in+later+years

SUBJECT AREA: Ports and shipping

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At the conclusion of his schooling in the South of England, Yarrow became an indentured apprentice to the Thames engine-builder Ravenhill. During this five-year period various incidents and meetings sharpened his interest in scientific matters and he showed the skills that in later years were to be so beneficial to shipbuilding. For two years he acted as London representative for Ravenhill before joining up with a Mr Hedley to form a shipyard on the Isle of Dogs. The company lasted from 1868 until 1875 and in that period produced 350 small launches and other craft. This massive output enabled Yarrow to gain confidence in many aspects of ship design. Within two years of setting out on his own he built his first ship for the Royal Navy: a torpedo boat, then at the cutting edge of technology.

In the early 1890s the company was building watertube boilers and producing destroyers with speeds in excess of 27 knots (50 km/h); it built the Russian destroyer Sokol, did pioneering work with aluminium and with high-tensile steels and worked on shipboard equipment to nullify vibrational effects. With the closure of most of the Thames shipyards and the run-down in skilled labour, Yarrow decided that the shipyard must move to some other part of the United Kingdom. After careful deliberation a green field site to the west of Glasgow was chosen, and in 1908 their first Clyde-built destroyer was launched. The company expanded, more building berths were arranged, boiler construction was developed and over the years they became recognized as specialists in smaller highspeed craft and in "knock down" ships for other parts of the world.

Yarrow retired in 1913, but at the commencement of the First World War he returned to help the yard produce, in four years, twenty-nine destroyers with speeds of up to 40 knots (74 km/h). At the end of hostilities he gave of his time and money to many charities, including those for ex-servicemen. He left a remarkable industrial organization which remains to this day the most prolific builder of surface craft for the Royal Navy.

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Adj. Obst, Weichkäse etc.: ripe; Hartkäse, Wein: auch mature; Früchte, Wein, fig. Charakter, Wesensart: mellow; Mensch, Schönheit, Urteil, Plan: mature; Geschwür: fully developed; reif werden reifen; körperlich / seelisch reif physically / psychologically mature; eine reife Frau a mature woman; reif für sein Alter sein be mature for one’s age; noch nicht reif ( genug) für not yet ready ( oder sufficiently experienced) for; wenn die Zeit reif ist... when the time is ripe...; in reiferen Jahren in riper ( oder later) years; ein Mann von reiferen Jahren a man of mature age, a middle-aged man; im reifen Alter von at the ripe old age of; reif sein für Urlaub etc.: be ready for; reif fürs Irrenhaus umg. fit for the loony bin; reife Leistung umg. SPORT etc.: solid performance; iro. good show; er ist reif umg. he’s in for it

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(Raureif) hoarfrost;

(Ring) circlet

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m -(e)s, no pl

m -(e)s, -e (old, liter)

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1) ((having the qualities of someone who, or something that, is) fully grown or developed: a very mature person.) mature

2) ((of cheese, wine etc) ready for eating or drinking: a mature cheese.) mature

3) ((negative unripe) (of fruit, grain etc) ready to be gathered in or eaten: ripe apples/corn.) ripe

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m kein pl METEO hoar frost

m (Armreif) bracelet, bangle; (Stirnreif) circlet

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* * *

reif adj Obst, Weichkäse etc: ripe; Hartkäse, Wein: auch mature; Früchte, Wein, fig Charakter, Wesensart: mellow; Mensch, Schönheit, Urteil, Plan: mature; Geschwür: fully developed;

reif werden → reifen;

körperlich/seelisch reif physically/psychologically mature;

eine reife Frau a mature woman;

reif für sein Alter sein be mature for one’s age;

noch nicht reif (genug) für not yet ready ( oder sufficiently experienced) for;

wenn die Zeit reif ist… when the time is ripe …;

in reiferen Jahren in riper ( oder later) years;

ein Mann von reiferen Jahren a man of mature age, a middle-aged man;

im reifen Alter von at the ripe old age of;

reif sein für Urlaub etc: be ready for;

reif fürs Irrenhaus umg fit for the loony bin;

reife Leistung umg SPORT etc solid performance; iron good show;

er ist reif umg he’s in for it

…reif im adj

1. (etwas verdienend)

er ist abtrittsreif he ought to resign;

erholungsreif in need of a rest ( oder recuperation)

