england+and+scotland)+and

SUBJECT AREA: Ports and shipping

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At the conclusion of his apprenticeship at the Royal Dockyard, Portsmouth, Biles entered the Royal School of Naval Architecture, South Kensington, London; as it was absorbed by the Royal Naval College, he graduated from Greenwich to the Naval Construction Branch, first at Pembroke and later at the Admiralty. From the outset of his professional career it was apparent that he had the intellectual qualities that would enable him to oversee the greatest changes in ship design of all time. He was one of the earliest proponents of the revolutionary work of the hydrodynamicist William Froude.

In 1880 Biles turned to the merchant sector, taking the post of Naval Architect to J. \& G. Thomson (later John Brown \& Co.). Using Froude's Law of Comparisons he was able to design the record-breaking City of Paris of 1887, the ship that started the fabled succession of fast and safe Clyde bank-built North Atlantic liners. For a short spell, before returning to Scotland, Biles worked in Southampton. In 1891 Biles accepted the Chair of Naval Architecture at the University of Glasgow. Working from the campus at Gilmorehill, he was to make the University (the oldest school of engineering in the English-speaking world) renowned in naval architecture. His workload was legendary, but despite this he was admired as an excellent lecturer with cheerful ways which inspired devotion to the Department and the University. During the thirty years of his incumbency of the Chair, he served on most of the important government and international shipping committees, including those that recommended the design of HMS Dreadnought, the ordering of the Cunarders Lusitania and Mauretania and the lifesaving improvements following the Titanic disaster. An enquiry into the strength of destroyer hulls followed the loss of HMS Cobra and Viper, and he published the report on advanced experimental work carried out on HMS Wolf by his undergraduates.

In 1906 he became Consultant Naval Architect to the India Office, having already set up his own consultancy organization, which exists today as Sir J.H.Biles and Partners. His writing was prolific, with over twenty-five papers to professional institutions, sundry articles and a two-volume textbook.

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SUBJECT AREA: Ports and shipping

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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.

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SUBJECT AREA: Automotive engineering, Steam and internal combustion engines

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Clerk began his engineering training at about the age of 15 in the drawing office of H.O.Robinson \& Company, Glasgow, and in his father's works. Meanwhile, he studied at the West of Scotland Technical College and then, from 1871 to 1876, at Anderson's College, Glasgow, and at the Yorkshire College of Science, Leeds. Here he worked under and then became assistant to the distinguished chemist T.E.Thorpe, who set him to work on the fractional distillation of petroleum, which was to be useful to him in his later work. At that time he had intended to become a chemical engineer, but seeing a Lenoir gas engine at work, after his return to Glasgow, turned his main interest to gas and other internal combustion engines. He pursued his investigations first at Thomson, Sterne \& Company (1877–85) and then at Tangyes of Birmingham (1886–88. In 1888 he began a lifelong partnership in Marks and Clerk, consulting engineers and patent agents, in London.

Beginning his work on gas engines in 1876, he achieved two patents in the two following years. In 1878 he made his principal invention, patented in 1881, of an engine working on the two-stroke cycle, in which the piston is powered during each revolution of the crankshaft, instead of alternate revolutions as in the Otto four-stroke cycle. In this engine, Clerk introduced supercharging, or increasing the pressure of the air intake. Many engines of the Clerk type were made but their popularity waned after the patent for the Otto engine expired in 1890. Interest was later revived, particularly for application to large gas engines, but Clerk's engine eventually came into its own where simple, low-power motors are needed, such as in motor cycles or motor mowers.

Clerk's work on the theory and design of gas engines bore fruit in the book The Gas Engine (1886), republished with an extended text in 1909 as The Gas, Petrol and Oil Engine; these and a number of papers in scientific journals won him international renown. During and after the First World War, Clerk widened the scope of his interests and served, often as chairman, on many bodies in the field of science and industry.

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SUBJECT AREA: Textiles

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Peter Ewart, the youngest of six sons, was born at Traquair manse, where his father was a clergyman in the Church of Scotland. He was educated at the Free School, Dumfries, and in 1782 spent a year at Edinburgh University. He followed this with an apprenticeship under John Rennie at Musselburgh before moving south in 1785 to help Rennie erect the Albion corn mill in London. This brought him into contact with Boulton \& Watt, and in 1788 he went to Birmingham to erect a waterwheel and other machinery in the Soho Manufactory. In 1789 he was sent to Manchester to install a steam engine for Peter Drinkwater and thus his long connection with the city began. In 1790 Ewart took up residence in Manchester as Boulton \& Watt's representative. Amongst other engines, he installed one for Samuel Oldknow at Stockport. In 1792 he became a partner with Oldknow in his cotton-spinning business, but because of financial difficulties he moved back to Birmingham in 1795 to help erect the machines in the new Soho Foundry. He was soon back in Manchester in partnership with Samuel Greg at Quarry Bank Mill, Styal, where he was responsible for developing the water power, installing a steam engine, and being concerned with the spinning machinery and, later, gas lighting at Greg's other mills.

In 1798, Ewart devised an automatic expansion-gear for steam engines, but steam pressures at the time were too low for such a device to be effective. His grasp of the theory of steam power is shown by his paper to the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society in 1808, On the Measure of Moving Force. In 1813 he patented a power loom to be worked by the pressure of steam or compressed air. In 1824 Charles Babbage consulted him about automatic looms. His interest in textiles continued until at least 1833, when he obtained a patent for a self-acting spinning mule, which was, however, outclassed by the more successful one invented by Richard Roberts. Ewart gave much help and advice to others. The development of the machine tools at Boulton \& Watt's Soho Foundry has been mentioned already. He also helped James Watt with his machine for copying sculptures. While he continued to run his own textile mill, Ewart was also in partnership with Charles Macintosh, the pioneer of rubber-coated cloth. He was involved with William Fairbairn concerning steam engines for the boats that Fairbairn was building in Manchester, and it was through Ewart that Eaton Hodgkinson was introduced to Fairbairn and so made the tests and calculations for the tubes for the Britannia Railway Bridge across the Menai Straits. Ewart was involved with the launching of the Liverpool \& Manchester Railway as he was a director of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce at the time.

In 1835 he uprooted himself from Manchester and became the first Chief Engineer for the Royal Navy, assuming responsibility for the steamboats, which by 1837 numbered 227 in service. He set up repair facilities and planned workshops for overhauling engines at Woolwich Dockyard, the first establishment of its type. It was here that he was killed in an accident when a chain broke while he was supervising the lifting of a large boiler. Engineering was Ewart's life, and it is possible to give only a brief account of his varied interests and connections here.

