prospered

fortūno, āvi, ātum, 1 (archaic form of the perf. subj. fortunassint, Afran. ap. Non. 109, 18), v. a. [fortuna, II. A. 1.], to make prosperous or fortunate, to make happy, to prosper, bless: prosperare, omnibus bonis augere, Non. l. l. (class.; most freq. in the P. a.); constr. usually (alicui) aliquid: St. Di fortunabunt vostra consilia! Ph. Ita volo, Plaut. Trin. 2, 4, 175:

tibi patrimonium dei fortunent,

Cic. Fam. 2, 2:

eumque honorem tibi deos fortunare volo,

id. ib. 15, 7; Liv. 34, 4 fin.:

quod faxitis, deos velim fortunare,

id. 6, 41, 12: quamcumque deus tibi fortunaverit horam, whatever happy hour Providence has allotted you, Hor. Ep. 1, 11, 22.— Absol.: deos ego omnes, ut fortunassint, precor, Afran. ap. Non. 1. 1.—Hence, fortūnātus, a, um, P. a., prospered, prosperous, lucky, happy, fortunate (syn.: beatus, felix).

In gen.:

salvus atque fortunatus semper sies,

Plaut. Aul. 2, 2, 5:

et miser sum et fortunatus,

id. Capt. 5, 3, 16:

qui me in terra aeque Fortunatus erit, si illa ad me bitet?

id. Curc. 1, 2, 52:

quam est hic fortunatus putandus, cui, etc.,

Cic. Rep. 1, 17:

nec quicquam insipiente fortunato intolerabilius fieri potest,

id. Lael. 15, 54:

laudat senem et fortunatum esse dicit,

id. Tusc. 3, 24, 57:

mihi vero Cn. et P. Scipiones comitatu nobilium juvenum fortunati videbantur,

id. de Sen. 9, 29:

o hominem fortunatum!

id. Quint. 25, 80:

fortunate senex!

Verg. E. 1, 47:

fortunatus et ille deos qui novit agrestes,

id. G. 2, 493:

c fortunatam rem publicam!

Cic. Cat. 2, 4, 7; cf.: o fortunatam natam me consule Romam, id. poët Fragm. ap. Quint. 9, 4, 41; 11, 1, 24; cf. also Juv. 10, 122:

fortunatus illius exitus,

Cic. Brut. 96, 329:

vita,

Hor. Ep. 1, 11, 14:

ut nobis haec habitatio Bona, fausta, felix fortunataque eveniat,

Plaut. Trin. 1, 2, 3 (v. felix).— Comp.:

ecquis me hodie vivit fortunatior?

Ter. Eun. 5, 8, 1:

Carneades dicere solitus est, nusquam se fortunatiorem quam Praeneste vidisse Fortunam,

Cic. Div. 2, 41 fin.; Hor. A. P. 295.— Sup.:

Archelaüs, qui tum fortunatissimus haberetur,

Cic. Tusc. 5, 12, 34:

fortunatissimo proelio decertare,

Vell. 2, 12, 5.—

Poet., with gen.:

fortunatus laborum,

happy in his sufferings, Verg. A. 11, 416:

fortunate animi!

Stat. Th. 1, 638. —

In partic.

(Acc. to fortuna, II. B. 2.) In good circumstances, well off, wealthy, rich:

gratia fortunati et potentis,

Cic. Off. 2, 20, 69:

apud Scopam, fortunatum hominem et nobilem,

id. de Or. 2, 86, 352:

quid vos hanc miseram ac tenuem sectamini praedam, quibus licet jam esse fortunatissimis?

