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1 Field, Cyrus West
SUBJECT AREA: Telecommunications[br]b. 30 November 1819 Stockbridge, Massachusetts, USAd. 12 July 1892 New York City, New York, USA[br]American financier and entrepreneur noted for his successful promotion of the first transatlantic telegraph cable.[br]At the age of 15 Field left home to seek his fortune in New York, starting work on Broadway as an errand boy for $1 per week. Returning to Massachusetts, in 1838 he became an assistant to his brother Matthew, a paper-maker, leaving to set up his own business two years later. By the age of 21 he was also a partner in a New York firm of paper wholesalers, but this firm collapsed because of large debts. Out of the wreckage he set up Cyrus W.Field \& Co., and by 1852 he had paid off all the debts. With $250,000 in the bank he therefore retired and travelled in South America. Returning to the USA, he then became involved with the construction of a telegraph line in Newfoundland by an English engineer, F.N. Osborne. Although the company collapsed, he had been fired by the dream of a transatlantic cable and in 1854 was one of the founders of the New York, Newfoundland and London Telegraph Company. He began to promote surveys and hold discussions with British telegraph pioneers and with Isambard Brunel, who was then building the Great Eastern steamship. In 1856 he helped to set up the Atlantic Telegraph Company in Britain and, as a result of his efforts and those of the British physicist and inventor Sir William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), work began in 1857 on the laying of the first transatlantic cable from Newfoundland to Ireland. After many tribulations the cable was completed on 5 August 1857, but it failed after barely a month. Following several unsuccessful attempts to repair and replace it, the cable was finally completed on 27 July 1866. Building upon his success, Field expanded his business interests. In 1877 he bought a controlling interest in and was President of the New York Elevated Railroad Company. He also helped develop the Wabash Railroad and became owner of the New York Mail and Express newspaper; however, he subsequently suffered large financial losses.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsCongressional Gold Medal.Further ReadingA.C.Clarke, 1958, Voice Across the Sea, London: Frederick Muller (describes the development of the transatlantic telegraph).H.M.Field, 1893, Story of the Atlantic Telegraph (also describes the transatlantic telegraph development).L.J.Judson (ed.), 1893, Cyrus W.Field: His Life and Work (a complete biography).KF -
2 Field, Cyrus West
(1819-1892) Филд, Сайрус УэстБизнесмен и финансист. В 1866 проложил первый успешно действовавший трансатлантический телеграфный кабель. В 1877-80 содействовал созданию "системы быстрого транспорта" [rapid transit system] - метрополитена в г. Нью-ЙоркеEnglish-Russian dictionary of regional studies > Field, Cyrus West
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3 Smith, Willoughby
[br]b. 16 April 1828 Great Yarmouth, Englandd. 17 July 1891 Eastbourne, England[br]English engineer of submarine telegraph cables who observed that light reduced the resistance of selenium.[br]Smith joined the Gutta Percha Company, London, in 1848 and successfully experimented with the use of gutta-percha, a natural form of latex, for the insulation of conducting wires. As a result, he was made responsible for the laying of the first cross-Channel cable between Dover and Calais in 1850. Four years later he laid the first Mediterranean cable between Spezia, Italy, and Corsica and Sardinia, later extending it to Algeria. On its completion he became Manager of the Gutta Percha works, which in 1864 became the Telegraph and Construction Company. In 1865 he assisted on board the Great Eastern with the laying of the transatlantic cable by Bright.Clearly his management responsibilities did not stop him from experimenting practically. In 1866 he discovered that the resistance of a selenium rod was reduced by the action of incident light, an early discovery of the photoelectric effect more explicitly observed by Hertz and subsequently explained by Einstein. In 1883 he read a paper to the Society of Telegraph Engineers (later the Institution of Electrical Engineers), suggesting the possibility of wireless communication with moving trains, an idea that was later successfully taken up by others, and in 1888 he demonstrated the use of water as a practical means of communication with a lighthouse. Four years later, after his death, the system was tried between Alum Bay and the Needles in the Isle of Wight, and it was used subsequently for the Fastnet Rock lighthouse some 10 miles (16 km) off the south-west coast of Ireland.