2. (gut oder entwickelt genug)

abfüllreif Wein etc: ready for bottling;

ausführungsreif Plan etc: ripe for execution;

ausstellungsreif fit to be exhibited;

fernsehreif fit to be shown on television;

kabarettreif funny enough to be a cabaret sketch;

olympiareif good enough for the Olympics;

operationsreif bad enough to be operated on;

oscarreif deserving an Oscar;

trinkreif Wein etc: ready for drinking

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hoarfrost n.

1 muddy, full of mire.

Camino barroso muddy road

2 pimpled, full of pimplescalled barros.

3 reddish (bueyes).

4 clayish, muddy-coloured, muddy, muddy-colored.

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► adjetivo

1 muddy

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1) (=con barro) muddy

2) [color] mud-coloured, mud-colored (EEUU); [ganado] reddish; CAm (=blancuzco) off-white

3) (Anat) pimply

* * *

= muddy [muddier -comp., muddiest -sup,], mucky [muckier -comp., muckiest -sup.].

Ex. In later years, the famous book mythological significance of muddy footprints introduced me to the ancient Hippopotamian culture.

Ex. Bulrush prefers full or partial sun, wet conditions, and soil that is mucky or sandy.

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muddy, mud-colored*

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barroso, -a adj

muddy

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adj muddy

* * *

barroso, -sa adj

enlodado: muddy

* * *

barroso adj muddy [comp. muddier; superl. muddiest]

(adj.) = muddy [muddier -comp., muddiest -sup,]

Ex. In later years, the famous book mythological significance of muddy footprints introduced me to the ancient Hippopotamian culture.

* * *

1 muddy, puddly.

2 tight-fitting, slinky, close-fitting, tight.

past participle of spanish verb: embarrar.

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► participio pasado

1→ link=embarrar embarrar

► adjetivo

1 muddy

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ADJ [calle etc] muddy

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- da adjetivo

1) <calle/zapatos> muddy

2) (Méx fam) ( ceñido) tight, tight-fitting

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= muddy [muddier -comp., muddiest -sup,].

Ex. In later years, the famous book mythological significance of muddy footprints introduced me to the ancient Hippopotamian culture.

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- da adjetivo

1) <calle/zapatos> muddy

2) (Méx fam) ( ceñido) tight, tight-fitting

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A ‹calle/zapatos› muddy

B ( Méx fam) (ceñido) tight, tight-fitting

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embarrado, -a adj

muddy, bedraggled.

past participle of spanish verb: enlodar.

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= muddy [muddier -comp., muddiest -sup,], mucky [muckier -comp., muckiest -sup.].

Ex. In later years, the famous book mythological significance of muddy footprints introduced me to the ancient Hippopotamian culture.

Ex. Bulrush prefers full or partial sun, wet conditions, and soil that is mucky or sandy.

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enlodado, -da adj

barroso: muddy

1 footprint.

seguir las huellas de alguien (figurative) to follow in somebody's footsteps

huella digital o dactilar fingerprint

huella genética genetic fingerprint

2 trace (vestigio).

3 mark.

dejar huella to leave one's mark

4 step.

3^rd person singular (él/ella/ello) present indicative of spanish verb: hollar.

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► nombre femenino

1 (de pie) footprint; (de ruedas) track

2 figurado (vestigio) trace, sign

■ las huellas del tiempo the traces of time

\

dejar huella to leave one's mark (en, on)

no quedar ni huella not to be a trace

seguir las huellas de alguien figurado to follow in somebody's footsteps

huella dactilar fingerprint

* * *

1) footprint

2) fingerprint

3) track

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1) [en el suelo] (=pisada) footprint, footstep; [de coche, animal] track

2) (=rastro) trace

3) (=impronta)

4) (=acto) tread, treading

5) [de escalera] tread

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a) ( pisada - de persona) footprint, footstep; (- de rueda) track

b) ( vestigio) mark

c) ( de escalón) tread

- huellas dactilares or digitales

* * *

= trace, footprint, imprint, footprint, footprint, track, print.

