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Sir James

  • 1 Caird, Sir James

    SUBJECT AREA: Ports and shipping
    [br]
    b. 2 January 1864 Glasgow, Scotland
    d. 27 September 1954 Wimbledon, London, England
    [br]
    Scottish shipowner and shipbuilder.
    [br]
    James Caird was educated at Glasgow Academy. While the connections are difficult to unravel, it is clear he was related to the Cairds of Greenock, whose shipyard on the Clyde built countless liners for the P \& O Company, and to the Caird family who were munificent benefactors of Dundee and the Church of Scotland.
    In 1878 Caird joined a firm of East India Merchants in Glasgow, but later went to London. In 1890 he entered the service of Turnbull, Martin \& Co., managers of the Scottish Shire Line of Steamers; he quickly rose to become Manager, and by 1903 he was the sole partner and owner. In this role his business skill became apparent, as he pioneered (along with the Houlder and Federal Lines) refrigerated shipping connections between the United Kingdom and Australia and New Zealand. In 1917 he sold his shipping interests to Messrs Cayzer Irvine, managers of the Clan Line.
    During the First World War, Caird set up a new shipyard on the River Wye at Chepstow in Wales. Registered in April 1916, the Standard Shipbuilding and Engineering Company took over an existing shipbuilder in an area not threatened by enemy attacks. The purpose of the yard was rapid building of standardized merchant ships during a period when heavy losses were being sustained because of German U-boat attacks. Caird was appointed Chairman, a post he held until the yard came under full government control later in the war. The shipyard did not meet the high expectations of the time, but it did pioneer standard shipbuilding which was later successful in the USA, the UK and Japan.
    Caird's greatest work may have been the service he gave to the councils which helped form the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich. He used all his endeavours to ensure the successful launch of the world's greatest maritime museum; he persuaded friends to donate, the Government to transfer artefacts and records, and he gave of his wealth to purchase works of art for the nation. Prior to his death he endowed the Museum with £1.25 million, a massive sum for the 1930s, and this (the Caird Fund) is administered to this day by the Trustees of Greenwich.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Baronet 1928 (with the title Sir James Caird of Glenfarquhar).
    Further Reading
    Frank C.Bowen, 1950, "The Chepstow Yards and a costly venture in government shipbuilding", Shipbuilding and Shipping Record (14 December).
    FMW

    Biographical history of technology > Caird, Sir James

  • 2 Mackenzie, Sir James

    SUBJECT AREA: Medical technology
    [br]
    b. 12 April 1853 Scone, Perthshire, Scotland
    d. 26 January 1925 London, England
    [br]
    Scottish physician and clinical researcher, inventor of the "polygraph" for the investigation of normal and abnormal cardiac rhythms.
    [br]
    Mackenzie graduated in medicine from Edinburgh University in 1878. The next year he moved to a practice in Burnley, Lancashire, where he began the exhaustive clinical studies into irregularities of cardiac rhythm that he was to continue for the rest of his life. In 1907 he moved to London and in 1913 was appointed physician to the London Hospital.
    It was while engaged in the heavy industrial practice in Burnley that he developed, with the aid of a Lancashire watchmaker, the "polygraph" apparatus, which by recording vascular pulses permitted analysis of cardiac function and performance. He also investigated herpes zoster (shingles) and was a pioneer in the treatment of heart disease with digitalis. He himself suffered from angina pectoris for the last fifteen years of his life and his views on the condition were published in a book in 1923. When shown the electrocardiogram (ECG) machine of Einthoven, he expressed reservations as to its future utility.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Knighted 1915. FRS 1915.
    Bibliography
    1902, The Study of the Pulse, Edinburgh. 1908, Diseases of the Heart, London. 1925, Heart, London.
    Further Reading
    M.Wilson, 1926, The Beloved Physician: Sir James Mackenzie.
    MG

