-
61 appearance
A n2 Cin, Theat, TV passage m ; to make an appearance on television/on stage passer à la télévision/à la scène ; to make one's first screen appearance faire ses débuts à l'écran ; a rare screen appearance by X une des rares apparitions à l'écran de X ; cast in order of appearance distribution par ordre d'entrée en scène ;3 (public, sporting) apparition f ; to make a public appearance faire une apparition publique ; this is his first appearance for Ireland il fait ses débuts pour l'équipe d'Irlande ; to put in an appearance faire acte de présence ;4 Jur ( in court) comparution f (in, before devant) ; to enter an appearance comparaître en justice ;5 ( look) ( of person) apparence f ; (of district, object) aspect m ; to check one's appearance vérifier sa tenue ; to be self-conscious about one's appearance être gêné par son aspect physique ; ‘smart appearance essential’ ‘excellente présentation exigée’ ; to give sth the appearance of donner à qch l'apparence de ; to be foreign in appearance avoir l'air étranger ;6 ( semblance) to give the appearance of sth/of doing donner l'apparence de qch/de faire ; it had all the appearances ou every appearance of cela avait tout l'air de ; to maintain an appearance of objectivity conserver un semblant d'objectivité ;B appearances npl ( external show) apparences fpl ; to judge ou go by appearances se fier aux apparences ; going by appearances… à en juger par les apparences… ; for the sake of appearances, for appearances' sake pour la forme ; to keep up appearances sauvegarder les apparences ; to all appearances apparemment ; contrary to/in spite of appearances contrairement aux/en dépit des apparences ; appearances can be deceptive les apparences sont souvent trompeuses. -
62 baby
A n1 ( child) bébé m ; newborn baby nouveau-né m ; to have a baby avoir un bébé ; Baby Jesus le petit Jésus ; she's the baby of the family c'est la petite dernière or la benjamine ; don't be such a baby ○ ! ne fais pas le bébé! ;3 ○ ( pet project) the show/project is his baby ○ ( his invention) le spectacle/projet est sa création ; ( his special responsibility) il a la responsabilité du spectacle/projet ;4 ○ surtout US ( girlfriend) copine f ; ( as address) chérie f ; ( boyfriend) copain m ; ( as address) chéri m ;B modif [brother, sister] petit ; [animal] bébé- ; [vegetable] nain ; [clothes, product, food] pour bébés ; baby daughter petite fille ; baby son petit garçon ; baby bird oisillon m.I was left holding the baby ○ on m'a refilé le bébé ○ ; to throw the baby out with the bathwater ○ jeter le bébé avec l'eau du bain ; smooth as a baby's bottom ○ doux/douce comme une peau de bébé. -
63 bread
A n1 Culin pain m ; a loaf/slice of bread une miche/tranche de pain ; to be on bread and water être au pain sec et à l'eau ;3 ( livelihood) to earn one's (daily) bread gagner sa vie.to break bread with sb partager un repas avec qn ; to cast one's bread upon the waters se comporter de façon altruiste ; to know which side one's bread is buttered on savoir où est son intérêt ; to put bread on the table faire bouillir la marmite ; to put jam on the bread mettre du beurre dans les épinards ; to take the bread out of sb's mouth retirer le pain de la bouche de qn ; the best thing since sliced bread hum l'invention la plus géniale de ces dernières années. -
64 owe
1 ( be indebted for) devoir [money, invention, life, success] ; to owe sth to sb tenir qch de qn [good looks, talent] ; devoir qch à qn [failure, money] ; I owe him £10 for the ticket je lui dois 10 livres pour le billet ; he still owes us for the ticket il nous doit encore de l'argent pour le billet ; I've forgotten my purse, can I owe it to you? j'ai oublié mon porte-monnaie, est-ce que je peux te le rendre plus tard? ; my mother, to whom I owe so much ma mère, à qui je dois tout ; I owe you one ○ ou a favour je te le revaudrai ; he owes me one ○ ou a favour il me doit bien ça ;2 ( be morally bound to give) devoir [apology, duty, loyalty, explanation, thanks] ; you owe it to your parents to work hard tu dois à tes parents de travailler dur ; you owe it to yourself to try everything tu te dois de tout essayer ; don't think the world owes you a living ○ ! ne crois pas que le monde te doive quoi que ce soit! ;3 ( be influenced by) to owe much/something to sb devoir beaucoup/quelque chose à qn ; his style owes much to the Impressionists son style doit beaucoup aux impressionnistes. -
65 register
A n1 gen, Admin, Comm registre m ; Sch cahier m des absences ; to keep a register tenir un registre ; to enter sth in a register inscrire qch dans or sur un registre ; to take the register Sch remplir le cahier des absences ; register of births, marriages and deaths registre public de l'état civil ; missing persons' register registre des personnes disparues ;2 Mus, Ling, Comput, Print registre m ; lower/middle/upper register Mus registre grave/médium/aigu ;B vtr1 ( declare officially) [member of the public] déclarer [birth, death, marriage] ; faire immatriculer [vehicle] ; faire enregistrer [luggage] ; déposer [trademark, patent, invention] ; faire enregistrer [company] ; déclarer [firearm] ; déposer [complaint] ; to register a protest protester ;2 [official] inscrire [student] ; enregistrer [name, birth, death, marriage, company, firearm, trademark] ; immatriculer [vehicle] ; she has a German-registered car elle a une voiture immatriculée en Allemagne ; to be registered (as) disabled/unfit for work être officiellement reconnu handicapé/incapable de travailler ;3 [measuring instrument] indiquer [speed, temperature, pressure] ; ( show) [person, face, expression] exprimer [anger, disapproval, disgust] ; [action] marquer [emotion, surprise, relief] ; the earthquake registered six on the Richter scale le tremblement de terre a atteint la magnitude six sur l'échelle de Richter ;4 ( mentally) ( notice) remarquer ; ( realize) se rendre compte ; I registered (the fact) that he was late j'ai remarqué qu'il était en retard ; she suddenly registered that, it suddenly registered (with her) that elle s'est soudain rendu compte que ;5 (achieve, record) [person, bank, company] enregistrer [loss, gain, victory, success] ;8 Print mettre [qch] en registre [printing press].C vi1 ( declare oneself officially) [person] (to vote, for course, school) s'inscrire ; ( at hotel) se présenter ; (with police, for national services, for taxes) se faire recenser (for pour) ; ( for shares) souscrire (for à) ; to register for voting/for a course/for a school s'inscrire pour voter/à un cours/dans une école ; to register with a doctor/dentist s'inscrire sur la liste des patients d'un médecin/dentiste ;2 ( be shown) [speed, temperature, earthquake] être enregistré ;3 ( mentally) the enormity of what had happened just didn't register on ne se rendait pas compte de l'énormité de ce qui était arrivé ; his name didn't register with me son nom ne me disait rien ;4 Tech [parts] coïncider. -