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SUBJECT AREA: Textiles

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There are two claimants for the person who originated the differential gear as applied to roving frames: one is J.Green, a tinsmith of Mansfield, in his patent of 1823; the other is Arnold, who had applied it in America and patented it in early 1823. This latter was the source for Houldsworth's patent in 1826. It seems that Arnold's gearing was secretly communicated to Houldsworth by Charles Richmond, possibly when Houldsworth visited the United States in 1822–3, but more probably in 1825 when Richmond went to England. In return, Richmond received information about parts of a cylinder printing machine from Houldsworth. In the working of the roving frame, as the rovings were wound onto their bobbins and the diameter of the bobbins increased, the bobbin speed had to be reduced to keep the winding on at the same speed while the flyers and drawing rollers had to maintain their initial speed. Although this could be achieved by moving the driving belt along coned pulleys, this method did not provide enough power and slippage occurred. The differential gear combined the direct drive from the main shaft of the roving frame with that from the cone drive, so that only the latter provided the dif-ference between flyer and bobbin speeds, i.e. the winding speeds, thus taking away most of the power from that belt. Henry Houldsworth Senior (1774–1853) was living in Manchester when his son Henry was born, but by 1800 had moved to Glasgow. He built several mills, including a massive one at Anderston, Scotland, in which a Boulton \& Watt steam engine was installed. Henry Houldsworth Junior was probably back in Manchester by 1826, where he was to become an influential cotton spinner as chief partner in his mills, which he moved out to Reddish in 1863–5. He was also a prominent landowner in Cheetham. When William Fairbairn was considering establishing the Association for the Prevention of Steam Boiler Explosions in 1854, he wanted to find an influential manufacturer and mill-owner and he made a happy choice when he turned to Henry Houldsworth for assistance.

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SUBJECT AREA: Steam and internal combustion engines

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Although born in Paisley, McNaught was educated in Glasgow where his parents had moved in 1820. He followed in his father's footsteps and became an engineer through an apprenticeship with Robert Napier at the Vulcan Works, Washington Street, Glasgow. He also attended science classes at the Andersonian University in the evenings and showed such competence that at the age of 19 he was offered the position of being in charge of the Fort-Gloster Mills on the Hoogly river in India. He remained there for four years until 1836, when he returned to Scotland because the climate was affecting his health.

His father had added the revolving cylinder to the steam engine indicator, and this greatly simplified and extended its use. In 1838 William joined him in the business of manufacturing these indicators at Robertson Street, Glasgow. While advising textile manufacturers on the use of the indicator, he realized the need for more powerful, smoother-running and economical steam engines. He provided the answer by placing a high-pressure cylinder midway between the fulcrum of the beam and the connecting rod on an ordinary beam engine. The original cylinder was retained to act as the low-pressure cylinder of what became a compound engine. This layout not only reduced the pressures on the bearing surfaces and gave a smoother-running engine, which was one of McNaught's aims, but he probably did not anticipate just how much more economical his engines would be; they often gave a saving of fuel up to 40 per cent. This was because the steam pipe connecting the two cylinders acted as a receiver, something lacking in the Woolf compound, which enabled the steam to be expanded properly in both cylinders. McNaught took out his patent in 1845, and in 1849 he had to move to Manchester because his orders in Lancashire were so numerous and the scope was much greater there than in Glasgow. He took out further patents for equalizing the stress on the working parts, but none was as important as his original one, which was claimed to have been one of the greatest improvements since the steam engine left the hands of James Watt. He was one of the original promoters of the Boiler Insurance and Steam Power Company and was elected Chairman in 1865, a position he retained until a short time before his death.

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prep in

moto a luogo to

in casa at home

è in Scozia he is in Scotland

va in Inghilterra he is going to England

in italiano in Italian

in campagna in the country

essere in viaggio be travelling

viaggiare in macchina travel by car

nel 1999 in 1999

una giacca in pelle a leather jacket

in vacanza on holiday

se fossi in te if I were you, if I were in your place

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in prep.

1 (stato in luogo, posizione) in, at; (dentro) inside; (su, sopra) on: in Italia, negli Stati Uniti, in Italy, in the United States; abitano in città, in campagna, in centro, in periferia, they live in town, in the country, in the centre, on the outskirts; in ufficio, at the office; in casa, in chiesa, at home, at church; nell'aria, in the air; la casa editrice ha sede in Milano, the publishing house has its headquarters in Milan; la statua sorge nel centro della piazza, the statue stands in the centre of the square; mio padre lavora in banca, my father works in a bank; stanotte dormiremo in albergo, we'll sleep in a hotel tonight; è stato due anni in prigione, he spent two years in prison; prendevano il sole in giardino, they were sunbathing in the garden; nel cielo erano apparse le prime stelle, the first stars had appeared in the sky; i fazzoletti sono nel primo cassetto, the handkerchieves are in the top drawer; nella stanza c'era molto fumo, there was a lot of smoke in the room; c'era gran festa nelle strade e nelle piazze, there were great celebrations in the streets and squares; siamo rimasti chiusi in casa tutto il giorno, we stayed in the house (o indoors) all day; ti aspetto in macchina, I'll wait for you in the car; non c'è niente in tavola?, isn't there anything on the table?; leggo sempre in treno, I always read on the train; hanno una casa proprio in riva al mare, they have a house right on the sea front; la notizia è apparsa in prima pagina, the news was on the front page; gli diede un bacio in fronte, she kissed him on the forehead; teneva in braccio un bambino, she was holding a baby in her arms; che cos'hai in mano?, what have you got in your hands?; ho sempre in mente le sue parole, his words are still in my mind; in lui ho trovato un vero amico, I found a real friend in him; questa espressione ricorre spesso in Dante, this expression often appears in Dante; nel lavoro non trova alcuna soddisfazione, he gets no satisfaction from his job // in fondo a, at the bottom of // in primo piano, in the foreground (o up close) // in bella mostra, in a prominent position // nel bel mezzo, right in the middle: s'interruppe nel bel mezzo del discorso, he stopped right in the middle of his speech // (non) avere fiducia in se stesso, (not) to be self-confident // credere in Dio, to believe in God