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsFounder and Council Member of the Society of Telegraph Engineers 1871; President 1873.BibliographyThe effect of light on the resistance of selenium was reported in a letter to the Vice- Chairman of the Society of Telegraph Engineers on 4 February 1873.7 June 1897, British patent no. 8,159 (the use of water, instead of cable, as a conductor).November 1888, article in Electrician (describes his idea of using water as a conductor, rather than cable).Further ReadingE.Hawkes, 1927, Pioneers of Wireless, London: Methuen.C.T.Bright, 1898, Submarine Cables, Their History, Construction and Working.See also: Field, Cyrus WestKF -
4 Telecommunications
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5 Bright, Sir Charles Tilston
SUBJECT AREA: Telecommunications[br]b. 8 June 1832 Wanstead, Essex, Englandd. 3 May 1888 Abbey Wood, London, England[br]English telegraph engineer responsible for laying the first transatlantic cable.[br]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.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsKnighted 1858. Légion d'honneur. First President, Société Internationale des Electriciens. President, Society of Telegraph Engineers \& Electricians (later the Institution of Electrical Engineers) 1887.Bibliography1852, British patent (resistance box).1855, British patent no. 2,103 (two-tone bell system). 1878, British patent no. 3,801 (area fire alarms).1878, British patent no. 596 (automatic fire alarm)."The physical \& electrical effects of pressure \& temperature on submarine cable cores", Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers XVII (describes some of his investigations of cable characteristics).Further ReadingC.Bright, 1898, Submarine Cables, Their History, Construction \& Working.—1910, The Life Story of Sir Charles Tilston Bright, London: Constable \& Co.KFBiographical history of technology > Bright, Sir Charles Tilston
См. также в других словарях:
Field,Cyrus West — Field (fēld), Cyrus West. 1819 1892. American merchant and financier who planned and oversaw the laying of the transatlantic telegraph cable (completed 1866). * * * … Universalium
FIELD, CYRUS WEST — brother of the following, born at Stockbridge, Massachusetts; was first a successful paper manufacturer, but turning his attention to submarine telegraphy was instrumental in establishing cable communication between England and America, and… … The Nuttall Encyclopaedia
Cyrus West Field — c. 1858 Cyrus West Field (* 30. November 1819 in Stockbridge, Massachusetts; † 11./12. Juli 1892) war ein US amerikanischer Geschäftsmann. Cyrus W. Field war in New York Kaufmann und gelangte in kurzer Zeit zu großem Wohlstand. 1853 richtete er… … Deutsch Wikipedia
Cyrus West Field — Cyrus W. (West) Field c.1858 Born November 30, 1819(1819 11 30) Stockbridge, Massachusetts Died July 12, 1892 … Wikipedia
Cyrus West Field — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Cyrus West Field hacia 1858 Cyrus West Field (30 de noviembre de 1819 – 12 de julio de 1892) fue un empresario y financiero estadounidense que dirigió la empresa the Atlantic Te … Wikipedia Español
Cyrus W. Field — Cyrus Field Cyrus West Field (1819 1892) est un homme d affaires et financier américain qui posa le premier câble télégraphique transatlantique en 1858. Sommaire 1 Biographie 2 Fiction … Wikipédia en Français
Field — or fields may refer to: * Field (agriculture), an area of land used to cultivate crops for agricultural purposes * Field of study, a branch of knowledge * Playing field, in sports, the area in which the sport is played * Visual field or field of… … Wikipedia
Field — Field, Cyrus West, Kaufmann, geb. 30. Nov. 1819 zu Stockbridge in Massachusetts, bis 1853 Chef eines Handlungshauses in Neuyork, widmete seitdem seine ganze Tätigkeit der Legung des ersten Telegraphenkabels zwischen Europa und Amerika, die erst… … Kleines Konversations-Lexikon
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Cyrus Field — Cyrus West Field c. 1870 Cyrus West Field c. 1860 Cyrus West Field ( … Wikipédia en Français
Cyrus — is an English transliteration of the Persian name, Kourosh. For the etymology, see Cyrus (name). Contents 1 Persian Monarchy 2 Other persons named Cyrus 2.1 Given name … Wikipedia
