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1 ♦ builder
♦ builder /ˈbɪldə(r)/n.1 costruttore; imprenditore edile: railway builder, costruttore di ferrovie; a firm of builders, un'impresa edile2 operaio (edile): The builders have nearly finished the bathroom, gli operai hanno quasi finito il bagno3 creatore; costruttore; edificatore -
2 builder
builder [ˈbɪldər]* * *['bɪldə(r)] -
3 builder
builder ⇒ Shops, trades and professions n ( contractor) entrepreneur m en bâtiment ; ( worker) ouvrier/-ière m/f du bâtiment ; a firm of builders une entreprise de bâtiment ; house/road builder entrepreneur m immobilier/des ponts et chaussées. -
4 contractor
contractor [kən'træktə(r)]∎ the contractors haven't finished yet les ouvriers n'ont pas encore fini∎ haulage contractor entreprise f de transports;∎ arms contractor fournisseur m d'armement -
5 Krauss, Georg
[br]b. 25 December 1826 Augsburg, Germanyd. 5 November 1906 Munich, Germany[br]German locomotive engineer, founder of the locomotive builders Krauss \& Co.[br]Krauss entered the Maffei locomotive works, Munich, as a fitter and subsequently worked successively for the Bavarian State Railways and the Swiss North Eastern Railway, which he left in 1866 to found Locomotivfabrik Krauss in Munich. The firm became one of the most important locomotive builders in Germany. A second factory was established in Munich in 1872 and a third at Linz, Austria, in 1880: by the time of Krauss's death, these factories had built more than 5,500 locomotives. The second Munich factory was predominantly for small locomotives, and to increase the sales of these Krauss promoted the construction of many local railways in south Germany and Austria. The firm survived to amalgamate with Maffei and take the name Krauss-Maffei AG in 1940.[br]Further ReadingJ.Marshall, 1978, A Biographical Dictionary of Railway Engineers, Newton Abbot: David \& Charles.Biographical note, 1985–6, Transactions of the Newcomen Society 57:46.PJGR -
6 Titt, John Wallis
[br]b. 1841 Cheriton, Wiltshire, Englandd. May 1910 Warminster, Wiltshire, England[br]English agricultural engineer and millwright who developed a particular form of wind engine.[br]John Wallis Titt grew up on a farm which had a working post-mill, but at 24 years of age he joined the firm of Wallis, Haslam \& Stevens, agricultural engineers and steam engine builders in Basingstoke. From there he went to the millwrighting firm of Brown \& May of Devizes, where he worked for five years.In 1872 he founded his own firm in Warminster, where his principal work as an agricultural engineer was on hay and straw elevators. In 1876 he moved his firm to the Woodcock Ironworks, also in Warminster. There he carried on his work as an agricultural engineer, but he also had an iron foundry. By 1884 the firm was installing water pumps on estates around Warminster, and it was about that time that he built his first wind engines. Between 1884 and 1903, when illness forced his retirement, his wind engines were built primarily with adjustable sails. These wind engines, under the trade marks "Woodcock" and "Simplex", consisted of a lattice tower with the sails mounted on a a ring at the top. The sails were turned to face the wind by means of a fantail geared to the ring or by a wooden vane. The important feature lay in the sails, which were made of canvas on a wood-and-iron frame mounted in a ring. The ends of the sail frames were hinged to the sail circumferences. In the middle of the sail a circular strap was attached so that all the frames had the same aspect for a given setting of the bar. The importance lies in the adjustable sails, which gave the wind engine the ability to work in variable winds.Whilst this was not an original patent of John Wallis Titt, he is known to be the only maker of wind engines in Britain who built his business on this highly efficient form of sail. In design terms it derives from the annular sails of the conventional windmills at Haverhill in Suffolk and Roxwell in Essex. After his retirement, his sons reverted to the production of the fixed-bladed galvanized-iron wind engine.[br]Further ReadingJ.K.Major, 1977, The Windmills of John Wallis Titt, The International Molinological Society.E.Lancaster Burne, 1906, "Wind power", Cassier' Magazine 30:325–6.KM -
7 Adams, William Bridges