66 hail
hail [heɪl]1 noun(a) Meteorology grêle f; figurative (of stones) grêle f, pluie f; (of abuse) avalanche f, déluge m; (of blows) grêle f;∎ he died in a hail of bullets il est tombé sous une pluie de balles∎ within hail à portée de voixMeteorology grêler;∎ it's hailing il grêle(a) (call → taxi, ship, person) héler;∎ within hailing distance à portée de voix(b) (greet → person) acclamer, saluer(c) (acclaim → person, new product, invention etc) acclamer, saluer;∎ her book has been hailed as the most significant new novel this year son livre a été acclamé comme le nouveau roman le plus marquant de cette année;∎ the plan was hailed as the solution to their problems le projet a été salué comme la solution à tous leurs problèmes;∎ to hail sb emperor proclamer qn empereur∎ to hail blows on sb faire pleuvoir les coups sur qn;∎ to hail insults on sb accabler qn d'injuresarchaic salut à vous ou toi;∎ hail, Caesar! Ave César!;∎ hail, Mary, full of grace je te salue, Marie, pleine de grâce∎ say five Hail Marys vous direz cinq Je vous salue Marie ou cinq Ave (Maria);∎ figurative to throw a Hail Mary pass tenter sa chance(blows, stones etc) pleuvoir;∎ blows/rocks were hailing down on us des coups/pierres nous pleuvaient dessus;∎ criticism hailed down on him il a subi une avalanche ou un déluge de critiques∎ they hailed insults down on the President ils ont déversé un flot d'insultes à l'intention du président;∎ literary to hail down curses on sb déverser un déluge de malédictions sur qn(of ship) être en provenance de; (of person) venir de, être originaire de; -
67 Appert, Nicolas
SUBJECT AREA: Agricultural and food technology[br]b. 1749 Châlons-sur-Marne, France d. 1841[br]French confectioner who invented canning as a method of food preservation.[br]As the son of an inn keeper, Nicolas Appert would have learned about pickling and brewing, but he chose to become a chef and confectioner, establishing himself in the rue des Lombards in Paris in 1780. He prospered there until about 1795, and in that year he began experimenting in ways to preserve foodstuffs, succeeding with soups, vegetables, juices, dairy products, jellies, jams and syrups. His method was to place food in glass jars, seal the jars with cork and sealing wax, then sterilize them by immersion in boiling water for a predetermined time.In 1810 the French Government offered a 12,000 franc award to anyone succeeding in preserving high-quality foodstuffs for its army and navy. Appert won the award and in 1812 used the money to open the world's first food-bottling factory, La Maison Appert, in the town of Massey, near Paris. He established agents in all the major sea ports, recognizing the marine market as his most likely customer, and supplied products to Napoleon's troops in the field. By 1820 Appert's method was in use all over the United States, in spite of the simultaneous development of other containers of tin or other metals by an English merchant, Peter Durand, and the production of canned food products by the Bermondsey firm of Donkin \& Hall, London. The latter had opened the first canning factory in England in 1811.Initially Appert used glass jars and bottles, but in 1822 he changed to tin-plated metal cans. To heat the cans he used an autoclave, which heated the water to a temperature higher than its boiling point. A hammer and chisel were needed to open cans until the invention of a can opener by an Englishman named Yates in 1855. Despite Appert's successes, he received little financial reward and died in poverty; he was buried in a common grave.[br]Bibliography1810, L'Art de conserver pendant plusieurs années toutes les sustenances animales et végétales (the Société d'Encouragement pour l'Industrie Nationale produced a report in its annual bulletin in 1809).Further ReadingEnglish historians have tended to concentrate on Bryan Donkin, who established tin cans as the primary container for long-term food preservation.J.Potin, 1891, Biographie de Nicolas Appert.1960, Canning and Packing 2–5.AP -
68 Armstrong, Sir William George, Baron Armstrong of Cragside
[br]b. 26 November 1810 Shieldfield, Newcastle upon Tyne, Englandd. 27 December 1900 Cragside, Northumbria, England[br]English inventor, engineer and entrepreneur in hydraulic engineering, shipbuilding and the production of artillery.[br]The only son of a corn merchant, Alderman William Armstrong, he was educated at private schools in Newcastle and at Bishop Auckland Grammar School. He then became an articled clerk in the office of Armorer Donkin, a solicitor and a friend of his father. During a fishing trip he saw a water-wheel driven by an open stream to work a marble-cutting machine. He felt that its efficiency would be improved by introducing the water to the wheel in a pipe. He developed an interest in hydraulics and in electricity, and became a popular lecturer on these subjects. From 1838 he became friendly with Henry Watson of the High Bridge Works, Newcastle, and for six years he visited the Works almost daily, studying turret clocks, telescopes, papermaking machinery, surveying instruments and other equipment being produced. There he had built his first hydraulic machine, which generated 5 hp when run off the Newcastle town water-mains. He then designed and made a working model of a hydraulic crane, but it created little interest. In 1845, after he had served this rather unconventional apprenticeship at High Bridge Works, he was appointed Secretary of the newly formed Whittle Dene Water Company. The same year he proposed to the town council of Newcastle the conversion of one of the quayside cranes to his hydraulic operation which, if successful, should also be applied to a further four cranes. This was done by the Newcastle Cranage Company at High Bridge Works. In 1847 