    Biographical history of technology > Mackenzie, Sir James

  • 3 McNeill, Sir James McFadyen

    SUBJECT AREA: Ports and shipping
    [br]
    b. 19 August 1892 Clydebank, Scotland
    d. 24 July 1964 near Glasgow, Scotland
    [br]
    Scottish naval architect, designer of the Cunard North Atlantic Liners Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth.
    [br]
    McNeill was born in Clydebank just outside Glasgow, and was to serve that town for most of his life. After education at Clydebank High School and then at Allan Glen's in Glasgow, in 1908 he entered the shipyard of John Brown \& Co. Ltd as an apprentice. He was encouraged to matriculate at the University of Glasgow, where he studied naval architecture under the (then) unique Glasgow system of "sandwich" training, alternately spending six months in the shipyard, followed by winter at the Faculty of Engineering. On graduating in 1915, he joined the Army and by 1918 had risen to the rank of Major in the Royal Field Artillery.
    After the First World War, McNeill returned to the shipyard and in 1928 was appointed Chief Naval Architect. In 1934 he was made a local director of the company. During the difficult period of the 1930s he was in charge of the technical work which led to the design, launching and successful completion of the great liners Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth. Some of the most remarkable ships of the mid-twentieth century were to come from this shipyard, including the last British battleship, HMS Vanguard, and the Royal Yacht Britannia, completed in 1954. From 1948 until 1959, Sir James was Managing Director of the Clydebank part of the company and was Deputy Chairman by the time he retired in 1962. His public service was remarkable and included chairmanship of the Shipbuilding Conference and of the British Ship Research Association, and membership of the Committee of Lloyd's Register of Shipping.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order 1954. CBE 1950. FRS 1948. President, Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland 1947–9. Honorary Vice-President, Royal Institution of Naval Architects. Military Cross (First World War).
    Bibliography
    1935, "Launch of the quadruple-screw turbine steamer Queen Mary", Transactions of the Institution of Naval Architects 77:1–27 (in this classic paper McNeill displays complete mastery of a difficult subject; it is recorded that prior to launch the estimate for travel of the ship in the River Clyde was 1,194 ft (363.9 m), and the actual amount recorded was 1,196 ft (364.5m)!).
    FMW

    Biographical history of technology > McNeill, Sir James McFadyen

  • 4 Ewing, Sir James Alfred

    [br]
    b. 27 March 1855 Dundee, Scotland
    d. 1935
    [br]
    Scottish engineer and educator.
    [br]
    Sir Alfred Ewing was one of the leading engineering academics of his generation. He was the son of a minister in the Free Church of Scotland, and was educated at Dundee High School and Edinburgh University, where he studied engineering under Professor Fleeming Jenkin. On Jenkin's nomination, Ewing was recruited as Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Tokyo, where he spent five years from 1878 to 1883. While in Tokyo, he devised an instrument for measuring and recording earthquakes. Ewing returned to his home town of Dundee in 1883, as the first Professor of Engineering at the University College recently established there. After seven years building up the department in Dundee, he moved to Cambridge where he succeeded James Stuart as Professor of Mechanism and Applied Mechanics. In thirteen creative years at Cambridge, he established the Engineering Tripos (1892) and founded the first engineering laboratories at the University (1894). From 1903 to 1917 Ewing served the Admiralty as Director of Naval Education, in which role he took a leading part in the revolution in British naval traditions which equipped the Royal Navy to fight the First World War. In that war, Ewing made an important contribution to the intelligence operation of deciphering enemy wireless messages. In 1916 he returned to Edinburgh as Principal and Vice-Chancellor, and following the war he presided over a period of rapid expansion at the University. He retired in 1929.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    FRS 1887. KCB 1911. President, British Association for the Advancement of Science 1932.
    Bibliography
    He wrote extensively on technical subjects, and his works included Thermodynamics for Engineers (1920). His many essays and papers on more general subjects are elegantly and attractively written.
    Further Reading
    Dictionary of National Biography Supplement.
    A.W.Ewing, 1939, Life of Sir Alfred Ewing (biography by his son).
    AB