[br]b. 1797 Madeley, Staffordshire, Englandd. 23 July 1872 Broadstairs, Kent, England[br]English inventory particularly of road and rail vehicles and their equipment.[br]Ill health forced Adams to live abroad when he was a young man and when he returned to England in the early 1830s he became a partner in his father's firm of coachbuilders. Coaches during that period were steered by a centrally pivoted front axle, which meant that the front wheels had to swing beneath the body and were therefore made smaller than the rear wheels. Adams considered this design defective and invented equirotal coaches, built by his firm, in which the front and rear wheels were of equal diameter and the coach body was articulated midway along its length so that the front part pivoted. He also applied himself to improving vehicles for railways, which were developing rapidly then.In 1843 he opened his own engineering works, Fairfield Works in north London (he was not related to his contemporary William Adams, who was appointed Locomotive Superintendent to the North London Railway in 1854). In 1847 he and James Samuel, Engineer to the Eastern Counties Railway, built for that line a small steam inspection car, the Express, which was light enough to be lifted off the track. The following year Adams built a broad-gauge steam railcar, the Fairfield, for the Bristol \& Exeter Railway at the insistance of the line's Engineer, C.H.Gregory: self-propelled and passenger-carrying, this was the first railcar. Adams developed the concept further into a light locomotive that could haul two or three separate carriages, and light locomotives built both by his own firm and by other noted builders came into vogue for a decade or more.In 1847 Adams also built eight-wheeled coaches for the Eastern Counties Railway that were larger and more spacious than most others of the day: each in effect comprised two four-wheeled coaches articulated together, with wheels that were allowed limited side-play. He also realized the necessity for improvements to railway track, the weakest point of which was the joints between the rails, whose adjoining ends were normally held in common chairs. Adams invented the fishplated joint, first used by the Eastern Counties Railway in 1849 and subsequently used almost universally.Adams was a prolific inventor. Most important of his later inventions was the radial axle, which was first applied to the leading and trailing wheels of a 2–4–2 tank engine, the White Raven, built in 1863; Adams's radial axle was the forerunner of all later radial axles. However, the sprung tyres with which White Raven was also fitted (an elastic steel hoop was interposed between wheel centre and tyre) were not perpetuated. His inventiveness was not restricted to engineering: in matters of dress, his adoption, perhaps invention, of the turn-down collar at a time when men conventionally wore standup collars had lasting effect.[br]BibliographyAdams took out some thirty five British patents, including one for the fishplate in 1847. He wrote copiously, as journalist and author: his most important book was English Pleasure Carriages (1837), a detailed description of coachbuilding, together with ideas for railway vehicles and track. The 1971 reprint (Bath: Adams \& Dart) has a biographical introduction by Jack Simmons.Further ReadingC.Hamilton Ellis, 1958, Twenty Locomotive Men, Shepperton: Ian Allan, Ch. 1. See also England, George.PJGR -
8 Brown, Joseph Rogers
SUBJECT AREA: Mechanical, pneumatic and hydraulic engineering[br]b. 26 January 1810 Warren, Rhode Island, USAd. 23 July 1876 Isles of Shoals, New Hampshire, USA[br]American machine-tool builder and co-founder of Brown \& Sharpe.[br]Joseph Rogers Brown was the eldest son of David Brown, who was modestly established as a maker of and dealer in clocks and watches. Joseph assisted his father during school vacations and at the age of 17 left to obtain training as a machinist. In 1829 he joined his father in the manufacture of tower clocks at Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and two years later went into business for himself in Pawtucket making lathes and small tools. In 1833 he rejoined his father in Providence, Rhode Island, as a partner in the manufacture of docks, watches and surveying and mathematical instruments. David Brown retired in 1841.J.R.Brown invented and built in 1850 a linear dividing engine which was the first automatic machine for graduating rules in the United States. In 1851 he brought out the vernier calliper, the first application of a vernier scale in a workshop measuring tool. Lucian Sharpe was taken into partnership in 1853 and the firm became J.R.Brown \& Sharpe; in 1868 the firm was incorporated as the Brown \& Sharpe Manufacturing Company.In 1855 Brown invented a precision gear-cutting machine to make clock gears. The firm obtained in 1861 a contract to make Wilcox \& Gibbs sewing machines and gave up the manufacture of clocks. At about this time F.W. Howe of the Providence Tool Company arranged for Brown \& Sharpe to make a turret lathe required for the manufacture of muskets. This was basically Howe's design, but Brown added a few features, and it was the first machine tool built for sale by the Brown \& Sharpe Company. It