he gave up law and formed W.G.Armstrong \& Co. to manufacture hydraulic machinery in a works at Elswick. Orders for cranes, hoists, dock gates and bridges were obtained from mines; docks and railways.Early in the Crimean War, the War Office asked him to design and make submarine mines to blow up ships that were sunk by the Russians to block the entrance to Sevastopol harbour. The mines were never used, but this set him thinking about military affairs and brought him many useful contacts at the War Office. Learning that two eighteen-pounder British guns had silenced a whole Russian battery but were too heavy to move over rough ground, he carried out a thorough investigation and proposed light field guns with rifled barrels to fire elongated lead projectiles rather than cast-iron balls. He delivered his first gun in 1855; it was built of a steel core and wound-iron wire jacket. The barrel was multi-grooved and the gun weighed a quarter of a ton and could fire a 3 lb (1.4 kg) projectile. This was considered too light and was sent back to the factory to be rebored to take a 5 lb (2.3 kg) shot. The gun was a complete success and Armstrong was then asked to design and produce an equally successful eighteen-pounder. In 1859 he was appointed Engineer of Rifled Ordnance and was knighted. However, there was considerable opposition from the notably conservative officers of the Army who resented the intrusion of this civilian engineer in their affairs. In 1862, contracts with the Elswick Ordnance Company were terminated, and the Government rejected breech-loading and went back to muzzle-loading. Armstrong resigned and concentrated on foreign sales, which were successful worldwide.The search for a suitable proving ground for a 12-ton gun led to an interest in shipbuilding at Elswick from 1868. This necessitated the replacement of an earlier stone bridge with the hydraulically operated Tyne Swing Bridge, which weighed some 1450 tons and allowed a clear passage for shipping. Hydraulic equipment on warships became more complex and increasing quantities of it were made at the Elswick works, which also flourished with the reintroduction of the breech-loader in 1878. In 1884 an open-hearth acid steelworks was added to the Elswick facilities. In 1897 the firm merged with Sir Joseph Whitworth \& Co. to become Sir W.G.Armstrong Whitworth \& Co. After Armstrong's death a further merger with Vickers Ltd formed Vickers Armstrong Ltd.In 1879 Armstrong took a great interest in Joseph Swan's invention of the incandescent electric light-bulb. He was one of those who formed the Swan Electric Light Company, opening a factory at South Benwell to make the bulbs. At Cragside, his mansion at Roth bury, he installed a water turbine and generator, making it one of the first houses in England to be lit by electricity.Armstrong was a noted philanthropist, building houses for his workforce, and endowing schools, hospitals and parks. His last act of charity was to purchase Bamburgh Castle, Northumbria, in 1894, intending to turn it into a hospital or a convalescent home, but he did not live long enough to complete the work.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsKnighted 1859. FRS 1846. President, Institution of Mechanical Engineers; Institution of Civil Engineers; British Association for the Advancement of Science 1863. Baron Armstrong of Cragside 1887.Further ReadingE.R.Jones, 1886, Heroes of Industry', London: Low.D.J.Scott, 1962, A History of Vickers, London: Weidenfeld \& Nicolson.IMcNBiographical history of technology > Armstrong, Sir William George, Baron Armstrong of Cragside
-
69 Babbage, Charles
SUBJECT AREA: Electronics and information technology[br]b. 26 December 1791 Walworth, Surrey, Englandd. 18 October 1871 London, England[br]English mathematician who invented the forerunner of the modern computer.[br]Charles Babbage was the son of a banker, Benjamin Babbage, and was a sickly child who had a rather haphazard education at private schools near Exeter and later at Enfield. Even as a child, he was inordinately fond of algebra, which he taught himself. He was conversant with several advanced mathematical texts, so by the time he entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1811, he was ahead of his tutors. In his third year he moved to Peterhouse, whence he graduated in 1814, taking his MA in 1817. He first contributed to the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society in 1815, and was elected a fellow of that body in 1816. He was one of the founders of the Astronomical Society in 1820 and served in high office in it.While he was still at Cambridge, in 1812, he had the first idea of calculating numerical tables by machinery. This was his first difference engine, which worked on the principle of repeatedly adding a common difference. He built a small model of an engine working on this principle between 1820 and 1822, and in July of the latter year he read an enthusiastically received note about it to the Astronomical Society. The following year he was awarded the Society's first gold medal. He submitted details of his invention to Sir Humphry Davy, President of the Royal Society; the Society reported favourably and the Government became interested, and following a meeting with the Chancellor of the Exchequer Babbage was awarded a grant of £1,500. Work proceeded and was carried on for four years under the direction of Joseph Clement.In 1827 Babbage went abroad for a year on medical advice. There he studied foreign workshops and factories, and in 1832 he published his observations in On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures. While abroad, he received the news that he had been appointed Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University. He held the Chair until 1839, although he neither resided in College nor gave any lectures. For this he was paid between £80 and £90 a year! Differences arose between Babbage and Clement. Manufacture was moved from Clement's works in Lambeth, London, to new, fireproof buildings specially erected by the Government near Babbage's house in Dorset Square, London. Clement made a large claim for compensation and, when it was refused, withdrew his workers as well as all the special tools he had made up for the job. No work was possible for the next fifteen months, during which Babbage conceived the idea of his "analytical engine". He approached the Government with this, but it was not until eight years later, in 1842, that he received the reply that the expense was considered too great for further backing and that the Government was abandoning the project. This was in spite of the demonstration and perfectly satisfactory operation of a small section of the analytical engine at the International Exhibition of 1862. It is said that the demands made on manufacture in the production of his engines had an appreciable influence in improving the standard of machine tools, whilst similar benefits accrued from his development of a system of notation for the movements of machine elements. His opposition to street organ-grinders was a notable eccentricity; he estimated that a quarter of his mental effort was wasted by the effect of noise on his concentration.