Перевод: со всех языков на все языки

со всех языков на все языки

Lives of the Engineers

  • 1 Murdock (Murdoch), William

    [br]
    b. 21 August 1754 Cumnock, Ayrshire, Scotland
    d. 15 November 1839 Handsworth, Birmingham, England
    [br]
    Scottish engineer and inventor, pioneer in coal-gas production.
    [br]
    He was the third child and the eldest of three boys born to John Murdoch and Anna Bruce. His father, a millwright and joiner, spelled his name Murdock on moving to England. He was educated for some years at Old Cumnock Parish School and in 1777, with his father, he built a "wooden horse", supposed to have been a form of cycle. In 1777 he set out for the Soho manufactory of Boulton \& Watt, where he quickly found employment, Boulton supposedly being impressed by the lad's hat. This was oval and made of wood, and young William had turned it himself on a lathe of his own manufacture. Murdock quickly became Boulton \& Watt's representative in Cornwall, where there was a flourishing demand for steam-engines. He lived at Redruth during this period.
    It is said that a number of the inventions generally ascribed to James Watt are in fact as much due to Murdock as to Watt. Examples are the piston and slide valve and the sun-and-planet gearing. A number of other inventions are attributed to Murdock alone: typical of these is the oscillating cylinder engine which obviated the need for an overhead beam.
    In about 1784 he planned a steam-driven road carriage of which he made a working model. He also planned a high-pressure non-condensing engine. The model carriage was demonstrated before Murdock's friends and travelled at a speed of 6–8 mph (10–13 km/h). Boulton and Watt were both antagonistic to their employees' developing independent inventions, and when in 1786 Murdock set out with his model for the Patent Office, having received no reply to a letter he had sent to Watt, Boulton intercepted him on the open road near Exeter and dissuaded him from going any further.
    In 1785 he married Mary Painter, daughter of a mine captain. She bore him four children, two of whom died in infancy, those surviving eventually joining their father at the Soho Works. Murdock was a great believer in pneumatic power: he had a pneumatic bell-push at Sycamore House, his home near Soho. The pattern-makers lathe at the Soho Works worked for thirty-five years from an air motor. He also conceived the idea of a vacuum piston engine to exhaust a pipe, later developed by the London Pneumatic Despatch Company's railway and the forerunner of the atmospheric railway.
    Another field in which Murdock was a pioneer was the gas industry. In 1791, in Redruth, he was experimenting with different feedstocks in his home-cum-office in Cross Street: of wood, peat and coal, he preferred the last. He designed and built in the backyard of his house a prototype generator, washer, storage and distribution plant, and publicized the efficiency of coal gas as an illuminant by using it to light his own home. In 1794 or 1795 he informed Boulton and Watt of his experimental work and of its success, suggesting that a patent should be applied for. James Watt Junior was now in the firm and was against patenting the idea since they had had so much trouble with previous patents and had been involved in so much litigation. He refused Murdock's request and for a short time Murdock left the firm to go home to his father's mill. Boulton \& Watt soon recognized the loss of a valuable servant and, in a short time, he was again employed at Soho, now as Engineer and Superintendent at the increased salary of £300 per year plus a 1 per cent commission. From this income, he left £14,000 when he died in 1839.
    In 1798 the workshops of Boulton and Watt were permanently lit by gas, starting with the foundry building. The 180 ft (55 m) façade of the Soho works was illuminated by gas for the Peace of Paris in June 1814. By 1804, Murdock had brought his apparatus to a point where Boulton \& Watt were able to canvas for orders. Murdock continued with the company after the death of James Watt in 1819, but retired in 1830 and continued to live at Sycamore House, Handsworth, near Birmingham.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Royal Society Rumford Gold Medal 1808.
    Further Reading
    S.Smiles, 1861, Lives of the Engineers, Vol. IV: Boulton and Watt, London: John Murray.
    H.W.Dickinson and R.Jenkins, 1927, James Watt and the Steam Engine, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
    J.A.McCash, 1966, "William Murdoch. Faithful servant" in E.G.Semler (ed.), The Great Masters. Engineering Heritage, Vol. II, London: Institution of Mechanical Engineers/Heinemann.
    IMcN

    Biographical history of technology > Murdock (Murdoch), William

  • 2 Metcalf, John

    [br]
    b. 1717 Knaresborough, Yorkshire, England d. 1810
    [br]
    English pioneer road builder.
    [br]
    The son of poor working parents, at the age of 6 an attack of smallpox left him blind; however, this did not restrict his future activities, which included swimming and riding. He learned the violin and was much employed as the fiddle-player at country parties. He saved enough money to buy a horse on which he hunted. He took part in bowls, wrestling and boxing, being a robust six foot two inches tall. He rode to Whitby and went thence by boat to London and made other trips to York, Reading and Windsor. In 1740 Colonel Liddell offered him a seat in his coach from London to Harrogate, but he declined and got there more quickly on foot. He set up a one-horse chaise and a four-wheeler for hire in Harrogate, but the local innkeepers set up in competition in the public hire business. He went into the fish business, buying at the coast and selling in Leeds and other towns, but made little profit so he took up his violin again. During the rebellion of 1745 he recruited for Colonel Thornton and served to fight at Hexham, Newcastle and Falkirk, returning home after the Battle of Culloden. He then started travelling between Yorkshire, where be bought cotton and worsted stockings, and Aberdeen, where he sold horses. He set up a twice-weekly service of stage wagons between Knaresborough and York.
    In 1765 an Act was passed for a turnpike road between Harrogate and Boroughbridge and he offered to build the Master Surveyor, a Mr Ostler, three miles (5 km) of road between Minskip and Fearnly, selling his wagons and his interest in the carrying business. The road was built satisfactorily and on time. He then quoted for a bridge at Boroughbridge and for a turnpike road between Knaresborough and Harrogate. He built many other roads, always doing the survey of the route on his own. The roads crossed bogs on a base of ling and furze. Many of his roads outside Yorkshire were in Lancashire, Cheshire and Derbyshire. In all he built some 180 miles (290 km) of road, for which he was paid some £65,000.
    He worked for thirty years on road building, retiring in old age to a cotton business in Stockport where he had six spinning jennies and a carding engine; however, he found there was little profit in this so he gave the machinery to his son-in-law. The last road he built was from Haslington to Accrington, but due to the rise in labour costs brought about by the demand from the canal boom, he only made £40 profit on a £3,000 contract; the road was completed in 1792, when he retired to his farm at Spofforth at the age of 75. There he died, leaving a wife, four children, twenty grandchildren and ninety greatgrandchildren. His wife was the daughter of the landlord of the Granby Inn, Knaresborough.
    [br]
    Further Reading
    S.Smiles, Lives of the Engineers, Metcalfe, Telford: John Murray.
    IMcN