2 (moto a luogo, direzione) to; (verso l'interno) into: è andato in Francia per lavoro, he went to France on business; domani andremo in campagna, we'll go to the country tomorrow; vorrei tornare in America, I'd like to go back to America; devo scendere in cantina, I must go down to the cellar; quando rientrerete in città?, when are you returning to town?; la nave era appena entrata in porto, the ship had just come into dock; la gente si riversò nelle strade, people poured into the streets; abbiamo mandato i bambini in montagna, we've sent the children to the mountains; questa merce va spedita in Germania, these goods are to be sent to Germany; non sporgerti troppo dalla barca, puoi cadere in acqua, don't lean too far out of the boat, you might fall in the water; puoi venire nel mio ufficio un attimo?, can you come into my office for a moment?; mise la mano in tasca e tirò fuori il portafoglio, he put his hand in his pocket and took out his wallet; rimetti quelle pratiche nel cassetto, put those papers back in the drawer; vai subito nella tua stanza!, go to your room at once!; hanno arrestato il ladro e l'hanno messo in prigione, the thief was arrested and put in prison; in quale direzione andate?, which way are you going?; sulle scale m'imbattei in uno sconosciuto, I bumped into a stranger on the stairs; ho inciampato in un gradino e sono caduto, I tripped over a step and fell down; si è messo in mente di fare l'attore, he's got it into his head that he wants to become an actor

3 (moto per luogo) through, across: ha viaggiato molto in Europa, he has done a lot of travelling across Europe; il corteo sfilò nelle strade principali, the procession wound its way through the main streets; correre nei campi, to run across the fields; tanti pensieri le passavano nella mente, many thoughts went through her mind

4 (cambiamento, passaggio, trasformazione) into: tradurre dall'inglese in italiano, to translate from English into Italian; convertire gli euro in dollari, to change euros into dollars; la proprietà è stata divisa in due, the property has been divided in half (o into two); il vaso cadde e andò in frantumi, the vase fell and broke into pieces // si è fatto in quattro per aiutarci, he bent over backwards to help us // il maltempo ha mandato in fumo tutti i nostri progetti, the bad weather put paid to all our plans // di bene in meglio, better and better; di male in peggio, from bad to worse // di tre in tre, in threes // Anita Rossi in De Marchi, (di donna coniugata) Anita De Marchi, née Rossi // andare in rovina, to go to (rack and) ruin (anche fig.) // andare in estasi, to be overjoyed // montare in collera, to fly into a rage

5 (tempo) in; on; at: in marzo, in primavera, in March, in spring; in pieno inverno, in the middle of winter; in una mattina d'estate, one (o on a) summer morning; in quel giorno, on that day; in questo (preciso) momento, at this (very) moment; in tutta la mia vita, in all my life; nel pomeriggio, in the afternoon; si è laureato nel 1980, he graduated in 1980; tornerò a casa nel mese di settembre, I'll return home in September; nell'era atomica, in the atomic age; in gioventù, in (one's) youth; in tempo di guerra, di pace, in wartime, in peacetime; in epoca vittoriana, in the Victorian age; esamineranno otto candidati in un giorno, they will examine eight candidates in one day; ha fatto tutto il lavoro in due ore, he got through all the work in two hours; viene in Italia tre volte in un anno, he comes to Italy three times a year // arriverò in giornata, I'll arrive some time in the day // in serata, during the evening // nello stesso tempo, at the same time // nel frattempo, in the meantime // in un attimo, in un batter d'occhio, in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye // in men che non si dica, quick as a flash // in quattro e quattr'otto, in less than no time // di ora in ora, di giorno in giorno, from time to time, from day to day

6 (modo, maniera) in; on: il pubblico ascoltava in silenzio, the audience listened in silence; mi guardava in un modo strano, he looked at me in a strange way (o strangely); parla in perfetto italiano, he speaks perfect Italian; scrivere in penna, in matita, in corsivo, in versi, to write in pen, in pencil, in italics, in verse; le istruzioni erano scritte in tedesco, the instructions were written in German; camminava in fretta, he was walking in a hurry; rispose in tono sgarbato, he answered rudely; entrammo in punta di piedi, we entered on tiptoe; procedevano in fila indiana, they walked single file; preferì rimanere in disparte, he preferred to stay on his own; stare in piedi, to stand on one's feet; tutti erano in abito da sera, they were all in evening dress; uscì in pantofole sul pianerottolo, he went on to the landing in his slippers // (resto) in attesa di una vostra cortese risposta, (nelle lettere) awaiting your reply // (comm.) assegno in bianco, blank cheque; pagare in contanti, in assegni, to pay cash, by cheque; 10.000 euro in biglietti da 10, 10,000 euros in 10 euro notes // una riproduzione in miniatura, a reproduction in miniature (o a miniature reproduction); trasmettere in diretta, to broadcast live // una partita in casa, in trasferta, a home, an away match // pomodori in insalata, tomato salad; pollo in gelatina, chicken in aspic

7 (stato, condizione, circostanza) in, at: essere in pace, in guerra con qlcu., to be at peace, at war with s.o.; mi piace stare in compagnia, I like company; vivere nell'angoscia, to live in anxiety; in salute e in malattia, in sickness and in health; morì in miseria, he died in poverty; la sua vita era in pericolo, her life was in danger; ero in una situazione imbarazzante, I was in an embarrassing position; siamo nei pasticci!, we're in a mess!; ben presto si trovò nei guai fino al collo, he soon found himself up to his neck in trouble; non sono in condizioni di pagare una cifra simile, I'm not in a position to pay such a sum (of money) // essere in odio, in simpatia a qlcu., to be liked, to be hated by s.o.

8 (limitazione, misura) in, at: (la) laurea in lingue, a degree in languages; dottore in legge, doctor of law; è bravo in matematica, ma è debole in francese, he's good at maths, but poor at French; un terzo della classe è stato rimandato in chimica, a third of the class is having to repeat chemistry; ha conseguito il diploma in ragioneria, he got a diploma in bookkeeping; ha intenzione di specializzarsi in pediatria, he is going to specialize in pediatrics; la nostra ditta commercia in pellami, our firm deals in leather goods; mio fratello è campione di salto in alto, my brother is high jump champion; la stanza era 5 metri in lunghezza, the room was 5 metres long

9 (materia): una statua in bronzo, a bronze statue; una borsa in pelle, a leather handbag; rivestimento in legno, wood panelling; abito in puro cotone, an all cotton dress; poltrone in velluto, velvet armchairs; incisione in rame, copperplate engraving; un vassoio in argento, a silver tray ∙ Come si nota dagli esempi, in questo significato si usa spesso in inglese la forma aggettivale in luogo del compl. introdotto dalla prep. in

10 (mezzo) by; in; on: viaggiare in treno, in aereo, in macchina, to travel by train, by air, by car; sei venuto a piedi o in autobus?, have you come on foot or by bus?; abbiamo fatto una gita in barca, we went out on the boat; pagare in euro, in dollari, in assegni, to pay in euros, in dollars, by cheque

