His work is improving

* * *

* * *

vb (gik, gået) go;

( gå på sine ben) walk;

( om tid) go, pass, go by;

( spilles, opføres) be on ( fx there is a good film on at the Palladium), run ( fx the play ran for six months; is that film still running?),

(mere F) be played, be performed;

( sælges) sell, be sold;

(gram.: bøjes) go, be inflected;

( være passende) do;

( rækkes fra hånd til hånd) go round, pass;

( gå i stykker) go, break;

( trække sig tilbage fra embede) go,

( gå på pension) retire,

( træde tilbage fra højere post, og om regering) resign;

(om maskineri etc) run ( fx the engine is running smoothly; the drawer

( skuffen) runs smoothly; the machine runs by electricity);

( om tog) run ( fx the trains did not run on Sundays),

( afgå) leave, go ( fx when does the train leave (el. go)? it leaves

(el. goes) at 10);

[ de går, han (, hun) går]

(teat) exeunt, exit,

( i nyere stykker oftest) they go (, he, she goes) (off stage);

[ døren gik] the door opened and shut; somebody came in (, went out);

[ møllen går] the mill is turning;

[ radioen går hele dagen] the radio is on all day;

[ snakken gik] the conversation was in full swing,

(dvs sladderen) people were talking;

[ snakken gik livligt] the conversation was animated;

[ der er gået tre trumfer] three trumps are out (el. have gone);

(se også dans, rygte, tur, ur etc);

[ med adv, pron etc:]

[ blive gået]

(dvs afskediget) be retired;

[ det gik helt anderledes] it turned out quite differently;

[ det er gået dårligt for mig] things have gone badly with me, I have had bad luck;

[ det gik dårligt med ham]

(mht helbred) he was in a bad way;

[ det gik dårligt med foretagendet] the enterprise did not succeed;

[ gå fri] escape,

( få lov at slippe) be let off;

[ uret går godt] the watch keeps good time;

[ det går godt med ham, det går ham rigtig godt] he is doing well;

[ forretningen går godt] the business is thriving;

[ hvordan går det ( med helbredet)?] how are you?

T how is it going? how goes it?

(se også ndf: gå med);

[ hvordan det end går] whatever happens;

[ den går ikke] that won't do,

(= du kan tro nej!) no you don't! nothing doing! I'm not having any!

[ lad gå!] all right! let it pass!

[ jeg vil lade det gå for denne gang] I'll overlook it this time;

[ lade ham gå]

(dvs sætte fri) let him go;

(dvs lade i fred) leave him alone;

[ det går meget let] that is very easy;

[ sådan gik det i tre år] things went on like that for three years;

[ sådan går det her i verden] that is the way of the world;

[ sådan går det ( med) alle store mænd] that is what happens to all great men;

[ gå tabt] be lost,

(se også tabe);

(se også III. fejl, II. galt, højt, ledig, løs, nok, rigtig, vild);

[ faste forbindelser med præp og adv:]

[ gå af]

( løsne sig) come off,

( om noget limet også) come unstuck;

( om skydevåben) go off,

( om skud) be fired;

( gå på pension) retire,

( trække sig tilbage, især fra højere stilling, og om regering) resign;

( forløbe) go (el. pass) off;

[ hvad går der af ham] what is the matter with him? what has come over him?

(se også II. led, mode, vej);

[ gå af i stilhed] pass off quietly;

[ gå af med], se pension, sejr;

[ det kan gå af på min gæld] you can deduct it from what I owe you;

[ gå an]

( være acceptabel) do ( fx will these shoes do?);

[ det går an] it will do;

[ det går aldrig an] it will never do;

[ gå bagover] fall backwards;

[ jeg var ved at gå bagover af forbavselse] you could have knocked me down with a feather;

[ gå bort] go away;

(dø) die, pass away;

[` gå efter]

( hente) go for, go to fetch,

T go and get;

( rette sig efter) go by, go on ( fx we have nothing to go by (el.

on)), act on ( fx his advice, his recommendation);

[gå ` efter]

( undersøge) go over ( fx all the details), go into ( fx the

matter),

( gøre rent, reparere) go over ( fx she went over the room with a duster),

( grundigt, om bil, skib) overhaul;

(friske el. male op) touch up ( fx an article);

( efterkontrollere) go (el. check) over, go (el. check) through;

[ hvis det gik efter mit hoved] if I had my way;

[ gå efter lyden] go in the direction of the sound;

[ gå for]

( gælde, regnes for) pass for, be supposed to be;

( blive solgt for) go for;

[ hvad går her for sig?] what is going on here?

[ hvornår skal det gå for sig?] when is it to come off? when is it to be?

