patterns. His machine made bobbin-net by the use of thin brass discs, between which the thread was wound. As they passed through the warp threads, which were arranged vertically, the warp threads were moved to each side in turn, so as to twist the bobbin threads round the warp threads. The bobbins were in two rows to save space, and jogged on carriages in grooves along a bar running the length of the machine. As the strength of this fabric depended upon bringing the bobbin threads diagonally across, in addition to the forward movement, the machine had to provide for a sideways movement of each bobbin every time the lengthwise course was completed. A high standard of accuracy in manufacture was essential for success. Called the "Old Loughborough", it was acknowledged to be the most complicated machine so far produced. In partnership with a man named Charles Lacy, who supplied the necessary capital, a factory was established at Loughborough that proved highly successful; however, their fifty-five frames were destroyed by Luddites in 1816. Heathcote was awarded damages of £10,000 by the county of Nottingham on the condition it was spent locally, but to avoid further interference he decided to transfer not only his machines but his entire workforce elsewhere and refused the money. In a disused woollen factory at Tiverton in Devonshire, powered by the waters of the river Exe, he built 300 frames of greater width and speed. By continually making inventions and improvements until he retired in 1843, his business flourished and he amassed a large fortune. He patented one machine for silk cocoon-reeling and another for plaiting or braiding. In 1825 he brought out two patents for the mechanical ornamentation or figuring of lace. He acquired a sound knowledge of French prior to opening a steam-powered lace factory in France. The factory proved to be a successful venture that lasted many years. In 1832 he patented a monstrous steam plough that is reputed to have cost him over £12,000 and was claimed to be the best in its day. One of its stated aims was "improved methods of draining land", which he hoped would develop agriculture in Ireland. A cable was used to haul the implement across the land. From 1832 to 1859, Heathcote represented Tiverton in Parliament and, among other benefactions, he built a school for his adopted town.

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specific, particular, special.

* * *

► adjetivo

1 specific

► nombre masculino específico

1 (medicamento) specific; (especialidad) patent medicine

\

peso específico specific gravity

► nombre masculino

1 (medicamento) specific; (especialidad) patent medicine

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ADJ specific

SM (Med) specific

* * *

- ca adjetivo

1) ( preciso) specific

2) (Farm, Med) specific

masculino specific

* * *

= given, individual, narrow [narrower -comp., narrowest -sup.], niche-specific, one, one-off, specific, single, bounded, determinate, particular, defined, designated, circumscribed, targeted, focused [focussed], narrowly focused.

Ex. The notation for any given geographical division varies between classes and between different parts of the same classes.

Ex. The series area includes the series title, an indication of the responsibility for the series (often series editors), and the number of the individual work within the series, if the work is one of a numbered series.

Ex. The subject areas which such data bases cover may range from relatively narrow subjects, to interdisciplinary areas.

Ex. The history and analysis of CCML presented here is quite subjective and specific to BRS, but does reflect the issues associated with producing a niche-specific database.

Ex. Note the different definitions, and the different boundaries for this one subject area.

Ex. Associated with full-time staffing reductions has been the virtual elimination of part-time teachers and ' one-off' expert lecturers.

Ex. Various publishers have reputations for specific styles, subject areas or works for specific audiences.

Ex. In other words, the elements of any single case may point to several concepts; in this sense, the cases are like icebergs -- more is hidden han appears on the surface.

Ex. This problem arises in real time multimedia applications, which often requires a guaranteed bandwidth and bounded delay to ensure that the quality of service is met = Este problema surge en las aplicaciones multimedia en tiempo real, que a menudo necesitan un ancho de banda garantizado y un retraso limitado para asegurar la calidad del servicio.

Ex. There is no coherent and determinate body of legal doctrine and the categories available for classifying legal problems simply mask the incoherency and indeterminacy of legal doctrine.

Ex. It is possible to identify an item uniquely within a particular institution or agency by a running accession number.

Ex. The Pearson correlation coefficient has been calculated to find out the correlation and to test the null hypothesis that there is no correlation among publishing in journals, citing from journals and use of journals by a defined set of researchers.

Ex. It is tremendously valuable to library staff (particularly in libraries with a designated departmental structure) to maintain close professional ties with local academic departments.

Ex. Library and Information Plans (LIP) are 5-year management plans for information provision in a circumscribed region.