11 (fine, scopo): ho avuto in dono una macchina fotografica, I've been presented with a camera; il vincitore riceverà in premio un milione di dollari, the winner will receive a prize of a million dollars; mi ha dato in prestito la sua macchina per qualche giorno, he has lent me his car for a few days; mi hanno mandato in visione il primo volume dell'opera, they sent me the first volume of the work to look at; la festa era in onore del sindaco, the party was in honour of the mayor; parlare in difesa di qlcu., to speak in s.o.'s defence

12 (seguito da inf.): nell'entrare mi accorsi subito che qualcosa non andava, on entering I realized at once there was something wrong; l'ho incontrato nel tornare, I met him on the way back; nel salire in macchina mi sono cadute le chiavi, I dropped my keys while getting into the car; il bicchiere si è rotto nel lavarlo, the glass broke while it was being washed; nel dire ciò fu preso da commozione, in saying this he was overcome by emotion

13 (predicativo; in ingl. non si traduce): siamo rimasti in due, only two of us were left; fra tutti eravamo in quaranta, there were forty of us in all; erano in molti, in pochi, there were many of them, few of them; se fossi in te, if I were you; dipingere qlco. in rosso, to paint sthg. red.

◆ FRASEOLOGIA: in alto, up there; up (above); in basso, down there; down (below); in giù, downward (s); in su, upward (s) // in cerca di, in search of // in dettaglio, in detail; in forse, in doubt // in particolare, in particular // in quanto, in so far as: in quanto a ciò, as for that // in tutti i modi, in any case; in virtù di, as... // in rapporto a, as regards // in qualità di, in (one's) capacity as // nel caso che, (se, qualora) if; (nell'eventualità che) in case: portati l'ombrello, nel caso che piova, take your umbrella with you in case it rains; nel caso che torni prima di me, fatti dare le chiavi dal portinaio, if you should get back before I do, get the keys from the custodian // in fede, yours faithfully // in coscienza, truthfully // in lungo e in largo, far and wide.

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1. prep in + il = nel, in + lo = nello, in + l'= nell', in + la = nella, in + i = nei, in + gli = negli, in + le = nelle

1) (stato in luogo) in, (all'interno) inside

2) (moto a luogo) to, (dentro) into

3)

4) (tempo) in

5) (mezzo) by

6) (modo, maniera) in

7) (materia) made of

8)

9) (misura) in

10)

2. avv

3. agg inv

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preposizione (artcl. nel, nello, nella, nell'; pl. nei, negli, nelle)

1) (stato in luogo) in; (all'interno) in, inside; (sopra) on

2) (moto a luogo) to

3) (moto per luogo)

4) (tempo) (durante)

5) (mezzo) by

6) (modo, maniera)

7) (fine)

8) (trasformazione)

9) (per indicare relazione di matrimonio)

10) (materia)

11) (limitazione)

12) (misura)

13) (quantità)

14) (davanti a un infinito)

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in

/in/

preposizione

(artcl. nel, nello, nella, nell'; pl. nei, negli, nelle)

 1 (stato in luogo) in; (all'interno) in, inside; (sopra) on; abito in via Roma I live in BE o on AE via Roma; vivere in Italia, in città, in campagna to live in Italy, in town, in the country; stare in casa to stay at home; essere in un taxi to be in a taxi; in televisione on TV; in questa storia in this story; nel suo discorso in his speech; che cosa ti piace in un uomo? what do you like in a man? un tema ricorrente in Montale a recurrent theme in Montale's work

 2 (moto a luogo) to; andare in Francia, in città, in campagna to go to France, to town, to the country; andare in vacanza to go on holiday; vado in macelleria I'm going to the butcher's; entrare in una stanza to go into a room; il treno sta per entrare in stazione the train is arriving at the station; salire in macchina to get into the car

 3 (moto per luogo) passeggiare in centro to walk in the city centre BE o around downtown AE; viaggiare in Cina, negli Stati Uniti to travel around o through Cina, the United States; correre nei prati to run across the fields; infilare il dito nella fessura to stick one's finger through the slit

 4 (tempo) (durante) in inverno in winter; nel 1991 in 1991; nel Medio Evo in the Middle Ages; negli ultimi giorni over the last few days; in settimana mangio alla mensa during the week I eat at the canteen; (entro) l'ho fatto in due giorni I did it in two days; lo farò in settimana I'll do it within the week

 5 (mezzo) by; sono venuto in taxi I came here by taxi; abbiamo fatto un giro in barca we went out on the boat

 6 (modo, maniera) un'opera in versi, inglese, tre volumi a work in verse, in English, in three volumes; parlare in spagnolo to speak Spanish; in piena forma in great shape; in contanti (in) cash

 7 (fine) ho avuto questo libro in regalo this book was given to me as a present; in vendita for sale

 8 (trasformazione) tradurre in italiano to translate into Italian; cambiare delle sterline in dollari to change pounds in dollars

 9 (per indicare relazione di matrimonio) Enza Bianchi in Rossi Enza Rossi, née Bianchi

 10 (materia) è in oro it's made of gold; un anello in oro a gold ring

 11 (limitazione) laurea in filosofia degree in philosophy; laureato in lettere arts graduate; essere bravo in storia to be good at history; malattia frequente nei bovini common disease in cattle; in politica in politics

 12 (misura) il muro misura tre metri in altezza e sei in lunghezza the wall is three metres high and six metres long

 13 (quantità) erano in venti there were twenty of them; siamo in pochi there are few of us; abbiamo fatto il lavoro in due two of us did the job

 14 (davanti a un infinito) nel tornare a casa,... on my way home,...; nel dire così,... saying this,...

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See also notes... (in.pdf)

SUBJECT AREA: Civil engineering, Land transport, Railways and locomotives

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Joseph Locke was the son of a colliery viewer who had known George Stephenson in Northumberland before moving to Yorkshire: Locke himself became a pupil of Stephenson in 1823. He worked with Robert Stephenson at Robert Stephenson \& Co.'s locomotive works and surveyed railways, including the Leeds \& Selby and the Canterbury \& Whitstable, for George Stephenson.