was followed in 1862 by the universal milling machine invented by Brown initially for making twist drills. Particularly for cutting gear teeth, Brown invented in 1864 a formed milling cutter which could be sharpened without changing its profile. In 1867 the need for an instrument for checking the thickness of sheet material became apparent, and in August of that year J.R.Brown and L.Sharpe visited the Paris Exhibition and saw a micrometer calliper invented by Jean Laurent Palmer in 1848. They recognized its possibilities and with a few developments marketed it as a convenient, hand-held measuring instrument. Grinding lathes were made by Brown \& Sharpe in the early 1860s, and from 1868 a universal grinding machine was developed, with the first one being completed in 1876. The patent for this machine was granted after Brown's sudden death while on holiday.[br]Further ReadingJ.W.Roe, 1916, English and American Tool Builders, New Haven: Yale University Press; repub. 1926, New York and 1987, Bradley, Ill.: Lindsay Publications Inc. (further details of Brown \& Sharpe Company and their products).R.S.Woodbury, 1958, History of the Gear-Cutting Machine, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press ——, 1959, History of the Grinding Machine, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.——, 1960, History of the Milling Machine, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.RTS -
9 Howe, Frederick Webster
[br]b. 28 August 1822 Danvers, Massachusetts, USAd. 25 April 1891 Providence, Rhode Island, USA[br]American mechanical engineer, machine-tool designer and inventor.[br]Frederick W.Howe attended local schools until the age of 16 and then entered the machine shop of Gay \& Silver at North Chelmsford, Massachusetts, as an apprentice and remained with that firm for nine years. He then joined Robbins, Kendall \& Lawrence of Windsor, Vermont, as Assistant to Richard S. Lawrence in designing machine tools. A year later (1848) he was made Plant Superintendent. During his time with this firm, Howe designed a profiling machine which was used in all gun shops in the United States: a barrel-drilling and rifling machine, and the first commercially successful milling machine. Robbins \& Lawrence took to the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London, England, a set of rifles built on the interchangeable system. The interest this created resulted in a visit of some members of the British Royal Small Arms Commission to America and subsequently in an order for 150 machine tools, jigs and fixtures from Robbins \& Lawrence, to be installed at the small-arms factory at Enfield. From 1853 to 1856 Howe was in charge of the design and building of these machines. In 1856 he established his own armoury at Newark, New Jersey, but transferred after two years to Middletown, Connecticut, where he continued the manufacture of small arms until the outbreak of the Civil War. He then became Superintendent of the armoury of the Providence Tool Company at Providence, Rhode Island, and served in that capacity until the end of the war. In 1865 he went to Bridgeport, Connecticut, to assist Elias Howe with the manufacture of his sewing machine. After the death of Elias Howe, Frederick Howe returned to Providence to join the Brown \& Sharpe Manufacturing Company. As Superintendent of that establishment he worked with Joseph R. Brown in the development of many of the firm's products, including machinery for the Wilcox \& Gibbs sewing machine then being made by Brown \& Sharpe. From 1876 Howe was in business on his own account as a consulting mechanical engineer and in his later years he was engaged in the development of shoe machinery and in designing a one-finger typewriter, which, however, was never completed. He was granted several patents, mainly in the fields of machine tools and firearms. As a designer, Howe was said to have been a perfectionist, making frequent improvements; when completed, his designs were always sound.[br]Further ReadingJ.W.Roe, 1916, English and American Tool Builders, New Haven; repub. 1926, New York, and 1987, Bradley, 111. (provides biographical details).R.S.Woodbury, 1960, History of the Milling Machine, Cambridge, Mass, (describes Howe's contribution to the development of the milling machine).RTSBiographical history of technology > Howe, Frederick Webster
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10 Bell, Henry