    Biographical history of technology > Ewing, Sir James Alfred

  • 5 Martin, Sir James

    SUBJECT AREA: Aerospace
    [br]
    b. 1893 Co. Down, Northern Ireland
    d. 5 January 1981 England
    [br]
    Irish military aircraft engineer, inventor of the ejector seat.
    [br]
    Martin acquired a general knowledge of engineering as an industrial worker in Belfast. In 1929 he established the Martin Aircraft Company, which was merged five years later with another concern to form the Martin-Baker Aircraft Company at Denham, Buckinghamshire. They became known for designing and constructing efficient, lightweight military aircraft, and Martin supervised personally every aspect of the work of his factory. During the Second World War they developed a number of aircraft weapons, including an explosive device carried on a bomber's wings for cutting the cables of barrage balloons, the flat-feed system for the 20 mm Hispano cannon used on British fighter planes and the twelve-gun pack mounted in the nose of the Havoc night fighter. Martin began devising means of rapid escape from a disabled fighter plane. First came a quick-release canopy for the Spitfire, followed by an improved form sliding on guides set in the fuselage. Then came the Martin-Baker seat, which ejected the pilot from his plane by an explosive charge. Ground tests were made to determine the rates of acceleration that could be tolerated by the pilot, and the first test in the air with a pilot took place in July 1946 at a speed of 320 mph (515 km/h) and an altitude of 8,000 ft (2,400 m). Its first use in a genuine emergency was in May 1949.
    After the Second World War, the firm specialized in making components, particularly the ejector seat, rather than complete aircraft. The higher speeds and altitudes of supersonic jet aircraft made it necessary to modify the ejector seat: a device to hold the pilot's legs together, to prevent their being broken, was incorporated. In addition, with the Institute of Aviation Medicine, Martin developed a face blind to prevent skin damage at low temperatures. Another modification was to allow the seat to fall freely for the first 10,000 ft (3,000 m) to enable the pilot to reach breathable air more quickly; in October 1959 a successful demonstration took place at 1,250 mph (2,000 km/h) and 40,000 ft (12,000 m) altitude. During the inventor's lifetime, it is estimated that his ejector seat saved the lives of some 4,700 airmen.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Knighted 1965. Barbour Air Safety Award 1958. Cumberbatch Air Safety Trophy 1959. Royal Aero Club Gold Medal 1964.
    Further Reading
    Obituary, 1981, The Times.
    LRD

    Biographical history of technology > Martin, Sir James

  • 6 Simpson, Sir James Young

    SUBJECT AREA: Medical technology
    [br]
    b. 7 June 1811 Bathgate, Linlithgowshire, Scotland
    d. 6 May 1870 Edinburgh, Scotland
    [br]
    Scottish obstetrician, pioneer of the use of chloroform in labour.
    [br]
    The seventh and youngest son of a baker, after entering Edinburgh University at the tender age of 14 he graduated in 1832 and when only 28 was appointed Professor of Midwifery at Edinburgh University. Following the introduction of ether as a general anaesthetic (see W.T.G.Morton) he was the first to use it in midwifery. Aware of its disadvantages, he experimented on himself, and on 4 November 1847 he discovered the anaesthetic properties of chloroform. However, there were both medical and religious objections to its use, until in 1853 it was administered to Queen Victoria at the birth of Prince Leopold.
    Widely recognized as a great obstetrician, he also founded the modern practice of gynaecology, introducing new diagnostic methods and techniques of investigation. He was also an enthusiastic archaeologist.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Created Baronet 1866. Physician to the Queen in Scotland 1847.
    Bibliography
    1847, "Discovery of a new anaesthetic agent more efficient than sulphuric ether", Lancet. Obstetric Memoirs and Contributions, Edinburgh.
    Further Reading
    J.Duns, 1873, Memoir of J.Y.Simpson.
    MG

    Biographical history of technology > Simpson, Sir James Young

  • 7 sir

    sir [sɜ:r]
    yes sir oui, Monsieur ; (to officer in army, navy, air force) oui, mon commandant (or mon lieutenant etc)
    yes/no sir! (inf: emphatic) ça oui/non !
    * * *
    [sɜː(r)]
    1) ( form of address) Monsieur

    yes sirgen oui, Monsieur; ( to president) oui, Monsieur le président; ( to headmaster) oui, Monsieur le directeur; Military oui, mon commandant or mon lieutenant etc

    2) GB
    3) (colloq) US ( emphatic)

    yes/no sir — ça oui/non! (colloq)

    English-French dictionary > sir

  • 8 sir

    1 ( form of address) Monsieur ; yes sir gen oui, Monsieur ; ( to president) oui, Monsieur le président ; ( to headmaster) oui, Monsieur le directeur ; Mil oui, mon commandant or mon lieutenant etc ; my dear sir iron mon cher Monsieur ; Dear Sir ( in letter) Monsieur ;
    2 GB ( in titles) Sir James Sir James ; ⇒ Knight/Dame (knight) ;
    3 US ( emphatic) yes/no sir ça oui/non!