[ det går godt for ham] he is doing well;

[ intet ville gå for ham] nothing went right for him;

[gå foran præp] go before,

F precede;

adv go (, walk) ahead (el. in front), lead the way;

[ gå forbi] pass;

[ gå forud for, gå fremfor] precede;

(fig) take precedence of (el. over);

[gå ` fra]

( løsne sig) come loose;

( om noget limet) come unstuck;

( skulle fradrages) be deducted;

(opgive fx eksamen) give up;

(opgive studium etc) drop out;

[` gå fra]

( forlade) leave (behind);

( lade i stikken) desert ( fx one's wife);

[ gå fra borde], se bord;

[ gå fra forstanden], se forstand;

[ gå fra hinanden]

(dvs hver til sit) part, separate;

(dvs i stykker) go to pieces, split;

[ gå fra sit ord] go back on one's word;

[ gå frem] advance, go forward;

( gøre fremskridt) make progress;

( bære sig ad) act,

F proceed;

[ gå lige frem] walk straight ahead;

[ gå fremad] advance,

F proceed;

( gøre fremskridt) make progress;

[ det går fremad med ham]

(dvs det går ham godt) he is getting on;

(mht helbredet) his health is improving;

( han bliver dygtigere) he is coming on;

[ gå hen: gå ubemærket hen] pass off unnoticed;

[ gå ikke hen og bliv syg] don't go and be ill;

[ han er gået hen og har købt en bil] he's (been and) gone and bought a car;

[ gå let hen over] pass lightly over;

T skate over;

(se også hoved);

[ gå hen til ham] go (up) to him; walk over to him;

( for at besøge ham) go and see him; look him up;

[` gå i]

( være klædt i) wear;

[gå `i]

( lukke sig) close;

[ gå i biografen (, teatret, skole)] go to the cinema (, the theatre, school);

[han går i sit 50. år] he is in his fiftieth year;

[ gå i femte klasse] be in the fifth class;

[ hun går lige i folk] people fall for her straight away;

[ den slags historier går lige i folk] people lap up that kind of story;

[ gå i sig selv] think better of it,

F repent;

[ planen gik i sig selv igen] the scheme came to nothing;

(se også blod, I. død, frø, kloster, krig, kød, land, moder, orden,

II. ret, I. stykke, vand, vejr);

[` gå igen] leave again;

[gå ` igen] be repeated,

F recur;

( om genfærd) walk; haunt the house (, room etc);

[ gå igennem] pass (through), go through;

( undersøge) go over, go through;

( lide) go through,

F undergo;

( blive vedtaget) be carried, pass, go through;

[ ansøgningen gik igennem] the application was granted;

[ (radio)udsendelsen gik godt igennem] reception was good;

(se også marv);

[ gå imod]

( i fjendtlig hensigt) go against;

( hen imod) go towards;

( modarbejde) oppose;

[ hvad er der gået dig imod?] what is worrying you? what has upset you?

[ alting går mig imod] nothing seems to be going my way;

[ gå ind]

( træde ind) go in, enter;

(om avis etc) cease publication;

(se også jagt);

[ gå ind ad døren] go in through (, enter by) the door;

[ gå ind for]

( støtte) support ( fx a proposal),

( være fortaler for) be an advocate of ( fx reform), advocate,

( anbefale) recommend;

[ gå ind for en sag] adopt (el. identify oneself with) a cause;

[ gå ind for hans politik] go in for (el. adopt el. advocate) his policy;

[ jeg går ind for at] I think that, I vote that;

[ gå ind i] go into, enter,

(i forening etc) join;

[ gå ind i hæren] join the army;

[ den gik lige ind]

(dvs han forstod det) it went right in; he got the message;

[ den slags går lige ind hos dem]

(dvs de elsker det) they lap up that kind of thing;

[ gå ind på]

( bevæge sig ind i) enter ( fx enter one's office);

( beskæftige sig med) go into ( fx go into details);

( give sin tilslutning til) agree to, accept ( fx accept a proposal), fall in with ( fx an arrangement, a joke);

[ gå nærmere ind på] go into details about;

[ gå ind til de andre] join the others;

(se også evig (hvile));

[ gå indad]

( om dør) open inwards;

[ han går indad på fødderne] his feet turn in; he turns in his feet (in walking);

[ gå itu] break, come (el. go) to pieces;

[ gå med]

( ledsage) go with, come with,

F accompany;

( bære) carry ( fx a pistol, a gas mask, a cane),

( være iført) wear ( fx a gas mask, glasses, a ring, a hat);

(se også krykke);

( om par) go out with,

T date ( fx he's dating her);

( uddele) deliver ( fx newspapers, milk; bread for a baker);

[gå ` med]

(adv) come with somebody (, me, etc), go along;

( forbruges) be consumed, be spent;

( blive ødelagt) be destroyed, be lost;

[ går du med?] are you coming (too)? are you coming with me (, us)?

[ gå med aviser (, mælk)]

( også) do a newspaper round (, milk round);

[ hvordan går det med ham?] how is he getting on?

[ hvordan går det med arbejdet?] how is the work getting on? how are you getting on with your work?

[ det går dårligt (, godt) med], se ovf: det går...;

[ gå med stok] walk with a stick,

( til pynt) carry a stick;

[ gå stille med noget] keep something quiet;

(se også dør);

[ gå med hovedet på skrå] carry one's head on one side;

[ sådan går det med de fleste] that is what happens to most people;

[ hele dagen gik med at forberede festen] they (, we etc) spent the whole day preparing the party;

[ gå med på] agree to ( fx the terms, the plan, the proposal), fall in with ( fx the proposal);

(se også værst);

[ gå med til]

(dvs ind på) agree to;

[ gå ned] go down,

F descend;

(om sol etc) set, go down;

( om flyvemaskine) land, come down;

(om skib etc = synke) go down;

( om pris, temperatur etc) fall,

( pludseligt) drop;

( om teatertæppe) fall, come down;

( bukke under) go under, go to the wall,

( gå fallit) go under, go bust;

(se også I. bakke, flag, I. klap);

[gå `om]

( gå omkring) walk about,

( blive rakt rundt) go round;

( udføres på ny) be repeated;

( i skole) repeat a class (, a year);