SUBJECT AREA: Ports and shipping[br]b. 1767 Torphichen Mill, near Linlithgow, Scotlandd. 1830 Helensburgh, Scotland[br]Scottish projector of the first steamboat service in Europe.[br]The son of Patrick Bell, a millwright, Henry had two sisters and an elder brother and was educated at the village school. When he was 9 years old Henry was sent to lodge in Falkirk with an uncle and aunt of his mother's so that he could attend the school there. At the age of 12 he left school and agreed to become a mason with a relative. In 1783, after only three years, he was bound apprentice to his Uncle Henry, a millwright at Jay Mill. He stayed there for a further three years and then, in 1786, joined the firm of Shaw \& Hart, shipbuilders of Borrowstoneness. These were to be the builders of William Symington's hull for the Charlotte Dundas. He also spent twelve months with Mr James Inglis, an engineer of Bellshill, Lanarkshire, and then went to London to gain experience, working for the famous John Rennie for some eighteen months. By 1790 he was back in Glasgow, and a year later he took a partner, James Paterson, into his new business of builder and contractor, based in the Trongate. He later referred to himself as "architect", and his partnership with Paterson lasted seven years. He is said to have invented a discharging machine for calico printing, as well as a steam dredger for clearing the River Clyde.The Baths Hotel was opened in Helensburgh in 1808, with the hotel-keeper, who was also the first provost of the town, being none other than Henry Bell. It has been suggested that Bell was also the builder of the hotel and this seems very likely. Bell installed a steam engine for pumping sea water out of the Clyde and into the baths, and at first ran a coach service to bring customers from Glasgow three days a week. The driver was his brother Tom. The coach was replaced by the Comet steamboat in 1812.While Henry was busy with his provost's duties and making arrangements for the building of his steamboat, his wife Margaret, née Young, whom he married in March 1794, occupied herself with the management of the Baths Hotel. Bell did not himself manufacture, but supervised the work of experts: John and Charles Wood of Port Glasgow, builders of the 43ft 6 in. (13.25 m)-long hull of the Comet; David Napier of Howard Street Foundry for the boiler and other castings; and John Robertson of Dempster Street, who had previously supplied a small engine for pumping water to the baths at the hotel in Helensburgh, for the 3 hp engine. The first trials of the finished ship were held on 24 July 1812, when she was launched from Wood's yard. A regular service was advertised in the Glasgow Chronicle on 5 August and was the first in Europe, preceded only by that of Robert Fulton in the USA. The Comet continued to run until 1820, when it was wrecked.Bell received little reward for his promotion of steam navigation, merely small pensions from the Clyde trustees and others. He was buried at the parish church of Rhu.[br]Further ReadingEdward Morris, 1844, Life of Henry Bell.Henry Bell, 1813, Applying Steam Engines to Vessels.IMcN -
11 Samuda, Joseph d'Aguilar
[br]b. 21 May 1813 London, Englandd. 27 April 1885 London, England[br]English shipbuilder and promoter of atmospheric traction for railways.[br]Joseph Samuda studied as a engineer under his elder brother Jacob and formed a partnership with him in 1832 as builders of marine steam engines. In 1838, with Samuel Clegg, they took out a patent for an atmospheric railway system. In this system a cast-iron tube, with a continuous sealed slot along the top, was laid between the rails; trains were attached to a piston within the tube by an arm, the slot being opened and resealed before and behind it. The tube ahead of the piston was exhausted by a stationary steam engine and the train propelled by atmospheric pressure. The system appeared to offer clean, fast travel and was taken up by noted contemporary railway engineers such as I.K. Brunel and C.B. Vignoles, but it eventually proved a failure as no satisfactory means of sealing the slot could at that time be found. It did, however, lead to experiments in the 1860s with underground, pneumatic-tube railways, in which the vehicle would be its own piston, and Samuda Bros, supplied cast-iron tubes for such a line. Meanwhile, Samuda Bros, had commenced building iron steamships in 1843, and although Jacob Samuda lost his life in 1844 as the result of an accident aboard one of the earliest built, the firm survived to become noted London builders of steamships of many types over the ensuing four decades. Joseph Samuda became a founder member of the Institution of Naval Architects in 1860, and was MP for Tavistock from 1865 to 1868 and for Tower Hamlets from 1868 to 1880.[br]Bibliography1838, jointly with Jacob Samuda and Samuel Clegg, British patent no. 7,920 (atmospheric traction).1861–2, "On the form and materials for iron plated ships", Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers 21.Further ReadingObituary, Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers 81:334 (provides good coverage of his career).C.Hadfield, 1967, Atmospheric Railways, Newton Abbot: David \& Charles (includes a discussion of his railway work).PJGRBiographical history of technology > Samuda, Joseph d'Aguilar