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsFRS 1816. Astronomical Society Gold Medal 1823.BibliographyBabbage wrote eighty works, including: 1864, Passages from the Life of a Philosopher.July 1822, Letter to Sir Humphry Davy, PRS, on the Application of Machinery to the purpose of calculating and printing Mathematical Tables.Further Reading1961, Charles Babbage and His Calculating Engines: Selected Writings by Charles Babbage and Others, eds Philip and Emily Morrison, New York: Dover Publications.IMcN -
70 Bell, Revd Patrick
SUBJECT AREA: Agricultural and food technology[br]b. 1799 Auchterhouse, Scotlandd. 22 April 1869 Carmyllie, Scotland[br]Scottish inventor of the first successful reaping machine.[br]The son of a Forfarshire tenant farmer, Patrick Bell obtained an MA from the University of St Andrews. His early association with farming kindled an interest in engineering and mechanics and he was to maintain a workshop not only on his father's farm, but also, in later life, at the parsonage at Carmyllie.He was still studying divinity when he invented his reaping machine. Using garden shears as the basis of his design, he built a model in 1827 and a full-scale prototype the following year. Not wishing the machine to be seen during his early experiments, he and his brother planted a sheaf of oats in soil laid out in a shed, and first tried the machine on this. It cut well enough but left the straw in a mess behind it. A canvas belt system was devised and another secret trial in the barn was followed by a night excursion into a field, where corn was successfully harvested.Two machines were at work during 1828, apparently achieving a harvest rate of one acre per hour. In 1832 there were ten machines at work, and at least another four had been sent to the United States by this time. Despite their success Bell did not patent his design, feeling that the idea should be given free to the world. In later years he was to regret the decision, feeling that the many badly-made imitations resulted in its poor reputation and prevented its adoption.Bell's calling took precedence over his inventive interests and after qualifying he went to Canada in 1833, spending four years in Fergus, Ontario. He later returned to Scotland and be-came the minister at Carmyllie, with a living of £150 per annum.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsLate in the day he was honoured for his part in the development of the reaping machine. He received an honorary degree from the University of St Andrews and in 1868 a testimonial and £1,000 raised by public subscription by the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland.Bibliography1854, Journal of Agriculture (perhaps stung by other claims, Bell wrote his own account).Further ReadingG.Quick and W.Buchele, 1978, The Grain Harvesters, American Society of Agricultural Engineers (gives an account of the development of harvesting machinery).L.J.Jones, 1979, History of Technology, pp. 101–48 (gives a critical assessment of the various claims regarding the originality of the invention).J.Hendrick, 1928, Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, pp.51–69 (provides a celebration of Bell's achievement on its centenary).AP -
71 Bentham, Sir Samuel
SUBJECT AREA: Ports and shipping[br]b. 11 January 1757 Englandd. 31 May 1831 London, England[br]English naval architect and engineer.[br]He was the son of Jeremiah Bentham, a lawyer. His mother died when he was an infant and his early education was at Westminster. At the age of 14 he was apprenticed to a master shipwright at Woolwich and later at Chatham Dockyard, where he made some small improvements in the fittings of ships. In 1778 he completed his apprenticeship and sailed on the Bienfaisant on a summer cruise of the Channel Fleet where he suggested and supervised several improvements to the steering gear and gun fittings.Unable to find suitable employment at home, he sailed for Russia to study naval architecture and shipbuilding, arriving at St Petersburg in 1780, whence he travelled throughout Russia as far as the frontier of China, examining mines and methods of working metals. He settled in Kritchev in 1782 and there established a small shipyard with a motley work-force. In 1784 he was appointed to command a battalion. He set up a yard on the "Panopticon" principle, with all workshops radiating from his own central office. He increased the armament of his ships greatly by strengthening the hulls and fitting guns without recoil, which resulted in a great victory over the Turks at Liman in 1788. For this he was awarded the Cross of St George and promoted to Brigadier- General. Soon after, he was appointed to a command in Siberia, where he was responsible for opening up the resources of the country greatly by developing river navigation.In 1791 he returned to England, where he was at first involved in the development of the Panopticon for his brother as well as with several other patents. In 1795 he was asked to look into the mechanization of the naval dockyards, and for the next eighteen years he was involved in improving methods of naval construction and machinery. He was responsible for the invention of the steam dredger, the caisson method of enclosing the entrances to docks, and the development of non-recoil cannonades of large calibre.His intervention in the maladministration of the naval dockyards resulted in an enquiry that brought about the clearing-away of much corruption, making him very unpopular. As a result he was sent to St Petersburg to arrange for the building of a number of ships for the British navy, in which the Russians had no intention of co-operating. On his return to England after two years he was told that his office of Inspector-General of Navy Works had been abolished and he was appointed to the Navy Board; he had several disagreements with John Rennie and in 1812 was told that this office, too, had been abolished. He went to live in France, where he stayed for thirteen years, returning in 1827 to arrange for the publication of some of his papers.There is some doubt about his use of his title: there is no record of his having received a knighthood in England, but it was assumed that he was authorized to use the title, granted to him in Russia, after his presentation to the Tsar in 1809.