later+invention

SUBJECT AREA: Textiles

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William Cockerill began his career in Lancashire by making "roving billies" and flying shuttles. He was reputed to have an extraordinary mechanical genius and it is said that he could make models of almost any machine. He followed in the footsteps of many other enterprising British engineers when in 1794 he went to St Petersburg in Russia, having been recommended as a skilful artisan to the Empress Catherine II. After her death two years later, her successor Paul sent Cockerill to prison because he failed to finish a model within a certain time. Cockerill, however, escaped to Sweden where he was commissioned to construct the locks on a public canal. He attempted to introduce textile machinery of his own invention but was unsuccessful and so in 1799 he removed to Verviers, Belgium, where he established himself as a manufacturer of textile machinery. In 1802 he was joined by James Holden, who before long set up his own machine-building business. In 1807 Cockerill moved to Liège where, with his three sons (William Jnr, Charles James and John), he set up factories for the construction of carding machines, spinning frames and looms for the woollen industry. He secured for Verviers supremacy in the woollen trade and introduced at Liège an industry of which England had so far possessed the monopoly. His products were noted for their fine craftsmanship, and in the heyday of the Napoleonic regime about half of his output was sold in France. In 1813 he imported a model of a Watt steam-engine from England and so added another range of products to his firm. Cockerill became a naturalized Belgian subject c. 1810, and a few years later he retired from the business in favour of his two younger sons, Charles James and John (b. 30 April 1790 Haslingden, Lancashire, England; d. 19 June 1840 Warsaw, Poland), but in 1830 at Andenne he converted a vast factory formerly used for calico printing into a paper mill. Little is known of his eldest son William, but the other two sons expanded the enterprise, setting up a woollen factory at Berlin after 1815 and establishing at Seraing-on-the-Meuse in 1817 blast furnaces, an iron foundry and a machine workshop which became the largest on the European continent. William Cockerill senior died in 1832 at the Château du Behrensberg, the residence of his son Charles James, near Aix-la-Chapelle.

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SUBJECT AREA: Electricity

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Crookes entered the Royal College of Chemistry at the age of 15, and from 1850 to 1854 held the appointment of Assistant at the college. In 1854 he became Superintendent of the Meteorological Department at the Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford. He moved to a post at the College of Science in Chester the following year. Soon after this he inherited a large fortune and set up his own private laboratory in London. There he studied the nature of electrical discharges in gases at low pressure and discovered the dark space (later named after him) that surrounds the negative electrode, or cathode. He also established that the rays produced in the process (subsequently shown by J.J.Thompson to be a stream of electrons) not only travelled in straight lines, but were also capable of producing heat and/or light upon impact with suitable anode materials. Using a variety of new methods to investigate these "cathode" rays, he applied them to the spectral analysis of compounds of selenium and, as a result, in 1861 he discovered the element thallium, finally establishing its atomic weight in 1873. Following his discovery of thallium, he became involved in two main lines of research: the properties of rarified gases, and the investigation of the elements of the "rare earths". It was also during these experiments that he discovered the principle of the Crookes radiometer, a device in which light is converted into rotational motion and which used to be found frequently in the shop windows of English opticians. Also among the fruits of this work were the Crookes tubes and the development of spectacle lenses with differential ranges of radiational absorption. In the 1870s he became interested in spiritualism and acquired a reputation for his studies of psychic phenomena, but at the turn of the century he returned to traditional scientific investigations. In 1892 he wrote about the possibility of wireless telegraphy. His work in the field of radioactivity led to the invention of the spinthariscope, an early type of detector of alpha particles. In 1900 he undertook investigations into uranium which led to the study of scintillation, an important tool in the study of radioactivity.

While the theoretical basis of his work has not stood the test of time, his material discoveries, observations and investigations of new facts formed a basis on which others such as J.J. Thomson were to develop subatomic theory. His later involvement in the investigation of spiritualism led to much criticism, but could be justified on the basis of a belief in the duty to investigate all phenomena.

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KF / MG

SUBJECT AREA: Steam and internal combustion engines

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A German born in Paris, he was educated in Augsburg and later in Munich, where he graduated first in his class. There he took some courses under Professor Karl von Linde, pioneer of mechanical refrigeration and an authority on thermodynamics, who pointed out the low efficiency of the steam engine. He went to work for the Linde Ice Machine Company as an engineer and later as Manager; there he conceived a new basic cycle and worked out its thermodynamics, which he published in 1893 as "The theory and construction of a rational heat motor". Compressing air adiabatically to one-sixteenth of its volume caused the temperature to rise to 1,000°F (540°C). Injected fuel would then ignite automatically without any electrical system. He obtained permission to use the laboratories of the Augsburg-Nuremburg Engine Works to build a single-cylinder prototype. On test it blew up, nearly killing Diesel. He proved his principle, however, and obtained financial support from the firm of Alfred Krupp. The design was refined until successful and in 1898 an engine was put on display in Munich with the result that many business people invested in Diesel and his engine and its worldwide production. Diesel made over a million dollars out of the invention. The heart of the engine is the fuel-injection pump, which operates at a pressure of c.500 psi (35 kg/cm). The first English patent for the engine was in 1892. The firms in Augsburg sent him abroad to sell his engine; he persuaded the French to adopt it for submarines, Germany having refused this. Diesel died in 1913 in mysterious circumstances, vanishing from the Harwich-Antwerp ferry.

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SUBJECT AREA: Textiles

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Robert Kay improved his father John's flying shuttle by inventing the drop box, in which up to four shuttles could be stored one below the other. The weaver's left hand controlled levers and catches to raise or lower the drop box in order to bring the appropriate shuttle into line with the shuttle race on the slay. The shuttle could then be driven across the loom, leaving its particular type or colour of weft. On the earliest power looms of Edmund Cartwright in 1785, and for many years later, it was possible to use only one shuttle. In 1845 Squire Diggle of Bury, Lancashire, took out a patent for mechanizing the drop box so that different types or colours of weft could be woven without the weaver attending to the shuttles. He used an endless chain on which plates of different heights could be fixed to raise the boxes to the required height; later this would be operated by either the dobby or Jacquard pattern-selecting mechanisms. He took out further patents for improvements to looms. One, in 1854, was for taking up the cloth with a positive motion. Two more, in 1858, improved his drop box mechanism: the first was for actually operating the drop box, while the second was for tappet chains which operated the timing for raising the boxes.