    Biographical history of technology > Metcalf, John

  • 3 Smeaton, John

    [br]
    b. 8 June 1724 Austhorpe, near Leeds, Yorkshire, England
    d. 28 October 1792 Austhorpe, near Leeds, Yorkshire, England
    [br]
    English mechanical and civil engineer.
    [br]
    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.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    FRS 1753.
    Bibliography
    1759, "An experimental enquiry concerning the natural powers of water and wind to turn mills", Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.
    Towards the end of his life, Smeaton intended to write accounts of his many works but only completed A Narrative of the Eddystone Lighthouse, 1791, London.
    Further Reading
    S.Smiles, 1874, Lives of the Engineers: Smeaton and Rennie, London. A.W.Skempton, (ed.), 1981, John Smeaton FRS, London: Thomas Telford. L.T.C.Rolt and J.S.Allen, 1977, The Steam Engine of Thomas Newcomen, 2nd edn, Hartington: Moorland Publishing, esp. pp. 108–18 (gives a good description of his work on the steam-engine).
    LRD

    Biographical history of technology > Smeaton, John

  • 4 Pacheco, Duarte

    (1900-1943)
       One of Portugal's outstanding civil engineers and the most energetic and accomplished cabinet minister in the early phase of the Estado Novo, Duarte Pacheco was born in Loulé, Algarve district. As director and instructor in the Higher Technical Institute, Lisbon, Pacheco trained several generations of urban planners and engineers and served in several key posts in the Dictatorship: minister of education, president of the Lisbon Câmara Municipal (City Hall), and on two occasions between 1932 and 1943, the premier minister of public works and communications in the history of the regime. As a relatively liberal republican in a regime of conservatives, monarchists and crypto-monarchists, and integralists, Duarte Pacheco was a political maverick but a highly respected, if controversial, man of action. His Public Works Ministry helped to transform the look of the capital, Lisbon, improve urban planning and housing, create the remarkable Double Centenary Exposition of the Portuguese World at Belém in 1940, and construct a number of key edifices for various institutions. In November 1943, he was killed in a tragic automobile accident. His influential memory still lives in the oral tradition of the new Portugal's Ministry of Public Works, and his work sets a high standard of excellence.

    Historical dictionary of Portugal > Pacheco, Duarte

  • 5 cuerpo

    m.
    1 body.
    a cuerpo without a coat on
    de cuerpo entero full-length (retrato, espejo)
    en cuerpo y alma body and soul
    luchar cuerpo a cuerpo to fight hand-to-hand
    de cuerpo presente (lying) in state
    tomar cuerpo to take shape
    vivir a cuerpo de rey to live like a king
    ¡cuerpo a tierra! hit the ground!, get down!
    cuerpo celeste heavenly body
    cuerpo extraño foreign body
    el cuerpo humano the human body
    2 main body (parte principal).
    3 thickness (consistencia).
    mover hasta que la mezcla tome cuerpo stir until the mixture thickens
    el proyecto de nuevo aeropuerto va tomando cuerpo the new airport project is taking shape
    4 corps.
    cuerpo diplomático diplomatic corps
    cuerpo de policía police force
    5 section (parte de armario, edificio).
    7 corpus, body, main section of a bodily part, main section of an organism.
    8 mass of tissue, corpus.
    * * *
    1 ANATOMÍA body
    3 (figura) figure; (tronco) trunk
    4 (tronco) trunk
    5 (grupo) body, force, corps
    6 (cadáver) corpse, body
    7 (parte) section, part; (parte principal) main part, main body
    8 QUÍMICA substance
    9 FÍSICA body
    10 (vino, tela, etc) body
    11 DEPORTE length
    \
    a cuerpo descubierto defenceless (US defenseless)
    cuerpo a cuerpo hand-to-hand
    de cuerpo entero full-length
    en cuerpo y alma figurado heart and soul, body and soul
    estar de cuerpo presente to lie in state
    hacer de cuerpo eufemístico to relieve oneself
    no tener nada en el cuerpo to have an empty stomach
    tener buen cuerpo to have a good figure
    tomar cuerpo figurado to take shape
    cuerpo de baile corps de ballet
    cuerpo del delito DERECHO evidence, corpus delicti
    cuerpo diplomático diplomatic corps
    cuerpo legislativo legislative body
    cuerpo geométrico regular solid
    cuerpos celestes heavenly bodies
    * * *
    noun m.
    1) body
    * * *
    SM
    1) (Anat) body

    me dolía todo el cuerpo — my body was aching all over, I was aching all over

    cuerpo a cuerpo —

    un cuerpo a cuerpo entre los dos políticos — a head-on o head-to-head confrontation between the two politicians

    • de cuerpo entero — [retrato, espejo] full-length

    • de medio cuerpo — [retrato, espejo] half-length

    • cuerpo serrano — hum body to die for

    • ¡cuerpo a tierra! — hit the ground!

    dar con el cuerpo en tierra — to fall down, fall to the ground

    a cuerpo gentil —

    a cuerpo de rey —

    hurtó el cuerpo y eludió a sus vecinos — he sneaked off o away and avoided his neighbours

    pedirle a algn algo el cuerpo —

    2) (=cadáver) body, corpse

    de cuerpo presente: su marido aún estaba de cuerpo presente — her husband had not yet been buried

    funeral de cuerpo presente — funeral service, funeral

    3) (=grupo)

    cuerpo de bomberos — fire brigade, fire department (EEUU)

    4) (=parte) [de mueble] section, part; [de un vestido] bodice; (=parte principal) main body
    5) (=objeto) body, object
    6) (=consistencia) [de vino] body

    • dar cuerpo a algo, el suavizante que da cuerpo a su cabello — the conditioner that gives your hair body