Ex. Threats to the integrity of science include interest in paranormal phenomena, sensationalism of science and pressure for targeted research.

Ex. These include a series of focused workshops and a four day national conference.

Ex. Some articles cover broad themes while others are more narrowly focused.

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* área de datos específicos de la clase de documento = material (or type of publication) specific details area.

* area temática específica = narrow subject area.

* base de datos dirigida a un mercado específico = niche database.

* centrado en un tema específico = topic-centred.

* conseguir ocupar un lugar específico = secure + a niche.

* de aplicación específica a un equipo de ordenador = hardware-based.

* dedicado a una aplicación específica = dedicated.

* del documento específico = document-related.

* dirigido a un sector de la población específico = sector-orientated.

* específico a la biblioteca = library-specific.

* específico de = peculiar to.

* específico de la biblioteca = library-specific.

* específico de la edición = edition-specific.

* específico de las empresas = company-specific.

* específico del documento = document-related, document-specific.

* específico de una agencia = agency-specific.

* específico de una base de datos = database-specific.

* específico de una disciplina = discipline-specific.

* específico de un trabajo concreto = job-specific.

* específico para cada edición = edition-specific.

* grupo específico = niche.

* hecho para una situación específica = niche-specific.

* índice específico = specific index.

* información específica = data element.

* mención específica del formato de música impresa = musical presentation statement.

* mercado específico = niche market.

* para ser específico = to be specific.

* peso específico = specific gravity.

* público específico = niche audience.

* término específico = specific term.

* término específico genérico (NTG) = narrower term generic (NTG).

* término específico partitivo (NTP) = narrower term partitive (NTP).

* término más específico = narrower term.

* tratamiento específico de la información = specific approach.

* valor específico = weighting.

* * *

- ca adjetivo

1) ( preciso) specific

2) (Farm, Med) specific

masculino specific

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A (determinado, preciso) specific peso

B ( Farm, Med) specific

un medicamento específico a specific

specific

* * *

1ª persona singular (yo) presente indicativo

3ª persona singular (él/ella/usted) pretérito indicativo

◊ -ca adjetivo

* * *

♦ adj

specific

♦ nm

* * *

adj specific

* * *

específico, -ca adj

: specific

♦ específicamente adv

* * *

específico adj specific

SUBJECT AREA: Textiles

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In May 1791, Richard Gorton took out a patent for a new type of power-driven loom for narrow fabrics to "work one or several pieces at the same time, either by hand, lath, steam engine, or by water-machinery". The sley with the reed was worked by a crank, and the picker by a lever and cam. The shuttle-box had springs to retain the shuttle, and the warp was kept tight by weights. A stop, which was usually pushed out of the way by the shuttle entering the box, prevented the sley or lath "driving the shuttle against the piece" when the shuttle stuck in the middle. One particularly interesting feature was the sizing of the warp threads by means of brushes and a roller that turned in a square trough filled with size. This pre-dates Radcliffe's sizing machine, which is always considered the first, by a number of years. The mill in which these machines worked was at Cuckney, near Mansfield, England. In 1788 Thomas Gorton had installed one of the earliest Boulton \& Watt rotative steam engines there.