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12 Bullard, Edward Payson
SUBJECT AREA: Mechanical, pneumatic and hydraulic engineering[br]b. 18 April 1841 Uxbridge, Massachusetts, USAd. 22 December 1906 Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA[br]American mechanical engineer and machine-tool manufacturer who designed machines for boring.[br]Edward Payson Bullard served his apprenticeship at the Whitin Machine Works, Whitinsville, Massachusetts, and worked at the Colt Armory in Hartford, Connecticut, until 1863; he then entered the employ of Pratt \& Whitney, also in Hartford. He later formed a partnership with J.H.Prest and William Parsons manufacturing millwork and tools, the firm being known as Bullard \& Prest. In 1866 Bullard organized the Norwalk Iron Works Company of Norwalk, Connecticut, but afterwards withdrew and continued the business in Hartford. In 1868 the firm of Bullard \& Prest was dissolved and Bullard became Superintendent of a large machine shop in Athens, Georgia. He later organized the machine tool department of Post \& Co. at Cincinnati, and in 1872 he was made General Superintendent of the Gill Car Works at Columbus, Ohio. In 1875 he established a machinery business in Beekman Street, New York, under the name of Allis, Bullard \& Co. Mr Allis withdrew in 1877, and the Bullard Machine Company was organized.In 1880 Bullard secured entire control of the business and also became owner of the Bridgeport Machine Tool Works, Bridgeport, Connecticut. In 1883 he designed his first vertical boring and turning mill with a single head and belt feed and a 37 in. (94 cm) capacity; this was the first small boring machine designed to do the accurate work previously done on the face plate of a lathe. In 1889 Bullard gave up his New York interests and concentrated his entire attention on manufacturing at Bridgeport, the business being incorporated in 1894 as the Bullard Machine Tool Company. The company specialized in the construction of boring machines, the design being developed so that it became essentially a vertical turret lathe. After Bullard's death, his son Edward Payson Bullard II (b. 10 July 1872 Columbus, Ohio, USA; d. 26 June 1953 Fairfield, Connecticut, USA) continued as head of the company and further developed the boring machine into a vertical multi-spindle automatic lathe which he called the "Mult-au-matic" lathe. Both father and son were members of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.[br]Further ReadingJ.W.Roe, 1916, English and American Tool Builders, New Haven: Yale University Press; repub. 1926, New York and 1987, Bradley, Ill.: Lindsay Publications Inc. (describes Bullard's machines).RTS -
13 Cotton, William
SUBJECT AREA: Textiles[br]b. 1819 Seagrave, Leicestershire, Englandd. after 1878[br]English inventor of a power-driven flat-bed knitting machine.[br]Cotton was originally employed in Loughborough and became one of the first specialized hosiery-machine builders. After the introduction of the latch needle by Matthew Townsend in 1856, knitting frames developed rapidly. The circular frame was easier to work automatically, but attempts to apply power to the flat frame, which could produce fully fashioned work, culminated in 1863 with William Cotton's machine. In that year he invented a machine that could make a dozen or more stockings or hose simultaneously and knit fashioned garments of all kinds. The difficulty was to reduce automatically the number of stitches in the courses where the hose or garment narrowed to give it shape. Cotton had early opportunities to apply himself to the improvement of hosiery machines while employed in the patent shop of Cartwright \& Warner of Loughborough, where some of the first rotaries were made. He remained with the firm for twenty years, during which time sixty or seventy of these machines were turned out. Cotton then established a factory for the manufacture of warp fabrics, and it was here that he began to work on his ideas. He had no knowledge of the principles of engineering or drawing, so his method of making sketches and then getting his ideas roughed out involved much useless labour. After twelve years, in 1863, a patent was issued for the machine that became the basis of the Cotton's Patent type. This was a flat frame driven by rotary mechanism and remarkable for its adaptability. At first he built his machine upright, like a cottage piano, but after much thought and experimentation he conceived the idea of turning the upper part down flat so that the needles were in a vertical position instead of being horizontal, and the work was