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1 Brunel, Sir Marc Isambard
[br]b. 26 April 1769 Hacqueville, Normandy, Franced. 12 December 1849 London, England[br]French (naturalized American) engineer of the first Thames Tunnel.[br]His mother died when he was 7 years old, a year later he went to college in Gisors and later to the Seminary of Sainte-Nicaise at Rouen. From 1786 to 1792 he followed a career in the French navy as a junior officer. In Rouen he met Sophie Kingdom, daughter of a British Navy contractor, whom he was later to marry. In July 1793 Marc sailed for America from Le Havre. He was to remain there for six years, and became an American citizen, occupying himself as a land surveyor and as an architect. He became Chief Engineer to the City of New York. At General Hamilton's dinner table he learned that the British Navy used over 100,000 ship's blocks every year; this started him thinking how the manufacture of blocks could be mechanized. He roughed out a set of machines to do the job, resigned his post as Chief Engineer and sailed for England in February 1799.In London he was shortly introduced to Henry Maudslay, to whom he showed the drawings of his proposed machines and with whom he placed an order for their manufacture. The first machines were completed by mid-1803. Altogether Maudslay produced twenty-one machines for preparing the shells, sixteen for preparing the sheaves and eight other machines.In February 1809 he saw troops at Portsmouth returning from Corunna, the victors, with their lacerated feet bound in rags. He resolved to mechanize the production of boots for the Army and, within a few months, had twenty-four disabled soldiers working the machinery he had invented and installed near his Battersea sawmill. The plant could produce 400 pairs of boots and shoes a day, selling at between 9s. 6d. and 20s. a pair. One day in 1817 at Chatham dockyard he observed a piece of scrap keel timber, showing the ravages wrought by the shipworm, Teredo navalis, which, with its proboscis protected by two jagged concave triangular shells, consumes, digests and finally excretes the ship's timbers as it gnaws its way through them. The excreted material provided material for lining the walls of the tunnel the worm had drilled. Brunel decided to imitate the action of the shipworm on a large scale: the Thames Tunnel was to occupy Marc Brunel for most of the remainder of his life. Boring started in March 1825 and was completed by March 1843. The project lay dormant for long periods, but eventually the 1,200 ft (366 m)-long tunnel was completed. Marc Isambard Brunel died at the age of 80 and was buried at Kensal Green cemetery.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsFRS 1814. Vice-President, Royal Society 1832.Further ReadingP.Clements, 1970, Marc Isambard Brunel, London: Longmans Green.IMcNBiographical history of technology > Brunel, Sir Marc Isambard
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2 Ports and shipping
See also: INDEX BY SUBJECT AREA[br]Armstrong, Sir William GeorgeEgerton, FrancisLi GaoPeter the GreatShen GuaStanhope, Charles -
3 Civil engineering
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4 Mining and extraction technology
See also: INDEX BY SUBJECT AREA[br]Biographical history of technology > Mining and extraction technology
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5 Maudslay, Henry
SUBJECT AREA: Mechanical, pneumatic and hydraulic engineering[br]b. 22 August 1771 Woolwich, Kent, Englandd. 15 February 1831 Lambeth, London, England[br]English precision toolmaker and engineer.[br]Henry Maudslay was the third son of an ex-soldier and storekeeper at Woolwich Arsenal. At the age of 12 he was employed at the Arsenal filling cartridges; two years later he was transferred to the woodworking department, adjacent to the smithy, to which he moved when 15 years old. He was a rapid learner, and three years later Joseph Bramah took him on for the construction of special tools required for the mass-production of his locks. Maudslay was thus employed for the next eight years. He became Bramah's foreman, married his housekeeper, Sarah Tindale, and, unable to better himself, decided to leave and set up on his own. He soon outgrew his first premises in Wells Street and moved to Margaret Street, off Oxford Street, where some examples of his workmanship were displayed in the window. These caught the attention of a visiting Frenchman, de Bacquancourt; he was a friend of Marc Isambard Brunel, who was then in the early stages of designing the block-making machinery later installed at Portsmouth dockyard.Brunel wanted first a set of working models, as he did not think that the Lords of the Admiralty would be capable of understanding engineering drawings; Maudslay made these for him within the next two years. Sir Samuel Bentham, Inspector-General of Naval Works, agreed that Brunel's system was