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SUBJECT AREA: Textiles

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John Kay was the youngest of five sons of a yeoman farmer of Walmersley, near Bury, Lancashire, who died before his birth. John was apprenticed to a reedmaker, and just before he was 21 he married a daughter of John Hall of Bury and carried on his trade in that town until 1733. It is possible that his first patent, taken out in 1730, was connected with this business because it was for an engine that made mohair thread for tailors and twisted and dressed thread; such thread could have been used to bind up the reeds used in looms. He also improved the reeds by making them from metal instead of cane strips so they lasted much longer and could be made to be much finer. His next patent in 1733, was a double one. One part of it was for a batting machine to remove dust from wool by beating it with sticks, but the patent is better known for its description of the flying shuttle. Kay placed boxes to receive the shuttle at either end of the reed or sley. Across the open top of these boxes was a metal rod along which a picking peg could slide and drive the shuttle out across the loom. The pegs at each end were connected by strings to a stick that was held in the right hand of the weaver and which jerked the shuttle out of the box. The shuttle had wheels to make it "fly" across the warp more easily, and ran on a shuttle race to support and guide it. Not only was weaving speeded up, but the weaver could produce broader cloth without any aid from a second person. This invention was later adapted for the power loom. Kay moved to Colchester and entered into partnership with a baymaker named Solomon Smith and a year later was joined by William Carter of Ballingdon, Essex. His shuttle was received with considerable hostility in both Lancashire and Essex, but it was probably more his charge of 15 shillings a year for its use that roused the antagonism. From 1737 he was much involved with lawsuits to try and protect his patent, particularly the part that specified the method of winding the thread onto a fixed bobbin in the shuttle. In 1738 Kay patented a windmill for working pumps and an improved chain pump, but neither of these seems to have been successful. In 1745, with Joseph Stell of Keighley, he patented a narrow fabric loom that could be worked by power; this type may have been employed by Gartside in Manchester soon afterwards. It was probably through failure to protect his patent rights that Kay moved to France, where he arrived penniless in 1747. He went to the Dutch firm of Daniel Scalongne, woollen manufacturers, in Abbeville. The company helped him to apply for a French patent for his shuttle, but Kay wanted the exorbitant sum of £10,000. There was much discussion and eventually Kay set up a workshop in Paris, where he received a pension of 2,500 livres. However, he was to face the same problems as in England with weavers copying his shuttle without permission. In 1754 he produced two machines for making card clothing: one pierced holes in the leather, while the other cut and sharpened the wires. These were later improved by his son, Robert Kay. Kay returned to England briefly, but was back in France in 1758. He was involved with machines to card both cotton and wool and tried again to obtain support from the French Government. He was still involved with developing textile machines in 1779, when he was 75, but he must have died soon afterwards. As an inventor Kay was a genius of the first rank, but he was vain, obstinate and suspicious and was destitute of business qualities.

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SUBJECT AREA: Domestic appliances and interiors

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Samuel Fox was the son of a weaver's shuttle maker in the hamlet of Bradwell (probably Bradfield, near Sheffield) in the remote hills. He went to Sheffield and served an apprenticeship in the steel trade. Afterwards, he worked with great energy and industry until he acquired sufficient capital to start in business on his own account at Stocksbridge, near Sheffield. It was there that he invented what became known as "Fox's Paragon Frame" for umbrellas. Whalebone or solid steel had previously been used for umbrella ribs, but whalebone was unreliable and steel was heavy. Fox realized that if he grooved the ribs he could make them both lighter and more elastic. In his first patent, taken out in 1852, he described making the ribs and stretchers of parasols and umbrellas from a narrow strip of steel plate partially bent into a trough-like form. He took out five more patents. The first, in 1853, was for strengthening the joints. His next two, in 1856 and 1857, were more concerned with preparing the steel for making the ribs. Another patent in 1857 was basically for improving the formation of the bit at the end of the rib where it was fixed to the stretcher and where the end of the rib has to be formed into a boss: this was so it could have a pin fixed through it to act as a pivot when the umbrella has to be opened or folded and yet support the rib and stretcher. The final patent, in 1865, reverted once more to improving the manufacture of the ribs. He made a fortune before other manufacturers knew what he was doing. Fox established a works at Lille when he found that the French import duties and other fiscal arrangements hindered exporting umbrellas and successful trading there, and was thereby able to develop a large and lucrative business.

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1 right-hand, right.

2 straight, upright, erect, standing.

3 uncurved, unbowed.

4 dextral.

5 according to law, uncrooked.

straight on, straight, straightly.

1 right, legitimate faculty, individual right, just claim.

2 law.

3 prerogative.

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► adjetivo

1 right

■ la mano derecha the right hand

2 (recto) straight, upright

■ el cuadro no está derecho the picture isn't straight

► adverbio derecho

1 straight

■ se fue derecho a la cama he went straight to bed

■ siga derecho go straight on

► nombre masculino derecho

1 (leyes) law

■ ha estudiado derecho she studied law

2 (privilegio) right

■ los derechos de las minorías the rights of minority groups

3 (de una tela, calcetín, etc) right side

► nombre masculino plural derechos

1 (impuestos) duties, taxes; (tarifa) fees

\

con derecho a with the right to

¿con qué derecho...? what right...?

■ ¿con qué derecho te marchaste? what right did you have to leave?

dar derecho to entitle to

■ el billete te da derecho a jugar media hora the ticket entitles you to play for half an hour

de derecho by right

estar en su derecho to be within one's rights

no hacer nada a derechas figurado to do nothing right

¡no hay derecho! it's not fair!