    Big English-French dictionary > sir

  • 9 sir

    [sɜː(r)]
    1) (form of address) signore m.

    yes sir — sì, signore; (to president) sì, signor presidente; (to headmaster) sì, signor direttore; mil. signorsì

    Dear Sir (in letter) Egregio Signore

    3) AE colloq. (emphatic)
    * * *
    [sə:]
    1) (a polite form of address (spoken or written) to a man: Excuse me, sir!; He started his letter `Dear Sirs,...'.) signore
    2) (in the United Kingdom, the title of a knight or baronet: Sir Francis Drake.) Sir
    * * *
    [sɜː(r)]
    1) (form of address) signore m.

    yes sir — sì, signore; (to president) sì, signor presidente; (to headmaster) sì, signor direttore; mil. signorsì

    Dear Sir (in letter) Egregio Signore

    3) AE colloq. (emphatic)

    English-Italian dictionary > sir

  • 10 sir

    [sɜː(r)] UK / US
    n

    yes, sir — ja(, mein Herr)

    can I help you, sir? — kann ich Ihnen helfen?

    Sir James (title) Sir James

    English-German mini dictionary > sir

  • 11 sir

    [sɜː(r)] UK / US
    n

    yes, sir — ja(, mein Herr)

    can I help you, sir? — kann ich Ihnen helfen?

    Sir James (title) Sir James

    English-German mini dictionary > sir

  • 12 Nasmyth, James Hall

    [br]
    b. 19 August 1808 Edinburgh, Scotland
    d. 7 May 1890 London, England
    [br]
    Scottish mechanical engineer and inventor of the steam-hammer.
    [br]
    James Nasmyth was the youngest son of Alexander Nasmyth (1758–1840), the portrait and landscape painter. According to his autobiography he was named James Hall after his father's friend, the geologist Sir James Hall (1761–1832), but he seems never to have used his second name in official documents. He received an elementary education at Edinburgh High School, but left at the age of 12. He attended evening classes at the Edinburgh School of Arts for the instruction of Mechanics between 1821 and 1825, and gained experience as a mechanic at an early age in his father's workshop. He shared these early experiences with his brother George, who was only a year or so older, and in the 1820s the brothers built several model steam engines and a steam-carriage capable of carrying eight passengers on the public roads. In 1829 Nasmyth obtained a position in London as personal assistant to Henry Maudslay, and after Maudslay's death in February 1831 he remained with Maudslay's partner, Joshua Field, for a short time. He then returned to Edinburgh, where he and his brother George started in a small way as general engineers. In 1834 they moved to a small workshop in Manchester, and in 1836, with the aid of financial backing from some Manchester businessmen, they established on a site at Patricroft, a few miles from the city, the works which became known as the Bridgewater Foundry. They were soon joined by a third partner, Holbrook Gaskell (1813–1909), who looked after the administration of the business, the firm then being known as Nasmyths Gaskell \& Co. They specialized in making machine tools, and Nasmyth invented many improvements so that they soon became one of the leading manufacturers in this field. They also made steam locomotives for the rapidly developing railways. James Nasmyth's best-known invention was the steam-hammer, which dates from 1839 but was not patented until 1842. The self-acting control gear was probably the work of Robert Wilson and ensured the commercial success of the invention. George Nasmyth resigned from the partnership in 1843 and in 1850 Gaskell also resigned, after which the firm continued as James Nasmyth \& Co. James Nasmyth himself retired at the end of 1856 and went to live at Penshurst, Kent, in a house which he named "Hammerfield" where he devoted his time mainly to his hobby of astronomy. Robert Wilson returned to become Managing Partner of the firm, which later became Nasmyth, Wilson \& Co. and retained that style until its closure in 1940. Nasmyth's claim to be the sole inventor of the steam-hammer has been disputed, but his patent of 1842 was not challenged and the fourteen-year monopoly ensured the prosperity of the business so that he was able to retire at the age of 48. At his death in 1890 he left an estate valued at £243,805.
    [br]
    Bibliography
    1874, with J.Carpenter, The Moon Considered as a Planet, a World, and a Satellite, London.
    1883, Autobiography, ed. Samuel Smiles, London.
    Further Reading
    R.Wailes, 1963, "James Nasmyth—Artist's Son", Engineering Heritage, vol. I, London, 106–11 (a short account).
    J.A.Cantrell, 1984, James Nasmyth and the Bridgewater Foundry: A Study of Entrepreneurship in the Early Engineering Industry, Manchester (a full-length critical study).
    ——1984–5, "James Nasmyth and the steam hammer", Transactions of the Newcomen Society 56:133–8.
    RTS