Ex. But there was no trace of sinisterness in Balzac's manner.

Ex. Such compact drives are attractive devices for laptop computers and for internal installation in desktop computers with compact footprints.

Ex. Harris was a librarian par excellence, whose imprint will become indelible in the history of Nigerian librarianship.

Ex. In later years, the famous book mythological significance of muddy footprints introduced me to the ancient Hippopotamian culture.

Ex. The article is entitled 'The Information footprint: a satellite-based information service'.

Ex. Topics include trees, leaf coloration, buds, seeds, vertebrate animals, animal tracks, insects and other arthropods, earthworms, characteristics of living things, and microhabitats.

Ex. Some of the exhibition's objects are plaster casts of such perishables as dying daffodil heads and hoof prints.

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* borrar + Posesivo + huellas = cover up + Posesivo + tracks.

* dejar huella = leave + Posesivo + mark, cut + a swath(e), leave + a trace, touch + Posesivo + life, leave + an impression, leave + an imprint, make + an impression.

* dejar huellas = leave + footprints.

* dejar una huella imborrable = leave + a lasting memory.

* dejar una huella imborrable = leave + a lasting impression.

* desaparecer sin dejar huella = evaporate into + thin air, vanish into + thin air, disappear into + thin air, disappear without + a trace, disappear into + the blue, vanish into + the blue.

* hacer huella = leave + an impression, touch + Posesivo + life, leave + Posesivo + mark, cut + a swath(e), leave + an imprint, make + an impression.

* huella dactilar = fingerprint [finger-print].

* huella de carbono = carbon imprint, carbon footprint.

* huella dejada por el pulgar = thumb-mark.

* huella ecológica = ecological imprint, ecological footprint.

* huellas = set of tracks.

* identificación mediante las huellas dactilares = finger-print identification.

* sin dejar huella = into thin air.

* * *

a) ( pisada - de persona) footprint, footstep; (- de rueda) track

b) ( vestigio) mark

c) ( de escalón) tread

- huellas dactilares or digitales

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* * *

1 (pisada — de una persona) footprint, footstep; (— de un animal) pawprint ( o hoofmark etc)

siguieron las huellas del animal they followed the animal's tracks o pawprints ( o hoofmarks etc)

2 (vestigio) mark

la huella islámica en la literatura española the Islamic influence on Spanish literature

en su rostro se veía la huella del tiempo time had left its mark on his face ( liter)

desaparecieron sin dejar huella they disappeared without (a) trace

3 (de un escalón) tread

carbon footprint

ecological footprint

genetic fingerprint

fpl fingerprints (pl)

social impact; social footprint

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3ª persona singular (él/ella/usted) presente indicativo

2ª persona singular (tú) imperativo

a) ( pisada — de persona) footprint, footstep;

◊ las huellas del animal the animal's tracks o pawprints (o hoofmarks etc);

b) ( vestigio) mark;

◊ sin dejar huella without (a) trace

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♦ ver hollar

♦ nf

1. [de persona] footprint;

seguir las huellas de alguien to follow in sb's footsteps

huella digital fingerprint;

huella genética genetic fingerprint

2. [vestigio] trace;

todavía no han desaparecido las huellas de las inundaciones you can still see the signs of the flooding

3. [impresión profunda] mark;

su rostro reflejaba las huellas del esfuerzo her face showed signs of the effort she was putting in;

dejar huella: desaparecieron sin dejar huella they vanished without trace;

un estilo de componer que ha dejado huella a style of composing that has been very influential;

sus enseñanzas dejaron huella en sus discípulos her teachings influenced her followers

4. [de escalón] tread

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f mark; de animal track;

seguir las huellas de alguien follow in s.o.’s footsteps

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huella, etc. hollar

huella nf

1) : footprint

seguir las huellas de alguien: to follow in someone's footsteps

2) : mark, impact

dejar huella: to leave one's mark

sin dejar huella: without a trace

huella digital or

huella dactilar : fingerprint

* * *

huella n

1. (de persona) footprint

2. (de animal, vehículo) track

mythological.