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See also: Kay, John

SUBJECT AREA: Photography, film and optics

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The young Eastman was a clerk-bookkeeper in the Rochester Savings Bank when in 1877 he took up photography. Taking lessons in the wet-plate process, he became an enthusiastic amateur photographer. However, the cumbersome equipment and noxious chemicals used in the process proved an obstacle, as he said, "It seemed to be that one ought to be able to carry less than a pack-horse load." Then he came across an account of the new gelatine dry-plate process in the British Journal of Photography of March 1878. He experimented in coating glass plates with the new emulsions, and was soon so successful that he decided to go into commercial manufacture. He devised a machine to simplify the coating of the plates, and travelled to England in July 1879 to patent it. In April 1880 he prepared to begin manufacture in a rented building in Rochester, and contacted the leading American photographic supply house, E. \& H.T.Anthony, offering them an option as agents. A local whip manufacturer, Henry A.Strong, invested $1,000 in the enterprise and the Eastman Dry Plate Company was formed on 1 January 1881. Still working at the Savings Bank, he ran the business in his spare time, and demand grew for the quality product he was producing. The fledgling company survived a near disaster in 1882 when the quality of the emulsions dropped alarmingly. Eastman later discovered this was due to impurities in the gelatine used, and this led him to test all raw materials rigorously for quality. In 1884 the company became a corporation, the Eastman Dry Plate \& Film Company, and a new product was announced. Mindful of his desire to simplify photography, Eastman, with a camera maker, William H.Walker, designed a roll-holder in which the heavy glass plates were replaced by a roll of emulsion-coated paper. The holders were made in sizes suitable for most plate cameras. Eastman designed and patented a coating machine for the large-scale production of the paper film, bringing costs down dramatically, the roll-holders were acclaimed by photographers worldwide, and prizes and medals were awarded, but Eastman was still not satisfied. The next step was to incorporate the roll-holder in a smaller, hand-held camera. His first successful design was launched in June 1888: the Kodak camera. A small box camera, it held enough paper film for 100 circular exposures, and was bought ready-loaded. After the film had been exposed, the camera was returned to Eastman's factory, where the film was removed, processed and printed, and the camera reloaded. This developing and printing service was the most revolutionary part of his invention, since at that time photographers were expected to process their own photographs, which required access to a darkroom and appropriate chemicals. The Kodak camera put photography into the hands of the countless thousands who wanted photographs without complications. Eastman's marketing slogan neatly summed up the advantage: "You Press the Button, We Do the Rest." The Kodak camera was the last product in the design of which Eastman was personally involved. His company was growing rapidly, and he recruited the most talented scientists and technicians available. New products emerged regularly—notably the first commercially produced celluloid roll film for the Kodak cameras in July 1889; this material made possible the introduction of cinematography a few years later. Eastman's philosophy of simplifying photography and reducing its costs continued to influence products: for example, the introduction of the one dollar, or five shilling, Brownie camera in 1900, which put photography in the hands of almost everyone. Over the years the Eastman Kodak Company, as it now was, grew into a giant multinational corporation with manufacturing and marketing organizations throughout the world. Eastman continued to guide the company; he pursued an enlightened policy of employee welfare and profit sharing decades before this was common in industry. He made massive donations to many concerns, notably the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and supported schemes for the education of black people, dental welfare, calendar reform, music and many other causes, he withdrew from the day-to-day control of the company in 1925, and at last had time for recreation. On 14 March 1932, suffering from a painful terminal cancer and after tidying up his affairs, he shot himself through the heart, leaving a note: "To my friends: My work is done. Why wait?" Although Eastman's technical innovations were made mostly at the beginning of his career, the organization which he founded and guided in its formative years was responsible for many of the major advances in photography over the years.

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SUBJECT AREA: Paper and printing

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The name Joseph Gillott became synonymous with pen making at a time when the basic equipment for writing was undergoing a change. The quill pen had served writers for centuries, but attempts had been made since the seventeenth century to improve on it. The first major technical development was the steel nib, which began to be made c.1829. The steel nib was still little known in Birmingham in 1839, but ten years later it was in common use. Its stiffness was at first a drawback, but Gillott was among the first to improve its flexibility by introducing three slots, which later became standard practice. Mechanical methods of manufacture made the pen cheaper and improved its quality. In 1840 Gillott issued a "precept" informing the public that he was pen maker to the Queen and that he had been manufacturing pens for twenty years at his Victoria Works in Birmingham. He announced the successful reception by the public of his new patent pen. There were also special "warranted school" pens designed for the various grades of writing taught in schools. Finally, he warned against inferior imitations and recommended the public to buy only those pens stamped with his name.

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SUBJECT AREA: Mechanical, pneumatic and hydraulic engineering

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Holly was educated in mechanics and millwrighting work. He was an indefatigable inventor and took out over 150 patents for his ideas. He became Superintendent and later Proprietor of a millwrighting shop in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. Then at Seneca Falls, New York, he began manufacturing hydraulic machinery with the firm of Silsby, Race \& Holly. He made the Silsby fire-engine famous through his invention in 1852 of a rotary pump which was later developed into a steam fire pump. In 1866 he introduced at Lockport, New York, a pressurized water-supply system using a pump rather than an elevated reservoir or standpipe. While this installation at Lockport was powered by a water-wheel, a second one in Dunkirk, New York, used steam-driven pumps, which had a significant effect on the history of steam pumping engines.

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SUBJECT AREA: Textiles

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Thomas Johnson was an assistant to William Radcliffe c.1802 in his developments of the sizing machine and hand looms. Johnson is described by Edward Baines (1835) as "an ingenious but dissipated young man to whom he [Radcliffe] explained what he wanted, and whose fertile invention suggested a great variety of expedients, so that he obtained the name of the “conjuror” among his fellow-workmen". Johnson's genius, and Radcliffe's judgement and perseverance, at length produced the dressing-machine that was soon applied to power looms and made their use economic. Cotton warps had to be dressed with a starch paste to prevent them from fraying as they were being woven. Up to this time, the paste had had to be applied as the warp was unwound from the back of the loom, which meant that only short lengths could be treated and then left to dry, holding up the weaver. Radcliffe carried out the dressing and beaming in a separate machine so that weaving could proceed without interruption. Work on the dressing-machine was carried out in 1802 and patents were taken out in 1803 and 1804. These were made out in Johnson's name because Radcliffe was afraid that if his own name were used other people, particularly foreigners, would discover his secrets. Two more patents were taken out for improvements to hand looms. The first of these was a take-up motion for the woven cloth that automatically wound the cloth onto a roller as the weaver operated the loom. This was later incorporated by H.Horrocks into his own power loom design.