carried off horizontally instead of vertically. His first machine produced four identical pieces simultaneously, but this number was soon increased. Cotton was induced by the success of his invention to begin machine building as a separate business and thus established one of the first of a class of engineering firms that sprung up as an adjunct to the new hosiery manufacture. He employed only a dozen men and turned out six machines in the first year, entering into an agreement with Hine \& Mundella for their exclusive use. This was later extended to the firm of I. \& R.Morley. In 1878, Cotton began to build on his own account, and the business steadily increased until it employed some 200 workers and had an output of 100 machines a year.[br]Bibliography1863, British patent no. 1,901 (flat-frame knitting machine).Further ReadingF.A.Wells, 1935, The British Hosiery and Knitwear Industry: Its History and Organisation, London (based on an article in the Knitters' Circular (Feb. 1898).A brief account of the background to Cotton's invention can be found in T.K.Derry and T.I. Williams, 1960, A Short History of Technology from the Earliest Times to AD 1900, Oxford; C. Singer (ed.), 1958, A History of Technology, Vol. V, Oxford: Clarendon Press.F.Moy Thomas, 1900, I. \& R.Morley. A Record of a Hundred Years, London (mentions cotton's first machines).RLH -
14 Merz, Charles Hesterman
[br]b. 5 October 1874 Gateshead, Englandd. 14 October 1940 London, England[br]English engineer who pioneered large-scale integration of electricity-supply networks, which led to the inauguration of the British grid system.[br]Merz was educated at Bootham School in York and Armstrong College in Newcastle. He served an apprenticeship with the Newcastle Electric Supply Company at their first power station, Pandon Dene, and part of his training was at Robey and Company of Lincoln, steam engine builders, and the British Thomson-Houston Company, electrical equipment manufacturers. After working at Bankside in London and at Croydon, he became Manager of the Croydon supply undertaking. In 1898 he went to Cork on behalf of BTH to build and manage a tramway and electricity company. It was there that he met William McLellan, who later joined him in establishing a firm of consulting engineers. Merz, with his vision of large-scale electricity supply, pioneered an integrated traction and electricity scheme in north-eastern England. He was involved in the reorganization of electricity schemes in many countries and established a reputation as a leading parliamentary witness. Merz was appointed Director of Experiments and Research at the Admiralty, where his main contribution was the creation of an organization of outstanding engineers and scientists during the First World War. In 1925 he was largely responsible for a report of the Weir Committee which led to the Electricity (Supply) Act of 1926, the formation of the Central Electricity Board and the construction of the National Grid. The choice of 132 kV as the original grid voltage was that of Merz and his associates, as was the origin of the term "grid". Merz and his firm produced many technical innovations, including the first power-system control room and Merz-Price and Merz-Hunter forms of cable and transformer protection.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsInstitution of Electrical Engineers Faraday Medal 1931.Bibliography1903–4, with W.McLennan, "Power station design", Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers 33:696–742 (a classic on its subject).1929, "The national scheme of electricity supply in Great Britain", Proceedings of the British Association, Johannesburg.Further ReadingJ.Rowland, 1960, Progress in Power. The Contribution of Charles Merz and His Associates to Sixty Years of Electrical Development 1899–1959, London (the most detailed account).L.Hannah, 1979, Electricity Before Nationalisation, London.——, 1985, Dictionary of Business Biography, ed. J.Jeremy, London, pp. 221–7 (a short account).GWBiographical history of technology > Merz, Charles Hesterman
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15 Pratt, Francis Ashbury
