(between Scotland and England)

SUBJECT AREA: Agricultural and food technology

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Charles Townshend succeeded his father as 2nd Viscount Townshend at the age of 15. In his early life he played a prominent political role: he was Lord Privy Seal under William III; served as a commissioner to treat for the Union between Scotland and England; and, with Marlborough, signed the treaty of Gertruydenberg in 1709. He was Secretary of State under both George I and George II, and was for a time Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

In 1730 he retired from political life to Raynham, in Norfolk, and devoted himself to the care of his estate and to experiments in agricultural husbandry. He paid particular attention to the rotation of crops and the cultivation of turnips and clover. His efforts on the light soil of his estate brought substantial returns, and those of his tenants and neighbours who followed his example also prospered. His particular zeal for the merits of the turnip earned him the nickname of "Turnip Townshend".

He is popularly credited with the introduction of the Norfolk Four Course Rotation, but this had certainly been long practised in his area. However, the success of his farming practice and the wide publicity that he gave to it were important factors in the improvement of British agriculture during the mid-eighteenth century.

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union ['ju:nɪən]

1 noun

(a) (act of linking, uniting) union f; Commerce regroupement m, fusion f

(b) Industry syndicat m;

∎ to join a union se syndiquer;

∎ to form a union créer un syndicat;

∎ unions and management les syndicats mpl et la direction, les partenaires mpl sociaux

(c) (association) association f, union f;

∎ figurative a union of French and British skills un mariage entre le savoir-faire français et britannique

(d) (marriage) union f, mariage m

(e) Mathematics union f

(f) University (premises) ≃ foyer m des étudiants; British (organization) syndicat m ou union f des étudiants

2 compound-forming noun

(dues, leader, meeting) syndical

3 Union noun

∎ History the Union British (between Scotland and England) l'Union f de l'Angleterre et de l'Écosse; (between Great Britain and Northern Ireland) l'Union f de la Grande Bretagne et de l'Irlande du Nord; American les États mpl de l'Union

►► union agreement convention f collective;

union card carte f syndicale;

union catalogue = catalogue des publications commun à plusieurs bibliothèques;

the Union Flag British l'Union Jack m; American History = drapeau des nordistes pendant la guerre de Sécession;

the Union Jack l'Union Jack m (drapeau officiel du Royaume-Uni);

union member (in general) membre m d'un syndicat, syndiqué(e) m,f; (of particular union) membre m du syndicat, syndiqué(e) m,f;

Technology union nut écrou m de raccord;

union regulations règles fpl syndicales;

union representative délégué(e) m,f ou représentant(e) m,f syndical(e);

American union shop atelier m d'ouvriers syndiqués, union shop m;

formerly the Union of South Africa la République d'Afrique du Sud;

formerly the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics l'Union f des républiques socialistes soviétiques;

American union suit combinaison f

(1415-1975)

   Portugal was the first Western European state to establish an early modern overseas empire beyond the Mediterranean and perhaps the last colonial power to decolonize. A vast subject of complexity that is full of myth as well as debatable theories, the history of the Portuguese overseas empire involves the story of more than one empire, the question of imperial motives, the nature of Portuguese rule, and the results and consequences of empire, including the impact on subject peoples as well as on the mother country and its society, Here, only the briefest account of a few such issues can be attempted.

   There were various empires or phases of empire after the capture of the Moroccan city of Ceuta in 1415. There were at least three Portuguese empires in history: the First empire (1415-1580), the Second empire (1580-1640 and 1640-1822), and the Third empire (1822-1975).

   With regard to the second empire, the so-called Phillipine period (1580-1640), when Portugal's empire was under Spanish domination, could almost be counted as a separate era. During that period, Portugal lost important parts of its Asian holdings to England and also sections of its colonies of Brazil, Angola, and West Africa to Holland's conquests. These various empires could be characterized by the geography of where Lisbon invested its greatest efforts and resources to develop territories and ward off enemies.

   The first empire (1415-1580) had two phases. First came the African coastal phase (1415-97), when the Portuguese sought a foothold in various Moroccan cities but then explored the African coast from Morocco to past the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. While colonization and sugar farming were pursued in the Atlantic islands, as well as in the islands in the Gulf of Guinea like São Tomé and Príncipe, for the most part the Portuguese strategy was to avoid commitments to defending or peopling lands on the African continent. Rather, Lisbon sought a seaborne trade empire, in which the Portuguese could profit from exploiting trade and resources (such as gold) along the coasts and continue exploring southward to seek a sea route to Portuguese India. The second phase of the first empire (1498-1580) began with the discovery of the sea route to Asia, thanks to Vasco da Gama's first voyage in 1497-99, and the capture of strong points, ports, and trading posts in order to enforce a trade monopoly between Asia and Europe. This Asian phase produced the greatest revenues of empire Portugal had garnered, yet ended when Spain conquered Portugal and commanded her empire as of 1580.

   Portugal's second overseas empire began with Spanish domination and ran to 1822, when Brazil won her independence from Portugal. This phase was characterized largely by Brazilian dominance of imperial commitment, wealth in minerals and other raw materials from Brazil, and the loss of a significant portion of her African and Asian coastal empire to Holland and Great Britain. A sketch of Portugal's imperial losses either to native rebellions or to imperial rivals like Britain and Holland follows:

   • Morocco (North Africa) (sample only)

   Arzila—Taken in 1471; evacuated in 1550s; lost to Spain in 1580, which returned city to a sultan.

   Ceuta—Taken in 1415; lost to Spain in 1640 (loss confirmed in 1668 treaty with Spain).

   • Tangiers—Taken in 15th century; handed over to England in 1661 as part of Catherine of Braganza's dowry to King Charles II.

   • West Africa

   • Fort/Castle of São Jorge da Mina, Gold Coast (in what is now Ghana)—Taken in 1480s; lost to Holland in 1630s.

   • Middle East

   Socotra-isle—Conquered in 1507; fort abandoned in 1511; used as water resupply stop for India fleet.

   Muscat—Conquered in 1501; lost to Persians in 1650.

   Ormuz—Taken, 1505-15 under Albuquerque; lost to England, which gave it to Persia in the 17th century.

   Aden (entry to Red Sea) — Unsuccessfully attacked by Portugal (1513-30); taken by Turks in 1538.

   • India

   • Ceylon (Sri Lanka)—Taken by 1516; lost to Dutch after 1600.

   • Bombay—Taken in 16th century; given to England in 1661 treaty as part of Catherine of Braganza's dowry for Charles II.

   • East Indies

   • Moluccas—Taken by 1520; possession confirmed in 1529 Saragossa treaty with Spain; lost to Dutch after 1600; only East Timor remaining.

   After the restoration of Portuguese independence from Spain in 1640, Portugal proceeded to revive and strengthen the Anglo- Portuguese Alliance, with international aid to fight off further Spanish threats to Portugal and drive the Dutch invaders out of Brazil and Angola. While Portugal lost its foothold in West Africa at Mina to the Dutch, dominion in Angola was consolidated. The most vital part of the imperial economy was a triangular trade: slaves from West Africa and from the coasts of Congo and Angola were shipped to plantations in Brazil; raw materials (sugar, tobacco, gold, diamonds, dyes) were sent to Lisbon; Lisbon shipped Brazil colonists and hardware. Part of Portugal's War of Restoration against Spain (1640-68) and its reclaiming of Brazil and Angola from Dutch intrusions was financed by the New Christians (Jews converted to Christianity after the 1496 Manueline order of expulsion of Jews) who lived in Portugal, Holland and other low countries, France, and Brazil. If the first empire was mainly an African coastal and Asian empire, the second empire was primarily a Brazilian empire.

