centrale+industrielle

SUBJECT AREA: Mechanical, pneumatic and hydraulic engineering, Steam and internal combustion engines

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Bryan Donkin was the eldest son of John Donkin (1802–54) and grandson of Bryan Donkin I (1768–1855). He was educated at University College, London, and at the Ecole Centrale des Arts et Métiers in Paris, and then served an apprenticeship in the firm established by his grandfather. He assisted his uncle, Bryan Donkin II (1809–93), in setting up paper mills at St Petersburg. He became a partner in the Donkin firm in 1868 and Chairman in 1889, and retained this position after the amalgamation with Clench \& Co. of Chesterfield in 1900. Bryan Donkin was one of the first engineers to carry out scientific tests on steam engines and boilers, the results of his experiments being reported in many papers to the engineering institutions. In the 1890s his interests extended to the internal-combustion engine and he translated Rudolf Diesel's book Theory and Construction of a Rational Heat Motor. He was a frequent contributor to the weekly journal The Engineer. He was a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers and of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, as well as of many other societies, including the Royal Institution, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Société Industrielle de Mulhouse and the Verein Deutscher Ingenieure. In his experimental work he often collaborated with others, notably Professor A.B.W.Kennedy (1847–1928), with whom he was also associated in the consulting engineering firm of Kennedy \& Donkin.

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