( om eksamen) retake (, kun skriftlig: resit) an examination,

( med objekt) retake (, resit) ( fx it is not possible to retake single papers);

[ lade kanden gå om] pass the jug;

[ kanden gik om] the jug went round;

[gå 3. klasse om] repeat the third class;

[ gå omkring] walk about;

[ der går en mur omkring byen] there is a wall round the town;

[ gå omkring i gaderne] walk about the streets;

[ gå op]

( stige, også om pris) rise, go up;

( om dør, vindue) open,

( pludseligt) fly open;

( om sammenføjning) come apart, give way;

(om knude etc) come undone,

( om noget limet) come unstuck;

( om regnestykke) come out, come right;

( om kabale) come out;

( om teatertæppe) rise;

(om fly etc) take off;

[ få til at gå op]

( om regnestykke) get out;

[ det går lige op]

(fig) it amounts to the same thing;

( vi er kvit) we are quits;

[ det gik op for mig at] I came to realize that, it dawned upon me that;

[ gå op i]

(dvs interessere sig for) be absorbed in; give one's mind to;

( gå helt op i) devote oneself to;

[ gå op i et fag]

( til eksamen) do an examination in a subject;

[ selskabet er gået op i et andet] the company has become merged in another;

[ to går op i fire] two will go into four; four is divisible by two;

[ gå op i sin rolle] identify oneself with one's part;

(se også I. lue, røg, I. spids);

[gå op med 6%] rise (el. go up) by 6%;

[ gå op til eksamen], se eksamen;

[ gå over]

( fra side til side) cross ( fx let us cross here), walk across;

( fortage sig) pass off, wear off;

( gå itu) break (in two),

( pludseligt, med et smæld) snap;

( overskride), se ndf: gå ud over;

(se også bred, forstand, streg);

[ gå over i] pass into;

[ gå over i historien], se historie;

[ gå over på andre hænder] pass into other hands; change hands;

[ gå over til] go over to ( fx the enemy; a Liberal MP went over to the Conservatives),

(neds) defect to ( fx he defected to the rebels);

( en mening) come round to;

( en religion) go over to, be converted to;

( anden virksomhed, andet emne) pass on to;

( udvikles til) become, pass into;

[ gå over til katolicismen] join (el. go over to) the Roman Catholic Church;

[gå `på]

( tage fat) go ahead, go on;

( angribe) go for him (, them etc);

( ske) happen ( fx it does not happen often);

(om handske etc) go on;

[` gå på]

(dvs angå) concern; be aimed at;

[ den går han ikke `på] he won't swallow (el. S buy) that; that won't go down with him;

[ det er hårdt at gå `på] it is tough luck;

[gå ( løs) på en] go for somebody;

(se også løs);

[ han lod sig ikke gå `på]

(dvs veg ikke) he stood his ground (like a man);

(dvs genere) he did not turn a hair;

[ det skal du ikke lade dig gå på af] don't let it get you down;

[ der går 100 p på et pund] there are a hundred pence to a pound;

(se også I. arbejde, hånd, melodi, nerve, opdagelse, universitet, vinge);

[ gå rundt] walk about, go round;

(se også rundt);

[` gå sammen] walk (, leave) together;

( om par) go out together,

T date ( fx they have been dating for over a year);

[ gå sammen om det]

(dvs gøre det i fællesskab) do it together;

[ gå sammen om at] join together to,

(dvs skyde penge sammen) club together to ( fx buy him a present);

[ gå sammen med dem om at] join forces with them to;

[gå ` til]

( fremskynde sin gang) walk faster,

F quicken one's pace;

( ske) come about, come (to pass), happen ( fx how did it happen? how did it come about that he was told? how did he come to lose the

money?);

( kræves) be required,

( forbruges) be spent, be consumed;

( om fodtøj) break in ( fx new boots, new shoes);

[ gå til den]

T go it;

[ det gik hedt til] feelings ran high,

T the fur really flew;

[ det gik livligt til] things got lively;

[ det gik underligt til med den sag] it was a queer business;

[ jeg er ved at gå ` til af varme] this heat is getting too much for me (el.

is getting me down);

(se også bord, film, hjerte, hvile, hånd, læge, II. ret, sag, scene, top,

valg);

[ gå tilbage] go back,

(især mil.) retreat;

(fig) decline; fall off ( fx membership ( medlemstallet) fell off);

[ lade handelen gå tilbage] call off the deal;

[ det er gået tilbage for ham] he has come down in the world;

[ vær venlig at gå tilbage i vognen!] pass right along the bus, please!

[ det går tilbage med ham] he is falling off; he is losing his grip;

[ gå tilbage til] return to, go back to,

( skrive sig fra) date from ( fx the house dates from the 17th

century);

[ gå ud] go out ( fx they go out a lot);

( om ild, lys) go out;

( om planter) die;

( udgå) be omitted, be left out, be dropped;

[ gå ud ad døren] go out of the door;

[ gå ud af] go out of, leave ( fx the room, school);

[ gå ud fra]

( forudsætte) assume, understand, take for granted ( fx I took it for granted that you would agree);

[ jeg går ud fra at]

( også) I take it that;

[ gå ud fra en urigtig forudsætning] act on a wrong assumption;

[ gå ud med én] go out with somebody;

[ gå ud over]

(dvs overskride) go beyond ( fx what is reasonable), pass,

F exceed ( fx all bounds alle grænser);

( påvirke, ramme) affect ( fx one's health);