    Biographical history of technology > Nasmyth, James Hall

  • 13 Abel, Sir Frederick August

    [br]
    b. 17 July 1827 Woolwich, London, England
    d. 6 September 1902 Westminster, London, England
    [br]
    English chemist, co-inventor of cordite find explosives expert.
    [br]
    His family came from Germany and he was the son of a music master. He first became interested in science at the age of 14, when visiting his mineralogist uncle in Hamburg, and studied chemistry at the Royal Polytechnic Institution in London. In 1845 he became one of the twenty-six founding students, under A.W.von Hofmann, of the Royal College of Chemistry. Such was his aptitude for the subject that within two years he became von Hermann's assistant and demonstrator. In 1851 Abel was appointed Lecturer in Chemistry, succeeding Michael Faraday, at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and it was while there that he wrote his Handbook of Chemistry, which was co-authored by his assistant, Charles Bloxam.
    Abel's four years at the Royal Military Academy served to foster his interest in explosives, but it was during his thirty-four years, beginning in 1854, as Ordnance Chemist at the Royal Arsenal and at Woolwich that he consolidated and developed his reputation as one of the international leaders in his field. In 1860 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, but it was his studies during the 1870s into the chemical changes that occur during explosions, and which were the subject of numerous papers, that formed the backbone of his work. It was he who established the means of storing gun-cotton without the danger of spontaneous explosion, but he also developed devices (the Abel Open Test and Close Test) for measuring the flashpoint of petroleum. He also became interested in metal alloys, carrying out much useful work on their composition. A further avenue of research occurred in 1881 when he was appointed a member of the Royal Commission set up to investigate safety in mines after the explosion that year in the Sealham Colliery. His resultant study on dangerous dusts did much to further understanding on the use of explosives underground and to improve the safety record of the coal-mining industry. The achievement for which he is most remembered, however, came in 1889, when, in conjunction with Sir James Dewar, he invented cordite. This stable explosive, made of wood fibre, nitric acid and glycerine, had the vital advantage of being a "smokeless powder", which meant that, unlike the traditional ammunition propellant, gunpowder ("black powder"), the firer's position was not given away when the weapon was discharged. Although much of the preliminary work had been done by the Frenchman Paul Vieille, it was Abel who perfected it, with the result that cordite quickly became the British Army's standard explosive.
    Abel married, and was widowed, twice. He had no children, but died heaped in both scientific honours and those from a grateful country.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Grand Commander of the Royal Victorian Order 1901. Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath 1891 (Commander 1877). Knighted 1883. Created Baronet 1893. FRS 1860. President, Chemical Society 1875–7. President, Institute of Chemistry 1881–2. President, Institute of Electrical Engineers 1883. President, Iron and Steel Institute 1891. Chairman, Society of Arts 1883–4. Telford Medal 1878, Royal Society Royal Medal 1887, Albert Medal (Society of Arts) 1891, Bessemer Gold Medal 1897. Hon. DCL (Oxon.) 1883, Hon. DSc (Cantab.) 1888.
    Bibliography
    1854, with C.L.Bloxam, Handbook of Chemistry: Theoretical, Practical and Technical, London: John Churchill; 2nd edn 1858.
    Besides writing numerous scientific papers, he also contributed several articles to The Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1875–89, 9th edn.
    Further Reading
    Dictionary of National Biography, 1912, Vol. 1, Suppl. 2, London: Smith, Elder.
    CM