   Portugal's third overseas empire began upon the traumatic independence of Brazil, the keystone of the Lusitanian enterprise, in 1822. The loss of Brazil greatly weakened Portugal both as a European power and as an imperial state, for the scattered remainder of largely coastal, poor, and uncolonized territories that stretched from the bulge of West Africa to East Timor in the East Indies and Macau in south China were more of a financial liability than an asset. Only two small territories balanced their budgets occasionally or made profits: the cocoa islands of São Tomé and Príncipe in the Gulf of Guinea and tiny Macau, which lost much of its advantage as an entrepot between the West and the East when the British annexed neighboring Hong Kong in 1842. The others were largely burdens on the treasury. The African colonies were strapped by a chronic economic problem: at a time when the slave trade and then slavery were being abolished under pressures from Britain and other Western powers, the economies of Guinea- Bissau, São Tomé/Príncipe, Angola, and Mozambique were totally dependent on revenues from the slave trade and slavery. During the course of the 19th century, Lisbon began a program to reform colonial administration in a newly rejuvenated African empire, where most of the imperial efforts were expended, by means of replacing the slave trade and slavery, with legitimate economic activities.

   Portugal participated in its own early version of the "Scramble" for Africa's interior during 1850-69, but discovered that the costs of imperial expansion were too high to allow effective occupation of the hinterlands. After 1875, Portugal participated in the international "Scramble for Africa" and consolidated its holdings in west and southern Africa, despite the failure of the contra-costa (to the opposite coast) plan, which sought to link up the interiors of Angola and Mozambique with a corridor in central Africa. Portugal's expansion into what is now Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe (eastern section) in 1885-90 was thwarted by its oldest ally, Britain, under pressure from interest groups in South Africa, Scotland, and England. All things considered, Portugal's colonizing resources and energies were overwhelmed by the African empire it possessed after the frontier-marking treaties of 1891-1906. Lisbon could barely administer the massive area of five African colonies, whose total area comprised about 8 percent of the area of the colossal continent. The African territories alone were many times the size of tiny Portugal and, as of 1914, Portugal was the third colonial power in terms of size of area possessed in the world.

   The politics of Portugal's empire were deceptive. Lisbon remained obsessed with the fear that rival colonial powers, especially Germany and Britain, would undermine and then dismantle her African empire. This fear endured well into World War II. In developing and keeping her potentially rich African territories (especially mineral-rich Angola and strategically located Mozambique), however, the race against time was with herself and her subject peoples. Two major problems, both chronic, prevented Portugal from effective colonization (i.e., settling) and development of her African empire: the economic weakness and underdevelopment of the mother country and the fact that the bulk of Portuguese emigration after 1822 went to Brazil, Venezuela, the United States, and France, not to the colonies. These factors made it difficult to consolidate imperial control until it was too late; that is, until local African nationalist movements had organized and taken the field in insurgency wars that began in three of the colonies during the years 1961-64.

   Portugal's belated effort to revitalize control and to develop, in the truest sense of the word, Angola and Mozambique after 1961 had to be set against contemporary events in Europe, Africa, and Asia. While Portugal held on to a backward empire, other European countries like Britain, France, and Belgium were rapidly decolonizing their empires. Portugal's failure or unwillingness to divert the large streams of emigrants to her empire after 1850 remained a constant factor in this question. Prophetic were the words of the 19th-century economist Joaquim Oliveira Martins, who wrote in 1880 that Brazil was a better colony for Portugal than Africa and that the best colony of all would have been Portugal itself. As of the day of the Revolution of 25 April 1974, which sparked the final process of decolonization of the remainder of Portugal's third overseas empire, the results of the colonization program could be seen to be modest compared to the numbers of Portuguese emigrants outside the empire. Moreover, within a year, of some 600,000 Portuguese residing permanently in Angola and Mozambique, all but a few thousand had fled to South Africa or returned to Portugal.

   In 1974 and 1975, most of the Portuguese empire was decolonized or, in the case of East Timor, invaded and annexed by a foreign power before it could consolidate its independence. Only historic Macau, scheduled for transfer to the People's Republic of China in 1999, remained nominally under Portuguese control as a kind of footnote to imperial history. If Portugal now lacked a conventional overseas empire and was occupied with the challenges of integration in the European Union (EU), Lisbon retained another sort of informal dependency that was a new kind of empire: the empire of her scattered overseas Portuguese communities from North America to South America. Their numbers were at least six times greater than that of the last settlers of the third empire.

    See also Luso-Tropicalism; Rose-colored map; Ultimatum, English.

SUBJECT AREA: Telecommunications

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At the age of 15 years Bright left the London Merchant Taylors' School to join the two-year-old Electric Telegraph Company. By 1851 he was in charge of the Birmingham telegraph station. After a short time as Assistant Engineer with the newly formed British Telegraph Company, he joined his brother (who was Manager) as Engineer-in-Chief of the English and Irish Magnetic Telegraph Company in Liverpool, for which he laid thousands of miles of underground cable and developed a number of innovations in telegraphy including a resistance box for locating cable faults and a two-tone bell system for signalling. In 1853 he was responsible for the first successful underwater cable between Scotland and Ireland. Three years later, with the American financier Cyrus Field and John Brett, he founded and was Engineer-in-chief of the Atlantic Telegraph Company, which aimed at laying a cable between Ireland and Newfoundland. After several unsuccessful attempts this was finally completed on 5 August 1858, Bright was knighted a month later, but the cable then failed! In 1860 Bright resigned from the Magnetic Telegraph Company to set up an independent consultancy with another engineer, Joseph Latimer Clark, with whom he invented an improved bituminous cable insulation. Two years later he supervised construction of a telegraph cable to India, and in 1865 a further attempt to lay an Atlantic cable using Brunel's new ship, the Great Eastern. This cable broke during laying, but in 1866 a new cable was at last successfully laid and the 1865 cable recovered and repaired. The year 1878 saw extension of the Atlantic cable system to the West Indies and the invention with his brother of a system of neighbourhood fire alarms and even an automatic fire alarm.

In 1861 Bright presented a paper to the British Association for the Advancement of Science on the need for electrical standards, leading to the creation of an organization that still exists in the 1990s. From 1865 until 1868 he was Liberal MP for Greenwich, and he later assisted with preparations for the 1881 Paris Exhibition.

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SUBJECT AREA: Ports and shipping, Steam and internal combustion engines

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John was the third son of David Elder. The father came from a family of millwrights and moved to Glasgow where he worked for the well-known shipbuilding firm of Napier's and was involved with improving marine engines. John was educated at Glasgow High School and then for a while at the Department of Civil Engineering at Glasgow University, where he showed great aptitude for mathematics and drawing. He spent five years as an apprentice under Robert Napier followed by two short periods of activity as a pattern-maker first and then a draughtsman in England. He returned to Scotland in 1849 to become Chief Draughtsman to Napier, but in 1852 he left to become a partner with the Glasgow general engineering company of Randolph Elliott \& Co. Shortly after his induction (at the age of 28), the engineering firm was renamed Randolph Elder \& Co.; in 1868, when the partnership expired, it became known as John Elder \& Co. From the outset Elder, with his partner, Charles Randolph, approached mechanical (especially heat) engineering in a rigorous manner. Their knowledge and understanding of entropy ensured that engine design was not a hit-and-miss affair, but one governed by recognition of the importance of the new kinetic theory of heat and with it a proper understanding of thermodynamic principles, and by systematic development. In this Elder was joined by W.J.M. Rankine, Professor of Civil Engineering and Mechanics at Glasgow University, who helped him develop the compound marine engine. Elder and Randolph built up a series of patents, which guaranteed their company's commercial success and enabled them for a while to be the sole suppliers of compound steam reciprocating machinery. Their first such engine at sea was fitted in 1854 on the SS Brandon for the Limerick Steamship Company; the ship showed an improved performance by using a third less coal, which he was able to reduce still further on later designs.

Elder developed steam jacketing and recognized that, with higher pressures, triple-expansion types would be even more economical. In 1862 he patented a design of quadruple-expansion engine with reheat between cylinders and advocated the importance of balancing reciprocating parts. The effect of his improvements was to greatly reduce fuel consumption so that long sea voyages became an economic reality.