Radcliffe and Johnson also developed the "dandy-loom", which was a more compact form of hand loom and later became adapted for weaving by power. Johnson was the inventor of the first circular or revolving temples, which kept the woven cloth at the right width. In the patent specifications there is a patent in 1805 by Thomas Johnson and James Kay for an improved power loom and another in 1807 for a vertical type of power loom. Johnson could have been involved with further patents in the 1830s and 1840s for vertical power looms and dressing-machines, which would put his death after 1846.

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SUBJECT AREA: Textiles

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Samuel Need was apprenticed as a framework knitter and entered the hosiery trade c. 1742. He was a Dissenter and later became an Independent Congregationalist. He married Elizabeth Gibson of Hacking, Middlesex, who survived him and died in 1781. He had a warehouse in Nottingham, where he was made a burgess in 1739–40. In 1747 he bought a mill there and had a house adjoining it, but in 1777 he bought an estate at Arnold, outside the city. From about 1759 he supported Jedediah Strutt and William Woollat in their development of Strutt's invention of the rib attachment to the knitting machine. Need became a partner with Strutt in 1762 over the patent and then they shared a joint hosiery business. When Arkwright sought financial assistance from Ichabod and John Wright, the Nottingham bankers, to develop his spinning mill in that town, the Wrights turned him over to Samuel Need. Need, having profited so much from the successful patent with Strutt, was ready to exploit another; on 19 January 1770 Need and Strutt, on payment of £500, became co-partners with Arkwright, Smalley and Thornley for the remainder of Arkwright's patent. In Need, Arkwright had secured the patronage of the leading hosier in Nottingham. Need was leader of the Hosiers' Federation in 1779 when the framework knitters petitioned Parliament to better their conditions. He gave evidence against the workers' demands and, when their bill failed, the Nottingham workers attacked first his Nottingham house and then the one at Arnold.

Need was to remain a partner with Arkwright until his death in 1781. He was involved in die mill at Cromford and also with some later ones, such as the Birkacre mill near Chorley, Lancashire, in 1777. He made a fortune and died at his home in London.

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SUBJECT AREA: Chemical technology, Synthetic materials

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After serving apprentice to brassfounders in Birmingham, Parkes entered Elkington's, the celebrated metalworking firm, and took charge of their casting department. They were active in introducing electroplating and Parkes's first patent, of 1841, was for the electroplating of works of art. The electrodeposition of metals became a lifelong interest.

Notably, he achieved the electroplating of fragile objects, such as flowers, which he patented in 1843. When Prince Albert visited Elkington's, he was presented with a spider's web coated with silver. Altogether, Parkes was granted sixty-six patents over a period of forty-six years, mainly relating to metallurgy.

In 1841 he patented a process for waterproofing textiles by immersing them in a solution of indiarubber in carbon disulphide. Elkingtons manufactured such fabrics until they sold the process to Mackintosh Company, which continued making them for many years. While working for Elkingtons in south Wales, Parkes developed the use of zinc for desilvering lead. He obtained a patent in 1850 for this process, which was one of his most important inventions and became widely used.

The year 1856 saw Parkes's first patent on pyroxylin, later called Xylonite or celluloid, the first plastic material. Articles made of Parkesine, as it came to be called, were shown at the International Exhibition in London in 1862, and he was awarded a medal for his work. Five years later, Parkesine featured at the Paris Exhibition. Even so, Parkes's efforts to promote the material commercially, particularly as a substitute for ivory, remained stubbornly unsuccessful.

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SUBJECT AREA: Textiles

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Radcliffe was brought up in the textile industry and learned carding and spinning as a child. When he was old enough, he became a weaver. It was a time when there were not enough weavers to work up all the yarn being spun on the recently invented spinning machines, so some yarn was exported. Radcliffe regarded this as a sin; meetings were held to prohibit the export, and Radcliffe promised to use his best endeavours to discover means to work up the yarn in England. He owned a mill at Mellor and by 1801 was employing over 1,000 hand-loom weavers. He wanted to improve their efficiency so they could compete against power looms, which were beginning to be introduced at that time.

His first step was to divide up as much as possible the different weaving processes, not unlike the plan adopted by Arkwright in spinning. In order to strengthen the warp yarns made of cotton and to reduce their tendency to fray during weaving, it was customary to apply an adhesive substance such as starch paste. This was brushed on as the warp was unwound from the back beam during weaving, so only short lengths could be treated before being dried. Instead of dressing the warp in the loom as was hitherto done, Radcliffe had it dressed in a separate machine, relieving the weaver of the trouble and saving the time wasted by the method previously used. Radcliffe employed a young man names Thomas Johnson, who proved to be a clever mechanic. Radcliffe patented his inventions in Johnson's name to avoid other people, especially foreigners, finding out his ideas. He took out his first patent, for a dressing machine, in March 1803 and a second the following year. The combined result of the two patents was the introduction of a beaming machine and a dressing machine which, in addition to applying the paste to the yarns and then drying them, wound them onto a beam ready for the loom. These machines enabled the weaver to work a loom with fewer stoppages; however, Radcliffe did not anticipate that his method of sizing would soon be applied to power looms as well and lead to the commercial success of powered weaving. Other manufacturers quickly adopted Radcliffe's system, and Radcliffe himself soon had to introduce power looms in his own business.

Radcliffe improved the hand looms themselves when, with the help of Johnson, he devised a cloth taking-up motion that wound the woven cloth onto a roller automatically as the weaver operated the loom. Radcliffe and Johnson also developed the "dandy loom", which was a more compact form of hand loom and was also later adapted for weaving by power. Radcliffe was among the witnesses before the Parliamentary Committee which in 1808 awarded Edmund Cartwright a grant for his invention of the power loom. Later Radcliffe was unsuccessfully to petition Parliament for a similar reward for his contributions to the introduction of power weaving. His business affairs ultimately failed partly through his own obstinacy and his continued opposition to the export of cotton yarn. He lived to be 81 years old and was buried in Mellor churchyard.