[ det går ud over hans arbejde]

( også) his work suffers;

[ hans ondskab gik ud over ham selv] his malice rebounded on him;

[ dette vil gå ud over ham] he will be the one to suffer for this;

[ lade det gå ud over en anden]

(dvs når noget går én imod) take it out on somebody else;

[ lade sit raseri gå ud over] vent one's rage on;

[ gå ud på]

( tilsigte) aim at,

( udtrykke) be to the effect (that);

[ det går ud på at] the idea is that;

[ forslaget (, svaret) går ud på at] the proposal (, the answer) is to the effect that;

[ hans stræben går ud på] his object (el. aim) is;

[ jeg så hvad alt dette gik ud på] I perceived the drift of all this;

[ jeg ved hvad dine ønsker går ud på] I know what your wishes are;

[ gå uden om] walk (, go) round ( fx a hole in the road);

(fig) get round ( fx the difficulty);

( prøve at undgå) sidestep ( fx a problem),

F evade ( fx the difficulty, the question);

[ gå langt uden om én] give somebody a wide berth;

[ gå udenom] go round ( fx the gate was shut so we had to go round),

(fig: om sagens kerne) beat about the bush;

[gå ` under]

(mar) go down,

F founder;

( bukke under) go under, go to the wall;

( blive ødelagt) be destroyed;

[ hvis verden går under] if the world comes to an end;

(se også navn);

[ gå videre], se videre;

[ gå væk], se væk.

SUBJECT AREA: Architecture and building

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The name of Le Corbusier is synonymous with the International style of modern architecture and city planning, one utilizing functionalist designs carried out in twentieth-century materials with modern methods of construction. Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, born in the watch-making town of La Chaux-de-Fonds in the Jura mountain region, was the son of a watch engraver and dial painter. In the years before 1918 he travelled widely, studying building in many countries. He learned about the use of reinforced concrete in the studio of Auguste Perret and about industrial construction under Peter Behrens. In 1917 he went to live in Paris and spent the rest of his life in France; in 1920 he adopted the name of Le Corbusier, one derived from that of his ancestors (Le Corbesier), and ten years later became a French citizen.

Le Corbusier's long working life spanned a career divided into three distinct parts. Between 1905 and 1916 he designed a number of simple and increasingly modern houses; the years 1921 to 1940 were ones of research and debate; and the twenty years from 1945 saw the blossoming of his genius. After 1917 Le Corbusier gained a reputation in Paris as an architect of advanced originality. He was particularly interested in low-cost housing and in improving accommodation for the poor. In 1923 he published Vers une architecture, in which he planned estates of mass-produced houses where all extraneous and unnecessary features were stripped away and the houses had flat roofs and plain walls: his concept of "a machine for living in". These white boxes were lifted up on stilts, his pilotis, and double-height living space was provided internally, enclosed by large areas of factory glazing. In 1922 Le Corbusier exhibited a city plan, La Ville contemporaine, in which tall blocks made from steel and concrete were set amongst large areas of parkland, replacing the older concept of city slums with the light and air of modern living. In 1925 he published Urbanisme, further developing his socialist ideals. These constituted a major reform of the industrial-city pattern, but the ideas were not taken up at that time. The Depression years of the 1930s severely curtailed architectural activity in France. Le Corbusier designed houses for the wealthy there, but most of his work prior to 1945 was overseas: his Centrosoyus Administration Building in Moscow (1929–36) and the Ministry of Education Building in Rio de Janeiro (1943) are examples. Immediately after the end of the Second World War Le Corbusier won international fame for his Unité d'habitation theme, the first example of which was built in the boulevard Michelet in Marseille in 1947–52. His answer to the problem of accommodating large numbers of people in a small space at low cost was to construct an immense all-purpose block of pre-cast concrete slabs carried on a row of massive central supports. The Marseille Unité contains 350 apartments in eight double storeys, with a storey for shops half-way up and communal facilities on the roof. In 1950 he published Le Modular, which described a system of measurement based upon the human male figure. From this was derived a relationship of human and mathematical proportions; this concept, together with the extensive use of various forms of concrete, was fundamental to Le Corbusier's later work. In the world-famous and highly personal Pilgrimage Church of Notre Dame du Haut at Ronchamp (1950–5), Le Corbusier's work was in Expressionist form, a plastic design in massive rough-cast concrete, its interior brilliantly designed and lit. His other equally famous, though less popular, ecclesiastical commission showed a contrasting theme, of "brutalist" concrete construction with uncompromisingly stark, rectangular forms. This is the Dominican Convent of Sainte Marie de la Tourette at Eveux-sur-l'Arbresle near Lyon, begun in 1956. The interior, in particular, is carefully worked out, and the lighting, from both natural and artificial sources, is indirect, angled in many directions to illuminate vistas and planes. All surfaces are carefully sloped, the angles meticulously calculated to give optimum visual effect. The crypt, below the raised choir, is painted in bright colours and lit from ceiling oculi.

One of Le Corbusier's late works, the Convent is a tour de force.

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SUBJECT AREA: Mining and extraction technology

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Ingersoll worked on his father's farm and spent much of his time carrying out all kinds of mechanical experiments until 1839, when he went to Long Island, New York, to work on another farm. Having returned home in 1858, he received several patents for different mechanical devices, but he did not know how to turn his inventive talent into economic profit. His patents were sold to others for money to continue his work and support his family. In 1870, working again on Long Island, he by chance came into contact with New York City's largest contractor, who urged him to design a mechanical rock drill in order to replace hand drills in the rock-excavation business. Within one year Ingersoll built several models and a full-size machine at the machine shop of Henry Clark Sergeant, who contributed several improvements. They secured a joint patent in 1871, which was soon followed by a patent for a rock drill with tappet-valve motion.