His yard soon reached dimensions then unequalled on the Clyde where he employed over 4,000 workers; Elder also was always interested in the social welfare of his labour force. In 1860 the engine shops were moved to the Govan Old Shipyard, and again in 1864 to the Fairfield Shipyard, about 1 mile (1.6 km) west on the south bank of the Clyde. At Fairfield, shipbuilding was commenced, and with the patents for compounding secure, much business was placed for many years by shipowners serving long-distance trades such as South America; the Pacific Steam Navigation Company took up his ideas for their ships. In later years the yard became known as the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Ltd, but it remains today as one of Britain's most efficient shipyards and is known now as Kvaerner Govan Ltd.

In 1869, at the age of only 45, John Elder was unanimously elected President of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland; however, before taking office and giving his eagerly awaited presidential address, he died in London from liver disease. A large multitude attended his funeral and all the engineering shops were silent as his body, which had been brought back from London to Glasgow, was carried to its resting place. In 1857 Elder had married Isabella Ure, and on his death he left her a considerable fortune, which she used generously for Govan, for Glasgow and especially the University. In 1883 she endowed the world's first Chair of Naval Architecture at the University of Glasgow, an act which was reciprocated in 1901 when the University awarded her an LLD on the occasion of its 450th anniversary.

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SUBJECT AREA: Agricultural and food technology

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The son of the millwright James Meikle, who is credited with the introduction of the winnowing machine into Britain, Andrew Meikle followed in his father's footsteps. His inventive inclinations were first turned to developing his father's idea, and together with his own son George he built and patented a double-fan winnowing machine.

However, in the history of agricultural development Andrew Meikle is most famous for his invention of the threshing machine, patented in 1784. He had been presented with a model of a threshing mill designed by a Mr Ilderton of Northumberland, but after failing to make a full-scale machine work, he developed the concept further. He eventually built the first working threshing machine for a farmer called Stein at Kilbagio. The patent revolutionized farming practice because it displaced the back-breaking and soul-destroying labour of flailing the grain from the straw. The invention was of great value in Scotland and in northern England when the land was becoming underpopulated as a result of heavy industrialization, but it was bitterly opposed in the south of England until well into the nineteenth century. Although the introduction of the threshing machine led to the "Captain Swing" riots of the 1830s, in opposition to it, it shortly became universal.

Meikle's provisional patent in 1785 was a natural progression of earlier attempts by other millwrights to produce such a machine. The published patent is based on power provided by a horse engine, but these threshing machines were often driven by water-wheels or even by windmills. The corn stalks were introduced into the machine where they were fed between cast-iron rollers moving quite fast against each other to beat the grain out of the ears. The power source, whether animal, water or wind, had to cause the rollers to rotate at high speed to knock the grain out of the ears. While Meikle's machine was at first designed as a fixed barn machine powered by a water-wheel or by a horse wheel, later threshing machines became mobile and were part of the rig of an agricultural contractor.

In 1788 Meikle was awarded a patent for the invention of shuttered sails for windmills. This patent is part of the general description of the threshing machine, and whilst it was a practical application, it was superseded by the work of Thomas Cubitt.

At the turn of the century Meikle became a manufacturer of threshing machines, building appliances that combined the threshing and winnowing principles as well as the reciprocating "straw walkers" found in subsequent threshing machines and in conventional combine harvesters to the present day. However, he made little financial gain from his invention, and a public subscription organized by the President of the Board of Agriculture, Sir John Sinclair, raised £1,500 to support him towards the end of his life.

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SUBJECT AREA: Canals, Civil engineering

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Telford was the son of a shepherd, who died when the boy was in his first year. Brought up by his mother, Janet Jackson, he attended the parish school at Westerkirk. He was apprenticed to a stonemason in Lochmaben and to another in Langholm. In 1780 he walked from Eskdale to Edinburgh and in 1872 rode to London on a horse that he was to deliver there. He worked for Sir William Chambers as a mason on Somerset House, then on the Eskdale house of Sir James Johnstone. In 1783–4 he worked on the new Commissioner's House and other buildings at Portsmouth dockyard.

In late 1786 Telford was appointed County Surveyor for Shropshire and moved to Shrewsbury Castle, with work initially on the new infirmary and County Gaol. He designed the church of St Mary Magdalene, Bridgnorth, and also the church at Madley. Telford built his first bridge in 1790–2 at Montford; between 1790 and 1796 he built forty-five road bridges in Shropshire, including Buildwas Bridge. In September 1793 he was appointed general agent, engineer and architect to the Ellesmere Canal, which was to connect the Mersey and Dee rivers with the Severn at Shrewsbury; William Jessop was Principal Engineer. This work included the Pont Cysyllte aqueduct, a 1,000 ft (305 m) long cast-iron trough 127 ft (39 m) above ground level, which entailed an on-site ironworks and took ten years to complete; the aqueduct is still in use today. In 1800 Telford put forward a plan for a new London Bridge with a single cast-iron arch with a span of 600 ft (183 m) but this was not built.

In 1801 Telford was appointed engineer to the British Fisheries Society "to report on Highland Communications" in Scotland where, over the following eighteen years, 920 miles (1,480 km) of new roads were built, 280 miles (450 km) of the old military roads were realigned and rebuilt, over 1,000 bridges were constructed and much harbour work done, all under Telford's direction. A further 180 miles (290 km) of new roads were also constructed in the Lowlands of Scotland. From 1804 to 1822 he was also engaged on the construction of the Caledonian Canal: 119 miles (191 km) in all, 58 miles (93 km) being sea loch, 38 miles (61 km) being Lochs Lochy, Oich and Ness, 23 miles (37 km) having to be cut.

In 1808 he was invited by King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden to assist Count Baltzar von Platen in the survey and construction of a canal between the North Sea and the Baltic. Telford surveyed the 114 mile (183 km) route in six weeks; 53 miles (85 km) of new canal were to be cut. Soon after the plans for the canal were completed, the King of Sweden created him a Knight of the Order of Vasa, an honour that he would have liked to have declined. At one time some 60,000 soldiers and seamen were engaged on the work, Telford supplying supervisors, machinery—including an 8 hp steam dredger from the Donkin works and machinery for two small paddle boats—and ironwork for some of the locks. Under his direction an ironworks was set up at Motala, the foundation of an important Swedish industrial concern which is still flourishing today. The Gotha Canal was opened in September 1832.

In 1811 Telford was asked to make recommendations for the improvement of the Shrewsbury to Holyhead section of the London-Holyhead road, and in 1815 he was asked to survey the whole route from London for a Parliamentary Committee. Construction of his new road took fifteen years, apart from the bridges at Conway and over the Menai Straits, both suspension bridges by Telford and opened in 1826. The Menai bridge had a span of 579 ft (176 m), the roadway being 153 ft (47 m) above the water level.

In 1817 Telford was appointed Engineer to the Exchequer Loan Commission, a body set up to make capital loans for deserving projects in the hard times that followed after the peace of Waterloo. In 1820 he became the first President of the Engineers Institute, which gained its Royal Charter in 1828 to become the Institution of Civil Engineers. He was appointed Engineer to the St Katharine's Dock Company during its construction from 1825 to 1828, and was consulted on several early railway projects including the Liverpool and Manchester as well as a number of canal works in the Midlands including the new Harecastle tunnel, 3,000 ft (914 m) long.

Telford led a largely itinerant life, living in hotels and lodgings, acquiring his own house for the first time in 1821, 24 Abingdon Street, Westminster, which was partly used as a school for young civil engineers. He died there in 1834, after suffering in his later years from the isolation of deafness. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.

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f life

( durata della vita) lifetime

anatomy waist

a vita for life

costo m della vita cost of living

senza vita lifeless

* * *

vita¹ s.f.