[br]Further ReadingMary Sophia Bentham, Life of Brigadier-General Sir Samuel Bentham, K.S.G., Formerly Inspector of Naval Works (written by his wife, who died before completing it; completed by their daughter).IMcN -
72 Benton, Linn Boyd
SUBJECT AREA: Paper and printing[br]b. 13 May 1844 Little Falls, New York, USAd. 15 July 1932 Plainfield, New Jersey, USA[br]American typefounder, cutter and designer, inventor of the automatic punch-cutting machine.[br]Benton spent his childhood in Milwaukee and La Crosse, where he early showed a talent for mechanical invention. His father was a lawyer with an interest in newspapers and who acquired the Milwaukee Daily News. Benton became familiar with typesetting equipment in his father's newspaper office. He learned the printer's trade at another newspaper office, at La Crosse, and later worked as bookkeeper at a type foundry in Milwaukee. When that failed in 1873, Benton acquired the plant, and when he was joined by R.V.Waldo the firm became Benton, Waldo \& Co. Benton began learning and improving type-cutting practice. He first devised unit-width or "self-spacing" type which became popular with compositors, saving, it was reckoned, 20 per cent of their time. Meanwhile, Benton worked on a punch-cutting machine to speed up the process of cutting letters in the steel punches from which matrices or moulds were formed to enable type to be cast from molten metal. His first mechanical punch-cutter worked successfully in 1884. The third machine, patented in 1885, was the model that revolutionized the typefounding operation. So far, punch-cutting had been done by hand, a rare and expensive skill that was insufficient to meet the demands of the new typesetting machines, the monotype of Lanston and the linotype of Merganthaler. These were threatened with failure until Benton saved the day with his automatic punch-cutter. Mechanizing punch-cutting and the forming of matrices made possible the typesetting revolution brought about by mono-and linotype.In 1892 Benton's firm merged with others to form the American Type Founders Company. Benton's equipment was moved to New York and he with it, to become a board member and Chief Technical Advisor. In 1894 he became Manager of the company's new plant for type manufacture in Jersey City. Benton steadily improved both machinery and processes, for which he was granted twenty patents. With his son Morris Fuller, he was also notable and prolific in the field of type design. Benton remained in active association with his company until just two weeks before his death.[br]Further ReadingObituary, 1932, Inland Printer (August): 53–4.P.Cost, 1985, "The contributions of Lyn [sic] Boyd Benton and Morris Fuller Benton to the technology of typesetting and the art of typeface design", unpublished MSc thesis, Rochester Institute of Technology (the most thorough treatment).H.L.Bullen, 1922, Inland Printer (October) (describes Benton's life and work).LRD -
73 Benz, Karl
[br]b. 25 November 1844 Pfaffenrot, Black Forest, Germanyd. 4 April 1929 Ladenburg, near Mannheim, Germany[br]German inventor of one of the first motor cars.[br]The son of a railway mechanic, it is said that as a child one of his hobbies was the repair of Black Forest clocks. He trained as a mechanical engineer at the Karlsruhe Lyzeum and Polytechnikum under Ferdinand Redtenbacher (d. 1863), who pointed out to him the need for a more portable power source than the steam engine. He went to Maschinenbau Gesellschaft Karlsruhe for workshop experience and then joined Schweizer \& Cie, Mannheim, for two years. In 1868 he went to the Benkiser Brothers at Pforzheim. In 1871 he set up a small machine-tool works at Mannheim, but in 1877, in financial difficulties, he turned to the idea of an entirely new product based on the internal-combustion engine. At this time, N.A. Otto held the patent for the four-stroke internal-combustion engine, so Benz had to put his hopes on a two-stroke design. He avoided the trouble with Dugald Clerk's engine and designed one in which the fuel would not ignite in the pump and in which the cylinder was swept with fresh air between each two firing strokes. His first car had a sparking plug and coil ignition. By 1879 he had developed the engine to a stage where it would run satisfactorily with little attention. On 31 December 1879, with his wife Bertha working the treadle of her sewing machine to charge the batteries, he demonstrated his engine in street trials in Mannheim. In the summer of 1888, unknown to her husband, Bertha drove one of his cars the 80 km (50 miles) to Pforzheim and back with her two sons, aged 13 and 15. She and the elder boy pushed the car up hills while the younger one steered. They bought petrol from an apothecary in Wiesloch and had a brake block repaired in Bauschlott by the village cobbler. Karl Benz's comments on her return from this venture are not recorded! Financial problems prevented immediate commercial production of the automobile, but in 1882 Benz set up the Gasmotorenfabrik Mannheim. After trouble with some of his partners, he left in 1883 and formed a new company, Benz \& Cie, Rheinische Gasmotorenfabrik. Otto's patent was revoked in 1886 and in that year Benz patented a motor car with a gas engine drive. He manufactured a 0.8hp car, the engine running at 250 rpm with a horizontal flywheel, exhibited at the Paris Fair in 1889. He was not successful in finding anyone in France who would undertake manufacture. This first car was a three-wheeler, and soon after he produced a four-wheeled car, but he quarrelled with his co-directors, and although he left the board in 1902 he rejoined it soon after.[br]Further ReadingSt J.Nixon, 1936, The Invention of the Automobile. E.Diesel et al., 1960, From Engines to Autos. E.Johnson, 1986, The Dawn of Motoring.IMcN -