* * *

► adjetivo

1 mythological

* * *

ADJ mythological

* * *

- ca adjetivo mythological

* * *

= mythological.

Ex. In later years, the famous book mythological significance of muddy footprints introduced me to the ancient Hippopotamian culture.

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* personaje mitológico = mythological character.

* * *

- ca adjetivo mythological

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mythological

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◊ -ca adjetivo

* * *

mitológico, -a adj

mythological

* * *

adj mythological

* * *

mitológico, -ca adj

: mythological

1 cloudy, turbid, murky, muddy.

2 misty, blurred.

3 shady, murky, seedy, sleazy.

4 nepheloid.

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► adjetivo

1 (oscurecido) cloudy, muddy, turbid

2 figurado (dudoso) shady, dubious

3 figurado (turbulento) turbulent

4 figurado (confuso) confused

5 figurado (vista) blurred

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1. ADJ

1) [agua] cloudy, muddy, turbid frm

2) [vista] dim, blurred; [mente, pensamientos] disturbed; [tema] unclear, confused

3) [período] turbulent, unsettled

4) [negocio] shady *; [método] dubious

pl turbios

* * *

- bia adjetivo

a) < agua> cloudy

b) <visión/ojos> blurred, misty

c) <asunto/negocio> shady, murky

* * *

= murky [murkier -comp., murkiest -sup.], shady, muddy [muddier -comp., muddiest -sup,], roiling, cloudy [cloudier -comp., cloudies -sup.], turbid.

Ex. There are extraordinary uncertainties in the murky future of higher education and to change the character of our library at this stage would be too extreme a measure.

Ex. Moreover, the shady image of video libraries drove away discerning customers.

Ex. In later years, the famous book mythological significance of muddy footprints introduced me to the ancient Hippopotamian culture.

Ex. He stood on the muddy bank of the river just after dawn, staring dispiritedly at the roiling current separating him from Mexico.

Ex. We walked the familiar grounds, grass wet from days of thunder storms, the morning still cloudy and threatening.

Ex. I recently found out that 'turgid,' which actually means 'swollen' and that I was confusing it with ' turbid,' a word I've never heard.

* * *

- bia adjetivo

a) < agua> cloudy

b) <visión/ojos> blurred, misty

c) <asunto/negocio> shady, murky

* * *

* * *

1 ‹agua›

el agua salía un poco turbia the water was a bit cloudy

después de una tormenta el río baja turbio after a storm the waters of the river become murky o muddy

2 ‹visión/ojos› blurred, misty

3 ‹asunto/negocio› shady, murky

* * *

◊ - bia adjetivo

a) ‹ agua› cloudy;

b) ‹visión/ojos› blurred, misty

c) ‹asunto/negocio› shady, murky

* * *

♦ adj

1. [líquido] [un poco] cloudy;

2. [vista] blurred

3. [negocio, vida] shady

4. [época, periodo] turbulent, troubled

♦ adv

ver turbio to have blurred vision

* * *

adj cloudy, murky; fig

shady, murky

* * *

turbio, - bia adj

1) : cloudy, murky, turbid

2) : dim, blurred

3) : shady, crooked

* * *

turbio adj

1. (líquido) cloudy [comp. cloudier; superl. cloudiest]

2. (asunto, negocio) shady [comp. shadier; superl. shadiest]

(ca. 1510-1583)

   Soldier and adventurer in Asia and one of Portugal's greatest prose writers of the 16th century. He was the author of a classic, largely true adventure story and history of Portugal in Asia, the Peregrinação, which in popularity among 17th-century readers in Iberia and Europe rivaled Miguel de Cervantes's Don Quijote. Even less is known about Mendes Pinto's life than that of Luís de Camões. He left as a soldier on a fleet for India in 1537, and lived in Asia for about 17 years. In addition to Portuguese India, he saw many places in Southeast Asia, China, and Japan. His service for Portugal involved great personal suffering including wounds in battle, captivities, and near-starvation. In later years, he retired as a lay brother of the Jesuit Order in Goa and went to Japan in 1556.