'Reservados todos los derechos' "All rights reserved"

'Se reserva el derecho de admisión' "The management reserves the right to refuse admission"

ser un hombre hecho y derecho figurado to be a real man

tener derecho a to be entitled to, have the right to

■ nadie tiene derecho a quejarse nobody is entitled to complain

derecho civil civil law

derecho de admisión right sing to refuse admission

derecho mercantil commercial law, mercantile law

derecho penal criminal law

derecho político constitutional law

derechos civiles civil rights

derechos de aduana customs duties

derechos de autor royalties

derechos de matrícula registration fees

derechos de sucesión death duties

derechos humanos human rights

el derecho al voto the right to vote

► adverbio

1 straight

■ se fue derecho a la cama he went straight to bed

■ siga derecho go straight on

► nombre masculino

* * *

1) law

2) right

•

- derechos civiles

SUBJECT AREA: Textiles

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After John Levers had brought out his lacemaking machine in 1813, other lacemakers proceeded to elaborate their machinery so as to imitate the more complicated forms of handwork. One of these was Samuel Draper of Nottingham, who took out one patent in 1835 for the use of a Jacquard mechanism on a lace making machine, followed by another in 1837. However, material made on his machine cost more than the handmade article, so the experiment was abandoned after three years. Then, in Nottingham in 1841, Hooton Deverill patented the first truly successful application of the Jacquard to lacemaking. The Jacquard needles caused the warp threads to be pushed sideways to form the holes in the lace while the bobbins were moved around them to bind them together. This made it possible to reproduce most of the traditional patterns of handmade lace in both narrow and wide pieces. Lace made on these machines became cheap enough for most people to be able to hang it in their windows as curtains, or to use it for trimming clothing. However, it raised in a most serious form the problem of patent rights between the two patentees, Deverill and Draper, threatening much litigation. Deverill's patent was bought by Richard Birkin, who with his partner Biddle relinquished the patent rights. The lacemaking trade on these machines was thus thrown open to the public and a new development of the trade took place. Levers lace is still made in the way described here.

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1 composition, work, piece, opus.

2 composition, article, essay, paper.

3 make-up, constitution, conformation, formation.

4 setting-up.

* * *

► nombre femenino

1 (gen) composition

2 (acuerdo) agreement

3 (arreglo) arrangement

4 (en impresión) setting, composition

\

hacer composición de lugar (decidirse) to make a plan of action 2 (formarse una idea) to get a picture of a situation

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1) (Mús, Quím, Arte) composition

2) (Educ) essay

3)

4) (Tip) typesetting

5) [de desacuerdo] settlement; [de personas] reconciliation

6) (=arreglo) arrangement

* * *

1)

a) (de grupo, equipo) composition, makeup

b) ( de sustancia) composition

2) (Art, Fot, Mús) composition; (Educ) ( redacción) composition

•

- composición de textos

* * *

= composition, essay, make, setting, writing, make-up [makeup], constitution.

Ex. In particular, a title that consists solely of the name(s) of type(s) of composition requires the following elements in addition to the statement of the medium of performance: serial number, opus number or thematic index number, key.

Ex. In a journal most formal items including articles, essays, discussions and reviews can be expected to be accompanied by an abstract.

Ex. Typically a patent abstract is informative, and includes in the case of an article, its method of making or manufacture.

Ex. A companionship was a team of piecework compositors, led by one of their number, who co-operated in the setting of a book and submitted a single bill for the work, the proceeds of which were then divided amongst themselves.

Ex. This is a project for collaboration in formal report writing based on current social theories of writing.

Ex. Account also had to be taken of the disparate make-up and wide age-spread of a reader community which consists of Commission officials and trainees plus diverse visitors from outside.

Ex. The chemical constitution of these materials is described and their deterioration characteristics explained.

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* composición de canciones = songwriting [song-writing].

* composición de imágenes = image setting.

* composición demográfica = demographic composition.

* composición musical = musical composition.

* composición musical manida = war horse.

* composición original = creative writing.

* composición por confrontación de ideas = brain-writing.

* composición tipográfica = typesetting [type-setting].

* composición tipográfica automatizada = computerised typesetting.

* composición tipográfica por ordenador = computer typesetting.

* sala de composición = composing room.