Although the Ingersoll Drill Company was established, he again sold the patent rights and went back to Stamford, where he continued his inventive work and gained several more patents for improving the rock drill. However, he never understood how to make a fortune from his patents, and he died almost penniless. His former partner, Sergeant, who had formed his own drill company on the basis of an entirely novel valve motion which led to compressed air being used as a power source, in 1888 established the Ingersoll- Sergeant Drill Company, which in 1905 merged with Rand Drill Company, which had been a competitor, to form the Ingersoll-Rand Company. This merger led to many achievements in manufacturing rock drills and air compressors at a time when there was growing demand for such machinery.

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SUBJECT AREA: Architecture and building, Automotive engineering, Electricity, Electronics and information technology, Metallurgy, Photography, film and optics, Public utilities, Recording, Telecommunications

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He was the son of Samuel Edison, who was in the timber business. His schooling was delayed due to scarlet fever until 1855, when he was 8½ years old, but he was an avid reader. By the age of 14 he had a job as a newsboy on the railway from Port Huron to Detroit, a distance of sixty-three miles (101 km). He worked a fourteen-hour day with a stopover of five hours, which he spent in the Detroit Free Library. He also sold sweets on the train and, later, fruit and vegetables, and was soon making a profit of $20 a week. He then started two stores in Port Huron and used a spare freight car as a laboratory. He added a hand-printing press to produce 400 copies weekly of The Grand Trunk Herald, most of which he compiled and edited himself. He set himself to learn telegraphy from the station agent at Mount Clements, whose son he had saved from being run over by a freight car.

At the age of 16 he became a telegraphist at Port Huron. In 1863 he became railway telegraphist at the busy Stratford Junction of the Grand Trunk Railroad, arranging a clock with a notched wheel to give the hourly signal which was to prove that he was awake and at his post! He left hurriedly after failing to hold a train which was nearly involved in a head-on collision. He usually worked the night shift, allowing himself time for experiments during the day. His first invention was an arrangement of two Morse registers so that a high-speed input could be decoded at a slower speed. Moving from place to place he held many positions as a telegraphist. In Boston he invented an automatic vote recorder for Congress and patented it, but the idea was rejected. This was the first of a total of 1180 patents that he was to take out during his lifetime. After six years he resigned from the Western Union Company to devote all his time to invention, his next idea being an improved ticker-tape machine for stockbrokers. He developed a duplex telegraphy system, but this was turned down by the Western Union Company. He then moved to New York.

Edison found accommodation in the battery room of Law's Gold Reporting Company, sleeping in the cellar, and there his repair of a broken transmitter marked him as someone of special talents. His superior soon resigned, and he was promoted with a salary of $300 a month. Western Union paid him $40,000 for the sole rights on future improvements on the duplex telegraph, and he moved to Ward Street, Newark, New Jersey, where he employed a gathering of specialist engineers. Within a year, he married one of his employees, Mary Stilwell, when she was only 16: a daughter, Marion, was born in 1872, and two sons, Thomas and William, in 1876 and 1879, respectively.

He continued to work on the automatic telegraph, a device to send out messages faster than they could be tapped out by hand: that is, over fifty words per minute or so. An earlier machine by Alexander Bain worked at up to 400 words per minute, but was not good over long distances. Edison agreed to work on improving this feature of Bain's machine for the Automatic Telegraph Company (ATC) for $40,000. He improved it to a working speed of 500 words per minute and ran a test between Washington and New York. Hoping to sell their equipment to the Post Office in Britain, ATC sent Edison to England in 1873 to negotiate. A 500-word message was to be sent from Liverpool to London every half-hour for six hours, followed by tests on 2,200 miles (3,540 km) of cable at Greenwich. Only confused results were obtained due to induction in the cable, which lay coiled in a water tank. Edison returned to New York, where he worked on his quadruplex telegraph system, tests of which proved a success between New York and Albany in December 1874. Unfortunately, simultaneous negotiation with Western Union and ATC resulted in a lawsuit.

Alexander Graham Bell was granted a patent for a telephone in March 1876 while Edison was still working on the same idea. His improvements allowed the device to operate over a distance of hundreds of miles instead of only a few miles. Tests were carried out over the 106 miles (170 km) between New York and Philadelphia. Edison applied for a patent on the carbon-button transmitter in April 1877, Western Union agreeing to pay him $6,000 a year for the seventeen-year duration of the patent. In these years he was also working on the development of the electric lamp and on a duplicating machine which would make up to 3,000 copies from a stencil. In 1876–7 he moved from Newark to Menlo Park, twenty-four miles (39 km) from New York on the Pennsylvania Railway, near Elizabeth. He had bought a house there around which he built the premises that would become his "inventions factory". It was there that he began the use of his 200- page pocket notebooks, each of which lasted him about two weeks, so prolific were his ideas. When he died he left 3,400 of them filled with notes and sketches.

Late in 1877 he applied for a patent for a phonograph which was granted on 19 February 1878, and by the end of the year he had formed a company to manufacture this totally new product. At the time, Edison saw the device primarily as a business aid rather than for entertainment, rather as a dictating machine. In August 1878 he was granted a British patent. In July 1878 he tried to measure the heat from the solar corona at a solar eclipse viewed from Rawlins, Wyoming, but his "tasimeter" was too sensitive.