When George Stephenson was appointed Chief Engineer for construction of the Liverpool \& Manchester Railway in 1826, the first resident engineer whom he appointed to work under him was Locke, who took a prominent part in promoting traction by locomotives rather than by fixed engines with cable haulage. The pupil eventually excelled the master and in 1835 Locke was appointed in place of Stephenson as Chief Engineer for construction of the Grand Junction Railway. He introduced double-headed rails carried in chairs on wooden sleepers, the prototype of the bullhead track that became standard on British railways for more than a century. By preparing the most detailed specifications, Locke was able to estimate the cost of the railway much more accurately than was usual at that time, and it was built at a cost close to the estimate; this made his name. He became Engineer to the London \& Southampton Railway and completed the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyme \& Manchester Railway, including the 3-mile (3.8 km) Woodhead Tunnel, which had been started by Charles Vignoles. He was subsequently responsible for many British main lines, including those of the companies that extended the West Coast Route northwards from Preston to Scotland. He was also Engineer to important early main lines in France, notably that from Paris to Rouen and its extension to Le Havre, and in Spain and Holland. In 1847 Locke was elected MP for Honiton.

Locke appreciated early in his career that steam locomotives able to operate over gradients steeper than at first thought practicable would be developed. Overall his monument is not great individual works of engineering, such as the famous bridges of his close contemporaries Robert Stephenson and I.K. Brunel, but a series of lines built economically but soundly through rugged country without such works; for example, the line over Shap, Cumbria.

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See also: Brassey, Thomas

SUBJECT AREA: Chemical technology, Electricity

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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.

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SUBJECT AREA: Electricity, Metallurgy, Public utilities

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After studying at the West of Scotland Technical College in Glasgow, in January 1895 Morrison was appointed Engineer to the newly formed British Aluminium Company Limited (BAC); it was with this organization that he spent his entire career. The company secured the patent rights to the Héroult and Bayer processes. It constructed a 200 tonne per year electrolytic plant at Foyers on the shore of Loch Ness, together with an adjacent 5000 kW hydroelectric scheme, and it built an alumina factory at Larne Harbour in north-eastern Ireland. Morrison was soon Manager at Foyers, and he became the company's Joint Technical Adviser. In 1910 he was made General Manager, and later he was appointed Managing Director. Morrison successfully brought about improvements in all parts of the production process; between 1915 and 1930 he increased the size of individual electrolytic cells by a factor of five, from 8,000 to 40,000 amperes. Soon after 1901, BAC built a second works for electrolytic reduction, at Kinlochleven in Argyllshire, where the primary design originated from Morrison. In the 1920s a third plant was erected at Fort William, in the lee of Ben Nevis, with hydroelectric generators providing some 75 MW. Alumina factories were constructed at Burntisland on the Firth of Forth and, in the 1930s, at Newport in Monmouthshire. Rolling mills were developed at Milton in Staffordshire, Warrington, and Falkirk in Stirlingshire, this last coming into use in the 1940s, by which time the company had a primary-metal output of more than 30,000 tonnes a year. Morrison was closely involved in all of these developments. He retired in 1946 as Deputy Chairman of BAC.

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See also: Hall, Charles Martin

SUBJECT AREA: Ports and shipping

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Murray was educated in Glasgow at Allan Glen's School and then at the University, from which he graduated in naval architecture in 1922. He served an apprenticeship simultaneously with Barclay Curle \& Co., rising to the rank of Assistant Shipyard Manager before leaving in 1927 to join Lloyd's Register of Shipping. After an initial year in Newcastle, he joined the head office in London, which was to be base for the remainder of his working life. Starting with plan approval, he worked his way to experimental work on ship structures and was ultimately given the massive task of revising Lloyd's Rules and placing them on a scientific basis. During the Second World War he acted as liaison officer between Lloyd's and the Admiralty. Throughout his career he presented no fewer than twenty-two papers on ship design, and of these nearly half dealt with hull longitudinal strength. This work won him considerable acclaim and several awards and was of fundamental importance to the shipping industry. The Royal Institution of Naval Architects honoured Murray in 1960 by inviting him to present one of the only two papers read at their centenary meeting: "Merchant ships 1860–1960". At Lloyd's Register he rose to Chief Ship Surveyor, and at the time of his death was Honorary Vice-President of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects.

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SUBJECT AREA: Architecture and building

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Robert Adam was a man of outstanding talent, immense energy dedicated to his profession, and of great originality, who utilized all sources of classical art from ancient Greece and Rome as well as from the Renaissance and Baroque eras in Italy. He was also a very practical exponent of neo-classicism and believed in using the latest techniques to produce fine craftsmanship.

Of particular interest to him was stucco, the material needed for elegant, finely crafted ceiling and wall designs. Stucco, though the Italian word for plaster, refers architecturally to a specific form of the material. Known as Stucco duro (hard plaster), its use and composition dates from the days of ancient Rome. Giovanni da Udine, a pupil of Raphael, having discovered some fine stucco antico in the ruins of the Palace of Titus in Rome, carried out extensive research during the Italian Renaissance in order to discover its precise composition; it was a mixture of powdered crystalline limestone (travertine), river sand, water and powdered white marble. The marble produced an exceptionally hard stucco when set, thereby differentiating it from plaster-work, and was a material fine enough to make delicate relief and statuary work possible.

In the 1770s Robert Adam's ceiling and wall designs were characterized by low-relief, delicate, classical forms. He and his brothers, who formed the firm of Adam Brothers, were interested in a stucco which would be especially fine grained and hard setting. A number of new products then appearing on the market were easier to handle than earlier ones. These included a stucco by Mr David Wark, patented in 1765, and another by a Swiss clergyman called Liardet in 1773; the Adam firm purchased both patents and obtained an Act of Parliament authorizing them to be the sole vendors and makers of this stucco, which they called "Adam's new invented patent stucco". More new versions appeared, among which was one by a Mr Johnson, who claimed it to be an improvement. The Adam Brothers, having paid a high price for their rights, took him to court. The case was decided in 1778 by Lord Mansfield, a fellow Scot and a patron (at Kenwood), who,

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SUBJECT AREA: Architecture and building, Civil engineering

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Albert received a sound education in the arts and sciences, carefully designed to fit him for a role as consort to the future Queen Victoria. After their marriage in 1840, Albert threw himself into the task of establishing his position as, eventually, Prince Consort and uncrowned king of England. By his undoubted intellectual gifts, unrelenting hard work and moral rectitude, Albert moulded the British constitutional monarchy into the form it retains to this day. The purchase in 1845 of the Osborne estate in the Isle of Wight provided not only the growing royal family with a comfortable retreat from London and public life, but Albert with full scope for his abilities as architect and planner. With Thomas Cubitt, the eminent engineer and contractor, Albert erected at Osborne one of the most remarkable buildings of the nineteenth century. He went on to design the house and estate at Balmoral in Scotland, another notable creation.