    • tomar cuerpo — [plan, proyecto, personaje, historia] to take shape

    7) (Tip) [de letra] point, point size
    * * *
    1)
    a) (Anat) body

    tenía el miedo metido en el cuerpo — (fam) he was scared stiff (colloq)

    a cuerpo de rey — (fam)

    a cuerpo gentil — (fam) without a coat (o sweater etc)

    echarse algo al cuerpo — (fam) < comida> to have something to eat; < bebida> to have something to drink

    sacar(le) el cuerpo a alguien — (AmL fam) to steer clear of somebody

    sacar(le) el cuerpo a algo — (AmL fam) ( a trabajo) to get out of something; ( a responsabilidad) to evade o shirk something

    b) ( cadáver) body, corpse

    encontraron su cuerpo sin vida junto al río — (period) his lifeless body was found by the river (frml)

    c) ( tronco) body
    2) (Equ) length
    3)
    a) ( parte principal) main body
    b) ( de mueble) part; ( de edificio) section
    4) (conjunto de personas, de ideas, normas) body
    5) (Fís) ( objeto) body, object; ( sustancia) substance
    6) (consistencia, densidad) body

    dar/tomar cuerpo — idea/escultura to take shape

    * * *
    = body, body, type size, body-size, corps, shank, cadaver, soma.
    Ex. But when he speaks to me he always scans my body and stares at my breasts.
    Ex. Cartographic materials are, according to AACR2, all the materials that represent, in whole or in part, the earth or any celestial body.
    Ex. Using golf-ball or daisy-wheel typewriters a good range of typefaces can be used on the same page; different type sizes can also be used.
    Ex. A fount of type was a set of letters and other symbols in which each was supplied in approximate proportion to its frequency of use, all being of one body-size and design.
    Ex. Quality abstracting services take pride in their corps of abstractors.
    Ex. Another device was to make matrices for accented sorts with the punches already used for unaccented sorts: the letter punch was stepped on its shank so that one of several accent punches could be bound on to the step to make a combined punch.
    Ex. Rather than bringing in butchers to do the handiwork of his dissections, Vesalius himself worked on the human cadavers and said that students of medicine should do the same.
    Ex. Pyramidal neurons, also known as pyramidal cells, are neurons with a pyramidal-shaped cell body ( soma) and two distinct dendritic trees.
    ----
    * a cuerpo de rey = the lap of luxury.
    * crema para el cuerlpo = body lotion.
    * cuerpo calloso = corpus callosum.
    * cuerpo celeste = celestial body, heavenly body.
    * cuerpo Danone = body beautiful.
    * cuerpo de animal muerto = carcass.
    * cuerpo de bomberos = fire department.
    * cuerpo de estanterías = bay of shelves, range of shelving, range, bay of shelving.
    * cuerpo de estanterías por materia = subject bay.
    * cuerpo de inspectores = inspectorate.
    * cuerpo de la ficha = body of the card.
    * Cuerpo de Marina = Navy Corps.
    * Cuerpo de Paz, el = Peace Corps.
    * Cuerpo de Zapadores = Army Corps Engineers.
    * cuerpo expedicionario = expeditionary force.
    * cuerpo extraño = foreign body.
    * cuerpo humano, el = human body, the.
    * cuerpo político, el = body politic, the.
    * cuerpo sin vida = dead body.
    * culto al cuerpo = cult of the body, body beautiful.
    * dar cuerpo = give + substance.
    * dar cuerpo a = flesh out.
    * dar cuerpo y forma a = lend + substance and form to.
    * de cuerpo largo = long-bodied.
    * del cuerpo = body.
    * foto de medio cuerpo = mugshot [mug shot].
    * ingeniero del cuerpo de zapadores = Army Corps engineer.
    * luchar cuerpo a cuerpo = clinch.
    * miembro del cuerpo = limb.
    * órgano del cuerpo = limb, body part.
    * pegado al cuerpo = slinky [slinkier -comp., slinkiest -sup.].
    * ponerse en forma para la lucir el cuerpo en la playa = get + beach-fit.
    * que cubre todo el cuerpo = head to toe.
    * seguro por pérdida de un miembro del cuerpo = dismemberment insurance.
    * temperatura del cuerpo = body temperature.
    * vivir a cuerpo de rey = live like + a king, live in + the lap of luxury.
    * * *
    1)
    a) (Anat) body

    tenía el miedo metido en el cuerpo — (fam) he was scared stiff (colloq)

    a cuerpo de rey — (fam)

    a cuerpo gentil — (fam) without a coat (o sweater etc)

    echarse algo al cuerpo — (fam) < comida> to have something to eat; < bebida> to have something to drink

    sacar(le) el cuerpo a alguien — (AmL fam) to steer clear of somebody

    sacar(le) el cuerpo a algo — (AmL fam) ( a trabajo) to get out of something; ( a responsabilidad) to evade o shirk something

    b) ( cadáver) body, corpse

    encontraron su cuerpo sin vida junto al río — (period) his lifeless body was found by the river (frml)

    c) ( tronco) body
    2) (Equ) length
    3)
    a) ( parte principal) main body
    b) ( de mueble) part; ( de edificio) section
    4) (conjunto de personas, de ideas, normas) body
    5) (Fís) ( objeto) body, object; ( sustancia) substance
    6) (consistencia, densidad) body

    dar/tomar cuerpo — idea/escultura to take shape

    * * *
    = body, body, type size, body-size, corps, shank, cadaver, soma.

    Ex: But when he speaks to me he always scans my body and stares at my breasts.

    Ex: Cartographic materials are, according to AACR2, all the materials that represent, in whole or in part, the earth or any celestial body.
    Ex: Using golf-ball or daisy-wheel typewriters a good range of typefaces can be used on the same page; different type sizes can also be used.
    Ex: A fount of type was a set of letters and other symbols in which each was supplied in approximate proportion to its frequency of use, all being of one body-size and design.
    Ex: Quality abstracting services take pride in their corps of abstractors.
    Ex: Another device was to make matrices for accented sorts with the punches already used for unaccented sorts: the letter punch was stepped on its shank so that one of several accent punches could be bound on to the step to make a combined punch.
    Ex: Rather than bringing in butchers to do the handiwork of his dissections, Vesalius himself worked on the human cadavers and said that students of medicine should do the same.
    Ex: Pyramidal neurons, also known as pyramidal cells, are neurons with a pyramidal-shaped cell body ( soma) and two distinct dendritic trees.
    * a cuerpo de rey = the lap of luxury.
    * crema para el cuerlpo = body lotion.
    * cuerpo calloso = corpus callosum.
    * cuerpo celeste = celestial body, heavenly body.
    * cuerpo Danone = body beautiful.
    * cuerpo de animal muerto = carcass.
    * cuerpo de bomberos = fire department.
    * cuerpo de estanterías = bay of shelves, range of shelving, range, bay of shelving.
    * cuerpo de estanterías por materia = subject bay.
    * cuerpo de inspectores = inspectorate.
    * cuerpo de la ficha = body of the card.
    * Cuerpo de Marina = Navy Corps.
    * Cuerpo de Paz, el = Peace Corps.
    * Cuerpo de Zapadores = Army Corps Engineers.
    * cuerpo expedicionario = expeditionary force.
    * cuerpo extraño = foreign body.
    * cuerpo humano, el = human body, the.
    * cuerpo político, el = body politic, the.
    * cuerpo sin vida = dead body.
    * culto al cuerpo = cult of the body, body beautiful.
    * dar cuerpo = give + substance.
    * dar cuerpo a = flesh out.
    * dar cuerpo y forma a = lend + substance and form to.
    * de cuerpo largo = long-bodied.
    * del cuerpo = body.
    * foto de medio cuerpo = mugshot [mug shot].
    * ingeniero del cuerpo de zapadores = Army Corps engineer.
    * luchar cuerpo a cuerpo = clinch.
    * miembro del cuerpo = limb.
    * órgano del cuerpo = limb, body part.
    * pegado al cuerpo = slinky [slinkier -comp., slinkiest -sup.].
    * ponerse en forma para la lucir el cuerpo en la playa = get + beach-fit.
    * que cubre todo el cuerpo = head to toe.
    * seguro por pérdida de un miembro del cuerpo = dismemberment insurance.
    * temperatura del cuerpo = body temperature.
    * vivir a cuerpo de rey = live like + a king, live in + the lap of luxury.