* taller de trabajo sobre composición = writing workshop.

* técnicas de composición escrita = writing skills.

* * *

1)

a) (de grupo, equipo) composition, makeup

b) ( de sustancia) composition

2) (Art, Fot, Mús) composition; (Educ) ( redacción) composition

•

- composición de textos

* * *

* * *

1 (de un grupo, equipo) composition, makeup

la actual composición de la junta the present composition o makeup of the board

2 (de una sustancia) composition

1 (obra) composition, work

2 ( Mús) (disciplina) composition

3 (ejercicio) composition

4 ( Art, Fot) composition

hacerse una composición de lugar: para que te hagas una composición de composición, la cocina es la cuarta parte de ésta just to give you an idea o to help you picture it, the kitchen is a quarter of the size of this one

se hizo una composición de composición y decidió irse he took stock of o sized up the situation and decided to leave

typesetting

* * *

* * *

composición nf

1. [de sustancia, producto] composition

2. [de equipo, comité] composition, make-up

3. [obra literaria] work;

composición poética poetic composition, poem

4. [técnica musical] composition

5. [redacción] essay, composition ( sobre on)

6. [en fotografía, pintura] composition;

hacerse una composición de lugar to size up the situation;

no me hago una composición de lugar, ¿cómo es la casa? I can't quite visualize it, what's the house like?

7. Ling compounding, combination

8. [en imprenta] typesetting

* * *

f composition

* * *

composición nf, pl - ciones

1) obra: composition, work

2) : makeup, arrangement

* * *

composición n composition

SUBJECT AREA: Aerospace, Electricity, Land transport, Ports and shipping

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Sperry was born into a farming community in Cortland County. He received a rudimentary education at the local school, but an interest in mechanical devices was aroused by the agricultural machinery he saw around him. His attendance at the Normal School in Cortland provided a useful theoretical background to his practical knowledge. He emerged in 1880 with an urge to pursue invention in electrical engineering, then a new and growing branch of technology. Within two years he was able to patent and demonstrate his arc lighting system, complete with its own generator, incorporating new methods of regulating its output. The Sperry Electric Light, Motor and Car Brake Company was set up to make and market the system, but it was difficult to keep pace with electric-lighting developments such as the incandescent lamp and alternating current, and the company ceased in 1887 and was replaced by the Sperry Electric Company, which itself was taken over by the General Electric Company.

In the 1890s Sperry made useful inventions in electric mining machinery and then in electric street-or tramcars, with his patent electric brake and control system. The patents for the brake were important enough to be bought by General Electric. From 1894 to 1900 he was manufacturing electric motor cars of his own design, and in 1900 he set up a laboratory in Washington, where he pursued various electrochemical processes.

In 1896 he began to work on the practical application of the principle of the gyroscope, where Sperry achieved his most notable inventions, the first of which was the gyrostabilizer for ships. The relatively narrow-hulled steamship rolled badly in heavy seas and in 1904 Ernst Otto Schuck, a German naval engineer, and Louis Brennan in England began experiments to correct this; their work stimulated Sperry to develop his own device. In 1908 he patented the active gyrostabilizer, which acted to correct a ship's roll as soon as it started. Three years later the US Navy agreed to try it on a destroyer, the USS Worden. The successful trials of the following year led to widespread adoption. Meanwhile, in 1910, Sperry set up the Sperry Gyroscope Company to extend the application to commercial shipping.

At the same time, Sperry was working to apply the gyroscope principle to the ship's compass. The magnetic compass had worked well in wooden ships, but iron hulls and electrical machinery confused it. The great powers' race to build up their navies instigated an urgent search for a solution. In Germany, Anschütz-Kämpfe (1872–1931) in 1903 tested a form of gyrocompass and was encouraged by the authorities to demonstrate the device on the German flagship, the Deutschland. Its success led Sperry to develop his own version: fortunately for him, the US Navy preferred a home-grown product to a German one and gave Sperry all the backing he needed. A successful trial on a destroyer led to widespread acceptance in the US Navy, and Sperry was soon receiving orders from the British Admiralty and the Russian Navy.

In the rapidly developing field of aeronautics, automatic stabilization was becoming an urgent need. In 1912 Sperry began work on a gyrostabilizer for aircraft. Two years later he was able to stage a spectacular demonstration of such a device at an air show near Paris.