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SUBJECT AREA: Agricultural and food technology

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A free black, he was the son of Vincent Rillieux, a white engineer, and Constance Vivant, a quadroon. The family was prosperous enough to send him to France to be educated, at the Ecole Centrale in Paris. There he studied engineering and later taught mechanical engineering, developing a special interest in thermodynamics and steampower. In 1830 he devised a vacuum evaporation system with industrial possibilities, but he was unable to interest any French firms in the device. He therefore returned to New Orleans and ob-tained his first patent in 1843. Two years later he was able to have the evaporation system installed on a plantation to refine sugar. It soon demonstrated its worth, for planters were able to recoup the cost of the plant within a year through raised production and reduced operating costs. It came to be the generally accepted method for processing sugar-cane juice, and the price of refined sugar fell so that white sugar ceased to be a luxury food for the rich.

Rillieux's patents protected him from repeated efforts to counterfeit the process, which thus earned him considerable wealth. However, because of increasing hostility and discriminatory laws against blacks in New Orleans, he did not long enjoy it and he returned to France, taking up the study of egyptology.

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SUBJECT AREA: Paper and printing

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Sholes was born on his parents' farm, of a family that had originally come from England. After leaving school at 14, he was apprenticed for four years to the local newspaper, the Danville Intelligencer. He moved with his parents to Wisconsin, where he followed his trade as journalist and printer, within a year becoming State Printer and taking charge of the House journal of the State Legislature. When he was 20 he left home and joined his brother in Madison, Wisconsin, on the staff of the Wisconsin Enquirer. After marrying, he took the editorship of the Southport Telegraph, until he became Postmaster of Southport. His experiences as journalist and postmaster drew him into politics and, in spite of the delicate nature of his health and personality, he served with credit as State Senator and in the State Assembly. In 1860 he moved to Milwaukee, where he became Editor of the local paper until President Lincoln offered him the post of Collector of Customs at Milwaukee.

That position at last gave Sholes time to develop his undoubted inventive talents. With a machinist friend, Samuel W.Soule, he obtained a patent for a paging machine and another two years later for a machine for numbering the blank pages of a book serially. At the small machine shop where they worked, there was a third inventor, Carlos Glidden. It was Glidden who suggested to Sholes that, in view of his numbering machine, he would be well equipped to develop a letter printing machine. Glidden drew Sholes's attention to an account of a writing machine that had recently been invented in London by John Pratt, and Sholes was so seized with the idea that he devoted the rest of his life to perfecting the machine. With Glidden and Soule, he took out a patent for a typewriter on June 1868 followed by two further patents for improvements. Sholes struggled unsuccessfully for five years to exploit his invention; his two partners gave up their rights in it and finally, on 1 March 1873, Sholes himself sold his rights to the Remington Arms Company for $12,000. With their mechanical skills and equipment, Remingtons were able to perfect the Sholes typewriter and put it on the market. This, the first commercially successful typewriter, led to a revolution not only in office work, but also in work for women, although progress was slow at first. When the New York Young Women's Christian Association bought six Remingtons in 1881 to begin classes for young women, eight turned up for the first les-son; and five years later it was estimated that there were 60,000 female typists in the USA. Sholes said, "I feel that I have done something for the women who have always had to work so hard. This will more easily enable them to earn a living."

Sholes continued his work on the typewriter, giving Remingtons the benefit of his results. His last patent was granted in 1878. Never very strong, Sholes became consumptive and spent much of his remaining nine years in the vain pursuit of health.

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SUBJECT AREA: Domestic appliances and interiors, Textiles

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The son of a millwright, Singer was employed as an unskilled labourer at the age of 12, but later gained wide experience as a travelling machinist. He also found employment as an actor. On 16 May 1839, while living at Lockport, Illinois, he obtained his first patent for a rock-drilling machine, but he soon squandered the money he made. Then in 1849, while at Pittsburgh, he secured a patent for a wood-and metal-carving machine that he had begun five years previously; however, a boiler explosion in the factory destroyed his machine and left him penniless.

Near the end of 1850 Singer was engaged to redesign the Lerow \& Blodgett sewing machine at the Boston shop of Orson C.Phelps, where the machine was being repaired. He built an improved version in eleven days that was sufficiently different for him to patent on 12 August 1851. He formed a partnership with Phelps and G.B. Zieber and they began to market the invention. Singer soon purchased Phelps's interest, although Phelps continued to manufacture the machines. Then Edward Clark acquired a one-third interest and with Singer bought out Zieber. These two, with dark's flair for promotion and marketing, began to create a company which eventually would become the largest manufacturer of sewing machines exported worldwide, with subsidiary factories in England.

However, first Singer had to defend his patent, which was challenged by an earlier Boston inventor, Elias Howe. Although after a long lawsuit Singer had to pay royalties, it was the Singer machine which eventually captured the market because it could do continuous stitching. In 1856 the Great Sewing Machine Combination, the first important pooling arrangement in American history, was formed to share the various patents so that machines could be built without infringements and manufacture could be expanded without fear of litigation. Singer contributed his monopoly on the needle-bar cam with his 1851 patent. He secured twenty additional patents, so that his original straight-needle vertical design for lock-stitching eventually included such refinements as a continuous wheel-feed, yielding presser-foot, and improved cam for moving the needle-bar. A new model, introduced in 1856, was the first to be intended solely for use in the home.

Initially Phelps made all the machines for Singer. Then a works was established in New York where the parts were assembled by skilled workers through filing and fitting. Each machine was therefore a "one-off" but Singer machines were always advertised as the best on the market and sold at correspondingly high prices. Gradually, more specialized machine tools were acquired, but it was not until long after Singer had retired to Europe in 1863 that Clark made the change to mass production. Sales of machines numbered 810 in 1853 and 21,000 ten years later.