1 life*: vita degli animali, delle piante, animal, plant life; la vita umana, human life; la vita terrena, life on earth; essere in vita, to be living (o alive); essere in fin di vita, to be dying; essere privo di vita, to be lifeless; essere tra la vita e la morte, to be between life and death; rimanere in vita, to survive; non dare segni di vita, to show (o to give) no signs of life; rischiare la vita, to risk (o to venture) one's life; perdere la vita, to lose one's life; dare la vita a qlcu., to give birth to s.o.; dare la vita per qlcu., qlco., to give (o to sacrifice) one's life for s.o., sthg.; dar vita a qlco., to start (o to set up) sthg.; togliere la vita a qlcu., to take s.o.'s life; togliersi la vita, to kill oneself (o to commit suicide); richiamare in vita qlcu., to bring s.o. back to life; salvare la vita a qlcu., to save s.o.'s life; ti devo la vita, I owe you my life; aver cara la vita, to value one's life; vender cara la vita, to sell one's life dearly; essere attaccati alla vita, to love life // nella primavera, al tramonto della vita, in the spring, autumn of life // l'altra vita, the next life; la vita eterna, eternal life; passare a miglior vita, to pass away (o breath one's last) // lotta per la vita, struggle for life // assicurazione sulla vita, life insurance // è in gioco la sua vita, his life is at stake // è una questione di vita o di morte, it's a matter of life and death // ne va della vita, it's more than my life is worth // pena la vita, on pain of death // lo giuro sulla mia vita, I swear it on my life // l'aria e la luce sono la nostra vita, air and light are (o mean) life to us // il lavoro è la sua vita, work is his life; amor mio, vita mia!, my love, my life! // storie di vita vissuta, real life stories // conoscere la vita, to know life (o the world); avere esperienza della vita, to have experience of life (o of the world) // è la vita!, that's life! // finché c'è vita c'è speranza, (prov.) while there's life there's hope

2 ( periodo di vita) life*; ( durata di una vita) lifetime: vita lunga, long life; vita media, average lifetime; (fis. nucleare) mean life; vita operativa, physical life; durante la sua vita, during his lifetime; tutta una vita di felicità, a lifetime of happiness; capita una sola volta nella vita, it happens only once in a lifetime; non l'ho mai fatto in vita mia, I have never done it in my life; quel giornale ha avuto vita breve, that newspaper had a short life // vita natural durante, for one's natural life // a vita, (for) life; carcere a vita, life imprisonment; condanna a vita, life sentence; essere condannato a vita, to be given a life sentence; pensione a vita, life pension; senatore a vita, senator for life // per ( tutta) la vita, for life: essere menomato per la vita, to be maimed for life; ti amerò per tutta la vita, I'll love you as long as I live // in vita, during one's life: in vita non è stato un gran che, during his lifetime he wasn't up to much // lo conosco da una vita, è una vita che lo conosco, I've known him for years

3 ( modo di vivere) life*, living: vita sana, onesta, attiva, healthy, honest, active life; vita privata, pubblica, private, public life; ritirarsi a vita privata, to retire to private life; vita di relazione, social life; vita in comune, life together; far vita in comune, to live together; condurre una vita tranquilla, to lead a quiet life; vivere una vita disordinata, to live (o to lead) a disorderly life // tenore di vita, standard of living // che vita!, what a life! // vita da cani, dog's life // come va la vita?, how's life (o how are you getting on)? // fare una vita da nababbo, da re, to live like a lord (o a king) // fare la dolce vita, to live it up // fare una bella vita, to lead a good life // fare la, darsi alla bella vita, to lead a life of pleasure // fare la vita, to be a prostitute; donna di vita, prostitute // avere una doppia vita, to live (o to lead) a double life // cambiare vita, to mend one's ways // rifarsi una vita, to make a new life for oneself // trascinare la vita, to live (o to lead) a hard life // rendere la vita difficile a qlcu., to make life difficult for s.o. // sapere vita, morte e miracoli di qlcu., to know everything about s.o. // poca brigata vita beata, (prov.) the fewer the better

4 ( il necessario per vivere) living: il costo della vita, the cost of living; la vita è sempre più cara, the cost of living is going up all the time; guadagnarsi la vita, to earn one's living; si guadagna onestamente la vita, he earns an honest living; guadagnarsi a stento la vita, to scrape a living

5 ( vitalità) vitality, life*; ( animazione) animation: è piena di vita, she is full of life (o bubbling over with vitality); città, strada piena di vita, town, street full of life; musica piena di vita, music full of vitality; romanzo privo di vita, lifeless novel; dar vita a una festa, to liven up a party

6 ( essere, persona) life*: non c'era traccia di vita per le strade, there was no sign of life in the streets; la guerra costa molte vite, war costs many lives; non si lamenta alcuna perdita di vite umane, no lives were lost (o there was no loss of life)

7 ( biografia) life*, biography: hai letto le vite di Plutarco?, have you read Plutarch's lives?

vita² s.f. ( parte del corpo) waist: prendere qlcu. per la vita, to seize s.o. by the waist; giro di vita, waist measure; abito stretto in vita, a tight-waisted dress; avere la vita alta, bassa, essere corto, lungo di vita, to have a high, low waist, to be high-waisted, low-waisted; avere la vita stretta, sottile, to have a slender waist; vita di vespa, wasp waist // su con la vita!, cheer up!

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1) (gen) life

2) (modo di vivere) life, lifestyle

- vita notturna

Anat waist

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sostantivo femminile

1) life*

2) (vitalità) life*

3) (biografia) life*

4) fig. (molto tempo)

5) in vita alive

•

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sostantivo femminile (parte del corpo) waist; (circonferenza) waistline

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Dei due principali equivalenti inglesi della parola vita, life e living, il primo è il termine più generale che fa riferimento all'esperienza complessiva del vivere ( una questione di vita o di morte = a matter of life and death, un amico per la vita = a friend for life, lo stile di vita = the way of life / the lifestyle), mentre il secondo allude soprattutto alle necessità materiali del vivere ( condizioni di vita = living conditions, il costo della vita = the cost of living). Quando si parla della vita in generale, la parola life non è preceduta dall'articolo in inglese ( la vita è spesso dura = life is often hard), a meno che non ci sia una specificazione ( la vita dei contadini nell'Inghilterra medievale era spesso molto dura = the life of peasants in medieval England was often very hard).

sostantivo f.

 1 life*; salvare la vita a qcn. to save sb.'s life; non c'erano segni di vita there was no sign of life; togliersi la vita to take one own's life; tra la vita e la morte between life and death; c'è vita su Marte? is there life on Mars? forme di vita life forms; è una questione di vita o di morte it's a matter of life and death; per (tutta) la vita throughout one's life; non l'ho mai visto prima in vita mia I've never seen him before in my life; per la prima volta in vita mia for the first time in my life; che cosa farai nella vita? what are you going to do in life? a vita [esiliare, segnare] for life; [esilio, sospensione] lifetime; opera di (tutta) una vita work of a lifetime; avere una vita molto attiva to lead a busy life; rendere la vita difficile a qcn. to make life difficult for sb.; il governo non avrà vita lunga fig. the government won't last long; la vita di città, moderna city life, present day life; stile di vita lifestyle; condizioni di vita living conditions

 2 (vitalità) life*; prendere vita to come to life; è là che c'è vita that's where the action is; pieno di vita [persona, luogo] bursting with life

 3 (biografia) life*

 4 fig. (molto tempo) ci vuole una vita per fare it takes ages o an age to do; non la vedo da una vita it's been ages since I last saw her

 5 in vita alive; tenere qcn., qcs. in vita to keep sb., sth. alive (anche fig.); rimanere in vita to stay alive

IDIOMS

questa (sì che) è vita! this is the life! così va la vita that's what life is all about; avere vita facile to have an easy ride; sapere vita, morte e miracoli di qcn. = to know everything there's to know about sb.; darsi alla bella vita to live it up, to lead the life of Riley; una vita da cani a dog's life; per la vita e per la morte! till death us do part! o la borsa o la vita! your money or your life! su con la vita! cheer up! finché c'è vita c'è speranza prov. while there's life there's hope; donna di vita hooker; fare la vita to be on the game BE

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COMPOUNDS

vita eterna eternal life; vita media statist. expectation of life.