74 Colt, Samuel
SUBJECT AREA: Weapons and armour[br]b. 19 July 1814 Hartford, Connecticut, USAd. 10 January 1862 Hartford, Connecticut, USA[br]American inventor of the revolver.[br]The son of a textile manufacturer, as a youth Colt displayed an interest in chemistry, largely through bleaching and dyeing processes used in his father's business, and lectured to lay audiences on it. In 1832 he took ship as a deckhand on a voyage to India; the concept of the revolver is supposed to have come to him from watching the ship's wheel.Upon his return to the USA he described the idea to the US Patent Office, but did not register it until four years later, having taken out patents in Britain and France during a visit to Europe in 1835. He formed a company to manufacture his invention, but it failed in 1842. Even so, note had been taken of his weapon, and in 1846, upon the outbreak of the war with Mexico, the US Government placed an order for his revolver that was executed by the Eli Whitney arms factory in his native Hartford. Thereafter Colt set up another company, this time successfully. He also took an interest in other fields, experimenting with a submarine battery and electrically detonated mines, and opened a submarine telegraph between New York and Coney Island in 1843.CM -
75 Cooke, William Fothergill
SUBJECT AREA: Telecommunications[br]b. 1806 Baling, London, Englandd. 25 June 1879 Farnham, Surrey, England[br]English physicist, pioneer of electric telegraphy.[br]The son of a surgeon who became Professor of Anatomy at Durham University, Cooke received a conventional classical education, with no science, in Durham and at Edinburgh University. He joined the East India Company's aimy in Madras, but resigned because of ill health in 1833. While convalescent, Cooke travelled in Europe and began making wax models of anatomical sections, possibly as teaching aids for his father. In Germany he saw an experimental electric-telegraph demonstration, and was so impressed with the idea of instantaneous long-distance communication that he dropped the modelling and decided to devote all his energies to developing a practical electric telegraph. His own instruments were not successful: they worked across a room, but not over a mile of wire. His search for scientific advice led him to Charles Wheatstone, who was working on a similar project, and together they obtained a patent for the first practical electric telegraph. Cooke's business drive and Wheatstone's scientific abilities should have made a perfect partnership, but the two men quarrelled and separated. Cooke's energy and enthusiasm got the telegraph established, first on the newly developing railways, then independently. Sadly, the fortune he made from the telegraph was lost in other ventures, and he died a poor man.[br]Further ReadingG.Hubbard, 1965, Cooke and Wheatstone and the Invention of the Electric Telegraph, London, Routledge \& Kegan Paul (provides a short account of Cooke's life; there is no full biography).BBBiographical history of technology > Cooke, William Fothergill
-
76 Cowper-Coles, Sherard Osborn
SUBJECT AREA: Metallurgy[br]b. 8 October 1866 East Harting, Sussex, Englandd. 9 September 1936[br]English inventor of the sherardizing process for metal protection.[br]He was the son of Captain Cowper- Coles, Royal Navy, the inventor of the swivelling turret for naval guns. He inherited his father's inventive talents and investigated a variety of inventions in his workshop at his home at Sunbury-on-Thames, assisted by a number of scientific workers. He had been educated by governesses, but he lacked a sound scientific background. His inventions, rarely systematically pursued, ranged from electrolytic processes for making copper sheets and parabolic reflectors to a process for inlaying and decorating metallic surfaces. Overall, however, he is best known for the invention of "sherardizing", the process for producing a rustproof coating of zinc on small metallic articles. The discovery came by chance, when he was annealing iron and steel packed in zinc dust to exclude air. The metal was found to be coated with a thin layer of zinc with some surface penetration. The first patent for the process was obtained in 1900, and later the American rights were sold, with a company being formed in 1908 to control them. A small plant was set up in Chelsea, London, to develop the process to the point where it could be carried out on a commercial scale in a plant in Willesden. Sherardizing has not been a general protective finish, but is restricted to articles such as nuts and bolts which are then painted or finished. The process was still in use in 1977, operated by the Zinc Alloy Company (London) Ltd.[br]Further ReadingC.A.Smith, 1978, "Sherard Cowper-Coles: a review of the inception of sherardizing", Transactions of the Newcomen Society 49:1–4.LRDBiographical history of technology > Cowper-Coles, Sherard Osborn
-
77 Ctesibius (Ktesibios) of Alexandria
[br]fl. c.270 BC Alexandria[br]Alexandrian mechanician and inventor.[br]Ctesibius made a number of inventions of great importance, which he described in his book Pneumatics, now lost. The Roman engineer and architect Vitruvius quoted extracts from Ctesibius' work in his De Architectura and tells us that Ctesibius was the son of a barber and that he arranged an adjustable mirror controlled by a lead counterweight descending in a cylinder. He noticed that the weight compressed the air, which could be released with a loud noise. That led him to realize that the air was a body or substance: by means of a cylinder and plunger, he went on to invent an air pump with valves. This he connected to the keyboard and rows of pipes of an organ. He also invented a force pump for water.Ctesibius also improved the clepsydra or water clock, which measured time by the fall of water level in a vessel as the water escaped through a hole in the bottom. The rate of flow varied as the level dropped, so Ctesibius interposed a cistern with an overflow pipe, enabling the water level to be maintained; there was thus a constant flow into a cylinder and the passage of time was indicated by a float with a pointer. He fitted a rack to the float which turned a toothed wheel, to activate bells, singing birds or other "toys". This is probably the first known use of toothed gearing.Ctesibius is credited with some other inventions of a military nature, such as a catapult, but it was his pumps that established a tradition in antiquity for mechanical invention using the pressure of the air and other fluids, stretching through Philo of Byzantium (c.150 BC) and Hero of Alexandria (c.62 AD) and on through Islam into medieval Western Europe.[br]Further ReadingA.G.Drachmann, 1948, Ktesibios, Philon and Heron: A Study in Ancient Pneumatics, Copenhagen: Munksgaard (Acta Hist. Sci. Nat. Med. 4).LRDBiographical history of technology > Ctesibius (Ktesibios) of Alexandria