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SUBJECT AREA: Photography, film and optics

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Torricelli was the eldest child of a textile artisan. Between 1625 and 1626 he attended the Jesuit school at Faenza, where he showed such outstanding aptitude in mathematics and philosophy that his uncle was persuaded to send him to Rome to a school run by Benedetto Castelli, a mathematician and engineer and a former pupil of Galileo Galilei. Between 1630 and 1641, Torricelli was possibly Secretary to Giovanni Ciampoli, Galileo's friend and protector. In 1641 Torricelli wrote a treatise, De motugravium, amplifying Galileo's doctrine on the motion of projectiles, and Galileo accepted him as a pupil. On Galileo's death in 1642, he was appointed as mathematician and philosopher to the court of Grand Duke Ferdinando II of Tuscany. He remained in Florence until his early death in 1647, possibly from typhoid fever. He wrote a great number of mathematical papers on conic sections, the cycloid, the logarithmic curve and other subjects, which made him well known.

By 1642 Torricelli was producing good lenses for telescopes; he subsequently improved them, and attained near optical perfection. He also constructed a simple microscope with a small glass sphere as a lens. Galileo had looked at problems of raising water with suction pumps, and also with a siphon in 1630. Torricelli brought up the subject again in 1640 and later produced his most important invention, the barometer. He used mercury to fill a glass tube that was sealed at one end and inverted it. He found that the height of mercury in the tube adjusted itself to a well-defined level of about 76 cm (30 in.), higher than the free surface outside. He realized that this must be due to the pressure of the air on the outside surface and predicted that it would fall with increasing altitude. He thus demonstrated the pressure of the atmosphere and the existence of a vacuum on top of the mercury, publishing his findings in 1644. He later noticed that changes in the height of the mercury were related to changes in the weather.

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causing trouble for o.s. (by doing sth.): X сделал Y на свою голову - X did Y to X's own misfortune (detriment, harm)

• НА СВОЮ ГОЛОВУ; СЕБЕ НА ГОЛОВУ < НА ГОЛОВУ> all coll

[PrepP; these forms only; sent adv (occas. parenth); more often used with verbs in pfv past; fixed WO]

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⇒ causing trouble for o.s. (by doing sth.):

- X сделал Y на свою голову≈ X did Y to X's own misfortune (detriment, harm);

- X brought (called) it (trouble etc) upon himself when he did Y;

- X brought (called) it (trouble etc) down upon his own head when he did Y;

- [in limited contexts] Y bounced back at X;

- X was paid back for Y;

- X stored up trouble for himself (by doing Y).

     ♦ Прежний заведующий... боялся Ужика и трусливо переводил его из класса в класс. Довёл бы и до окончания школы, но Ужик, на свою голову, добился-таки его увольнения... (Грекова 3). The former principal...was afraid of Uzhik and promoted him from grade to grade. He would have graduated him, but Uzhik, to his own misfortune, managed to get him fired (За).

     ♦ Когда однажды, в 55 году, расписавшись о Пушкине, он [Чернышевский] захотел дать пример "бессмысленного сочетания слов", то привёл мимоходом тут же выдуманное "синий звук", - на свою голову напророчив пробивший через полвека блоковский "звонко-синий час" (Набоков 1). Once in 1855, when expatiating on Pushkin and wishing to give an example of "a senseless combination of words," he [Chemyshevski] hastily cited a "blue sound" of his own invention - prophetically calling down upon his own head Blok's "blue-ringing hour" that was to chime half a century later (1a).

     ♦ Да, конечно, за наши встречи я наговорил ей много лишнего, на свою голову... (Ерофеев 3)....Well, yes, I have spoken a bit too loosely with her during our meetings, things that might bounce back at me... (3a).

     ♦ "...Про меня написали, что я была "милым другом" вашего брата..." - "Этого быть не может! Где же и как написали?" - "...Вот здесь в газете "Слухи", в петербургской... Я ужасно люблю слухи, и подписалась, и вот себе на голову: вот они какие оказались слухи" (Достоевский 2). "...They also wrote about me, that I was your brother's 'dear friend'..." "It can't be! Where and how did they write it?" "...Here, in the newspaper Rumors, from Petersburg....I'm terribly fond of rumors, so I subscribed, and now Tve been paid back for it, this is the sort of rumors they turned out to be" (2a).

     ♦... Почти уверен я был, что не решатся [исключить меня из Союза писателей], и обнаглел в своей безнаказанности. Да нет, ясно вижу: им же это невыгодно, на свою они голову, зачем? Отняла им злоба ум (Солженицын 2). I had been almost certain that they would not [expel me from the Writers' Union], and this false sense of security had made me impudent. Still, I could see clearly that all this would do them no good, that they were storing up trouble for themselves. Malice had robbed them of their wits (2a).

• НА СВОЮ ГОЛОВУ; СЕБЕ НА ГОЛОВУ < НА ГОЛОВУ> all coll

[PrepP; these forms only; sent adv (occas. parenth); more often used with verbs in pfv past; fixed WO]

=====

⇒ causing trouble for o.s. (by doing sth.):

- X сделал Y на свою голову≈ X did Y to X's own misfortune (detriment, harm);

- X brought (called) it (trouble etc) upon himself when he did Y;

- X brought (called) it (trouble etc) down upon his own head when he did Y;

- [in limited contexts] Y bounced back at X;

- X was paid back for Y;

- X stored up trouble for himself (by doing Y).

     ♦ Прежний заведующий... боялся Ужика и трусливо переводил его из класса в класс. Довёл бы и до окончания школы, но Ужик, на свою голову, добился-таки его увольнения... (Грекова 3). The former principal...was afraid of Uzhik and promoted him from grade to grade. He would have graduated him, but Uzhik, to his own misfortune, managed to get him fired (За).

     ♦ Когда однажды, в 55 году, расписавшись о Пушкине, он [Чернышевский] захотел дать пример "бессмысленного сочетания слов", то привёл мимоходом тут же выдуманное "синий звук", - на свою голову напророчив пробивший через полвека блоковский "звонко-синий час" (Набоков 1). Once in 1855, when expatiating on Pushkin and wishing to give an example of "a senseless combination of words," he [Chemyshevski] hastily cited a "blue sound" of his own invention - prophetically calling down upon his own head Blok's "blue-ringing hour" that was to chime half a century later (1a).

     ♦ Да, конечно, за наши встречи я наговорил ей много лишнего, на свою голову... (Ерофеев 3)....Well, yes, I have spoken a bit too loosely with her during our meetings, things that might bounce back at me... (3a).