    Biographical history of technology > Abel, Sir Frederick August

  • 14 Ayre, Sir Amos Lowrey

    SUBJECT AREA: Ports and shipping
    [br]
    b. 23 July 1885 South Shields, England
    d. 13 January 1952 London, England
    [br]
    English shipbuilder and pioneer of the inter-war "economy" freighters; Chairman of the Shipbuilding Conference.
    [br]
    Amos Ayre grew up on the Tyne with the stimulus of shipbuilding and seafaring around him. After an apprenticeship as a ship draughtsman and distinction in his studies, he held responsible posts in the shipyards of Belfast and later Dublin. His first dramatic move came in 1909 when he accepted the post of Manager of the new Employment Exchange at Govan, then just outside Glasgow. During the First World War he was in charge of fleet coaling operations on the River Forth, and later was promoted Admiralty District Director for shipyard labour in Scotland.
    Before the conclusion of hostilities, with his brother Wilfrid (later Sir Wilfrid Ayre) he founded the Burntisland Shipbuilding Company in Fife. Setting up on a green field site allowed the brothers to show innovation in design, production and marketing. Such was their success that the new yard was busy throughout the Depression, building standard ships which incorporated low operating costs with simplicity of construction.
    Through public service culminating in the 1929 Safety of Life at Sea Conference, Amos Ayre became recognized not only as an eminent naval architect, but also as a skilled negotiator. In 1936 he was invited to become Chairman of the Shipbuilding Conference and thereby virtual leader of the industry. As war approached he planned with meticulous care the rearrangement of national shipbuilding capacity, enabling Britain to produce standard hulls ranging from the legendary TID tugs to the standard freighters built in Sunderland or Port Glasgow. In 1939 he became Director of Merchant Shipbuilding, a position he held until 1944, when with typical foresight he asked to be released to plan for shipbuilding's return to normality.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Knighted 1937. KBE 1943. Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau.
    Bibliography
    1919, "The theory and design of British shipbuilding", The Syren and Shipping, London.
    Further Reading
    Wilfrid Ayre, 1968, A Shipbuilders Yesterdays, Fife (published privately). James Reid, 1964, James Lithgow, Master of Work, London.
    Maurice E.Denny, 1955, "The man and his work" (First Amos Ayre Lecture), Transactions of the Institution of Naval Architects vol. 97.
    FMW

    Biographical history of technology > Ayre, Sir Amos Lowrey

  • 15 Thomson, James

    [br]
    b. 16 February 1822 Belfast, Ireland (now Northern Ireland)
    d. 8 May 1892 Glasgow, Scotland
    [br]
    Irish civil engineer noted for his work in hydraulics and for his design of the "Vortex" turbine.
    [br]
    James Thomson was a pupil in several civil-engineering offices, but the nature of the work was beyond his physical capacity and from 1843 onwards he devoted himself to theoretical studies. Hhe first concentrated on the problems associated with the expansion of liquids when they reach their freezing point: water is one such example. He continued this work with his younger brother, Lord Kelvin (see Thomson, Sir William).
    After experimentation with a "feathered" paddle wheel as a young man, he turned his attention to water power. In 1850 he made his first patent application, "Hydraulic machinery and steam engines": this patent became his "Vortex" turbine design. He settled in Belfast, the home of the MacAdam-Fourneyron turbine, in 1851, and as a civil engineer became the Resident Engineer to the Belfast Water Commissioners in 1853. In 1857 he was appointed Professor of Civil Engineering and Surveying at Queen's College, Belfast.
    Whilst it is understood that he made his first turbine models in Belfast, he came to an arrangement with the Williamson Brothers of Kendal to make his turbine. In 1856 Williamsons produced their first turbine to Thomson's design and drawings. This was the Vortex Williamson Number 1, which produced 5 hp (3.7 kW) under a fall of 31 ft (9.4 m) on a 9 in. (23 cm) diameter supply. The rotor of this turbine ran in a horizontal plane. For several years the Williamson catalogue described their Vortex turbine as "designed by Professor James Thomson".
    Thomson continued with his study of hydraulics and water flow both at Queen's College, Belfast, and, later, at Glasgow University, where he became Professor in 1873, succeeding Macquorn Rankine, another famous engineer. At Glasgow, James Thomson studied the flow in rivers and the effects of erosion on river beds. He was also an authority on geological formations such as the development of the basalt structure of the Giant's Causeway, north of Belfast.
    James Thomson was an extremely active engineer and a very profound teacher of civil engineering. His form of water turbine had a long life before being displaced by the turbines designed in the twentieth century.
    [br]
    Bibliography
    1850, British patent no. 13,156 "Hydraulic machinery and steam engines".
    Further Reading
    Gilkes, 1956, One Hundred Years of Water Power, Kendal.
    KM