   In 1558, he retired to Portugal, where he wrote his great work, the Peregrinação, which can be translated as 'Travels." The work was not published in his lifetime, but only in 1614, and it was long considered a work mainly of fiction, an apocryphal composition. It was apparently more popular in Spain, France, and England than in his homeland. Later critics and translators have concluded that much of the work is a partly true description of the Portuguese in Asia and of Asian events, coupled with a wry but honest look at the foibles of the Catholic Church of his day.

SUBJECT AREA: Electronics and information technology

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George B.Grant was descended from families who came from Britain in the seventeenth century and was educated at the Bridgton (Maine) Academy, the Chandler Scientific School of Dartmouth College and the Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard College, where he graduated with the degree of BS in 1873. As an undergraduate he became interested in calculating machines, and his paper "On a new difference engine" was published in the American Journal of Science in August 1871. He also took out his first patents relating to calculating machines in 1872 and 1873. A machine of his design known as "Grant's Difference Engine" was exhibited at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876. Similar machines were also manufactured for sale; being sturdy and reliable, they did much to break down the prejudice against the use of calculating machines in business. Grant's work on calculating machines led to a requirement for accurate gears, so he established a machine shop for gear cutting at Charlestown, Massachusetts. He later moved the business to Boston and incorporated it under the name of Grant's Gear Works Inc., and continued to control it until his death. He also established two other gear-cutting shops, the Philadelphia Gear Works Inc., which he disposed of in 1911, and the Cleveland Gear Works Inc., which he also disposed of after a few years. Grant's commercial success was in connection with gear cutting and in this field he obtained several patents and contributed articles to the American Machinist. However, he continued to take an interest in calculating machines and in his later years carried out experimental work on their development.

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SUBJECT AREA: Textiles

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Heathcote was the son of a small farmer who became blind, obliging the family to move to Long Whatton, near Loughborough, c.1790. He was apprenticed to W.Shepherd, a hosiery-machine maker, and became a frame-smith in the hosiery industry. He moved to Nottingham where he entered the employment of an excellent machine maker named Elliott. He later joined William Caldwell of Hathern, whose daughter he had married. The lace-making apparatus they patented jointly in 1804 had already been anticipated, so Heathcote turned to the problem of making pillow lace, a cottage industry in which women made lace by arranging pins stuck in a pillow in the correct pattern and winding around them thread contained on thin bobbins. He began by analysing the complicated hand-woven lace into simple warp and weft threads and found he could dispense with half the bobbins. The first machine he developed and patented, in 1808, made narrow lace an inch or so wide, but the following year he made much broader lace on an improved version. In his second patent, in 1809, he could make a type of net curtain, Brussels lace, without patterns. His machine made bobbin-net by the use of thin brass discs, between which the thread was wound. As they passed through the warp threads, which were arranged vertically, the warp threads were moved to each side in turn, so as to twist the bobbin threads round the warp threads. The bobbins were in two rows to save space, and jogged on carriages in grooves along a bar running the length of the machine. As the strength of this fabric depended upon bringing the bobbin threads diagonally across, in addition to the forward movement, the machine had to provide for a sideways movement of each bobbin every time the lengthwise course was completed. A high standard of accuracy in manufacture was essential for success. Called the "Old Loughborough", it was acknowledged to be the most complicated machine so far produced. In partnership with a man named Charles Lacy, who supplied the necessary capital, a factory was established at Loughborough that proved highly successful; however, their fifty-five frames were destroyed by Luddites in 1816. Heathcote was awarded damages of £10,000 by the county of Nottingham on the condition it was spent locally, but to avoid further interference he decided to transfer not only his machines but his entire workforce elsewhere and refused the money. In a disused woollen factory at Tiverton in Devonshire, powered by the waters of the river Exe, he built 300 frames of greater width and speed. By continually making inventions and improvements until he retired in 1843, his business flourished and he amassed a large fortune. He patented one machine for silk cocoon-reeling and another for plaiting or braiding. In 1825 he brought out two patents for the mechanical ornamentation or figuring of lace. He acquired a sound knowledge of French prior to opening a steam-powered lace factory in France. The factory proved to be a successful venture that lasted many years. In 1832 he patented a monstrous steam plough that is reputed to have cost him over £12,000 and was claimed to be the best in its day. One of its stated aims was "improved methods of draining land", which he hoped would develop agriculture in Ireland. A cable was used to haul the implement across the land. From 1832 to 1859, Heathcote represented Tiverton in Parliament and, among other benefactions, he built a school for his adopted town.