Albert applied his abilities as architect and planner in the promotion of such public works as the London sewer system and, in practical form, the design of cottages for workers, such as those in south London, as well as those on the royal estates. Albert's other main contribution to technology was as educationist in a broad sense. In 1847, he was elected Chancellor of Cambridge University. He was appalled at the low standards and narrow curriculum prevailing there and at Oxford. He was no mere figurehead, but took a close and active interest in the University's affairs. With his powerful influence behind them, the reforming fellows were able to force measures to raise standards and widen the curriculum to take account, in particular, of the rapid progress in the natural sciences. Albert was instrumental in ending the lethargy of centuries and laying the foundations of the modern British university system.

In 1847 the Prince became Secretary of the Royal Society of Arts. With Henry Cole, the noted administrator who shared Albert's concern for the arts, he promoted a series of exhibitions under the auspices of the Society. From these grew the idea of a great exhibition of the products of the decorative and industrial arts. It was Albert who decided that its scope should be international. As Chairman of the organizing committee, by sheer hard work he drove the project through to a triumphant conclusion. The success of the Exhibition earned it a handsome profit for which Albert had found a use even before it closed. The proceeds went towards the purchase of a site in South Kensington, for which he drew up a grand scheme for a complex of museums and colleges for the education of the people in the sciences and the arts. This largely came to fruition and South Kensington today is a fitting memorial to the Prince Consort's wisdom and concern for the public good.

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SUBJECT AREA: Textiles

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Arkwright was the youngest of thirteen children and was apprenticed to a barber; when he was about 18, he followed this trade in Bol ton. In 1755 he married Patients Holt, who bore him a son before she died, and he remarried in 1761, to Margaret Biggins. He prospered until he took a public house as well as his barber shop and began to lose money. After this failure, he travelled around buying women's hair for wigs.

In the late 1760s he began spinning experiments at Preston. It is not clear how much Arkwright copied earlier inventions or was helped by Thomas Highs and John Kay but in 1768 he left Preston for Nottingham, where, with John Smalley and David Thornley as partners, he took out his first patent. They set up a mill worked by a horse where machine-spun yarn was produced successfully. The essential part of this process lay in drawing out the cotton by rollers before it was twisted by a flyer and wound onto the bobbin. The partners' resources were not sufficient for developing their patent so Arkwright found new partners in Samuel Need and Jedediah Strutt, hosiers of Nottingham and Derby. Much experiment was necessary before they produced satisfactory yarn, and in 1771 a water-driven mill was built at Cromford, where the spinning process was perfected (hence the name "waterframe" was given to his spinning machine); some of this first yarn was used in the hosiery trade. Sales of all-cotton cloth were initially limited because of the high tax on calicoes, but the tax was lowered in 1774 by Act of Parliament, marking the beginning of the phenomenal growth of the cotton industry. In the evidence for this Act, Arkwright claimed that he had spent £12,000 on his machine. Once Arkwright had solved the problem of mechanical spinning, a bottleneck in the preliminary stages would have formed but for another patent taken out in 1775. This covered all preparatory processing, including some ideas not invented by Arkwright, with the result that it was disputed in 1783 and finally annulled in 1785. It contained the "crank and comb" for removing the cotton web off carding engines which was developed at Cromford and solved the difficulty in carding. By this patent, Arkwright had mechanized all the preparatory and spinning processes, and he began to establish water-powered cotton mills even as far away as Scotland. His success encouraged many others to copy him, so he had great difficulty in enforcing his patent Need died in 1781 and the partnership with Strutt ended soon after. Arkwright became very rich and financed other spinning ventures beyond his immediate control, such as that with Samuel Oldknow. It was estimated that 30,000 people were employed in 1785 in establishments using Arkwright's patents. In 1786 he received a knighthood for delivering an address of thanks when an attempt to assassinate George III failed, and the following year he became High Sheriff of Derbyshire. He purchased the manor of Cromford, where he died in 1792.

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SUBJECT AREA: Synthetic materials, Textiles

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Bevan began his working life as a chemist in a soap works at Runcorn, but later studied chemistry at Owens College, Manchester. It was there that he met and formed a friendship with C.F. Cross, with whom he started to work on cellulose. Bevan moved to a paper mill in Scotland but then went south to London, where he and Cross set up a partnership in 1885 as consulting and analytical chemists. Their work was mainly concerned with the industrial utilization of cellulose, and with the problems of the paper and jute industries. Their joint publication, A Text-book of Paper-making, which first appeared in 1888 and went into several editions, became the standard reference and textbook on the subject. The book has a long introductory chapter on cellulose.

In 1892 Cross, Bevan and Clayton Beadle discovered viscose, or sodium cellulose xanthate, and took out the patent which was to be the foundation of the "viscose rayon" industry. They had their own laboratory at Station Avenue, Kew Gardens, where they carried out much work that eventually resulted in viscose: cellulose, usually in the form of wood pulp, was treated first with caustic soda and then with carbon disulphide to form the xanthate, which was then dissolved in a solution of dilute caustic soda to produce a viscous liquid. After being aged, the viscose was extruded through fine holes in a spinneret and coagulated in a dilute acid to regenerate the cellulose as spinnable fibres. At first there was no suggestion of spinning it into fibre, but the hope was to use it for filaments in incandescent electric light bulbs. The sheen on the fibres suggested their possible use in textiles and the term "artificial silk" was later introduced. Cross and Bevan also discovered the acetate "Celanese", which was cellulose triacetate dissolved in acetone and spun in air, but both inventions needed much development before they could be produced commercially.

In 1892 Bevan turned from cellulose to food and drugs and left the partnership to become Public Analyst to Middlesex County Council, a post he held until his death, although in 1895 he and Cross published their important work Cellulose. He was prominent in the affairs of the Society of Public Analysts and became one of its officials.