    Biographical history of technology > Thomson, James

  • 16 Greathead, James Henry

    [br]
    b. 6 August 1844 Grahamstown, Cape Colony (now South Africa)
    d. 21 October 1896 Streatham, London, England
    [br]
    British civil engineer, inventor of the Greathead tunnelling shield.
    [br]
    Greathead came to England in 1859 to complete his education. In 1864 he began a three-year pupillage with the civil engineer Peter W. Barlow, after which he was engaged as an assistant engineer on the extension of the Midland Railway from Bedford to London. In 1869 he was entrusted with the construction of the Tower Subway under the River Thames; this was carried out using a cylindrical wrought-iron shield which was forced forward by six large screws as material was excavated in front of it. This work was completed the same year. In 1870 he set himself up as a consulting engineer, and from 1873 he was Resident Engineer on the Hammersmith and Richmond extensions of the Metropolitan District Railway. He assisted in the preparation of several other railway projects including the Regent's Canal Railway in 1880, the Dagenham Dock and the Metropolitan Outer Circle Railways in 1881, a new line from London to Eastbourne and a number of Irish light railways. He worked on a bill for the City and South London Railway, which was built between 1886 and 1890; here compressed air was used to prevent the inrush of water, a method for tunnelling which was generally adopted from then on. He invented apparatus for the application of water to excavate in front of the shield as well as for injecting cement-grout behind the lining of the tunnel.
    He was joint engineer with Sir Douglas Fox for the construction of the Liverpool Overhead Railway, and held the same post with W.R.Galbraith on the Waterloo and City Railway; he was also associated with Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin Baker in the construction of the Central London Railway. He died, aged 52, before the completion of some of these projects.
    [br]
    Further Reading
    Obituary, 1896, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
    O.Green, 1987, The London Underground: An Illustrated History', London: Ian Allan (in association with the London Transport Museum).
    P.P.Holman, 1990, The Amazing Electric Tube: A History of the City and South London
    Railway, London: London Transport Museum.
    IMcN

    Biographical history of technology > Greathead, James Henry

  • 17 Maxwell, James Clerk

    [br]
    b. 13 June 1831 Edinburgh, Scotland
    d. 5 November 1879 Cambridge, England
    [br]
    Scottish physicist who formulated the unified theory of electromagnetism, the kinetic theory of gases and a theory of colour.
    [br]
    Maxwell attended school at the Edinburgh Academy and at the age of 16 went on to study at Edinburgh University. In 1850 he entered Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated four years later as Second Wrangler with the award of the Smith's Prize. Two years later he was appointed Professor at Marischal College, Aberdeen, where he married the Principal's daughter. In 1860 he moved to King's College London, but on the death of his father five years later, Maxwell returned to the family home in Scotland, where he continued his researches as far as the life of a gentleman farmer allowed. This rural existence was interrupted in 1874 when he was persuaded to accept the chair of Cavendish Professor of Experimental Physics at Cambridge. Unfortunately, in 1879 he contracted the cancer that brought his brilliant career to an untimely end. While at Cambridge, Maxwell founded the Cavendish Laboratory for research in physics. A succession of distinguished physicists headed the laboratory, making it one of the world's great centres for notable discoveries in physics.
    During the mid-1850s, Maxwell worked towards a theory to explain electrical and magnetic phenomena in mathematical terms, culminating in 1864 with the formulation of the fundamental equations of electromagnetism (Maxwell's equations). These equations also described the propagation of light, for he had shown that light consists of transverse electromagnetic waves in a hypothetical medium, the "ether". This great synthesis of theories uniting a wide range of phenomena is worthy to set beside those of Sir Isaac Newton and Einstein. Like all such syntheses, it led on to further discoveries. Maxwell himself had suggested that light represented only a small part of the spectrum of electromagnetic waves, and in 1888 Hertz confirmed the discovery of another small part of the spectrum, radio waves, with momentous implications for the development of telecommunication technology. Maxwell contributed to the kinetic theory of gases, which by then were viewed as consisting of a mass of randomly moving molecules colliding with each other and with the walls of the containing vessel. From 1869 Maxwell applied statistical methods to describe the molecular motion in mathematical terms. This led to a greater understanding of the behaviour of gases, with important consequences for the chemical industry.
    Of more direct technological application was Maxwell's work on colour vision, begun in 1849, showing that all colours could be derived from the three primary colours, red, yellow and blue. This enabled him in 1861 to produce the first colour photograph, of a tartan. Maxwell's discoveries about colour vision were quickly taken up and led to the development of colour printing and photography.
    [br]
    Bibliography
    Most of his technical papers are reprinted in The Scientific Papers of J.Clerk Maxwell, 1890, ed. W.D.Niven, Cambridge, 2 vols; reprinted 1952, New York.
    Maxwell published several books, including Theory of Heat, 1870, London (1894, 11th edn, with notes by Lord Rayleigh) and Theory of Electricity and Magnetism, 1873, Oxford (1891, ed. J.J.Thomson, 3rd edn).
    Further Reading
    L.Campbell and W.Garnett, 1882, The Life of James Clerk Maxwell, London (the standard biography).
    J.J.Thomson (ed.), 1931, James Clerk Maxwell 1831–1931, Cambridge. J.G.Crowther, 1932, British Scientists of the Nineteenth Century, London.
    LRD