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SUBJECT AREA: Electricity, Telecommunications

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After education at Glasgow University and Peterhouse, Cambridge, a period of study in France gave Thomson an interest in experimental work and instrumentation. He became Professor of Natural Philosophy at Glasgow in 1846 and retained the position for the rest of his career, establishing the first teaching laboratory in Britain.

Among his many contributions to science and engineering was his concept, introduced in 1848, of an "absolute" zero of temperature. Following on from the work of Joule, his investigations into the nature of heat led to the first successful liquefaction of gases such as hydrogen and helium, and later to the science of low-temperature physics.

Cable telegraphy gave an impetus to the scientific measurement of electrical quantities, and for many years Thomson was a member of the British Association Committee formed in 1861 to consider electrical standards and to develop units; these are still in use. Thomson first became Scientific Adviser to the Atlantic Telegraph Company in 1857, sailing on the Agamemnon and Great Eastern during the cable-laying expeditions. He invented a mirror galvanometer and more importantly the siphon recorder, which, used as a very sensitive telegraph receiver, provided a permanent record of signals. He also laid down the design parameters of long submarine cables and discovered that the conductivity of copper was greatly affected by its purity. A major part of the success of the Atlantic cable in 1866 was due to Thomson, who received a knighthood for his contribution.

Other instruments he designed included a quadrant electrostatic voltmeter to measure high voltages, and his "multi-cellular" instrument for low voltages. They could be used on alternating or direct current and were free from temperature errors. His balances for precision current measurement were widely used in standardizing laboratories.

Thomson was a prolific writer of scientific papers on subjects across the whole spectrum of physics; between 1855 and 1866 he published some 110 papers, with a total during his life of over 600. In 1892 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Kelvin of Largs. By the time of his death he was looked upon as the "father" of British physics, but despite his outstanding achievements his later years were spent resisting change and progress.

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SUBJECT AREA: Ports and shipping

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Yourkevitch came from an academic family, but one without any experience or tradition of sea service. Despite this he decided to become a naval architect, and after secondary education at Moscow and engineering training at the St Petersburg Polytechnic, he graduated in 1909. For the following ten years he worked designing battleships and later submarines, mostly at the Baltic Shipyard in St Petersburg. Around 1910 he became a full member of the Russian Naval Constructors Corps, and in 1915 he was a founder member and first Scientific Secretary of the Society of Naval Engineers.

Using the published data of the American Admiral D.W. Taylor and taking advantage of access to the Norddeutscher Lloyd Testing Tank at Bremerhaven, Yourkevitch proposed a new hull form with bulbous bow and long entrances and runs. This was the basis for the revolutionary battleships then laid down at St Petersburg, the "Borodino" class. Owing to the war these ships were launched but never completed. At the conclusion of the war Yourkevitch found himself in Constantinople, where he experienced the life of a refugee, and then he moved to Paris where he accepted almost any work on offer. Fortunately in 1928, through an introduction, he was appointed a draughtsman at the St Nazaire shipyard. Despite his relatively lowly position, he used all his personality to persuade the French company to alter the hull form of the future record breaker Normandie. The gamble paid off and Yourkevitch was able to set up his own naval architecture company, BECNY, which designed many well-known liners, including the French Pasteur.