    * * *
    A
    le dolía todo el cuerpo his whole body ached
    es de cuerpo muy menudo she's very slightly built o she has a very slight build
    tenía el miedo metido en el cuerpo ( fam); he was scared stiff ( colloq)
    un retrato/espejo de cuerpo entero a full-length portrait/mirror
    a cuerpo de rey ( fam): vive a cuerpo de rey he lives like a king
    nos atendieron a cuerpo de rey they treated us like royalty, they gave us real V.I.P. treatment ( colloq)
    a cuerpo or en or de cuerpo gentil ( fam); without a coat ( o sweater etc)
    cuerpo a cuerpo hand-to-hand
    en un combate cuerpo a cuerpo in hand-to-hand combat
    dárselo a algn el cuerpo ( fam): me lo daba el cuerpo que algo había ocurrido I had a feeling that something had happened
    echarse algo al cuerpo ( fam); ‹comida› to have sth to eat;
    ‹bebida› to have sth to drink, knock sth back ( colloq)
    en cuerpo y alma ( fam); wholeheartedly
    hacer or ir del cuerpo ( euf); to do one's business ( euph)
    logró hurtarle el cuerpo al golpe she managed to dodge the blow
    el cuerpo le pedía un descanso he felt he had to have a rest, his body was crying out for a rest
    pintar or retratar a algn de cuerpo entero: en pocas líneas pinta al personaje de cuerpo entero in a few lines she gives you a complete picture of what the character is like
    eso lo pinta de cuerpo entero that shows him in his true colors, that shows him for what he is
    sacar(le) el cuerpo a algn ( AmL fam); to steer clear of sb
    sacar(le) el cuerpo a algo ( AmL fam) (a un trabajo) to get out of sth; (a una responsabilidad) to evade o shirk sth
    suelto de cuerpo (CS fam); cool as anything ( colloq), cool as you like ( colloq)
    2 (cadáver) body, corpse
    allí encontraron su cuerpo sin vida ( frml); his lifeless body was found there
    3 (tronco) body
    Compuesto:
    corpus delicti
    B ( Dep, Equ) length
    ganó por tres cuerpos de ventaja she won by three lengths
    C
    1 (parte principal) main body
    un armario de dos cuerpos a double wardrobe
    se negaron a hacer declaraciones como cuerpo they refused to make any statement as a body o group
    su separación del cuerpo his dismissal from the force ( o service etc)
    2 (de ideas, normas) body
    Compuestos:
    corps de ballet
    fire department ( AmE), fire brigade ( BrE)
    body of teaching
    body of laws
    peace corps
    police force
    security corps
    diplomatic corps
    electorate
    legislative body
    medical corps
    E ( Fís)
    1 (objeto) body, object
    2 (sustancia) substance
    Compuestos:
    heavenly body
    compound
    foreign body
    geometric shape o figure
    element
    F (consistencia, densidad) body
    un vino de mucho cuerpo a full-bodied wine
    le da cuerpo al pelo it gives the hair body
    dar/tomar cuerpo: la escultura iba tomando cuerpo the sculpture was taking shape
    hay que dar cuerpo legal a estas asociaciones we have to give legal status to these organizations
    G ( Impr) point size
    * * *

     

    cuerpo sustantivo masculino
    1
    a) (Anat) body;


    retrato/espejo de cuerpo entero full-length portrait/mirror;
    cuerpo a cuerpo hand-to-hand

    c) (Fís) ( objeto) body, object

    2 (conjunto de personas, de ideas, normas) body;

    cuerpo de policía police force;
    cuerpo diplomático diplomatic corps
    3 (consistencia, densidad) body;