     ♦ "...Про меня написали, что я была "милым другом" вашего брата..." - "Этого быть не может! Где же и как написали?" - "...Вот здесь в газете "Слухи", в петербургской... Я ужасно люблю слухи, и подписалась, и вот себе на голову: вот они какие оказались слухи" (Достоевский 2). "...They also wrote about me, that I was your brother's 'dear friend'..." "It can't be! Where and how did they write it?" "...Here, in the newspaper Rumors, from Petersburg....I'm terribly fond of rumors, so I subscribed, and now Tve been paid back for it, this is the sort of rumors they turned out to be" (2a).

     ♦... Почти уверен я был, что не решатся [исключить меня из Союза писателей], и обнаглел в своей безнаказанности. Да нет, ясно вижу: им же это невыгодно, на свою они голову, зачем? Отняла им злоба ум (Солженицын 2). I had been almost certain that they would not [expel me from the Writers' Union], and this false sense of security had made me impudent. Still, I could see clearly that all this would do them no good, that they were storing up trouble for themselves. Malice had robbed them of their wits (2a).

1) (effort made in order to achieve or make something: He has done a lot of work on this project) arbeid

2) (employment: I cannot find work in this town.) arbeid, jobb

3) (a task or tasks; the thing that one is working on: Please clear your work off the table.) arbeid

4) (a painting, book, piece of music etc: the works of Van Gogh / Shakespeare/Mozart; This work was composed in 1816.) verk

5) (the product or result of a person's labours: His work has shown a great improvement lately.) arbeid, verk

6) (one's place of employment: He left (his) work at 5.30 p.m.; I don't think I'll go to work tomorrow.) arbeidsplass, jobb

1) (to (cause to) make efforts in order to achieve or make something: She works at the factory three days a week; He works his employees very hard; I've been working on/at a new project.) arbeide, jobbe; drive, la arbeide

2) (to be employed: Are you working just now?) ha arbeid/jobb

3) (to (cause to) operate (in the correct way): He has no idea how that machine works / how to work that machine; That machine doesn't/won't work, but this one's working.) virke, fungere

4) (to be practicable and/or successful: If my scheme works, we'll be rich!) virke, holde stikk, lykkes

5) (to make (one's way) slowly and carefully with effort or difficulty: She worked her way up the rock face.) arbeide seg møysommelig framover/oppover

6) (to get into, or put into, a stated condition or position, slowly and gradually: The wheel worked loose.) løsne, skru seg løs

7) (to make by craftsmanship: The ornaments had been worked in gold.) forme, bearbeide

•

- - work

1) (the mechanism (of a watch, clock etc): The works are all rusted.) (ur)verk

2) (deeds, actions etc: She's devoted her life to good works.) gode gjerninger, veldedighet

•

- work-basket

arbeid

arbeide

arbeidsplass

virke

subst. \/wɜːk\/

1) arbeid, jobb

• I'm still looking for work

• our father is back from work

2) virke, gjerning

3) innsats

4) gjøremål, oppgave

5) verk, arbeid, produkt

• it is the work of an unknown master

• the villagers sold their works to the tourists

at work på arbeid, på jobb i aktivitet, i virksomhet, i arbeid

• the scientists thought an unknown microbe was at work

be thrown out of work bli gjort arbeidsløs

do the work of fungere som

fall\/go to work skride til verket

give someone the works fortelle noen hele historien gi noen en overhaling drepe noen

go about one's work skjøtte sitt arbeid

have one's work cut out ha sin fulle hyre med

intellectual work åndsarbeid

in work i arbeid

make light work of winning vinne med letthet

make short\/quick work of gjøre kort prosess med, gjøre raskt unna, bli fort ferdig med

make work for gi arbeid til

many hands make light work jo flere, desto bedre

off work ikke i arbeid, fri

out of work uten arbeid, arbeidsløs

put\/set somebody to work sette noen i arbeid

quick work fort gjort

set\/go about one's work sette i gang med arbeidet, skride til verket

set at work sette i arbeid, sette i gang

set\/get to work (at\/on something) sette i gang med noe \/ med å gjøre noe

shirk work snike seg unna, sluntre unna, skulke

shoot the works sladre gi alt man har, gjøre sitt ytterste

sit down to one's work konsentrere seg om arbeidet sitt

stop work (av)slutte arbeidet, legge ned arbeidet

strike work legge ned arbeidet, streike

take up work gå tilbake til arbeidet

throw out of work gjøre arbeidsløs

warm work ( hverdagslig) hardt arbeid

the work done det utførte arbeidet, arbeidsprestasjonen

the work of a moment et øyeblikks arbeid

a work of art et kunstverk

works gjerninger

• good works

(slang, om narkotika) brukerutstyr ( militærvesen) (be)festningsverk verk, mekanisme

• she studied the works of the clock

the works rubbel og bit, hele sulamitten

work of the intellect ( jus) åndsverk

verb \/wɜːk\/

1) ( om sysselsetting) arbeide, jobbe

• Martin works as a teacher

2) ( om deig eller leire) bearbeide, kna, elte

• wet clay is easy to work

3) ( om plan eller metode) virke, fungere, holde (om teori)

• his charm worked

• the theory doesn't work

4) påvirke, bearbeide, øve innflytelse på, godsnakke med

• Doris worked her boss to give her higher salary

• try to work him to see your point

5) ( om jord) dyrke

6) ( om maskineri) gå, drive(s), funksjonere, virke, være i drift, være i funksjon

• this machine works on electricity

• this watch dosn't work

• the lift doesn't work

7) ( om selger) reise i, ha (som salgsområde)

• the insurance agent works the Stavanger area

8) ( om fisker) fiske i

• the villagers work this stream

9) ( om gjær) arbeide, gjære, få til å gjære

10) ( om organ) fungere, gå, arbeide, slå (om hjerte eller puls)

• her heart is working slowly

11) ( om kraftanstrengelse) arbeide (seg frem), trenge (seg frem)

• the expedition worked north through the jungle

12) flytte, dytte, lirke, skyve

• she worked the boulder into place

13) ( om tanker e.l.) arbeide, gjære, kverne

• these thoughts were working in his head

14) ( om håndarbeide) lage, brodere, sy, strikke

• she worked her initials on the blanket

• granny is working a pair of socks

15) ( om mekanikk) betjene, passe, skjøtte, styre

• her task is to work the machine

• these puppets are worked with wires

16) bevege (seg), røre (på), røre seg, gestikulere (om hender)

• her hands were working as she talked

• can you work your arm backwards?