In 1939 he settled in North America, becoming a US citizen in 1945. On the night of the fire on the Normandie, he was in New York but was prevented from going close to the ship by the police, and the possibility of saving the ship was thrown away. He was involved in many projects as well as lecturing at Ann Arbor, Michigan, and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He maintained connections with his technical colleagues in St Petersburg in the later years of his life. His unfulfilled dream was the creation of a superliner to carry 5,000 passengers and thus able to make dramatic cuts in the cost of transatlantic travel. Yourkevitch was a fine example of a man whose vision enabled him to serve science and engineering without consideration of inter-national boundaries.

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SUBJECT AREA: Ports and shipping

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Brown commenced his apprenticeship on the River Clyde in the late 1830s, working for some of the most famous marine engineering companies and ultimately with the Caledonian Railway Company. In 1850 he joined the shipyard of A. \& J.Inglis Ltd of Partick as Engineering Manager; during his ten years there he pioneered the fitting of link-motion valve gear to marine engines. Other interesting engines were built, all ahead of their time, including a three-cylinder direct-acting steam engine.

His real life's work commenced in 1860 when he entered into partnership with the Renfrew shipbuilder William Simons. Within one year he had designed the fast Clyde steamer Rothesay Castle, a ship less than 200 ft (61 m) long, yet which steamed at c.20 knots and subsequently became a notable American Civil War blockade runner. At this time the company also built the world's first sailing ship with wire-rope rigging. Within a few years of joining the shipyard on the Cart (a tributary of the Clyde), he had designed the first self-propelled hopper barges built in the United Kingdom. He then went on to design, patent and supervise the building of hopper dredges, bucket ladder dredges and sand dredges, which by the end of the century had capacity of 10,000 tons per hour. In 1895 they built an enclosed hopper-type ship which was the prototype of all subsequent sewage-dumping vessels. Typical of his inventions was the double-ended screw-elevating deck ferry, a ship of particular value in areas where there is high tidal range. Examples of this design are still to be found in many seaports of the world. Brown ultimately became Chairman of Simons shipyard, and in his later years took an active part in civic affairs, serving for fifteen years as Provost of Renfrew. His influence in establishing Renfrew as one of the world's centres of excellence in dredge design and building was considerable, and he was instrumental in bringing several hundred ship contracts of a specialist nature to the River Clyde.

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SUBJECT AREA: Canals, Civil engineering

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Telford was the son of a shepherd, who died when the boy was in his first year. Brought up by his mother, Janet Jackson, he attended the parish school at Westerkirk. He was apprenticed to a stonemason in Lochmaben and to another in Langholm. In 1780 he walked from Eskdale to Edinburgh and in 1872 rode to London on a horse that he was to deliver there. He worked for Sir William Chambers as a mason on Somerset House, then on the Eskdale house of Sir James Johnstone. In 1783–4 he worked on the new Commissioner's House and other buildings at Portsmouth dockyard.

In late 1786 Telford was appointed County Surveyor for Shropshire and moved to Shrewsbury Castle, with work initially on the new infirmary and County Gaol. He designed the church of St Mary Magdalene, Bridgnorth, and also the church at Madley. Telford built his first bridge in 1790–2 at Montford; between 1790 and 1796 he built forty-five road bridges in Shropshire, including Buildwas Bridge. In September 1793 he was appointed general agent, engineer and architect to the Ellesmere Canal, which was to connect the Mersey and Dee rivers with the Severn at Shrewsbury; William Jessop was Principal Engineer. This work included the Pont Cysyllte aqueduct, a 1,000 ft (305 m) long cast-iron trough 127 ft (39 m) above ground level, which entailed an on-site ironworks and took ten years to complete; the aqueduct is still in use today. In 1800 Telford put forward a plan for a new London Bridge with a single cast-iron arch with a span of 600 ft (183 m) but this was not built.

In 1801 Telford was appointed engineer to the British Fisheries Society "to report on Highland Communications" in Scotland where, over the following eighteen years, 920 miles (1,480 km) of new roads were built, 280 miles (450 km) of the old military roads were realigned and rebuilt, over 1,000 bridges were constructed and much harbour work done, all under Telford's direction. A further 180 miles (290 km) of new roads were also constructed in the Lowlands of Scotland. From 1804 to 1822 he was also engaged on the construction of the Caledonian Canal: 119 miles (191 km) in all, 58 miles (93 km) being sea loch, 38 miles (61 km) being Lochs Lochy, Oich and Ness, 23 miles (37 km) having to be cut.