    ‹ vino› full-bodied
    cuerpo sustantivo masculino
    1 body
    2 (humano) body, (tronco humano) trunk
    3 (cadáver) corpse
    4 (de un edificio o mueble) section, part
    un armario de tres cuerpos, a wardrobe with three sections
    (de un libro, una doctrina) body
    5 (grupo) corps, force
    cuerpo de bomberos, fire brigade
    cuerpo diplomático, diplomatic corps
    ♦ Locuciones: figurado tomar cuerpo, to take shape
    a cuerpo de rey, like a king
    cuerpo a cuerpo, hand-to-hand
    de cuerpo entero, full-length
    de cuerpo presente, lying in state
    un retrato de medio cuerpo, a half portrait
    ' cuerpo' also found in these entries:
    Spanish:
    abotargarse
    - adormecerse
    - apéndice
    - caída
    - caído
    - cd
    - deformar
    - deformarse
    - delito
    - derecha
    - derecho
    - desnuda
    - desnudo
    - dilatar
    - dilatarse
    - diplomática
    - diplomático
    - el
    - encima
    - encoger
    - extraña
    - extraño
    - grasa
    - guardia
    - holgada
    - holgado
    - inclinación
    - interfecta
    - interfecto
    - línea
    - llaga
    - lugar
    - perecedera
    - perecedero
    - proporcionada
    - proporcionado
    - quiebro
    - rebanar
    - reclinar
    - silueta
    - titilar
    - vaivén
    - volverse
    - abotagado
    - asamblea
    - bola
    - bombero
    - bulto
    - cana
    - carga
    English:
    attitude
    - bar
    - beauty spot
    - bodice
    - body
    - bow
    - bruise
    - corps
    - decay
    - diplomatic corps
    - figure
    - fire brigade
    - fire department
    - force
    - full-length
    - hair
    - legislative
    - over
    - police force
    - position
    - proportionate
    - their
    - tingly
    - carcass
    - department
    - faculty
    - fellow
    - fire
    - foreign
    - full
    - length
    - profession
    - riddle
    - rigor mortis
    - wash
    * * *
    cuerpo nm
    1. [objeto material] body
    Astron cuerpo celeste heavenly body; Quím cuerpo compuesto compound;
    cuerpo extraño foreign body;
    Náut cuerpo muerto mooring buoy; Fís cuerpo negro black body; Quím cuerpo simple element
    2. [de persona, animal] body;
    el cuerpo humano the human body;
    tiene un cuerpo estupendo he's got a great body;
    ¡cuerpo a tierra! hit the ground!, get down!;
    luchar cuerpo a cuerpo to fight hand-to-hand;
    de medio cuerpo [retrato, espejo] half-length;
    de cuerpo entero [retrato, espejo] full-length;
    Fam
    a cuerpo (gentil) without a coat on;
    a cuerpo descubierto o [m5]limpio: se enfrentaron a cuerpo descubierto o [m5] limpio they fought each other hand-to-hand;
    Fam
    dejar mal cuerpo: la comida le dejó muy mal cuerpo the meal disagreed with him;
    la discusión con mi padre me dejó muy mal cuerpo the argument with my father left a bad taste in my mouth;
    en cuerpo y alma: se dedicó en cuerpo y alma a ayudar a los necesitados he devoted himself body and soul to helping the poor;
    se entrega en cuerpo y alma a la empresa she gives her all for the company;
    Fam
    demasiado para el cuerpo: ¡esta película es demasiado para el cuerpo! this movie o Br film is just great!, Br this film is the business!;
    echarse algo al cuerpo: se echó al cuerpo dos botellas de vino he downed two bottles of wine;
    Fam Euf
    hacer de cuerpo to relieve oneself;
    le metieron el miedo en el cuerpo they filled her with fear, they scared her stiff;
    Fam
    pedir algo el cuerpo: esta noche el cuerpo me pide bailar I'm in the mood for dancing tonight;
    no bebas más si no te lo pide el cuerpo don't have any more to drink if you don't feel like it;
    Am Fam
    sacarle el cuerpo a algo to get out of (doing) sth;
    RP Fam
    suelto de cuerpo as cool o nice as you like o please;
    a pesar de todo lo que le dije, después se me acercó muy suelto de cuerpo despite everything I said to him, he came up to me later as cool o nice as you like;
    Fam
    tratar a alguien a cuerpo de rey to treat sb like royalty o like a king;
    Fam
    vivir a cuerpo de rey to live like a king
    3. [tronco] trunk
    4. [parte principal] main body;
    el cuerpo del libro the main part o body of the book
    5. [densidad, consistencia] thickness;
    la tela de este vestido tiene mucho cuerpo this dress is made from a very heavy cloth;
    un vino con mucho cuerpo a full-bodied wine;
    dar cuerpo a [salsa] to thicken;
    tomar cuerpo: mover hasta que la mezcla tome cuerpo stir until the mixture thickens;
    están tomando cuerpo los rumores de remodelación del gobierno the rumoured cabinet reshuffle is beginning to look like a distinct possibility;
    el proyecto de nuevo aeropuerto va tomando cuerpo the new airport project is taking shape
    6. [cadáver] body, corpse;
    de cuerpo presente (lying) in state
    7. [corporación consular, militar] corps;
    el agente fue expulsado del cuerpo por indisciplina the policeman was thrown out of the force for indiscipline
    cuerpo de baile dance company;
    cuerpo de bomberos Br fire brigade, US fire department;
    cuerpo diplomático diplomatic corps;
    cuerpo expedicionario expeditionary force;
    cuerpo médico medical corps;
    cuerpo de policía police force
    8. [conjunto de informaciones] body;
    cuerpo de doctrina body of ideas, doctrine;
    cuerpo legal body of legislation
    9. [parte de armario, edificio] section
    10. [parte de vestido] body, bodice
    11. [en carreras] length;
    el caballo ganó por cuatro cuerpos the horse won by four lengths
    12. Der cuerpo del delito corpus delicti, = evidence of a crime or means of perpetrating it
    13. Imprenta point;
    letra de cuerpo diez ten point font
    * * *
    m
    1 body;
    cuerpo a cuerpo hand-to-hand;
    retrato de cuerpo entero/de medio cuerpo full-length/half-length portrait;
    a cuerpo de rey like a king;
    en cuerpo y alma body and soul;
    aún estaba de cuerpo presente he had not yet been buried;
    me lo pide el cuerpo I feel like it;
    hacer del cuerpo euph do one’s business
    2 de policía force;
    3
    :
    tomar cuerpo take shape
    * * *
    cuerpo nm
    1) : body
    2) : corps
    * * *
    1. (en general) body [pl. bodies]
    2. (tronco) trunk
    tomar cuerpo to take shape [pt. took; pp. taken]