[br]b. 15 February 1827 Woodstock, Vermont, USAd. 10 February 1902 Hartford, Connecticut, USA[br]American mechanical engineer and machine-tool manufacturer.[br]Francis A.Pratt served an apprenticeship as a machinist with Warren Aldrich, and on completing it in 1848 he entered the Gloucester Machine Works as a journeyman machinist. From 1852 to 1854 he worked at the Colt Armory in Hartford, Connecticut, where he met his future partner, Amos Whitney. He then became Superintendent of the Phoenix Iron Works, also at Hartford and run by George S.Lincoln \& Company. While there he designed the well-known "Lincoln" miller, which was first produced in 1855. This was a development of the milling machine built by Robbins \& Lawrence and designed by F.W. Howe, and incorporated a screw drive for the table instead of the rack and pinion used in the earlier machine.Whitney also moved to the Phoenix Iron Works, and in 1860 the two men started in a small way doing machine work on their own account. In 1862 they took a third partner, Monroe Stannard, and enlarged their workshop. The business continued to expand, but Pratt and Whitney remained at the Phoenix Iron Works until 1864 and in the following year they built their first new factory. The Pratt \& Whitney Company was incorporated in 1869 with a capital of $350,000, F.A.Pratt being elected President. The firm specialized in making machine tools and tools particularly for the armament industry. In the 1870s Pratt made no less than ten trips to Europe gaining orders for equipping armouries in many different countries. Pratt \& Whitney was one of the leading firms developing the system of interchangeable manufacture which led to the need to establish national standards of measurement. The Rogers-Bond Comparator, developed with the backing of Pratt \& Whitney, played an important part in the establishment of these standards, which formed the basis of the gauges of many various types made by the firm. Pratt remained President of the company until 1898, after which he served as their Consulting Engineer for a short time before retiring from professional life. He was granted a number of patents relating to machine tools. He was a founder member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1880 and was elected a vice-president in 1881. He was an alderman of the city of Hartford.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsVice-President, American Society of Mechanical Engineers 1881.Further ReadingJ.W.Roe, 1916, English and American Tool Builders, New Haven; reprinted 1926, New York, and 1987, Bradley, 111. (describes the origin and development of the Pratt \& Whitney Company).RTS -
16 Whitney, Amos
[br]b. 8 October 1832 Biddeford, Maine, USAd. 5 August 1920 Poland Springs, Maine, USA[br]American mechanical engineer and machine-tool manufacturer.[br]Amos Whitney was a member of the same distinguished family as Eli Whitney. His father was a locksmith and machinist and he was apprenticed at the age of 14 to the Essex Machine Company of Lawrence, Massachusetts. In 1850 both he and his father were working at the Colt Armory in Hartford, Connecticut, where he first met his future partner, F.A. Pratt. They both subsequently moved to the Phoenix Iron Works, also at Hartford, and in 1860 they started in a small way doing machine work on their own account. In 1862 they took a third partner, Monroe Stannard, and enlarged their workshop. The business continued to expand, but Pratt and Whitney remained at the Phoenix Iron Works until 1864 and in the following year they built their first new factory. The Pratt \& Whitney Company was incorporated in 1869 with a capital of $350,000, Amos Whitney being appointed General Superintendent. The firm specialized in making machine tools and tools particularly for the armament industry. Pratt \& Whitney was one of the leading firms developing the system of interchangeable manufacture which led to the need to establish national standards of measurement. The Rogers-Bond Comparator, developed with the backing of Pratt \& Whitney, played an important part in the establishment of these standards, which formed the basis of the gauges of many various types made by the firm.Amos Whitney was made Vice-President of Pratt \& Whitney Company in 1893 and was President from 1898 until 1901, when the company was acquired by the Niles- Bement-Pond Company: he then remained as one of the directors. He was elected a Member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1913.[br]Further ReadingJ.W.Roe, 1916, English and American Tool Builders, New Haven; reprinted 1926, New York, and 1987, Bradley, Ill. (describes the origin and development of the Pratt \& Whitney Company).RTS -
17 cowboy
nounCowboy, der; (Brit. coll.): (unscrupulous businessman, tradesman, etc.) Betrüger, der* * *noun (in the United States, a man who looks after cattle on a ranch.) der Cowboy* * *ˈcow·boyI. nto play \cowboys and Indians ≈ Räuber und Gendarm spielen* * *A s1. Cowboy m:play cowboys and Indians Cowboy und Indianer spielen2. Aus Kuhjunge m, Kuhhirt m3. Br umg (Berufs)Pfuscher m pej:a firm of cowboy builders eine windige BaufirmaB adj Cowboy…:C v/i AUTO Br umg rücksichtslos fahren* * *nounCowboy, der; (Brit. coll.): (unscrupulous businessman, tradesman, etc.) Betrüger, der* * *n.Kuhhirt -en m. -
18 Beyer, Charles Frederick