In 1808 he was invited by King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden to assist Count Baltzar von Platen in the survey and construction of a canal between the North Sea and the Baltic. Telford surveyed the 114 mile (183 km) route in six weeks; 53 miles (85 km) of new canal were to be cut. Soon after the plans for the canal were completed, the King of Sweden created him a Knight of the Order of Vasa, an honour that he would have liked to have declined. At one time some 60,000 soldiers and seamen were engaged on the work, Telford supplying supervisors, machinery—including an 8 hp steam dredger from the Donkin works and machinery for two small paddle boats—and ironwork for some of the locks. Under his direction an ironworks was set up at Motala, the foundation of an important Swedish industrial concern which is still flourishing today. The Gotha Canal was opened in September 1832.

In 1811 Telford was asked to make recommendations for the improvement of the Shrewsbury to Holyhead section of the London-Holyhead road, and in 1815 he was asked to survey the whole route from London for a Parliamentary Committee. Construction of his new road took fifteen years, apart from the bridges at Conway and over the Menai Straits, both suspension bridges by Telford and opened in 1826. The Menai bridge had a span of 579 ft (176 m), the roadway being 153 ft (47 m) above the water level.

In 1817 Telford was appointed Engineer to the Exchequer Loan Commission, a body set up to make capital loans for deserving projects in the hard times that followed after the peace of Waterloo. In 1820 he became the first President of the Engineers Institute, which gained its Royal Charter in 1828 to become the Institution of Civil Engineers. He was appointed Engineer to the St Katharine's Dock Company during its construction from 1825 to 1828, and was consulted on several early railway projects including the Liverpool and Manchester as well as a number of canal works in the Midlands including the new Harecastle tunnel, 3,000 ft (914 m) long.

Telford led a largely itinerant life, living in hotels and lodgings, acquiring his own house for the first time in 1821, 24 Abingdon Street, Westminster, which was partly used as a school for young civil engineers. He died there in 1834, after suffering in his later years from the isolation of deafness. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.

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SUBJECT AREA: Electricity

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After technical training at the Ecole des Arts et Métiers at Aix, Faure was employed superintending the erection of factories in France and England. These included the Cotton Powder Company plant in Faversham for the manufacture of the explosive Tonite invented by Faure. He also invented distress signals used by the merchant navy. It was between 1878 and 1880 that he performed his most important work, the improvement of the Planté cell. Faure's invention of coating the lead plates with a paste of lead oxide substantially reduced the time taken to form the plates. Their construction was subsequently further improved by Swan and others. These developments appeared at a particularly opportune time because lead-acid secondary cells found immediate application in telegraphy and later in electric lighting and traction systems, where their use resulted in reduced costs of providing supplies during peak-load periods. In his later years Faure's attention was directed to other electrochemical problems, including the manufacture of aluminium.

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when one is old

in onefc declining (later) years

• НА СКЛОНЕ ЛЕТ <ДНЕЙ, ЖИЗНИ>

[PrepP; these forms only; adv; fixed WO]

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⇒ when one is old:

- in one's declining (later) years;

- in one's old age;

- in the twilight (the winter) of one's life.

     ♦ Пьер Корнель не знает, что на склоне лет он будет рад, когда мальчишка примет к постановке его пьесу и заплатит ему, постепенно беднеющему драматургу, деньги за эту пьесу (Булгаков 5). Pierre Corneille does not know that in his declining years he will be happy when this boy accepts his play for production and pays him, a playwright gradually sinking into poverty, money for the play (5a).

     ♦ Это советский пешеход-физкультурник, который вышел из Владивостока юношей и на склоне лет у самых ворот Москвы будет задавлен тяжелым автокаром, номер которого так и не успеют заметить (Ильф и Петров 2). He's a hiker who left Vladivostok as a young man and who, in his old age, will be run over at the very gates of Moscow by a large truck, the number of which no one will have a chance to catch (2a).