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sostantivo f.

(parte del corpo) waist; (circonferenza) waistline; vita sottile, larga slim, large waist o waistline; afferrare qcn. per la vita to seize sb. around the waist; a vita alta, bassa [ abito] high-, low-waisted; giro vita waist measurement.

SUBJECT AREA: Textiles

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There are two claimants for the person who originated the differential gear as applied to roving frames: one is J.Green, a tinsmith of Mansfield, in his patent of 1823; the other is Arnold, who had applied it in America and patented it in early 1823. This latter was the source for Houldsworth's patent in 1826. It seems that Arnold's gearing was secretly communicated to Houldsworth by Charles Richmond, possibly when Houldsworth visited the United States in 1822–3, but more probably in 1825 when Richmond went to England. In return, Richmond received information about parts of a cylinder printing machine from Houldsworth. In the working of the roving frame, as the rovings were wound onto their bobbins and the diameter of the bobbins increased, the bobbin speed had to be reduced to keep the winding on at the same speed while the flyers and drawing rollers had to maintain their initial speed. Although this could be achieved by moving the driving belt along coned pulleys, this method did not provide enough power and slippage occurred. The differential gear combined the direct drive from the main shaft of the roving frame with that from the cone drive, so that only the latter provided the dif-ference between flyer and bobbin speeds, i.e. the winding speeds, thus taking away most of the power from that belt. Henry Houldsworth Senior (1774–1853) was living in Manchester when his son Henry was born, but by 1800 had moved to Glasgow. He built several mills, including a massive one at Anderston, Scotland, in which a Boulton \& Watt steam engine was installed. Henry Houldsworth Junior was probably back in Manchester by 1826, where he was to become an influential cotton spinner as chief partner in his mills, which he moved out to Reddish in 1863–5. He was also a prominent landowner in Cheetham. When William Fairbairn was considering establishing the Association for the Prevention of Steam Boiler Explosions in 1854, he wanted to find an influential manufacturer and mill-owner and he made a happy choice when he turned to Henry Houldsworth for assistance.

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sg - grǽnsen, pl - grǽnser

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I. (en -r)

( naturlig geografisk grænse; grænselinje) boundary ( fx the Pyrenees form the boundary between France and Spain; natural boundaries; draw a boundary);

( statsgrænse) frontier ( fx the frontier between Denmark and Germany; along the frontier with Germany), border ( fx smuggle people across the border),

(i Engl, Irland og USA) border ( fx the Scottish border, the Mexican border);

( mellem områder i et land) boundary ( fx between two counties (, estates));

( grænseområde) border;

( afslutning, ydergrænse) limit ( fx within the limits of the city);

( for skoles område) bounds pl;

(fig) ( afgrænsning) boundary ( fx the boundaries of human knowledge; children have a need to know where the permitted boundaries are);

( yderste grænse) limit ( fx there is a limit to my patience; reach the limit(s) of one's patience; the limits of his power),

(F: begrænsning) bounds ( fx it passes all reasonable bounds; his gratitude (, greed) knew no bounds (el. limits));

( skillelinje) borderline ( fx she was on the borderline between failing and passing);

[ sætte en grænse for] set a limit to; set bounds to;

[ et sted må man sætte en grænse (el. trække grænsen)]

(fig) one has to draw the line somewhere;

[ med præp:]

[ inden for landets grænser] within the frontiers (el. borders) of the country;

[ inden for visse grænser] within (certain) limits;

[ gå over grænsen] cross the frontier,

(fig) go too far;

[ være lige på grænsen af] border on ( fx it borders on insolence);

[ det var lige på grænsen]

(dvs til det uanstændige) T it was near the knuckle (el. bone);

[ ved grænsen] at the frontier (el. border) ( fx we stopped at the frontier);

(dvs langs) on the frontier (el. border) ( fx there are many guards on the frontier; fighting on the border);

II. vb:

[ grænse (op) til] border on;

[ det grænser til det utrolige] it is hardly to be believed, it is almost incredible;

[ mistanke der grænser til vished] suspicion amounting almost to certainty;

[ England grænser mod nord til Skotland] England borders in the north on Scotland;

[ dette grænser til vanvid] this borders (el. verges) on insanity.

SUBJECT AREA: Land transport, Railways and locomotives

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Gresley was the son of the Rector of Netherseale, Derbyshire; he was educated at Marlborough and by the age of 13 was skilled at making sketches of locomotives. In 1893 he became a pupil of F.W. Webb at Crewe works, London \& North Western Railway, and in 1898 he moved to Horwich works, Lancashire \& Yorkshire Railway, to gain drawing-office experience under J.A.F.Aspinall, subsequently becoming Foreman of the locomotive running sheds at Blackpool. In 1900 he transferred to the carriage and wagon department, and in 1904 he had risen to become its Assistant Superintendent. In 1905 he moved to the Great Northern Railway, becoming Superintendent of its carriage and wagon department at Doncaster under H.A. Ivatt. In 1906 he designed and produced a bogie luggage van with steel underframe, teak body, elliptical roof, bowed ends and buckeye couplings: this became the prototype for East Coast main-line coaches built over the next thirty-five years. In 1911 Gresley succeeded Ivatt as Locomotive, Carriage \& Wagon Superintendent. His first locomotive was a mixed-traffic 2–6–0, his next a 2–8–0 for freight. From 1915 he worked on the design of a 4–6–2 locomotive for express passenger traffic: as with Ivatt's 4 4 2s, the trailing axle would allow the wide firebox needed for Yorkshire coal. He also devised a means by which two sets of valve gear could operate the valves on a three-cylinder locomotive and applied it for the first time on a 2–8–0 built in 1918. The system was complex, but a later simplified form was used on all subsequent Gresley three-cylinder locomotives, including his first 4–6–2 which appeared in 1922. In 1921, Gresley introduced the first British restaurant car with electric cooking facilities.

With the grouping of 1923, the Great Northern Railway was absorbed into the London \& North Eastern Railway and Gresley was appointed Chief Mechanical Engineer. More 4–6– 2s were built, the first British class of such wheel arrangement. Modifications to their valve gear, along lines developed by G.J. Churchward, reduced their coal consumption sufficiently to enable them to run non-stop between London and Edinburgh. So that enginemen might change over en route, some of the locomotives were equipped with corridor tenders from 1928. The design was steadily improved in detail, and by comparison an experimental 4–6–4 with a watertube boiler that Gresley produced in 1929 showed no overall benefit. A successful high-powered 2–8–2 was built in 1934, following the introduction of third-class sleeping cars, to haul 500-ton passenger trains between Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

In 1932 the need to meet increasing road competition had resulted in the end of a long-standing agreement between East Coast and West Coast railways, that train journeys between London and Edinburgh by either route should be scheduled to take 8 1/4 hours. Seeking to accelerate train services, Gresley studied high-speed, diesel-electric railcars in Germany and petrol-electric railcars in France. He considered them for the London \& North Eastern Railway, but a test run by a train hauled by one of his 4–6–2s in 1934, which reached 108 mph (174 km/h), suggested that a steam train could better the railcar proposals while its accommodation would be more comfortable. To celebrate the Silver Jubilee of King George V, a high-speed, streamlined train between London and Newcastle upon Tyne was proposed, the first such train in Britain. An improved 4–6–2, the A4 class, was designed with modifications to ensure free running and an ample reserve of power up hill. Its streamlined outline included a wedge-shaped front which reduced wind resistance and helped to lift the exhaust dear of the cab windows at speed. The first locomotive of the class, named Silver Link, ran at an average speed of 100 mph (161 km/h) for 43 miles (69 km), with a maximum speed of 112 1/2 mph (181 km/h), on a seven-coach test train on 27 September 1935: the locomotive went into service hauling the Silver Jubilee express single-handed (since others of the class had still to be completed) for the first three weeks, a round trip of 536 miles (863 km) daily, much of it at 90 mph (145 km/h), without any mechanical troubles at all. Coaches for the Silver Jubilee had teak-framed, steel-panelled bodies on all-steel, welded underframes; windows were double glazed; and there was a pressure ventilation/heating system. Comparable trains were introduced between London Kings Cross and Edinburgh in 1937 and to Leeds in 1938.