    Spanish-English dictionary > cuerpo

  • 6 Stephenson, George

    [br]
    b. 9 June 1781 Wylam, Northumberland, England
    d. 12 August 1848 Tapton House, Chesterfield, England
    [br]
    English engineer, "the father of railways".
    [br]
    George Stephenson was the son of the fireman of the pumping engine at Wylam colliery, and horses drew wagons of coal along the wooden rails of the Wylam wagonway past the house in which he was born and spent his earliest childhood. While still a child he worked as a cowherd, but soon moved to working at coal pits. At 17 years of age he showed sufficient mechanical talent to be placed in charge of a new pumping engine, and had already achieved a job more responsible than that of his father. Despite his position he was still illiterate, although he subsequently learned to read and write. He was largely self-educated.
    In 1801 he was appointed Brakesman of the winding engine at Black Callerton pit, with responsibility for lowering the miners safely to their work. Then, about two years later, he became Brakesman of a new winding engine erected by Robert Hawthorn at Willington Quay on the Tyne. Returning collier brigs discharged ballast into wagons and the engine drew the wagons up an inclined plane to the top of "Ballast Hill" for their contents to be tipped; this was one of the earliest applications of steam power to transport, other than experimentally.
    In 1804 Stephenson moved to West Moor pit, Killingworth, again as Brakesman. In 1811 he demonstrated his mechanical skill by successfully modifying a new and unsatisfactory atmospheric engine, a task that had defeated the efforts of others, to enable it to pump a drowned pit clear of water. The following year he was appointed Enginewright at Killingworth, in charge of the machinery in all the collieries of the "Grand Allies", the prominent coal-owning families of Wortley, Liddell and Bowes, with authorization also to work for others. He built many stationary engines and he closely examined locomotives of John Blenkinsop's type on the Kenton \& Coxlodge wagonway, as well as those of William Hedley at Wylam.
    It was in 1813 that Sir Thomas Liddell requested George Stephenson to build a steam locomotive for the Killingworth wagonway: Blucher made its first trial run on 25 July 1814 and was based on Blenkinsop's locomotives, although it lacked their rack-and-pinion drive. George Stephenson is credited with building the first locomotive both to run on edge rails and be driven by adhesion, an arrangement that has been the conventional one ever since. Yet Blucher was far from perfect and over the next few years, while other engineers ignored the steam locomotive, Stephenson built a succession of them, each an improvement on the last.
    During this period many lives were lost in coalmines from explosions of gas ignited by miners' lamps. By observation and experiment (sometimes at great personal risk) Stephenson invented a satisfactory safety lamp, working independently of the noted scientist Sir Humphry Davy who also invented such a lamp around the same time.
    In 1817 George Stephenson designed his first locomotive for an outside customer, the Kilmarnock \& Troon Railway, and in 1819 he laid out the Hetton Colliery Railway in County Durham, for which his brother Robert was Resident Engineer. This was the first railway to be worked entirely without animal traction: it used inclined planes with stationary engines, self-acting inclined planes powered by gravity, and locomotives.
    On 19 April 1821 Stephenson was introduced to Edward Pease, one of the main promoters of the Stockton \& Darlington Railway (S \& DR), which by coincidence received its Act of Parliament the same day. George Stephenson carried out a further survey, to improve the proposed line, and in this he was assisted by his 18-year-old son, Robert Stephenson, whom he had ensured received the theoretical education which he himself lacked. It is doubtful whether either could have succeeded without the other; together they were to make the steam railway practicable.
    At George Stephenson's instance, much of the S \& DR was laid with wrought-iron rails recently developed by John Birkinshaw at Bedlington Ironworks, Morpeth. These were longer than cast-iron rails and were not brittle: they made a track well suited for locomotives. In June 1823 George and Robert Stephenson, with other partners, founded a firm in Newcastle upon Tyne to build locomotives and rolling stock and to do general engineering work: after its Managing Partner, the firm was called Robert Stephenson \& Co.
    In 1824 the promoters of the Liverpool \& Manchester Railway (L \& MR) invited George Stephenson to resurvey their proposed line in order to reduce opposition to it. William James, a wealthy land agent who had become a visionary protagonist of a national railway network and had seen Stephenson's locomotives at Killingworth, had promoted the L \& MR with some merchants of Liverpool and had carried out the first survey; however, he overreached himself in business and, shortly after the invitation to Stephenson, became bankrupt. In his own survey, however, George Stephenson lacked the assistance of his son Robert, who had left for South America, and he delegated much of the detailed work to incompetent assistants. During a devastating Parliamentary examination in the spring of 1825, much of his survey was shown to be seriously inaccurate and the L \& MR's application for an Act of Parliament was refused. The railway's promoters discharged Stephenson and had their line surveyed yet again, by C.B. Vignoles.
    The Stockton \& Darlington Railway was, however, triumphantly opened in the presence of vast crowds in September 1825, with Stephenson himself driving the locomotive Locomotion, which had been built at Robert Stephenson \& Co.'s Newcastle works. Once the railway was at work, horse-drawn and gravity-powered traffic shared the line with locomotives: in 1828 Stephenson invented the horse dandy, a wagon at the back of a train in which a horse could travel over the gravity-operated stretches, instead of trotting behind.
    Meanwhile, in May 1826, the Liverpool \& Manchester Railway had successfully obtained its Act of Parliament. Stephenson was appointed Engineer in June, and since he and Vignoles proved incompatible the latter left early in 1827. The railway was built by Stephenson and his staff, using direct labour. A considerable controversy arose c. 1828 over the motive power to be used: the traffic anticipated was too great for horses, but the performance of the reciprocal system of cable haulage developed by Benjamin Thompson appeared in many respects superior to that of contemporary locomotives. The company instituted a prize competition for a better locomotive and the Rainhill Trials were held in October 1829.
    Robert Stephenson had been working on improved locomotive designs since his return from America in 1827, but it was the L \& MR's Treasurer, Henry Booth, who suggested the multi-tubular boiler to George Stephenson. This was incorporated into a locomotive built by Robert Stephenson for the trials: Rocket was entered by the three men in partnership. The other principal entrants were Novelty, entered by John Braithwaite and John Ericsson, and Sans Pareil, entered by Timothy Hackworth, but only Rocket, driven by George Stephenson, met all the organizers' demands; indeed, it far surpassed them and demonstrated the practicability of the long-distance steam railway. With the opening of the Liverpool \& Manchester Railway in 1830, the age of railways began.
    Stephenson was active in many aspects. He advised on the construction of the Belgian State Railway, of which the Brussels-Malines section, opened in 1835, was the first all-steam railway on the European continent. In England, proposals to link the L \& MR with the Midlands had culminated in an Act of Parliament for the Grand Junction Railway in 1833: this was to run from Warrington, which was already linked to the L \& MR, to Birmingham. George Stephenson had been in charge of the surveys, and for the railway's construction he and J.U. Rastrick were initially Principal Engineers, with Stephenson's former pupil Joseph Locke under them; by 1835 both Stephenson and Rastrick had withdrawn and Locke was Engineer-in-Chief. Stephenson remained much in demand elsewhere: he was particularly associated with the construction of the North Midland Railway (Derby to Leeds) and related lines. He was active in many other places and carried out, for instance, preliminary surveys for the Chester \& Holyhead and Newcastle \& Berwick Railways, which were important links in the lines of communication between London and, respectively, Dublin and Edinburgh.
    He eventually retired to Tapton House, Chesterfield, overlooking the North Midland. A man who was self-made (with great success) against colossal odds, he was ever reluctant, regrettably, to give others their due credit, although in retirement, immensely wealthy and full of honour, he was still able to mingle with people of all ranks.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    President, Institution of Mechanical Engineers, on its formation in 1847. Order of Leopold (Belgium) 1835. Stephenson refused both a knighthood and Fellowship of the Royal Society.
    Bibliography
    1815, jointly with Ralph Dodd, British patent no. 3,887 (locomotive drive by connecting rods directly to the wheels).
    1817, jointly with William Losh, British patent no. 4,067 (steam springs for locomotives, and improvements to track).
    Further Reading
    L.T.C.Rolt, 1960, George and Robert Stephenson, Longman (the best modern biography; includes a bibliography).
    S.Smiles, 1874, The Lives of George and Robert Stephenson, rev. edn, London (although sycophantic, this is probably the best nineteenthcentury biography).
    PJGR