Sperry continued research, development and promotion in military and aviation technology almost to the last. In 1926 he sold the Sperry Gyroscope Company to enable him to devote more time to invention.

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SUBJECT AREA: Steam and internal combustion engines

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A single-cylinder atmospheric steam engine had a power stroke only when the piston descended the cylinder: a means had to be found of returning the piston to its starting position. For rotative engines, this was partially solved by the patent of Matthew Wasborough in 1779. His father was a partner in a Bristol brass-founding and clockmaking business in Narrow Wine Street where he was joined by his son. Wasborough proposed to use some form of ratchet gear to effect the rotary motion and added a flywheel, the first time one was used in a steam engine, "in order to render the motion more regular and uniform". He installed one engine to drive the lathes in the Bristol works and another at James Pickard's flour mill at Snow Hill, Birmingham, where Pickard applied his recently patented crank to it. It was this Wasborough-Pickard engine which posed a threat to Boulton \& Watt trying to develop a rotative engine, for Wasborough built several engines for cornmills in Bristol, woollen mills in Gloucestershire and a block factory at Southampton before his early death. Matthew Boulton was told that Wasborough was "so intent upon the study of engines as to bring a fever on his brain and he dyed in consequence thereof…. How dangerous it is for a man to wade out of his depth" (Jenkins 1936:106).

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1. räumlich: lengthen; (Straße etc.) auch extend; MATH. produce; den Ball verlängern SPORT help the ball on; die Flanke mit dem Kopf ins Tor verlängern head the cross on into the goal

2. zeitlich: prolong; (auch Kredit, Patent, Frist etc.) extend ( alle um by); (Wechsel, Vertrag) renew; seinen Pass etc. verlängern lassen get ( oder have) one’s passport etc. renewed; den Urlaub verlängern extend the holiday (Am. vacation)

3. (Soße etc., verdünnen) stretch

II v/refl zeitlich: be extended; räumlich: be lengthened; (Straße etc.) auch be extended

* * *

(Gültigkeit erweitern) to renew; to prolong;

(länger machen) to lengthen; to extend; to make longer; to elongate;

(verdünnen) to eke out; to stretch

* * *

1. vt

1) (= länger machen) to extend; (esp räumlich) to lengthen, to make longer; (esp zeitlich) to prolong; Leben, Schmerzen, Leiden etc to prolong; Hosenbein, Ärmel etc to lengthen; Pass, Abonnement etc to renew

2) (Sport) Ball, Pass to touch (zu jdm to sb)

2. vr

3. vi

* * *

1) ((made) long and narrow; stretched out: An oval looks like an elongated circle.) elongated

2) (to make longer: She had to let down the child's skirt.) let down

3) (to make or become longer: I'll have to lengthen this skirt; The days are lengthening now that the spring has come.) lengthen

4) (to make longer: Please do not prolong the discussion unnecessarily.) prolong

* * *

I. vt

1. (länger machen)

▪ etw [um etw akk] \verlängern to lengthen [or extend] sth [by sth] [or to make sth longer

2. (länger dauern lassen)

▪ [jdm] etw \verlängern to extend sth [for sb]

jdm das Leben \verlängern to prolong sb's life

einen Vertrag \verlängern to renew [or extend] a contract

II. vr

▪ sich akk [um etw akk] \verlängern to be longer [by sth]; Leben, Leid to be prolonged [by sth]

das Abonnement verlängert sich automatisch um ein weiteres Jahr the subscription will be renewed automatically for another year

* * *

1) lengthen, make longer <skirt, sleeve, etc.>; extend <flex, cable, road, etc.>

2) (länger gültig sein lassen) renew <passport, driving licence, etc.>; extend, renew < contract>

3) (länger dauern lassen) extend, prolong <stay, life, suffering, etc.> (um by)

4) (verdünnen) add water etc. to <sauce, gravy, etc.> ( to make it go further)

reflexives Verb (länger werden) become longer; <stay, life, suffering, etc.> be prolonged (um by); (länger gültig bleiben) <contract etc.> be extended

* * *

A. v/t

1. räumlich: lengthen; (Straße etc) auch extend; MATH produce;

den Ball verlängern SPORT help the ball on;

die Flanke mit dem Kopf ins Tor verlängern head the cross on into the goal

2. zeitlich: prolong; (auch Kredit, Patent, Frist etc) extend ( alle

um by); (Wechsel, Vertrag) renew;

seinen Pass etc

verlängern get ( oder have) one’s passport etc renewed;

den Urlaub verlängern extend the holiday (US vacation)