    Biographical history of technology > Maxwell, James Clerk

  • 18 Frost, James

    [br]
    b. late 18th century Finchley (?), London, England
    d. mid-19th century probably New York, USA
    [br]
    English contributor to investigations into the making of hydraulic cements in the early nineteenth century.
    [br]
    As early as 1807 Frost, who was originally a builder and bricklayer in Finchley in north London, was manufacturing Roman Cement, patented by James Parker in 1796, in the Harwich area and a similar cement further south, at Sheerness. In the early 1820s Frost visited Louis J.Vicat (1796–1861) in France. Vicat was a French engineer who began in 1812 a detailed investigation into the properties of various limestones found in France. He later published his conclusions, which were that the best hydraulic lime was that produced from limestone containing clay incorporating silica and alumina. He experimented with adding different clays in varying proportions to slaked lime and calcined the mixture. Benefiting from Vicat's research, Frost obtained a patent in 1822 for what he called British Cement. This patent specified an artificial cement made from limestone and silica, and he calcined chalk with the clay to produce a quick-setting product. This was made at Swanscombe near Northfleet on the south bank of the River Thames. In 1833 the Swanscombe manufactory was purchased by Francis \& White for £3,500 and Frost emigrated to America, setting up practice as a civil engineer in New York. The cement was utilized by Sir Marc Brunel in 1835 in his construction of the Thames Tunnel, and at the same time it was used in building the first all-concrete house at Swanscombe for Mr White.
    [br]
    Further Reading
    A.J.Francis, 1977, The Cement Industry 1796–1914: A History, David \& Charles. C.C.Stanley, 1979, Highlights in the History of Concrete, Cement and Concrete Association.
    DY

    Biographical history of technology > Frost, James

  • 19 Small, James

    [br]
    b. c. 1742 Scotland
    d. 1793 Scotland
    [br]
    Scottish engineer who was first to apply scientific experiment and calculation to the design of ploughs.
    [br]
    James Small served his apprenticeship as a wright and blacksmith at Hutton in Berwickshire, and then travelled for a time in England. It is possible that he learned his trade from the ploughwright Pashley, who ran the "Manufactory" in Rotherham. On his return to Scotland he settled at Blackadder Mount, Berwickshire, and there began to make his ploughs. He used a spring balance to determine the draft of the plough and fashioned the mouldboard from a soft wood so that the wear would show quickly on its surface. Repeated trials indicated the best shape to be adopted, and he had his mouldboards cast at the Carron Ironworks. At trials held at Dalkeith, Small's plough, pulled by two horses, outperformed the old Scotch plough hauled by as many as eight oxen, and his ploughs were soon to be found in all areas of the country. He established workshops in Leith Walk, where he made ploughs and other implements. It was in Edinburgh in 1784 that he published Treatise on Ploughs, in which he set out his methods and calculations. He made no attempt to patent his ideas, feeling that they should be available to all, and the book provided sufficient information for it to be used by his rivals. As a result he died a poor man at the age of 52. His family were supported with a £1,500 subscription raised on their behalf by Sir John Sinclair, President of the Board of Agriculture.
    [br]
    Bibliography
    1784, A Treatise on Ploughs and Wheel Carriages.
    Further Reading
    J.B.Passmore, 1930, The English Plough, Reading: University of Reading (provides a history of plough development from the eighth century, and deals in detail with Small's work).
    AP

    Biographical history of technology > Small, James

  • 20 Ports and shipping

    [br]
    Armstrong, Sir William George
    Egerton, Francis
    Li Gao
    Peter the Great
    Shen Gua
    Stanhope, Charles

    Biographical history of technology > Ports and shipping

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