Probably his greatest achievement was "The Subdivision of the Electric Light" or the "glow bulb". He tried many materials for the filament before settling on carbon. He gave a demonstration of electric light by lighting up Menlo Park and inviting the public. Edison was, of course, faced with the problem of inventing and producing all the ancillaries which go to make up the electrical system of generation and distribution-meters, fuses, insulation, switches, cabling—even generators had to be designed and built; everything was new. He started a number of manufacturing companies to produce the various components needed.

In 1881 he built the world's largest generator, which weighed 27 tons, to light 1,200 lamps at the Paris Exhibition. It was later moved to England to be used in the world's first central power station with steam engine drive at Holborn Viaduct, London. In September 1882 he started up his Pearl Street Generating Station in New York, which led to a worldwide increase in the application of electric power, particularly for lighting. At the same time as these developments, he built a 1,300yd (1,190m) electric railway at Menlo Park.

On 9 August 1884 his wife died of typhoid. Using his telegraphic skills, he proposed to 19-year-old Mina Miller in Morse code while in the company of others on a train. He married her in February 1885 before buying a new house and estate at West Orange, New Jersey, building a new laboratory not far away in the Orange Valley.

Edison used direct current which was limited to around 250 volts. Alternating current was largely developed by George Westinghouse and Nicola Tesla, using transformers to step up the current to a higher voltage for long-distance transmission. The use of AC gradually overtook the Edison DC system.

In autumn 1888 he patented a form of cinephotography, the kinetoscope, obtaining film-stock from George Eastman. In 1893 he set up the first film studio, which was pivoted so as to catch the sun, with a hinged roof which could be raised. In 1894 kinetoscope parlours with "peep shows" were starting up in cities all over America. Competition came from the Latham Brothers with a screen-projection machine, which Edison answered with his "Vitascope", shown in New York in 1896. This showed pictures with accompanying sound, but there was some difficulty with synchronization. Edison also experimented with captions at this early date.

In 1880 he filed a patent for a magnetic ore separator, the first of nearly sixty. He bought up deposits of low-grade iron ore which had been developed in the north of New Jersey. The process was a commercial success until the discovery of iron-rich ore in Minnesota rendered it uneconomic and uncompetitive. In 1898 cement rock was discovered in New Village, west of West Orange. Edison bought the land and started cement manufacture, using kilns twice the normal length and using half as much fuel to heat them as the normal type of kiln. In 1893 he met Henry Ford, who was building his second car, at an Edison convention. This started him on the development of a battery for an electric car on which he made over 9,000 experiments. In 1903 he sold his patent for wireless telegraphy "for a song" to Guglielmo Marconi.

In 1910 Edison designed a prefabricated concrete house. In December 1914 fire destroyed three-quarters of the West Orange plant, but it was at once rebuilt, and with the threat of war Edison started to set up his own plants for making all the chemicals that he had previously been buying from Europe, such as carbolic acid, phenol, benzol, aniline dyes, etc. He was appointed President of the Navy Consulting Board, for whom, he said, he made some forty-five inventions, "but they were pigeonholed, every one of them". Thus did Edison find that the Navy did not take kindly to civilian interference.

In 1927 he started the Edison Botanic Research Company, founded with similar investment from Ford and Firestone with the object of finding a substitute for overseas-produced rubber. In the first year he tested no fewer than 3,327 possible plants, in the second year, over 1,400, eventually developing a variety of Golden Rod which grew to 14 ft (4.3 m) in height. However, all this effort and money was wasted, due to the discovery of synthetic rubber.

In October 1929 he was present at Henry Ford's opening of his Dearborn Museum to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the incandescent lamp, including a replica of the Menlo Park laboratory. He was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal and was elected to the American Academy of Sciences. He died in 1931 at his home, Glenmont; throughout the USA, lights were dimmed temporarily on the day of his funeral.

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SUBJECT AREA: Textiles

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John Heathcote had shown that it was possible to make lace by machine with his patents of 1808 and 1809. His machines were developed and improved by John Levers. Levers was originally a hosiery frame-smith and setter-up at Sutton-in-Ashfield but moved to Nottingham, where he extended his operations to the construction of point-net and warp-lace machinery. In the years 1812 and 1813 he more or less isolated himself in the garret of a house in Derby Road, where he assembled his lacemaking machine by himself. He was helped by two brothers and a nephew who made parts, but they saw it only when it was completed. Financial help for making production machines came from the firm of John Stevenson \& Skipwith, lace manufacturers in Nottingham. Levers never sought a patent, as he was under the mistaken impression that additions or improvements to an existing patented machine could not be protected. An early example of the machine survives at the Castle Museum in Nottingham. Although his prospects must have seemed good, for some reason Levers dissolved his partnership with Stevenson \& Co. and continued to work on improving his machine. In 1817 he altered it from the horizontal to the upright position, building many of the machines each year. He was a friendly, kind-hearted man, but he seems to have been unable to apply himself to his business, preferring the company of musicians—he was a bandmaster of the local militia—and was soon frequently without money, even to buy food for his family. He emigrated in 1821 to Rouen, France, where he set up his lace machines and where he subsequently died; when or in what circumstances is unknown. His machine continued to be improved and was adapted to work with the Jacquard mechanism to select the pattern.