-
78 Daguerre, Louis Jacques Mandé
SUBJECT AREA: Photography, film and optics[br]b. 18 November 1787 Carmeilles-en-Parisis, Franced. 10 July 1851 Petit-Bry-sur-Marne, France[br]French inventor of the first practicable photographic process.[br]The son of a minor official in a magistrate's court, Daguerre showed an early aptitude for drawing. He was first apprenticed to an architect, but in 1804 he moved to Paris to learn the art of stage design. He was particularly interested in perspective and lighting, and later showed great ingenuity in lighting stage sets. Fascinated by a popular form of entertainment of the period, the panorama, he went on to create a variant of it called the diorama. It is assumed that he used a camera obscura for perspective drawings and, by purchasing it from the optician Chevalier, he made contact with Joseph Nicéphore Niepce. In 1829 Niepce and Daguerre entered into a formal partnership to perfect Niepce's heliographic process, but the partnership was dissolved when Niepce died in 1833, when only limited progress had been made. Daguerre continued experimenting alone, however, using iodine and silver plates; by 1837 he had discovered that images formed in the camera obscura could be developed by mercury vapour and fixed with a hot salt solution. After unsuccessfully attempting to sell his process, Daguerre approached F.J.D. Arago, of the Académie des Sciences, who announced the discovery in 1839. Details of Daguerre's work were not published until August of that year when the process was presented free to the world, except England. With considerable business acumen, Daguerre had quietly patented the process through an agent, Miles Berry, in London a few days earlier. He also granted a monopoly to make and sell his camera to a Monsieur Giroux, a stationer by trade who happened to be a relation of Daguerre's wife. The daguerreotype process caused a sensation when announced. Daguerre was granted a pension by a grateful government and honours were showered upon him all over the world. It was a direct positive process on silvered copper plates and, in fact, proved to be a technological dead end. The future was to lie with negative-positive photography devised by Daguerre's British contemporary, W.H.F. Talbot, although Daguerre's was the first practicable photographic process to be announced. It captured the public's imagination and in an improved form was to dominate professional photographic practice for more than a decade.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsOfficier de la Légion d'honneur 1839. Honorary FRS 1839. Honorary Fellow of the National Academy of Design, New York, 1839. Honorary Fellow of the Vienna Academy 1843. Pour le Mérite, bestowed by Frederick William IV of Prussia, 1843.Bibliography14 August 1839, British patent no. 8,194 (daguerrotype photographic process).The announcement and details of Daguerre's invention were published in both serious and popular English journals. See, for example, 1839 publications of Athenaeum, Literary Gazette, Magazine of Science and Mechanics Magazine.Further ReadingH.Gernsheim and A.Gernsheim, 1956, L.J.M. Daguerre (the standard account of Daguerre's work).—1969, The History of Photography, rev. edn, London (a very full account).J.M.Eder, 1945, History of Photography, trans. E. Epstean, New York (a very full account).JWBiographical history of technology > Daguerre, Louis Jacques Mandé
-
79 Davis, Robert Henry
SUBJECT AREA: Ports and shipping[br]b. 6 June 1870 London, Englandd. 29 March 1965 Epsom, Surrey, England[br]English inventor of breathing, diving and escape apparatus.[br]Davis was the son of a detective with the City of London police. At the age of 11 he entered the employment of Siebe, Gorman \& Co., manufacturers of diving and other safety equipment since 1819, at their Lambeth works. By good fortune, his neat handwriting attracted the notice of Mr Gorman and he was transferred to work in the office. He studied hard after working hours and rose steadily in the firm. In his twenties he was promoted to Assistant Manager, then General Manager, Managing Director and finally Governing Director. He retired in 1960, having been made Life President the previous year, and continued to attend the office regularly until May 1964.Davis's entire career was devoted to research and development in the firm's special field. In 1906 he perfected the first practicable oxygen-breathing apparatus for use in mine rescue; it was widely adopted and with modifications was still in use in the 1990s. With Professor Leonard Hill he designed a deep-sea diving-bell incorporating a decompression chamber. He also invented an oxygen-breathing apparatus and heated apparel for airmen flying at high altitudes.Immediately after the first German gas attacks on the Western Front in April 1915, Davis devised a respirator, known as the stocking skene or veil mask. He quickly organized the mass manufacture of this device, roping in members of his family and placing the work in the homes of Lambeth: within 48 hours the first consignment was being sent off to France.He was a member of the Admiralty Deep Sea Diving Committee, which in 1933 completed tables for the safe ascent of divers with oxygen from a depth of 300 ft (91 m). They were compiled by Davis in conjunction with Professors J.B.S.Haldane and Leonard Hill and Captain G.C.Damant, the Royal Navy's leading diving expert. With revisions these tables have been used by the Navy ever since. Davis's best-known invention was first used in 1929: the Davis Submarine Escape Apparatus. It became standard equipment on submarines until it was replaced by the Built-in Breathing System, which the firm began manufacturing in 1951.The firm's works were bombed during the Second World War and were re-established at Chessington, Surrey. The extensive research facilities there were placed at the disposal of the Royal Navy and the Admiralty Experimental Diving Unit. Davis worked with Haldane and Hill on problems of the underwater physiology of working divers. A number of inventions issued from Chessington, such as the human torpedo, midget submarine and human minesweeper. In the early 1950s the firm helped to pioneer the use of underwater television to investigate the sinking of the submarine Affray and the crashed Comet jet airliners.