    Biographical history of technology > Stephenson, George

  • 7 Pole, William

    SUBJECT AREA: Civil engineering
    [br]
    b. 22 April 1814 Birmingham, England
    d. 1900
    [br]
    English engineer and educator.
    [br]
    Although primarily an engineer, William Pole was a man of many and varied talents, being amongst other things an accomplished musician (his doctorate was in music) and an authority on whist. He served an apprenticeship at the Horsley Company in Birmingham, and moved to London in 1836, when he was employed first as Manager to a gasworks. In 1844 he published a study of the Cornish pumping engine, and he also accepted an appointment as the first Professor of Engineering in the Elphinstone College at Bombay. He spent three pioneering years in this post, and undertook the survey work for the Great Indian Peninsular Railway. Before returning to London in 1848 he married Matilda Gauntlett, the daughter of a clergyman.
    Back in Britain, Pole was employed by James Simpson, J.M.Rendel and Robert Stephenson, the latter engaging him to assist with calculations on the Britannia Bridge. In 1858 he set up his own practice. He kept a very small office, choosing not to delegate work to subordinates but taking on a bewildering variety of commissions for government and private companies. In the first category, he made calculations for government officials of the main drainage of the metropolis and for its water supply. He lectured on engineering to the Royal Engineers' institution at Chatham, and served on a Select Committee to enquire into the armour of warships and fortifications. He became a member of the Royal Commission on the Railways of Great Britain and Ireland (the Devonshire Commission, 1867) and reported to the War Office on the MartiniHenry rifle. He also advised the India Office about examinations for engineering students. The drafting and writing up of reports was frequently left to Pole, who also made distinguished contributions to the official Lives of Robert Stephenson (1864), I.K. Brunel (1870) and William Fairbairn (1877). For other bodies, he acted as Consulting Engineer in England to the Japanese government, and he assisted W.H.Barlow in calculations for a bridge at Queensferry on the Firth of Forth (1873). He was consulted about many urban water supplies.
    Pole joined the Institution of Civil Engineers as an Associate in 1840 and became a Member in 1856. He became a Member of Council, Honorary Secretary (succeeding Manby in 1885–96) and Honorary Member of the Institution. He was interested in astronomy and photography, he was fluent in several languages, was an expert on music, and became the world authority on whist. In 1859 he was appointed Professor of Civil Engineering at University College London, serving in this office until 1867. Pole, whose dates coincided closely with those of Queen Victoria, was one of the great Victorian engineers: he was a polymath, able to apply his great abilities to an amazing range of different tasks. In engineering history, he deserves to be remembered as an outstanding communicator and popularizer.
    [br]
    Bibliography
    1843, "Comparative loss by friction in beam and direct-action engines", Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers 2:69.
    Further Reading
    Dictionary of National Biography, London.
    Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers 143:301–9.
    AB

    Biographical history of technology > Pole, William

  • 8 Marconi, Marchese Guglielmo

    [br]
    b. 25 April 1874 Bologna, Italy
    d. 20 July 1937 Rome, Italy
    [br]
    Italian radio pioneer whose inventiveness and business skills made radio communication a practical proposition.
    [br]
    Marconi was educated in physics at Leghorn and at Bologna University. An avid experimenter, he worked in his parents' attic and, almost certainly aware of the recent work of Hertz and others, soon improved the performance of coherers and spark-gap transmitters. He also discovered for himself the use of earthing and of elevated metal plates as aerials. In 1895 he succeeded in transmitting telegraphy over a distance of 2 km (1¼ miles), but the Italian Telegraph authority rejected his invention, so in 1896 he moved to England, where he filed the first of many patents. There he gained the support of the Chief Engineer of the Post Office, and by the following year he had achieved communication across the Bristol Channel.
    The British Post Office was also slow to take up his work, so in 1897 he formed the Wireless Telegraph \& Signal Company to work independently. In 1898 he sold some equipment to the British Army for use in the Boer War and established the first permanent radio link from the Isle of Wight to the mainland. In 1899 he achieved communication across the English Channel (a distance of more than 31 miles or 50 km), the construction of a wireless station at Spezia, Italy, and the equipping of two US ships to report progress in the America's Cup yacht race, a venture that led to the formation of the American Marconi Company. In 1900 he won a contract from the British Admiralty to sell equipment and to train operators. Realizing that his business would be much more successful if he could offer his customers a complete radio-communication service (known today as a "turnkey" deal), he floated a new company, the Marconi International Marine Communications Company, while the old company became the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company.
    His greatest achievement occurred on 12 December 1901, when Morse telegraph signals from a transmitter at Poldhu in Cornwall were received at St John's, Newfoundland, a distance of some 2,100 miles (3,400 km), with the use of an aerial flown by a kite. As a result of this, Marconi's business prospered and he became internationally famous, receiving many honours for his endeavours, including the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1909. In 1904, radio was first used to provide a daily bulletin at sea, and in 1907 a transatlantic wireless telegraphy service was inaugurated. The rescue of 1,650 passengers from the shipwreck of SS Republic in 1909 was the first of many occasions when wireless was instrumental in saving lives at sea, most notable being those from the Titanic on its maiden voyage in April 1912; more lives would have been saved had there been sufficient lifeboats. Marconi was one of those who subsequently pressed for greater safety at sea. In 1910 he demonstrated the reception of long (8 km or 5 miles) waves from Ireland in Buenos Aires, but after the First World War he began to develop the use of short waves, which were more effectively reflected by the ionosphere. By 1918 the first link between England and Australia had been established, and in 1924 he was awarded a Post Office contract for short-wave communication between England and the various parts of the British Empire.
    With his achievements by then recognized by the Italian Government, in 1915 he was appointed Radio-Communications Adviser to the Italian armed forces, and in 1919 he was an Italian delegate to the Paris Peace Conference. From 1921 he lived on his yacht, the Elettra, and although he joined the Fascist Party in 1923, he later had reservations about Mussolini.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Nobel Prize for Physics (jointly with K.F. Braun) 1909. Russian Order of S t Anne. Commander of St Maurice and St Lazarus. Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown (i.e. Knight) of Italy 1902. Freedom of Rome 1903. Honorary DSc Oxford. Honorary LLD Glasgow. Chevalier of the Civil Order of Savoy 1905. Royal Society of Arts Albert Medal. Honorary knighthood (GCVO) 1914. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Medal of Honour 1920. Chairman, Royal Society of Arts 1924. Created Marquis (Marchese) 1929. Nominated to the Italian Senate 1929. President, Italian Academy 1930. Rector, University of St Andrews, Scotland, 1934.
    Bibliography
    1896, "Improvements in transmitting electrical impulses and in apparatus thereof", British patent no. 12,039.
    1 June 1898, British patent no. 12,326 (transformer or "jigger" resonant circuit).
    1901, British patent no. 7,777 (selective tuning).
    1904, British patent no. 763,772 ("four circuit" tuning arrangement).
    Further Reading
    D.Marconi, 1962, My Father, Marconi.
    W.J.Baker, 1970, A History of the Marconi Company, London: Methuen.
    KF