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SUBJECT AREA: Land transport, Mining and extraction technology, Railways and locomotives

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The Wylam wagonway passed Newburn, and Hedley, who went to school at Wylam, must have been familiar with this wagonway from childhood. It had been built c.1748 to carry coal from Wylam Colliery to the navigable limit of the Tyne at Lemington. In 1805 Hedley was appointed viewer, or manager, of Wylam Colliery by Christopher Blackett, who had inherited the colliery and wagonway in 1800. Unlike most Tyneside wagonways, the gradient of the Wylam line was insufficient for loaded wagons to run down by gravity and they had to be hauled by horses. Blackett had a locomotive, of the type designed by Richard Trevithick, built at Gateshead as early as 1804 but did not take delivery, probably because his wooden track was not strong enough. In 1808 Blackett and Hedley relaid the wagonway with plate rails of the type promoted by Benjamin Outram, and in 1812, following successful introduction of locomotives at Middleton by John Blenkinsop, Blackett asked Hedley to investigate the feasibility of locomotives at Wylam. The expense of re-laying with rack rails was unwelcome, and Hedley experimented to find out the relationship between the weight of a locomotive and the load it could move relying on its adhesion weight alone. He used first a model test carriage, which survives at the Science Museum, London, and then used a full-sized test carriage laden with weights in varying quantities and propelled by men turning handles. Having apparently satisfied himself on this point, he had a locomotive incorporating the frames and wheels of the test carriage built. The work was done at Wylam by Thomas Waters, who was familiar with the 1804 locomotive, Timothy Hackworth, foreman smith, and Jonathan Forster, enginewright. This locomotive, with cast-iron boiler and single cylinder, was unsatisfactory: Hackworth and Forster then built another locomotive to Hedley's design, with a wrought-iron return-tube boiler, two vertical external cylinders and drive via overhead beams through pinions to the two axles. This locomotive probably came into use in the spring of 1814: it performed well and further examples of the type were built. Their axle loading, however, was too great for the track and from about 1815 each locomotive was mounted on two four-wheeled bogies, the bogie having recently been invented by William Chapman. Hedley eventually left Wylam in 1827 to devote himself to other colliery interests. He supported the construction of the Clarence Railway, opened in 1833, and sent his coal over it in trains hauled by his own locomotives. Two of his Wylam locomotives survive— Puffing Billy at the Science Museum, London, and Wylam Dilly at the Royal Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh—though how much of these is original and how much dates from the period 1827–32, when the Wylam line was re-laid with edge rails and the locomotives reverted to four wheels (with flanges), is a matter of mild controversy.

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See also: Stephenson, George

SUBJECT AREA: Medical technology

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The younger brother of William Hunter (1718–83), who was of great distinction but perhaps of slightly less achievement in similar fields, he owed much of his early experience to his brother; William, after a period at Glasgow University, moved to St George's Hospital, London. In his later teens, John assisted a brother-in-law with cabinet-making. This appears to have contributed to the lifelong mechanical skill which he displayed as a dissector and surgeon. This skill was particularly obvious when, after following William to London in 1748, he held post at a number of London teaching hospitals before moving to St George's in 1756. A short sojourn at Oxford in 1755 appears to have been unfruitful.

Despite his deepening involvement in the study of comparative anatomy, facilitated by the purchase of animals from the Tower menagerie and travelling show people, he accepted an appointment as a staff surgeon in the Army in 1760, participating in the expedition to Belle Isle and also serving in Portugal. He returned home with over 300 specimens in 1763 and, until his appointment as Surgeon to St George's in 1768, was heavily involved in the examination of this and other material, as well as in studies of foetal testicular descent, placental circulation, the nature of pus and lymphatic circulation. In 1772 he commenced lecturing on the theory and practice of surgery, and in 1776 he was appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary to George III.

He is rightly regarded as the founder of scientific surgery, but his knowledge was derived almost entirely from his own experiments and observations. His contemporaries did not always accept or understand the concepts which led to such aphorisms as, "to perform an operation is to mutilate a patient we cannot cure", and his written comment to his pupil Jenner: "Why think. Why not trie the experiment". His desire to establish the aetiology of gonorrhoea led to him infecting himself, as a result of which he also contracted syphilis. His ensuing account of the characteristics of the disease remains a classic of medicine, although it is likely that the sequelae of the condition brought about his death at a relatively early age. From 1773 he suffered recurrent anginal attacks of such a character that his life "was in the hands of any rascal who chose to annoy and tease him". Indeed, it was following a contradiction at a board meeting at St George's that he died.

By 1788, with the death of Percival Pott, he had become unquestionably the leading surgeon in Britain, if not Europe. Elected to the Royal Society in 1767, the extraordinary variety of his collections, investigations and publications, as well as works such as the "Treatise on the natural history of the human teeth" (1771–8), gives testimony to his original approach involving the fundamental and inescapable relation of structure and function in both normal and disease states. The massive growth of his collections led to his acquiring two houses in Golden Square to contain them. It was his desire that after his death his collection be purchased and preserved for the nation. It contained 13,600 specimens and had cost him £70,000. After considerable delay, Par-liament voted inadequate sums for this purpose and the collection was entrusted to the recently rechartered Royal College of Surgeons of England, in whose premises this remarkable monument to the omnivorous and eclectic activities of this outstanding figure in the evolution of medicine and surgery may still be seen. Sadly, some of the collection was lost to bombing during the Second World War. His surviving papers were also extensive, but it is probable that many were destroyed in the early nineteenth century.

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SUBJECT AREA: Mechanical, pneumatic and hydraulic engineering, Public utilities

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He was the third child and the eldest of three boys born to John Murdoch and Anna Bruce. His father, a millwright and joiner, spelled his name Murdock on moving to England. He was educated for some years at Old Cumnock Parish School and in 1777, with his father, he built a "wooden horse", supposed to have been a form of cycle. In 1777 he set out for the Soho manufactory of Boulton \& Watt, where he quickly found employment, Boulton supposedly being impressed by the lad's hat. This was oval and made of wood, and young William had turned it himself on a lathe of his own manufacture. Murdock quickly became Boulton \& Watt's representative in Cornwall, where there was a flourishing demand for steam-engines. He lived at Redruth during this period.

It is said that a number of the inventions generally ascribed to James Watt are in fact as much due to Murdock as to Watt. Examples are the piston and slide valve and the sun-and-planet gearing. A number of other inventions are attributed to Murdock alone: typical of these is the oscillating cylinder engine which obviated the need for an overhead beam.

In about 1784 he planned a steam-driven road carriage of which he made a working model. He also planned a high-pressure non-condensing engine. The model carriage was demonstrated before Murdock's friends and travelled at a speed of 6–8 mph (10–13 km/h). Boulton and Watt were both antagonistic to their employees' developing independent inventions, and when in 1786 Murdock set out with his model for the Patent Office, having received no reply to a letter he had sent to Watt, Boulton intercepted him on the open road near Exeter and dissuaded him from going any further.

In 1785 he married Mary Painter, daughter of a mine captain. She bore him four children, two of whom died in infancy, those surviving eventually joining their father at the Soho Works. Murdock was a great believer in pneumatic power: he had a pneumatic bell-push at Sycamore House, his home near Soho. The pattern-makers lathe at the Soho Works worked for thirty-five years from an air motor. He also conceived the idea of a vacuum piston engine to exhaust a pipe, later developed by the London Pneumatic Despatch Company's railway and the forerunner of the atmospheric railway.