Gresley did not hesitate to incorporate outstanding features from elsewhere into his locomotive designs and was well aware of the work of André Chapelon in France. Four A4s built in 1938 were equipped with Kylchap twin blast-pipes and double chimneys to improve performance still further. The first of these to be completed, no. 4468, Mallard, on 3 July 1938 ran a test train at over 120 mph (193 km/h) for 2 miles (3.2 km) and momentarily achieved 126 mph (203 km/h), the world speed record for steam traction. J.Duddington was the driver and T.Bray the fireman. The use of high-speed trains came to an end with the Second World War. The A4s were then demonstrated to be powerful as well as fast: one was noted hauling a 730-ton, 22-coach train at an average speed exceeding 75 mph (120 km/h) over 30 miles (48 km). The war also halted electrification of the Manchester-Sheffield line, on the 1,500 volt DC overhead system; however, anticipating eventual resumption, Gresley had a prototype main-line Bo-Bo electric locomotive built in 1941. Sadly, Gresley died from a heart attack while still in office.

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See also: Bulleid, Oliver Vaughan Snell

SUBJECT AREA: Land transport, Railways and locomotives

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Robert Stephenson's father was George Stephenson, who ensured that his son was educated to obtain the theoretical knowledge he lacked himself. In 1821 Robert Stephenson assisted his father in his survey of the Stockton \& Darlington Railway and in 1822 he assisted William James in the first survey of the Liverpool \& Manchester Railway. He then went to Edinburgh University for six months, and the following year Robert Stephenson \& Co. was named after him as Managing Partner when it was formed by himself, his father and others. The firm was to build stationary engines, locomotives and railway rolling stock; in its early years it also built paper-making machinery and did general engineering.

In 1824, however, Robert Stephenson accepted, perhaps in reaction to an excess of parental control, an invitation by a group of London speculators called the Colombian Mining Association to lead an expedition to South America to use steam power to reopen gold and silver mines. He subsequently visited North America before returning to England in 1827 to rejoin his father as an equal and again take charge of Robert Stephenson \& Co. There he set about altering the design of steam locomotives to improve both their riding and their steam-generating capacity. Lancashire Witch, completed in July 1828, was the first locomotive mounted on steel springs and had twin furnace tubes through the boiler to produce a large heating surface. Later that year Robert Stephenson \& Co. supplied the Stockton \& Darlington Railway with a wagon, mounted for the first time on springs and with outside bearings. It was to be the prototype of the standard British railway wagon. Between April and September 1829 Robert Stephenson built, not without difficulty, a multi-tubular boiler, as suggested by Henry Booth to George Stephenson, and incorporated it into the locomotive Rocket which the three men entered in the Liverpool \& Manchester Railway's Rainhill Trials in October. Rocket, was outstandingly successful and demonstrated that the long-distance steam railway was practicable.

Robert Stephenson continued to develop the locomotive. Northumbrian, built in 1830, had for the first time, a smokebox at the front of the boiler and also the firebox built integrally with the rear of the boiler. Then in Planet, built later the same year, he adopted a layout for the working parts used earlier by steam road-coach pioneer Goldsworthy Gurney, placing the cylinders, for the first time, in a nearly horizontal position beneath the smokebox, with the connecting rods driving a cranked axle. He had evolved the definitive form for the steam locomotive.

Also in 1830, Robert Stephenson surveyed the London \& Birmingham Railway, which was authorized by Act of Parliament in 1833. Stephenson became Engineer for construction of the 112-mile (180 km) railway, probably at that date the greatest task ever undertaken in of civil engineering. In this he was greatly assisted by G.P.Bidder, who as a child prodigy had been known as "The Calculating Boy", and the two men were to be associated in many subsequent projects. On the London \& Birmingham Railway there were long and deep cuttings to be excavated and difficult tunnels to be bored, notoriously at Kilsby. The line was opened in 1838.

In 1837 Stephenson provided facilities for W.F. Cooke to make an experimental electrictelegraph installation at London Euston. The directors of the London \& Birmingham Railway company, however, did not accept his recommendation that they should adopt the electric telegraph and it was left to I.K. Brunel to instigate the first permanent installation, alongside the Great Western Railway. After Cooke formed the Electric Telegraph Company, Stephenson became a shareholder and was Chairman during 1857–8.

Earlier, in the 1830s, Robert Stephenson assisted his father in advising on railways in Belgium and came to be increasingly in demand as a consultant. In 1840, however, he was almost ruined financially as a result of the collapse of the Stanhope \& Tyne Rail Road; in return for acting as Engineer-in-Chief he had unwisely accepted shares, with unlimited liability, instead of a fee.

During the late 1840s Stephenson's greatest achievements were the design and construction of four great bridges, as part of railways for which he was responsible. The High Level Bridge over the Tyne at Newcastle and the Royal Border Bridge over the Tweed at Berwick were the links needed to complete the East Coast Route from London to Scotland. For the Chester \& Holyhead Railway to cross the Menai Strait, a bridge with spans as long-as 460 ft (140 m) was needed: Stephenson designed them as wrought-iron tubes of rectangular cross-section, through which the trains would pass, and eventually joined the spans together into a tube 1,511 ft (460 m) long from shore to shore. Extensive testing was done beforehand by shipbuilder William Fairbairn to prove the method, and as a preliminary it was first used for a 400 ft (122 m) span bridge at Conway.

In 1847 Robert Stephenson was elected MP for Whitby, a position he held until his death, and he was one of the exhibition commissioners for the Great Exhibition of 1851. In the early 1850s he was Engineer-in-Chief for the Norwegian Trunk Railway, the first railway in Norway, and he also built the Alexandria \& Cairo Railway, the first railway in Africa. This included two tubular bridges with the railway running on top of the tubes. The railway was extended to Suez in 1858 and for several years provided a link in the route from Britain to India, until superseded by the Suez Canal, which Stephenson had opposed in Parliament. The greatest of all his tubular bridges was the Victoria Bridge across the River St Lawrence at Montreal: after inspecting the site in 1852 he was appointed Engineer-in-Chief for the bridge, which was 1 1/2 miles (2 km) long and was designed in his London offices. Sadly he, like Brunel, died young from self-imposed overwork, before the bridge was completed in 1859.

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See also: Pihl, Carl Abraham; Seguin, Marc

SUBJECT AREA: Electricity, Metallurgy, Public utilities

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After studying at the West of Scotland Technical College in Glasgow, in January 1895 Morrison was appointed Engineer to the newly formed British Aluminium Company Limited (BAC); it was with this organization that he spent his entire career. The company secured the patent rights to the Héroult and Bayer processes. It constructed a 200 tonne per year electrolytic plant at Foyers on the shore of Loch Ness, together with an adjacent 5000 kW hydroelectric scheme, and it built an alumina factory at Larne Harbour in north-eastern Ireland. Morrison was soon Manager at Foyers, and he became the company's Joint Technical Adviser. In 1910 he was made General Manager, and later he was appointed Managing Director. Morrison successfully brought about improvements in all parts of the production process; between 1915 and 1930 he increased the size of individual electrolytic cells by a factor of five, from 8,000 to 40,000 amperes. Soon after 1901, BAC built a second works for electrolytic reduction, at Kinlochleven in Argyllshire, where the primary design originated from Morrison. In the 1920s a third plant was erected at Fort William, in the lee of Ben Nevis, with hydroelectric generators providing some 75 MW. Alumina factories were constructed at Burntisland on the Firth of Forth and, in the 1930s, at Newport in Monmouthshire. Rolling mills were developed at Milton in Staffordshire, Warrington, and Falkirk in Stirlingshire, this last coming into use in the 1940s, by which time the company had a primary-metal output of more than 30,000 tonnes a year. Morrison was closely involved in all of these developments. He retired in 1946 as Deputy Chairman of BAC.