    Biographical history of technology > Marconi, Marchese Guglielmo

  • 9 Crampton, Thomas Russell

    [br]
    b. 6 August 1816 Broadstairs, Kent, England
    d. 19 April 1888 London, England
    [br]
    English engineer, pioneer of submarine electric telegraphy and inventor of the Crampton locomotive.
    [br]
    After private education and an engineering apprenticeship, Crampton worked under Marc Brunel, Daniel Gooch and the Rennie brothers before setting up as a civil engineer in 1848. His developing ideas on locomotive design were expressed through a series of five patents taken out between 1842 and 1849, each making a multiplicity of claims. The most typical feature of the Crampton locomotive, however, was a single pair of driving wheels set to the rear of the firebox. This meant they could be of large diameter, while the centre of gravity of the locomotive remained low, for the boiler barrel, though large, had only small carrying-wheels beneath it. The cylinders were approximately midway along the boiler and were outside the frames, as was the valve gear. The result was a steady-riding locomotive which neither pitched about a central driving axle nor hunted from side to side, as did other contemporary locomotives, and its working parts were unusually accessible for maintenance. However, adhesive weight was limited and the long wheelbase tended to damage track. Locomotives of this type were soon superseded on British railways, although they lasted much longer in Germany and France. Locomotives built to the later patents incorporated a long, coupled wheelbase with drive through an intermediate crankshaft, but they mostly had only short lives. In 1851 Crampton, with associates, laid the first successful submarine electric telegraph cable. The previous year the brothers Jacob and John Brett had laid a cable, comprising a copper wire insulated with gutta-percha, beneath the English Channel from Dover to Cap Gris Nez: signals were passed but within a few hours the cable failed. Crampton joined the Bretts' company, put up half the capital needed for another attempt, and designed a much stronger cable. Four gutta-percha-insulated copper wires were twisted together, surrounded by tarred hemp and armoured by galvanized iron wires; this cable was successful.
    Crampton was also active in railway civil engineering and in water and gas engineering, and c. 1882 he invented a hydraulic tunnel-boring machine intended for a Channel tunnel.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Vice-President, Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Officier de la Légion d'Honneur (France).
    Bibliography
    1842, British patent no. 9,261.
    1845. British patent no. 10,854.
    1846. British patent no. 11,349.
    1847. British patent no. 11,760.
    1849, British patent no. 12,627.
    1885, British patent no. 14,021.
    Further Reading
    M.Sharman, 1933, The Crampton Locomotive, Swindon: M.Sharman; P.C.Dewhurst, 1956–7, "The Crampton locomotive", Parts I and II, Transactions of the Newcomen Society 30:99 (the most important recent publications on Crampton's locomotives).
    C.Hamilton Ellis, 1958, Twenty Locomotive Men, Shepperton: Ian Allen. J.Kieve, 1973, The Electric Telegraph, Newton Abbot: David \& Charles, 102–4.
    R.B.Matkin, 1979, "Thomas Crampton: Man of Kent", Industrial Past 6 (2).
    PJGR

    Biographical history of technology > Crampton, Thomas Russell

См. также в других словарях:

  • Lives in the Balance — Infobox Album | Name = Lives in the Balance Type = Album Artist = Jackson Browne Released = February 18, 1986 Recorded = 1985 Genre = Rock Length = 38:53 Label = Asylum Producer = Jackson Browne Reviews = * Allmusic Rating|3|5… …   Wikipedia

  • The Mote in God's Eye —   …   Wikipedia

  • The Corean Chronicles — is a fantasy series of books by the author L. E. Modesitt, Jr.. As of 2011, it consists of: Legacies (2002) Darknesses (2003) Scepters (2004) Alector s Choice (2005) Cadmian s Choice (2006) Soarer s Choice (2006) The Lord Protector s Daughter… …   Wikipedia

  • The Final Cut (album) — The Final Cut Studio album by Pink Floyd …   Wikipedia

  • The Causeway, Bermuda — The Causeway is a narrow strip of reclaimed land and bridges in the north of Bermuda linking Hamilton Parish on the mainland in the southwest and Bermuda International Airport on St. David s Island in St. George s Parish in the northeast, which… …   Wikipedia

  • The Beatles — This article is about the band. For other uses, see The Beatles (disambiguation). Fab Four redirects here. For other uses, see Fab Four (disambiguation) …   Wikipedia

  • The Soul of a New Machine — Infobox Book name = The Soul of a New Machine image caption = author = Tracy Kidder cover artist = country = United States subject = Electrical engineering, Electronics publisher = Little, Brown and Company pub date = July 1981 media type =… …   Wikipedia

  • The Right Stuff (film) — Infobox Film name = The Right Stuff image size = 215px caption = theatrical poster director = Philip Kaufman producer = Irwin Winkler writer = Philip Kaufman Tom Wolfe (book) starring = Fred Ward Dennis Quaid Ed Harris Scott Glenn Sam Shepard… …   Wikipedia

  • The Flying Sorcerers — infobox Book | name = The Flying Sorcerers title orig = translator = image caption = Cover of first edition (paperback) author = Larry Niven David Gerrold illustrator = cover artist = country = United States language = English series = genre =… …   Wikipedia

  • The Will to Live — Infobox Album | Name = The Will to Live Type = Album Artist = Ben Harper Released = June 17, 1997 Recorded = Genre = Alternative Rock Length = 53:18 Label = Virgin Producer = J.P. Plunier Reviews = *Allmusic Rating|3.5|5… …   Wikipedia

  • The Stepford Wives (2004 film) — The Stepford Wives Theatrical release poster Directed by Frank Oz Produced by …   Wikipedia

Поделиться ссылкой на выделенное

Прямая ссылка:
… Нажмите правой клавишей мыши и выберите «Копировать ссылку»