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SUBJECT AREA: Land transport, Railways and locomotives

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Chapelon's technical education at the Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, Paris, was interrupted by extended military service during the First World War. From experience of observing artillery from the basket of a captive balloon, he developed a method of artillery fire control which was more accurate than that in use and which was adopted by the French army.

In 1925 he joined the motive-power and rolling-stock department of the Paris-Orléans Railway under Chief Mechanical Engineer Maurice Lacoin and was given the task of improving the performance of its main-line 4–6–2 locomotives, most of them compounds. He had already made an intensive study of steam locomotive design and in 1926 introduced his Kylchap exhaust system, based in part on the earlier work of the Finnish engineer Kyläla. Chapelon improved the entrainment of the hot gases in the smokebox by the exhaust steam and so minimized back pressure in the cylinders, increasing the power of a locomotive substantially. He also greatly increased the cross-sectional area of steam passages, used poppet valves instead of piston valves and increased superheating of steam. PO (Paris-Orléans) 4–6–2s rebuilt on these principles from 1929 onwards proved able to haul 800-ton trains, in place of the previous 500-ton trains, and to do so to accelerated schedules with reduced coal consumption. Commencing in 1932, some were converted, at the time of rebuilding, into 4–8–0s to increase adhesive weight for hauling heavy trains over the steeply graded Paris-Toulouse line.

Chapelon's principles were quickly adopted on other French railways and elsewhere.

H.N. Gresley was particularly influenced by them. After formation of the French National Railways (SNCF) in 1938, Chapelon produced in 1941 a prototype rebuilt PO 2–10–0 freight locomotive as a six-cylinder compound, with four low-pressure cylinders to maximize expansive use of steam and with all cylinders steam-jacketed to minimize heat loss by condensation and radiation. War conditions delayed extended testing until 1948–52. Meanwhile Chapelon had, by rebuilding, produced in 1946 a high-powered, three-cylinder, compound 4–8–4 intended as a stage in development of a proposed range of powerful and thermally efficient steam locomotives for the postwar SNCF: a high-speed 4–6–4 in this range was to run at sustained speeds of 125 mph (200 km/h). However, plans for improved steam locomotives were then overtaken in France by electriflcation and dieselization, though the performance of the 4–8–4, which produced 4,000 hp (3,000 kW) at the drawbar for the first time in Europe, prompted modification of electric locomotives, already on order, to increase their power.

Chapelon retired from the SNCF in 1953, but continued to act as a consultant. His principles were incorporated into steam locomotives built in France for export to South America, and even after the energy crisis of 1973 he was consulted on projects to build improved, high-powered steam locomotives for countries with reserves of cheap coal. The eventual fall in oil prices brought these to an end.

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SUBJECT AREA: Metallurgy

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Wollaston qualified in medicine at Cambridge University but gave up his practice in 1800 to devote himself to chemistry and metallurgy, funded from the profits from making malleable platinum. In partnership with Smithson Tennant, a friend from his Cambridge days, he worked on the extraction of platinum by dissolving it in aqua regia. In 1802 he found that in addition to platinum the solution contained a new metal, which he named palladium. Two years later he identified another new metal, rhodium.

Wollaston developed a method of forming platinum by means of powder metallurgy and was the first to produce malleable and ductile platinum on a commercial scale. He produced platinum vessels for sulphuric acid manufacture and scientific apparatus such as crucibles. He devised an elegant method for forming fine platinum wire. He also applied his inventive talents to improving scientific apparatus, including the sextant and microscope and a reflecting goniometer for measuring crystal angles. In 1807 he was appointed Joint Secretary of the Royal Society with Sir Humphry Davy, which entailed a heavy workload and required them to referee all the papers submitted to the Society for publication.

Wollaston's output of platinum began to decline after 1822. Due to ill health he ceased business operations in 1828 and at last made public the details of his secret platinum fabrication process. It was fully described in the Bakerian Lecture he delivered to the Royal Society on 28 November 1828, shortly before his death.

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1 improvement (progreso).

2 increase (aumento).

3^rd person singular (él/ella/ello) present indicative of spanish verb: mejorar.

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► nombre femenino

1 (progreso) improvement

► nombre femenino plural mejoras

1 (obras) alterations, improvements

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1) improvement

2) upgrade

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1) (=progreso) improvement

2) (=aumento) increase

3) pl mejoras (=obras) improvements, alterations

4) [en subasta] higher bid

5) Méx (Agr) weeding

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1)

a) ( perfeccionamiento) improvement

b) mejoras femenino plural ( obras) improvements (pl)

2) (Chi) ( choza): makeshift dwelling built on another person's land

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= boost, enhancement, improvement, amelioration, betterment, upturn, optimising [optimizing, -USA], upgrade, brightening, scale-up, pickup [pick-up].

Ex. Consequently, Leforte came to expect -- perhaps even take for granted -- the periodic boosts of ego and income that the evaluations provided.

Ex. Editors consider content of abstracts and their languages as a primary factor in retrieval enhancement.

Ex. The 1949 code does boast some improvements on the 1908 code.

Ex. Now this may sound somewhat Draconian as an approach to the problem, but I really do believe, and I have studied this and thought about it very carefully for many years, that this is the only answer, that anything else is just an amelioration of the problem and is building up problems for the future.

Ex. The new danger is that new technologies will be used for the betterment of only a small part of the world's population.

Ex. The only hope for the future of the industry lies in a general upturn in the economy.