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See also: Hall, Charles Martin

SUBJECT AREA: Architecture and building

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Robert Adam was a man of outstanding talent, immense energy dedicated to his profession, and of great originality, who utilized all sources of classical art from ancient Greece and Rome as well as from the Renaissance and Baroque eras in Italy. He was also a very practical exponent of neo-classicism and believed in using the latest techniques to produce fine craftsmanship.

Of particular interest to him was stucco, the material needed for elegant, finely crafted ceiling and wall designs. Stucco, though the Italian word for plaster, refers architecturally to a specific form of the material. Known as Stucco duro (hard plaster), its use and composition dates from the days of ancient Rome. Giovanni da Udine, a pupil of Raphael, having discovered some fine stucco antico in the ruins of the Palace of Titus in Rome, carried out extensive research during the Italian Renaissance in order to discover its precise composition; it was a mixture of powdered crystalline limestone (travertine), river sand, water and powdered white marble. The marble produced an exceptionally hard stucco when set, thereby differentiating it from plaster-work, and was a material fine enough to make delicate relief and statuary work possible.

In the 1770s Robert Adam's ceiling and wall designs were characterized by low-relief, delicate, classical forms. He and his brothers, who formed the firm of Adam Brothers, were interested in a stucco which would be especially fine grained and hard setting. A number of new products then appearing on the market were easier to handle than earlier ones. These included a stucco by Mr David Wark, patented in 1765, and another by a Swiss clergyman called Liardet in 1773; the Adam firm purchased both patents and obtained an Act of Parliament authorizing them to be the sole vendors and makers of this stucco, which they called "Adam's new invented patent stucco". More new versions appeared, among which was one by a Mr Johnson, who claimed it to be an improvement. The Adam Brothers, having paid a high price for their rights, took him to court. The case was decided in 1778 by Lord Mansfield, a fellow Scot and a patron (at Kenwood), who,

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SUBJECT AREA: Civil engineering, Mechanical, pneumatic and hydraulic engineering, Steam and internal combustion engines

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As a boy, Smeaton showed mechanical ability, making for himself a number of tools and models. This practical skill was backed by a sound education, probably at Leeds Grammar School. At the age of 16 he entered his father's office; he seemed set to follow his father's profession in the law. In 1742 he went to London to continue his legal studies, but he preferred instead, with his father's reluctant permission, to set up as a scientific instrument maker and dealer and opened a shop of his own in 1748. About this time he began attending meetings of the Royal Society and presented several papers on instruments and mechanical subjects, being elected a Fellow in 1753. His interests were turning towards engineering but were informed by scientific principles grounded in careful and accurate observation.

In 1755 the second Eddystone lighthouse, on a reef some 14 miles (23 km) off the English coast at Plymouth, was destroyed by fire. The President of the Royal Society was consulted as to a suitable engineer to undertake the task of constructing a new one, and he unhesitatingly suggested Smeaton. Work began in 1756 and was completed in three years to produce the first great wave-swept stone lighthouse. It was constructed of Portland stone blocks, shaped and pegged both together and to the base rock, and bonded by hydraulic cement, scientifically developed by Smeaton. It withstood the storms of the English Channel for over a century, but by 1876 erosion of the rock had weakened the structure and a replacement had to be built. The upper portion of Smeaton's lighthouse was re-erected on a suitable base on Plymouth Hoe, leaving the original base portion on the reef as a memorial to the engineer.

The Eddystone lighthouse made Smeaton's reputation and from then on he was constantly in demand as a consultant in all kinds of engineering projects. He carried out a number himself, notably the 38 mile (61 km) long Forth and Clyde canal with thirty-nine locks, begun in 1768 but for financial reasons not completed until 1790. In 1774 he took charge of the Ramsgate Harbour works.

On the mechanical side, Smeaton undertook a systematic study of water-and windmills, to determine the design and construction to achieve the greatest power output. This work issued forth as the paper "An experimental enquiry concerning the natural powers of water and wind to turn mills" and exerted a considerable influence on mill design during the early part of the Industrial Revolution. Between 1753 and 1790 Smeaton constructed no fewer than forty-four mills.

Meanwhile, in 1756 he had returned to Austhorpe, which continued to be his home base for the rest of his life. In 1767, as a result of the disappointing performance of an engine he had been involved with at New River Head, Islington, London, Smeaton began his important study of the steam-engine. Smeaton was the first to apply scientific principles to the steam-engine and achieved the most notable improvements in its efficiency since its invention by Newcomen, until its radical overhaul by James Watt. To compare the performance of engines quantitatively, he introduced the concept of "duty", i.e. the weight of water that could be raised 1 ft (30 cm) while burning one bushel (84 lb or 38 kg) of coal. The first engine to embody his improvements was erected at Long Benton colliery in Northumberland in 1772, with a duty of 9.45 million pounds, compared to the best figure obtained previously of 7.44 million pounds. One source of heat loss he attributed to inaccurate boring of the cylinder, which he was able to improve through his close association with Carron Ironworks near Falkirk, Scotland.

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SUBJECT AREA: Electricity, Public utilities

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An important application of the magneto generator was demonstrated by Holmes in 1853 when he showed that it might be used to supply an arc lamp. This had many implications for the future because it presented the possibility of making electric lighting economically successful. In 1856 he patented a machine with six disc armatures on a common axis rotating between seven banks of permanent magnets. The following year Holmes suggested the possible application of his invention to lighthouse illumination and a trial was arranged and observed by Faraday, who was at that time scientific adviser to Trinity House, the corporation entrusted with the care of light-houses in England and Wales. Although the trial was successful and gained the approval of Faraday, the Elder Brethren of Trinity House imposed strict conditions on Holmes's design for machines to be used for a more extensive trial. These included connecting the machine directly to a slow-speed steam engine, but this resulted in a reduced performance. The experiments of Holmes and Faraday were brought to the attention of the French lighthouse authorities and magneto generators manufactured by Société Alliance began to be installed in some lighthouses along the coast of France. After noticing the French commutatorless machines, Holmes produced an alternator of similar type in 1867. Two of these were constructed for a new lighthouse at Souter Point near Newcastle and two were installed in each of the two lighthouses at South Foreland. One of the machines from South Foreland that was in service from 1872 to 1922 is preserved in the Royal Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh. A Holmes generator is also preserved in the Science Museum, London. Holmes obtained a series of patents for generators between 1856 and 1869, with all but the last being of the magneto-electric type.

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SUBJECT AREA: Canals, Civil engineering, Ports and shipping, Railways and locomotives