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsKnighted 1932.BibliographyDavis was the author of several manuals on diving including Deep Sea Diving and Submarine Operations and Breathing in Irrespirable Atmospheres. He also wrote Resuscitation: A Brief Personal History of Siebe, Gorman \& Co. 1819–1957.Further ReadingObituary, 1965, The Times, 31 March, p. 16.LRD -
80 Dudley, Dud
SUBJECT AREA: Metallurgy[br]b. 1599d. 25 October 1684 Worcester, England[br]English ironmaster who drew attention to the need to change from charcoal to coal as a fuel for iron smelting.[br]Dudley was the fourth natural son of Edward Sutton, fifth Baron Dudley. In 1619 he was summoned from Balliol College, Oxford, to superintend his father's ironworks at Pensnet in Worcestershire. There had long been concern at the destruction of the forests in order to make charcoal for the smelting of iron ore, and unsuccessful attempts had been made to substitute coal as a fuel. Finding that charcoal was in short supply and coal plentiful near Pensnet, Dudley was stimulated by these attempts to try the process for himself. He claimed to have made good, marketable iron and in 1621 his father obtained a patent from the King to protect his process for thirty-one years. After a serious flood, Dudley moved to Staffordshire and continued his efforts there. In 1639 he was granted a further patent for making iron with coal. Although he probably made some samples of good iron, more by luck than judgement, it is hardly possible that he achieved consistent success. He blamed this on the machinations of other ironmasters. The day that King Charles II landed in England to assume his throne', Dudley petitioned him to renew his patents, but he was refused and he ceased to promote his invention. In 1665, however, he published his celebrated book Metallum Martis, Iron Made with Pit-Coaky Sea-Coale…. In this he described his efforts in general terms, but neither there nor in his patents does he give any technical details of his methods. He implied the use of slack or small coal from the Staffordshire Thick or Ten Yard coal, but this has a sulphur content that would have rendered the iron unusable; in addition, this coal would not have been suitable for converting to coke in order to remove the sulphur. Nevertheless, Dudley recognized the need to change from charcoal to coal as a fuel for iron smelting and drew attention to it, even though he himself achieved little success.[br]Further ReadingH.R.Schubert, 1957, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry AD 430 to AD 1775, London: Routledge \& Kegan Paul.W.K.V.Gale, 1967, The British Iron and Steel Industry: A Technical History, London (provides brief details of Dudley's life in relation to the history of ironmaking).LRD
Страницы
См. также в других словарях:
INVENTION — L’invention est l’acte de produire par ses propres moyens un élément, un objet ou un processus original; plus généralement, de produire ou de créer en utilisant son imagination: inventer une machine, inventer une histoire. Le terme a aussi un… … Encyclopédie Universelle
INVENTION (BREVET D’) — «L’invention, a dit Bergson, est la démarche essentielle de l’esprit humain, celle qui distingue l’homme de l’animal et lui a permis peu à peu d’affirmer son règne matériel sur le monde.» Sur le plan collectif, les peuples n’existent et ne valent … Encyclopédie Universelle
Invention (brevet) — Brevet Propriété intellectuelle Propriété littéraire et artistique Droit d auteur et copyright Droits voisins Propriété industrielle Créations utilitaires: Brevet Secret industriel et … Wikipédia en Français
Invention du cinéma — Histoire du cinéma Cet article retrace les grandes étapes qui jalonnent l histoire du cinéma. La première projection du cinématographe Lumière dans une salle prévu à cet effet (salle de cinéma) a lieu le 21 septembre 1895, à la Ciotat à … Wikipédia en Français
Son de la trompette — Trompette Pour les articles homonymes, voir Trompette (homonymie). Trompette en si … Wikipédia en Français
invention — (in van sion ; en vers, de quatre syllabes) s. f. 1° Habileté d inventer, disposition à inventer. • Ils [les poëtes trop châtiés] rampent bassement, faibles d inventions, RÉGNIER Sat. IX.. • J ai trouvé ce nom [M. d Arles] pour ne dire ni M … Dictionnaire de la Langue Française d'Émile Littré
INVENTION — s. f. Faculté d inventer, disposition de l esprit à inventer. Ce poëte, ce peintre n a point d invention. Cet homme est plein d invention. Il se prend aussi pour L action d inventer, ou pour La chose inventée. Depuis l invention de l imprimerie … Dictionnaire de l'Academie Francaise, 7eme edition (1835)
Invention De Reliques — Une inventio reliquarum est un récit portant sur la découverte « miraculeuse » d ossements d un saint, martyr ou non (singulièrement, en Palestine, un prophète), ou d un objet qui a touché ce saint. La présente liste donne quelques… … Wikipédia en Français
Invention d'ivrogne — est un conte japonais des temps modernes qui a trait au mensonge. Sommaire 1 Le conte 2 Bibliographie 3 Voir aussi 4 Notes … Wikipédia en Français
Son Goku (Dragon Ball) — Son Gokû (Dragon Ball) Pour les articles homonymes, voir Son Gokû. Son Goku Personnage de Dragon Bal … Wikipédia en Français
Son (music) — Son cubano Stylistic origins A fusion of Spanish guitar and song, with percussion of African origin Cultural origins Cuba (late 19th C. Oriente) Typical instruments Guitar or tres, marímbula or double bass, trumpet, bongo … Wikipedia