3. (Soße etc, verdünnen) stretch

B. v/r zeitlich: be extended; räumlich: be lengthened; (Straße etc) auch be extended

* * *

1) lengthen, make longer <skirt, sleeve, etc.>; extend <flex, cable, road, etc.>

2) (länger gültig sein lassen) renew <passport, driving licence, etc.>; extend, renew < contract>

3) (länger dauern lassen) extend, prolong <stay, life, suffering, etc.> (um by)

4) (verdünnen) add water etc. to <sauce, gravy, etc.> ( to make it go further)

reflexives Verb (länger werden) become longer; <stay, life, suffering, etc.> be prolonged (um by); (länger gültig bleiben) <contract etc.> be extended

* * *

to prolong v. v.

to elongate v.

to extend v.

to lengthen v.

SUBJECT AREA: Domestic appliances and interiors, Mechanical, pneumatic and hydraulic engineering

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Ashley, manager of an iron foundry at Ferrybridge, Yorkshire, began trying to construct a bottle-making machine in the 1880s. In 1886 he obtained a patent for a two-stage machine. This proved to be impracticable, but improvements were described in further patents in 1887 and 1889, leading to a three-stage process, embodying the basic elements of a machine to make narrow-necked glass bottles. The Ashley (Machine-Made) Bottle Company was set up to exploit the invention, but had failed by 1894 due to poor management, although it had claimed to make bottles in a tenth of the time taken to make them by hand. Ashley had shown the way, however, and his machines were still producing good bottles in 1918. The process was a stage along the way to complete mechanization brought about by M.J. Owens's machine.

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SUBJECT AREA: Electricity, Electronics and information technology, Horology, Telecommunications

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After obtaining BSc and MSc degrees in physics at Brown University in 1896 and 1897, respectively, Cady went to Berlin, obtaining his PhD in 1900. Returning to the USA he initially worked for the US Coast and Geodetic Survey, but in 1902 he took up a post at the Wesleyan University, Connecticut, remaining as Professor of Physics from 1907 until his retirement in 1946. During the First World War he became interested in piezo-electricity as a result of attending a meeting on techniques for detecting submarines, and after the war he continued to work on the use of piezo-electricity as a transducer for generating sonar beams. In the process he discovered that piezo-electric materials, such as quartz, exhibited high-stability electrical resonance, and in 1921 he produced the first working piezo-electric resonator. This idea was subsequently taken up by George Washington Pierce and others, resulting in very stable oscillators and narrow-band filters that are widely used in the 1990s in radio communications, electronic clocks and watches.

Internationally known for his work, Cady retired from his professorship in 1946, but he continued to work for the US Navy. From 1951 to 1955 he was a consultant and research associate at the California Institute of Technology, after which he returned to Providence to continue research at Brown, filing his last patent (one of over fifty) at the age of 93 years.

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SUBJECT AREA: Land transport, Railways and locomotives

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England trained with John Penn \& Sons, marine engine and boilermakers, and set up his own business at Hatcham Iron Works, South London, in about 1840. This was initially a general engineering business and made traversing screw jacks, which England had patented, but by 1850 it was building locomotives. One of these, Little England, a 2–2– 2T light locomotive owing much to the ideas of W.Bridges Adams, was exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851, and England then prospered, supplying many railways at home and abroad with small locomotives. In 1863 he built two exceptionally small 0–4–0 tank locomotives for the Festiniog Railway, which enabled the latter's Manager and Engineer C.E. Spooner to introduce steam traction on this line with its gauge of just under 2 ft (60 cm). England's works had a reputation for good workmanship, suggesting he inspired loyalty among his employees, yet he also displayed increasingly tyrannical behaviour towards them: the culmination was a disastrous strike in 1865 that resulted in the loss of a substantial order from the South Eastern Railway. From 1866 George England became associated with development of locomotives to the patent of Robert Fairlie, but in 1869 he retired due to ill health and leased his works to a partnership of his son (also called George England), Robert Fairlie and J.S.Fraser under the title of the Fairlie Engine \& Steam Carriage Company. However, George England junior died within a few months, locomotive production ceased in 1870 and the works was sold off two years later.

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