superior to the one that he had gone some way in developing; the Admiralty approved, and an order was placed for the complete plant. The manufacture of the machinery occupied Maudslay for the next six years; he was assisted by a draughtsman whom he took on from Portsmouth dockyard, Joshua Field (1786–1863), who became his partner in Maudslay, Son and Field. There were as many as eighty employees at Margaret Street until, in 1810, larger premises became necessary and a new works was built at Lambeth Marsh where, eventually, there were up to two hundred workers. The new factory was flanked by two houses, one of which was occupied by Maudslay, the other by Field. The firm became noted for its production of marine steam-engines, notably Maudslay's table engine which was first introduced in 1807.Maudslay was a consummate craftsman who was never happier than when working at his bench or at a machine tool; he was also one of the first engineers to appreciate the virtues of standardization. Evidence of this appreciation is to be found in his work in the development of the Bramah lock and then on the machine tools for the manufacture of ship's blocks to Marc Brunel's designs; possibly his most important contribution was the invention in 1797 of the metal lathe. He made a number of surface plates of the finest quality. The most celebrated of his numerous measuring devices was a micrometer-based machine which he termed his "Lord Chancellor" because, in the machine shop, it represented the "final court of appeal", measuring to one-thousandth of an inch.[br]Further Reading1934–5, "Maudslay, Sons \& Field as general engineers", Transactions of the Newcomen Society 15, London.1963, Engineering Heritage, Vol. 1, London: Institution of Mechanical Engineers. L.T.C.Rolt, 1965, Tools for the Job, London: Batsford.W.Steeds, 1969, A History of Machine Tools 1700–1910, Oxford: Oxford University Press.IMcN -
6 Railways and locomotives
Biographical history of technology > Railways and locomotives
См. также в других словарях:
Brunel, Sir Marc Isambard — ▪ French British engineer born April 25, 1769, Hacqueville, France died Dec. 12, 1849, London, Eng. French émigré engineer and inventor who solved the historic problem of underwater tunneling (tunnels and underground excavations). In 1793 … Universalium
Brunel, Sir Marc (Isambard) — born April 25, 1769, Hacqueville, France died Dec. 12, 1849, London, Eng. French born British engineer and inventor. He perfected a method for making ships blocks (pulleys) by mechanical means rather than by hand; the system of 43 machines, run… … Universalium
Brunel, Sir Marc (Isambard) — (25 abr. 1769, Hacqueville, Francia–12 dic. 1849, Londres, Inglaterra). Ingeniero e inventor británico de origen francés. Perfeccionó un método para hacer las poleas de los motones de los barcos por medios mecánicos en vez de manuales; el sistema … Enciclopedia Universal
Marc Isambard Brunel — Sir Marc Isambard Brunel, by James Northcote Born Marc Isambard Brunel April 25, 1769(1769 04 25) … Wikipedia
Marc Isambard Brunel — Sir Marc Isambard Brunel (* 25. April 1769 in Hacqueville, Normandie (heute im Département Eure); † 12. Dezember 1849 in London) war ein französisch britischer Ingenieur, Architekt und Erfinder. Er erbaute den ers … Deutsch Wikipedia
Marc Brunel — Marc Isambard Brunel Sir Marc Isambard Brunel (* 25. April 1769 in Hacqueville, Normandie (heute im Département Eure); † 12. Dezember 1849 in London) war ein französisch britischer Ingenieur, Architekt und Erfinder. Er erbaute den ersten Tunnel… … Deutsch Wikipedia
Marc — Marc, Franz * * * (as used in expressions) Beliveau, Jean (Marc A.) Blitzstein, Marc Bloch, Marc (Léopold Benjamin) Brunel, Sir Marc (Isambard) Chagall, Marc Charpentier, Marc Antoine Marc, Franz Mitscher, Marc A(ndrew) … Enciclopedia Universal
Brunel, Isambard Kingdom — born April 9, 1806, Portsmouth, Hampshire, Eng. died Sept. 15, 1859, London British civil and mechanical engineer. He was the son of Marc Brunel. His introduction of the broad gauge railway, with rails 7 ft (2 m) apart, made possible high speeds… … Universalium
sir — /serr/, n. 1. a respectful or formal term of address used to a man: No, sir. 2. (cap.) the distinctive title of a knight or baronet: Sir Walter Scott. 3. (cap.) a title of respect for some notable personage of ancient times: Sir Pandarus of Troy … Universalium
sir — (Voz inglesa.) ► sustantivo masculino Tratamiento honorífico empleado por los británicos. * * * sir (ingl.; pronunc. [ser]) m. *Tratamiento de respeto usado en Inglaterra delante de un nombre de hombre o para dirigirse a la persona de que se… … Enciclopedia Universal
marc — /mahrk/; Fr. /mannrdd/, n. 1. the grapes contained in the wine press and the residue, as skins and pips, remaining after the juice is expressed. 2. (in France) the brandy distilled from this residue. 3. Pharm. the residue that remains following… … Universalium