Ex. One of the critical responsibilities of management level personnel within any organisation is measuring and optimising the performance of activities within their sphere of influence.

Ex. The review led to an upgrade of one third of support staff positions and has led to a flatter hierarchical structure in the library.

Ex. Further evidence for the historian includes the relative eminence of authors in terms of citedness, the brightening or dimming of reputations.

Ex. This paper presents the results of an investigation into the scale-up of bread dough mixers.

Ex. All this will definitely have a rub-off effect on the aluminium industry which will benefit because of the pick-up in the global economy.

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* acción de mejora = improvement action.

* con mejoras = stepped-up.

* dar mejora (en) = give + improvement (in).

* hacer mejoras = make + improvements.

* introducir mejoras = make + improvements.

* mejora de las condiciones laborales = horizontal ladder.

* mejora de la situación social = upward social mobility.

* mejora de situación social = upward mobility.

* mejora social = social improvement.

* plan de mejora = improvement plan.

* que mejora el estatus social = status-enhancing.

* ser una mejora con respecto a = be an improvement on.

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1)

a) ( perfeccionamiento) improvement

b) mejoras femenino plural ( obras) improvements (pl)

2) (Chi) ( choza): makeshift dwelling built on another person's land

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1 (perfeccionamiento) improvement

la empresa prometió mejoras en las condiciones de trabajo the company promised (to make) improvements in working conditions o promised to improve working conditions

2 mejoras fpl (obras) improvements (pl)

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

2ª persona singular (tú) imperativo

◊ el tratamiento la mejoró the treatment made her a lot better

◊ ha mejorado de aspecto he looks a lot better

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mejora nf

1. [progreso] improvement;

se nota una clara mejora you can see a clear improvement;

un factor que contribuye a la mejora de la calidad de vida a factor which contributes to a better quality of life

2. [cambio] improvement;

este trabajo necesita varias mejoras several things about this piece of work need improving

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f improvement

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mejora nf

: improvement

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mejora n improvement

SUBJECT AREA: Textiles

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Born of Scottish parents, Fairbairn was apprenticed at the age of 14 to John Casson, a mill-wright and engineer at the Percy Main Colliery, Newcastle upon Tyne, and remained there until 1821 when he went to work for his brother William in Manchester. After going to various other places, including Messrs Rennie in London and on the European continent, he eventually moved in 1829 to Leeds where Marshall helped him set up the Wellington Foundry and so laid the foundations for the colossal establishment which was to employ over one thousand workers. To begin with he devoted his attention to improving wool-weaving machinery, substituting iron for wood in the construction of the textile machines. He also worked on machinery for flax, incorporating many of Philippe de Girard's ideas. He assisted Henry Houldsworth in the application of the differential to roving frames, and it was to these machines that he added his own inventions. The longer fibres of wool and flax need to have some form of support and control between the rollers when they are being drawn out, and inserting a little twist helps. However, if the roving is too tightly twisted before passing through the first pair of rollers, it cannot be drawn out, while if there is insufficient twist, the fibres do not receive enough support in the drafting zone. One solution is to twist the fibres together while they are actually in the drafting zone between the rollers. In 1834, Fairbairn patented an arrangement consisting of a revolving tube placed between the drawing rollers. The tube inserted a "middle" or "false" twist in the material. As stated in the specification, it was "a well-known contrivance… for twisting and untwisting any roving passing through it". It had been used earlier in 1822 by J. Goulding of the USA and a similar idea had been developed by C.Danforth in America and patented in Britain in 1825 by J.C. Dyer. Fairbairn's machine, however, was said to make a very superior article. He was also involved with waste-silk spinning and rope-yarn machinery.

Fairbairn later began constructing machine tools, and at the beginning of the Crimean War was asked by the Government to make special tools for the manufacture of armaments. He supplied some of these, such as cannon rifling machines, to the arsenals at Woolwich and Enfield. He then made a considerable number of tools for the manufacture of the Armstrong gun. He was involved in the life of his adopted city and was elected to Leeds town council in 1832 for ten years. He was elected an alderman in 1854 and was Mayor of Leeds from 1857 to 1859, when he was knighted by Queen Victoria at the opening of the new town hall. He was twice married, first to Margaret Kennedy and then to Rachel Anne Brindling.

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SUBJECT AREA: Broadcasting, Recording

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He graduated from The Queen's College with a BA in 1915 and an MA in 1918. He was an instructor and lecturer in the Royal Navy in 1915–19. He became an administrative officer with the Board of Education until 1938, and continued his work in the British Civil Service in the Ministry of Transport until 1949. From 1924 to 1938 he was Technical Adviser, and from 1953 Technical Editor, with Gramophone, a publication catering for the record-and equipment-buying public. He brought a mathematical mind to the problems of gramophone reproduction and solved the geometrical problem of obtaining a reasonable approximation to tangential tracking across the surface of a record even though the soundbox (or pick-up) is carried by a pivoted arm. Later he tackled the problem of horns, determining that a modified exponential horn, even with a bent axis, would give optimal reproduction by a purely acoustic system. This development was used commercially during the 1930s. Wilson was for a time a member of the School Broadcasting Council and developed methods for improving subjective listening tests for evaluation of audio equipment. He was also deeply involved in the long-playing record system used for Talking Books for the Blind. He had a life-long interest in spiritualist matters and was President of the Spiritualist National Union from 1950 to 1953 and Chairman of the Psychic Press from 1951.

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