Another field in which Murdock was a pioneer was the gas industry. In 1791, in Redruth, he was experimenting with different feedstocks in his home-cum-office in Cross Street: of wood, peat and coal, he preferred the last. He designed and built in the backyard of his house a prototype generator, washer, storage and distribution plant, and publicized the efficiency of coal gas as an illuminant by using it to light his own home. In 1794 or 1795 he informed Boulton and Watt of his experimental work and of its success, suggesting that a patent should be applied for. James Watt Junior was now in the firm and was against patenting the idea since they had had so much trouble with previous patents and had been involved in so much litigation. He refused Murdock's request and for a short time Murdock left the firm to go home to his father's mill. Boulton \& Watt soon recognized the loss of a valuable servant and, in a short time, he was again employed at Soho, now as Engineer and Superintendent at the increased salary of £300 per year plus a 1 per cent commission. From this income, he left £14,000 when he died in 1839.

In 1798 the workshops of Boulton and Watt were permanently lit by gas, starting with the foundry building. The 180 ft (55 m) façade of the Soho works was illuminated by gas for the Peace of Paris in June 1814. By 1804, Murdock had brought his apparatus to a point where Boulton \& Watt were able to canvas for orders. Murdock continued with the company after the death of James Watt in 1819, but retired in 1830 and continued to live at Sycamore House, Handsworth, near Birmingham.

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SUBJECT AREA: Canals, Civil engineering

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Born into a prosperous farming family, he early demonstrated his natural mechanical and structural aptitude. As a boy he spent a great deal of time, often as a truant, near his home in the workshop of Andrew Meikle. Meikle was a millwright and the inventor of a threshing machine. After local education and an apprenticeship with Meikle, Rennie went to Edinburgh University until he was 22. He then travelled south and met James Watt, who in 1784 offered him the post of Engineer at the Albion Flour Mills, London, which was then under construction. Rennie designed all the mill machinery, and it was while there that he began to develop an interest in canals, opening his own business in 1791 in Blackfriars. He carried out work on the Kennet and Avon Canal and in 1794 became Engineer for the company. He meanwhile carried out other surveys, including a proposed extension of the River Stort Navigation to the Little Ouse and a Basingstoke-to-Salisbury canal, neither of which were built. From 1791 he was also engaged on the Rochdale Canal and the Lancaster Canal, as well as the great masonry aqueduct carrying the latter canal across the river Lune at Lancaster. He also surveyed the Ipswich and Stowmarket and the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigations. He advised on the Horncastle Canal in 1799 and on the River Ancholme in 1799, both of which are in Lincolnshire. In 1802 he was engaged on the Royal Canal in Ireland, and in the same year he was commissioned by the Government to prepare a plan for flooding the Lea Valley as a defence on the eastern approach to London in case Napoleon invaded England across the Essex marshes. In 1809 he surveyed improvements on the Thames, and in the following year he was involved in a proposed canal from Taunton to Bristol. Some of his schemes, particularly in the Fens and Lincolnshire, were a combination of improvements for both drainage and navigation. Apart from his canal work he engaged extensively in the construction and development of docks and harbours including the East and West India Docks in London, Holyhead, Hull, Ramsgate and the dockyards at Chatham and Sheerness. In 1806 he proposed the great breakwater at Plymouth, where work commenced on 22 June 1811.

He was also highly regarded for his bridge construction. These included Kelso and Musselburgh, as well as his famous Thames bridges: London Bridge (uncompleted at the time of his death), Waterloo Bridge (1810–17) and Southwark Bridge (1815–19). He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1798.

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

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As a boy, Smeaton showed mechanical ability, making for himself a number of tools and models. This practical skill was backed by a sound education, probably at Leeds Grammar School. At the age of 16 he entered his father's office; he seemed set to follow his father's profession in the law. In 1742 he went to London to continue his legal studies, but he preferred instead, with his father's reluctant permission, to set up as a scientific instrument maker and dealer and opened a shop of his own in 1748. About this time he began attending meetings of the Royal Society and presented several papers on instruments and mechanical subjects, being elected a Fellow in 1753. His interests were turning towards engineering but were informed by scientific principles grounded in careful and accurate observation.

In 1755 the second Eddystone lighthouse, on a reef some 14 miles (23 km) off the English coast at Plymouth, was destroyed by fire. The President of the Royal Society was consulted as to a suitable engineer to undertake the task of constructing a new one, and he unhesitatingly suggested Smeaton. Work began in 1756 and was completed in three years to produce the first great wave-swept stone lighthouse. It was constructed of Portland stone blocks, shaped and pegged both together and to the base rock, and bonded by hydraulic cement, scientifically developed by Smeaton. It withstood the storms of the English Channel for over a century, but by 1876 erosion of the rock had weakened the structure and a replacement had to be built. The upper portion of Smeaton's lighthouse was re-erected on a suitable base on Plymouth Hoe, leaving the original base portion on the reef as a memorial to the engineer.

The Eddystone lighthouse made Smeaton's reputation and from then on he was constantly in demand as a consultant in all kinds of engineering projects. He carried out a number himself, notably the 38 mile (61 km) long Forth and Clyde canal with thirty-nine locks, begun in 1768 but for financial reasons not completed until 1790. In 1774 he took charge of the Ramsgate Harbour works.

On the mechanical side, Smeaton undertook a systematic study of water-and windmills, to determine the design and construction to achieve the greatest power output. This work issued forth as the paper "An experimental enquiry concerning the natural powers of water and wind to turn mills" and exerted a considerable influence on mill design during the early part of the Industrial Revolution. Between 1753 and 1790 Smeaton constructed no fewer than forty-four mills.

Meanwhile, in 1756 he had returned to Austhorpe, which continued to be his home base for the rest of his life. In 1767, as a result of the disappointing performance of an engine he had been involved with at New River Head, Islington, London, Smeaton began his important study of the steam-engine. Smeaton was the first to apply scientific principles to the steam-engine and achieved the most notable improvements in its efficiency since its invention by Newcomen, until its radical overhaul by James Watt. To compare the performance of engines quantitatively, he introduced the concept of "duty", i.e. the weight of water that could be raised 1 ft (30 cm) while burning one bushel (84 lb or 38 kg) of coal. The first engine to embody his improvements was erected at Long Benton colliery in Northumberland in 1772, with a duty of 9.45 million pounds, compared to the best figure obtained previously of 7.44 million pounds. One source of heat loss he attributed to inaccurate boring of the cylinder, which he was able to improve through his close association with Carron Ironworks near Falkirk, Scotland.

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