17) ( om ledelse) styre, holde styr på, kontrollere, få til å jobbe, få til å arbeide, drive

• they worked a farm

• the war lord couldn't work his officers

• the manager worked his employees ten hours a day

18) ( om konsekvens) forårsake, utrette, anrette, volde, utføre, bevirke

• time had worked\/wrought great changes

• the war worked\/wrought great damages

19) ( om mål) oppnå, oppfylle, realisere, virkeliggjøre, ordne (hverdagslig), fikse (hverdagslig)

• I worked my purposes

• how did you work it?

20) ( om kull) bryte

21) ( om bruk) anvende, bruke, utnytte, drive, bearbeide, være i drift (om fabrikk e.l.)

• this mine is no longer worked

• can you work the invention at this factory?

• he worked dogs in a circus act

• they worked the mine

22) ( om materiale) arbeide i, arbeide med, forme, utforme, foredle

• she likes to work wood

23) ( sjøfart) arbeide, rulle, stampe, slingre

• the ship worked in the rough sea

24) (amer.) lure, bedra, ta ved nesen

• the swindler worked the whole town

25) ( om bølger) gå i dønninger

26) ( om ansikt) fortrekke seg

• her features worked

work against ( om motstand) motarbeide, motsette

• they are working against him

work at arbeide på, arbeide med, jobbe på, jobbe med

• I am working at a new book

studere

• he is working at Latin and Greek

work away arbeide (ufortrødent) videre, jobbe i vei

• he is working away on his new book

work back (austr.) arbeide overtid, jobbe overtid

work for arbeide for, jobbe for

• he works for a farmer

• he works for peace

work in\/into arbeide seg inn i, trenge (seg) inn i

• the dust has worked in everywhere

flette inn, finne plass til

• try to work in a few quotations

( om materiale) arbeide i, arbeide med, jobbe i, jobbe med

• the artist prefers to work in clay

work in with passe inn i, stemme med

• his marriage didn't work in with my plan

work itself right komme i gjenge igjen

• the trade will soon work itself right

work late arbeide sent

work off slite(s) bort, gå bort

• the paint will work off

arbeide av seg, bli kvitt, kvitte seg med, gå av seg

• he has worked off his surplus weight

• he has worked off his anger

( om gjeld) nedbetale, få ned

• he worked off his debt by doing odd jobs

få unna(gjort), få gjort

• she worked off the week's correspondence

( om handel) få avsetning på, få solgt utgi for å være

• she worked off the novel as her own

( om overtid) arbeide inn, opparbeide (seg)

• she worked off a week's holiday by doing overtime

( typografi) trykke ferdig

work off one's anger\/rage on someone la sinnet sitt gå ut over noen

work on arbeide (ufortrødent) videre arbeide med, arbeide på, jobbe med, jobbe på

• she worked on a book

bearbeide, påvirke, bite på

• I'll work on her

• nothing works on him

virke gjennom

• the door works on a spring

work one's ass\/butt off ( slang) arbeide seg ihjel

work oneself free slite seg løs

work oneself up hisse seg opp

work one's passage arbeide seg over (som mannskap på skip)

work one's way through university arbeide ved siden av studiene

work one's will (up)on få viljen sin med

work out utarbeide, utforme, utvikle, arbeide frem, komme frem til

• she worked out a clever plan

• they worked out a compromise

(om plan, mål e.l.) virkeliggjøre, realisere, oppnå, gjennomføre, iverksette, sette ut i livet beregne, regne ut

• I haven't worked out the cost per head yet

• the pay works out the same

løse, finne ut av, tyde

• he was happy that he finally had worked out the problem

• the problem will not work out

• she is an expert at working out the coded messages

• the sum will not work out

( om ressurs e.l.) tømme, utpine

• the silver mine is now worked out

falle ut, ordne seg, lykkes, utvikle seg

• let us see how it works out

• if the plan works out satisfactorily

( sport og spill e.l.) trene, øve trenge seg frem, arbeide seg frem, arbeide seg ut

• many months later the splinter worked out of her arm

work out at\/to beløpe seg til, komme opp i, komme på

• the total works out at\/to £10

work out of jobbe fra, ha som base

• she works out of home

work over gjennomgå, bearbeide, revidere, gjennomarbeide

• she is working over an article for a magazine

• I worked over the material in detail

overtale, få over på sin side ( slang) ta under behandling, bearbeide, gi en overhaling

• they threatened to work him over until he talked

work round slå om, gå over

• the wind has worked round to the north

work someone out bli klok på noen

work something out ordne opp i noe, finne ut av noe, finne på noe

• I am sure we can work something out

• they decided to work things out

work through arbeide seg gjennom

• I've worked through this big volume

• the rain has worked through the roof

bore gjennom, grave (seg) gjennom

work to holde seg til, følge

• they worked to schedule

work to rule ( om arbeidskonflikt) gå sakte

work towards arbeide for, arbeide mot

• we are working towards a peaceful settlement

work up øke, drive opp, forsterke

• the typist worked up her speed to 70 words a minute

• the film worked up excitement

bygge opp, etablere, opparbeide (seg)

• she worked up a thriving business

• we are trying to work up a market for this article

• I can't work up sufficient interest in this

omarbeide

• she worked up the short story to form a novel

bearbeide, kna, elte, foredle (om råmateriale) røre sammen, røre til

• he worked up a mixture

vekke, skape, fremkalle

• this is guaranteed to work up people's interest

( om følelser) egge (opp), hisse (opp), anspore, drive ( musikk) arbeide seg opp mot

• the orchestra was working up a crescendo

( om klær e.l.) krype oppover, skli opp, gli opp ( om vær) tilta, øke i styrke

• the storm worked up

(sjøfart, om straff) sette i hardt arbeid, holde i hardt arbeid

work up into omarbeide, gjøre om til, (videre)utvikle til, forvandle til

• he worked up the sketch into a picture

work up to stige til, nærme seg, dra seg mot

• the events worked up to a climax

worked up eller wrought up opphisset, opprørt, oppjaget, opprevet

• he got all worked up over nothing

epoch, era, season, age.