[br]b. 14 May 1813 Plauen, Saxony, Germanyd. 2 June 1876 Llantysilio, Denbighshire, Wales[br]German (naturalized British in 1852) engineer, founder of locomotive builders Beyer, Peacock \& Co.[br]Beyer came from a family of poor weavers, but showed talent as an artist and draftsman and was educated at Dresden Polytechnic School. He was sent to England in 1834 to report on improvements in cotton spinning machinery and settled in Manchester, working for the machinery manufacturers Sharp Roberts \& Co., initially as a draftsman. When the firm started to build locomotives he moved to this side of the business. The Institution of Mechanical Engineers was founded at his house in 1847. In 1853 Beyer entered into a partnership with Richard Peacock, Locomotive Engineer to the Manchester, Sheffield \& Lincolnshire Railway, and Henry Robertson to establish Beyer, Peacock \& Co. The company soon established a reputation for soundly designed, elegant locomotives: it exported worldwide, and survived until the 1960s.[br]Further ReadingObituary, 1877, Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers 47. R.L.Hills, 1967–8 "Some contributions to locomotive development by Beyer, Peacock \& Co.", Transactions of the Newcomen Society 40 (a good description of Beyer, Peacock \& Co's locomotive work).See also: Garratt, Herbert WilliamPJGRBiographical history of technology > Beyer, Charles Frederick
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19 Forrester, George
[br]b. 1780/1 Scotlandd. after 1841[br]Scottish locomotive builder and technical innovator.[br]George Forrester \& Co. built locomotives at the Vauxhall Foundry, Liverpool, between 1834 and c.1847. The first locomotives built by them, in 1834, were three for the Dublin \& Kingstown Railway and one for the Liverpool \& Manchester Railway; they were the first locomotives to have outside horizontal cylinders and the first to have four fixed eccentrics to operate the valves, in place of two loose eccentrics. Two locomotives built by Forrester in 1835 for the Dublin \& Kingstown Railway were the first tank locomotives to run regularly on a public railway, and two more supplied in 1836 to the London \& Greenwich Railway were the first such locomotives in England. Little appears to be known about Forrester himself. In the 1841 census his profession is shown as "civil engineer, residence 1 Lord Nelson Street". Directories for Liverpool, contemporary with Forrester \& Co.'s locomotive building period, describe the firm variously as engineers, iron founders and boilermakers, located at (successively) 234,224 and 40 Vauxhall Road. Works Manager until 1840 was Alexander Allan, who subsequently used the experience he had gained with Forrester in the design of his "Crewe Type" outside-cylinder locomotive, which became widely used.[br]Further ReadingE.L.Ahrons, 1927, The British Steam Railway Locomotive 1825–1925, The Locomotive Publishing Co., pp. 29, 43, 50 and 83.J.Lowe, 1975, British Steam Locomotive Builders, Cambridge: Goose \& Son.R.H.G.Thomas, 1986, London's First Railway: The London \& Greenwich, B.T.Batsford, p. 176.PJGR -
20 Heald, James Nichols
SUBJECT AREA: Mechanical, pneumatic and hydraulic engineering[br]b. 21 September 1864 Barre, Massachusetts, USAd. 7 May 1931 Worcester, Massachusetts, USA[br]American mechanical engineer and machine-tool manufacturer who concentrated on grinding machines.[br]James N.Heald was the son of Leander S.Heald and was educated at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, graduating with the degree of Bachelor of Science in 1884. He then joined the firm that had been established by his grandfather, Stephen Heald, in 1826; this was a machine shop and foundry then known as S.Heald \& Son. When his grandfather died in 1888, James Heald took over the management of the business, which then became known as L.S.Heald \& Son. He concentrated on the manufacture of grinding machines and in 1903 bought out his father's interest and organized the Heald Machine Company. James Heald then began the development of a series of grinding machines designed to meet the needs of the expanding automobile industry. Special machines were produced for grinding piston rings making use of the recently invented magnetic chuck, and for cylinder bores he introduced the planetary grinder. Heald was a member of the National Machine Tool Builders' Association and served as its Treasurer and on its Board of Directors. He was elected a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1917 and was also a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers.[br]Further ReadingRobert S.Woodbury, 1959, History of the Grinding Machine, Cambridge, Mass (describes his grinding machines).L.T.C.Rolt, 1965, Tools for the Job, London; repub. 1986 (describes his grinding machines).RTS
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