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William Jessop inherited from his father a natural ability in engineering, and because of his father's association with John Smeaton in the construction of Eddystone Lighthouse he was accepted by Smeaton as a pupil in 1759 at the age of 14. Smeaton was so impressed with his ability that Jessop was retained as an assistant after completion of his pupilage in 1767. As such he carried out field-work, making surveys on his own, but in 1772 he was recommended to the Aire and Calder Committee as an independent engineer and his first personally prepared report was made on the Haddlesey Cut, Selby Canal. It was in this report that he gave his first evidence before a Parliamentary Committee. He later became Resident Engineer on the Selby Canal, and soon after he was elected to the Smeatonian Society of Engineers, of which he later became Secretary for twenty years. Meanwhile he accompanied Smeaton to Ireland to advise on the Grand Canal, ultimately becoming Consulting Engineer until 1802, and was responsible for Ringsend Docks, which connected the canal to the Liffey and were opened in 1796. From 1783 to 1787 he advised on improvements to the River Trent, and his ability was so recognized that it made his reputation. From then on he was consulted on the Cromford Canal (1789–93), the Leicester Navigation (1791–4) and the Grantham Canal (1793–7); at the same time he was Chief Engineer of the Grand Junction Canal from 1793 to 1797 and then Consulting Engineer until 1805. He also engineered the Barnsley and Rochdale Canals. In fact, there were few canals during this period on which he was not consulted. It has now been established that Jessop carried the responsibility for the Pont-Cysyllte Aqueduct in Wales and also prepared the estimates for the Caledonian Canal in 1804. In 1792 he became a partner in the Butterley ironworks and thus became interested in railways. He proposed the Surrey Iron Railway in 1799 and prepared for the estimates; the line was built and opened in 1805. He was also the Engineer for the 10 mile (16 km) long Kilmarnock \& Troon Railway, the Act for which was obtained in 1808 and was the first Act for a public railway in Scotland. Jessop's advice was sought on drainage works between 1785 and 1802 in the lowlands of the Isle of Axholme, Holderness, the Norfolk Marshlands, and the Axe and Brue area of the Somerset Levels. He was also consulted on harbour and dock improvements. These included Hull (1793), Portsmouth (1796), Folkestone (1806) and Sunderland (1807), but his greatest dock works were the West India Docks in London and the Floating Harbour at Bristol. He was Consulting Engineer to the City of London Corporation from 1796to 1799, drawing up plans for docks on the Isle of Dogs in 1796; in February 1800 he was appointed Engineer, and three years later, in September 1803, he was appointed Engineer to the Bristol Floating Harbour. Jessop was regarded as the leading civil engineer in the country from 1785 until 1806. He died following a stroke in 1814.

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SUBJECT AREA: Mechanical, pneumatic and hydraulic engineering

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James Nasmyth was the youngest son of Alexander Nasmyth (1758–1840), the portrait and landscape painter. According to his autobiography he was named James Hall after his father's friend, the geologist Sir James Hall (1761–1832), but he seems never to have used his second name in official documents. He received an elementary education at Edinburgh High School, but left at the age of 12. He attended evening classes at the Edinburgh School of Arts for the instruction of Mechanics between 1821 and 1825, and gained experience as a mechanic at an early age in his father's workshop. He shared these early experiences with his brother George, who was only a year or so older, and in the 1820s the brothers built several model steam engines and a steam-carriage capable of carrying eight passengers on the public roads. In 1829 Nasmyth obtained a position in London as personal assistant to Henry Maudslay, and after Maudslay's death in February 1831 he remained with Maudslay's partner, Joshua Field, for a short time. He then returned to Edinburgh, where he and his brother George started in a small way as general engineers. In 1834 they moved to a small workshop in Manchester, and in 1836, with the aid of financial backing from some Manchester businessmen, they established on a site at Patricroft, a few miles from the city, the works which became known as the Bridgewater Foundry. They were soon joined by a third partner, Holbrook Gaskell (1813–1909), who looked after the administration of the business, the firm then being known as Nasmyths Gaskell \& Co. They specialized in making machine tools, and Nasmyth invented many improvements so that they soon became one of the leading manufacturers in this field. They also made steam locomotives for the rapidly developing railways. James Nasmyth's best-known invention was the steam-hammer, which dates from 1839 but was not patented until 1842. The self-acting control gear was probably the work of Robert Wilson and ensured the commercial success of the invention. George Nasmyth resigned from the partnership in 1843 and in 1850 Gaskell also resigned, after which the firm continued as James Nasmyth \& Co. James Nasmyth himself retired at the end of 1856 and went to live at Penshurst, Kent, in a house which he named "Hammerfield" where he devoted his time mainly to his hobby of astronomy. Robert Wilson returned to become Managing Partner of the firm, which later became Nasmyth, Wilson \& Co. and retained that style until its closure in 1940. Nasmyth's claim to be the sole inventor of the steam-hammer has been disputed, but his patent of 1842 was not challenged and the fourteen-year monopoly ensured the prosperity of the business so that he was able to retire at the age of 48. At his death in 1890 he left an estate valued at £243,805.

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1) ((at) the present period of time: I am now living in England.) ahora

2) (at once; immediately: I can't do it now - you'll have to wait.) ya, ahora mismo

3) ((at) this moment: He'll be at home now; From now on, I shall be more careful about what I say to her.) ahora

4) ((in stories) then; at that time: We were now very close to the city.) entonces

5) (because of what has happened etc: I now know better than to trust her.) ahora

6) (a word in explanations, warnings, commands, or to show disbelief: Now this is what happened; Stop that, now!; Do be careful, now.) entonces

- nowadays

now adv

1. ahora

2. ya

tr[naʊ]

adverb

1 (at the present) ahora; (used contrastively) ya

■ where do you work now? ¿dónde trabajas ahora?

■ I'm ready now ya estoy listo

2 (immediately) ya, ahora mismo

■ do it now! ¡hazlo ya!

3 (in past) ya, entonces

4 (introductory) bueno, vamos a ver, veamos

■ now, let's begin bueno, empecemos

conjunction

1 (Also now that) ahora que, ya que

■ now (that) we're all here, we can begin ya que estamos todos, podemos empezar

\

by now ya

■ she'll be in Mexico by now ya debe de estar en Méjico

for now por el momento

from now on de ahora en adelante

just now (at this moment) en estos momentos, ahora mismo 2 (a short while ago) hace un momento, ahora mismo

■ I can't help you just now ahora mismo no puedo ayudarte

■ have you seen Ann? -- she was here just now ¿has visto a Ann? --estaba aquí hace un momento

now and then de vez en cuando

now now vale, basta, ya está bien

■ now, now, don't fight vale ya, no os peleéis

right now ahora mismo

now ['naʊ] adv

1) presently: ahora, ya, actualmente

from now on: de ahora en adelante

long before now: ya hace tiempo

now and then: de vez en cuando

2) immediately: ahora (mismo), inmediatamente

do it right now!: ¡hazlo ahora mismo!

3) then: ya, entonces

now they were ready: ya estaban listos

4) (used to introduce a statement, a question, a command, or a transition)

now hear this!: ¡presten atención!

now what do you think of that?: ¿qué piensas de eso?

now n, (indicating the present time)

until now: hasta ahora

by now: ya

ten years from now: dentro de 10 años

now conj

now that : ahora que, ya que

• ahora adv.

• entonces adv.

• hora adv.

• ora adv.

• pues adv.

• ya adv.

• actualidad s.f.

• momento presente s.m.

noun (in US) = National Organization for Women

1. ADV

1) (of present, immediate future)

a) (=at this time) ahora

b) (=these days) hoy en día, ahora

c) (=at last, already) ya

d) (=immediately) ahora; (more emphatic) ya

2) (of duration up to present)

3) (in accounts of past events) ahora

4) (after prep)

5) (=in these circumstances)

a) (gen) ya

b) (emphatic)

6) (in phrases relating to time)

7) (without temporal force)

a) (introducing new topic) bien, bueno

b) (commenting on previous statement)

c) (asking question)

d) (remonstrating, pacifying)

8)

ADJ actual

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noun (in US) = National Organization for Women

SUBJECT AREA: Land transport, Railways and locomotives

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George Forrester \& Co. built locomotives at the Vauxhall Foundry, Liverpool, between 1834 and c.1847. The first locomotives built by them, in 1834, were three for the Dublin \& Kingstown Railway and one for the Liverpool \& Manchester Railway; they were the first locomotives to have outside horizontal cylinders and the first to have four fixed eccentrics to operate the valves, in place of two loose eccentrics. Two locomotives built by Forrester in 1835 for the Dublin \& Kingstown Railway were the first tank locomotives to run regularly on a public railway, and two more supplied in 1836 to the London \& Greenwich Railway were the first such locomotives in England. Little appears to be known about Forrester himself. In the 1841 census his profession is shown as "civil engineer, residence 1 Lord Nelson Street". Directories for Liverpool, contemporary with Forrester \& Co.'s locomotive building period, describe the firm variously as engineers, iron founders and boilermakers, located at (successively) 234,224 and 40 Vauxhall Road. Works Manager until 1840 was Alexander Allan, who subsequently used the experience he had gained with Forrester in the design of his "Crewe Type" outside-cylinder locomotive, which became widely used.

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