* * *

► nombre femenino

1 time, age

■ en la época de Enrique VIII in the time of Henry VIII

■ en la época de los romanos in Roman times

2 HISTORIA period, epoch

■ muebles de época period furniture

3 AGRICULTURA season, time

■ la época de la recolección harvest time

\

hacer época to be a landmark, make history

■ un descubrimiento que hizo época a discovery which had a huge impact

■ un acuerdo que hizo época an agreement which made history

por aquella época about that time

ser de su época to be with the times

* * *

* * *

1) (=momento histórico) age, period, epoch frm

2) (tb: época del año) (=temporada) season, time of year

* * *

a) ( período de tiempo - en la historia) time, period; (- en la vida) time

b) ( parte del año) time of year

c) (Geol) epoch

- época de celo

- época dorada or de oro

* * *

= era, epoch, age, period, time.

Ex. Thus, as we stand on the threshold of what is undoubtedly a new era in catalog control, it is worth considering to what extent the traditional services of the Library will continue in the forms now available.

Ex. The epoch of management inquiry and research has largely developed during this century, and many schools of thought have tried to formulate the underlying principles of management.

Ex. He was a frank elitist living in an age of rampant equalitarianism.

Ex. Library use declines during the June-October period when examinations have finished and the students are on vacation.

Ex. The following highlights are what this first class of Fellows recall of their time overseas.

----

* anormal para la época del año = unseasonably.

* atípico para la época del año = unseasonably.

* coche de época = vintage car.

* de época = vintage.

* de esa época = of the period.

* de la época = of the time(s), of the day.

* de la época isabelina = Elizabethan.

* de la época victoriana = Victorian.

* de + Posesivo + época = of + Posesivo + day.

* desde la época de = since the days of/when.

* desde la época prehistórica = since prehistoric times.

* desde su época = since + Posesivo + day.

* de su época = of + Posesivo + time.

* de una época anterior = vestigial.

* el espíritu de la época = the spirit of the times.

* en aquella época = at the time, at that time, in those days.

* en época de paz = in peacetime, during peacetime.

* en épocas anteriores = in former times, in past eras.

* en épocas de = in times of.

* en épocas de guerra = in time(s) of war.

* en épocas de paz = in time(s) of peace.

* en épocas de prosperidad económica = in affluent times.

* en épocas difíciles = in times of need.

* en épocas pasadas = in past ages.

* en esta época del año = around this time of year.

* en la época de posguerra = in the postwar period.

* en la época prehistórica = in prehistoric times.

* en la misma época = contemporaneously.

* en + Posesivo + época = in + Posesivo + time.

* en una época de = in a period of.

* en una época de transición = in a period of transition.

* en una época en donde = in an age where.

* época clásica, la = classical age, the.

* época colonial = frontier days, colonial times.

* época del año = season.

* época del celo = rutting, rutting season.

* época de lluvias = rainy season.

* época de paz = peacetime [peace time].

* época de plantar = planting time.

* época de vacaciones = holiday season.

* época dorada = glory days.

* época lluviosa = rainy season.

* época medieval = mediaeval period [medieval period, -USA], mediaeval times [medieval times, -USA].

* época pasada = bygone era.

* época postcolonial = post-colonial times.

* épocas anteriores = earlier times.

* época universitaria = school days.

* época victoriana, la = Victorian Era, the.

* esa época ya pasó hace tiempo = that time is long past.

* hubo una época en la que = there was a time when.

* Inglaterra de la época victoriana = Victorian England.

* la época de Algo = in season.

* novela de época = period novel.

* posterior a la época esclavista = post-slavery.

* primera época, la = early days, the.

* que hace época = epoch-making.

* que hizo época = epochal.

* que marca época = landmark.

* ser una buena época = be a good time.

* tendencia de la época, la = trend of the times, the.

* típico de la época = olde quaynte.

* * *

a) ( período de tiempo - en la historia) time, period; (- en la vida) time

b) ( parte del año) time of year

c) (Geol) epoch

- época de celo

- época dorada or de oro

* * *

* * *

1 (período de tiempo — en la historia) time, period; (— en la vida) time

una época de grandes cambios sociales a period o time o an age of great social change

durante la época victoriana in Victorian times, in the Victorian age o era

en la época de Franco in Franco's time, under Franco

una época gloriosa de nuestra historia a glorious time in o period of our history

en aquella época había dos pretendientes al trono at that time o in that period o during that period there were two pretenders to the throne

muebles de época period furniture

la época más feliz de su vida the happiest time o period of her life

en aquella época yo trabajaba en la fábrica in those days o at that time I was working in the factory

en épocas de crisis in times of crisis

está pasando por una buena época she's doing very well

hacer época: un grupo musical que hizo época a group which represented a landmark o marked a new era in musical history

2 (parte del año) time of year

odio esta época del año I hate this time of year

durante la época de lluvias during the rainy season

no es época de naranjas oranges are not in season at the moment, it's the wrong time of year for oranges

es la época de las cometas it's the kite-flying season

3 ( Geol) epoch

una formación de la época eocena a formation of the Eocene epoch

mating season

golden age

* * *

a) ( período de tiempo) time, period;

◊ en la época de Franco in Franco's time;

b) ( parte del año) time of year;

◊ la época de lluvias the rainy season

* * *

época nf

1. [periodo histórico] epoch, era;

la época victoriana the Victorian era;

en la época de Zapata at the time of Zapata;

en aquella época los dinosaurios poblaban la Tierra at that time dinosaurs roamed the Earth;

coche de época vintage car;

muebles de época period furniture;

vestido de época period dress;

hacer época to become a symbol of its time;

una película/una victoria de las que hacen época a movie/victory that will go down in history

2. [periodo de la vida] period;

prefiere no recordar esa época de su vida he prefers not to recall that period in his life;

un Dalí de su época joven an early Dali;

en aquella época vivíamos en Manchester at that time we lived in Manchester;

lleva una época larga sin trabajar he's been out of work for a long period;

la empresa ha pasado por una mala época the company has been through a bad spell

3. [estación] season;

la época de las lluvias the rainy season;

la época del apareamiento the mating season

4. Geol age

* * *

1 time, period;

en aquella época at that time;

hacer época be epoch-making

2 parte del año time of year

3 GEOL epoch

* * *

época nf

1) edad, era, período: epoch, age, period

2) : time of year, season

de época : vintage, antique

* * *

época n time