Caes. B. G. 6, 35, 8.—

Fortūnātae Insŭlae, Gr. tôn Makarôn niêsoi, the fabulous isles of the Western Ocean, the abodes of the blessed; acc. to some, the Canary Isles, Plin. 4, 22, 36, § 119; 6, 32, 37, § 202;

also called Fortunatorum insulae,

Plaut. Trin. 2, 4, 148;

and transf.: amoena virecta fortunatorum nemorum,

Verg. A. 6, 639.— Adv.: fortūnāte, fortunately, prosperously:

nunc bene vivo et fortunate atque ut volo,

Plaut. Mil. 3, 1, 112:

facile et fortunate evenit,

id. Ep. 2, 2, 61:

feliciter, absolute, fortunate vivere,

Cic. Fin. 3, 7, 26:

scite aut fortunate gestum,

Liv. 10, 18, 5.

fortūno, āvi, ātum, 1 (archaic form of the perf. subj. fortunassint, Afran. ap. Non. 109, 18), v. a. [fortuna, II. A. 1.], to make prosperous or fortunate, to make happy, to prosper, bless: prosperare, omnibus bonis augere, Non. l. l. (class.; most freq. in the P. a.); constr. usually (alicui) aliquid: St. Di fortunabunt vostra consilia! Ph. Ita volo, Plaut. Trin. 2, 4, 175:

tibi patrimonium dei fortunent,

Cic. Fam. 2, 2:

eumque honorem tibi deos fortunare volo,

id. ib. 15, 7; Liv. 34, 4 fin.:

quod faxitis, deos velim fortunare,

id. 6, 41, 12: quamcumque deus tibi fortunaverit horam, whatever happy hour Providence has allotted you, Hor. Ep. 1, 11, 22.— Absol.: deos ego omnes, ut fortunassint, precor, Afran. ap. Non. 1. 1.—Hence, fortūnātus, a, um, P. a., prospered, prosperous, lucky, happy, fortunate (syn.: beatus, felix).

In gen.:

salvus atque fortunatus semper sies,

Plaut. Aul. 2, 2, 5:

et miser sum et fortunatus,

id. Capt. 5, 3, 16:

qui me in terra aeque Fortunatus erit, si illa ad me bitet?

id. Curc. 1, 2, 52:

quam est hic fortunatus putandus, cui, etc.,

Cic. Rep. 1, 17:

nec quicquam insipiente fortunato intolerabilius fieri potest,

id. Lael. 15, 54:

laudat senem et fortunatum esse dicit,

id. Tusc. 3, 24, 57:

mihi vero Cn. et P. Scipiones comitatu nobilium juvenum fortunati videbantur,

id. de Sen. 9, 29:

o hominem fortunatum!

id. Quint. 25, 80:

fortunate senex!

Verg. E. 1, 47:

fortunatus et ille deos qui novit agrestes,

id. G. 2, 493:

c fortunatam rem publicam!

Cic. Cat. 2, 4, 7; cf.: o fortunatam natam me consule Romam, id. poët Fragm. ap. Quint. 9, 4, 41; 11, 1, 24; cf. also Juv. 10, 122:

fortunatus illius exitus,

Cic. Brut. 96, 329:

vita,

Hor. Ep. 1, 11, 14:

ut nobis haec habitatio Bona, fausta, felix fortunataque eveniat,

Plaut. Trin. 1, 2, 3 (v. felix).— Comp.:

ecquis me hodie vivit fortunatior?

Ter. Eun. 5, 8, 1:

Carneades dicere solitus est, nusquam se fortunatiorem quam Praeneste vidisse Fortunam,

Cic. Div. 2, 41 fin.; Hor. A. P. 295.— Sup.:

Archelaüs, qui tum fortunatissimus haberetur,

Cic. Tusc. 5, 12, 34:

fortunatissimo proelio decertare,

Vell. 2, 12, 5.—

Poet., with gen.:

fortunatus laborum,

happy in his sufferings, Verg. A. 11, 416:

fortunate animi!

Stat. Th. 1, 638. —

In partic.

(Acc. to fortuna, II. B. 2.) In good circumstances, well off, wealthy, rich:

gratia fortunati et potentis,

Cic. Off. 2, 20, 69:

apud Scopam, fortunatum hominem et nobilem,

id. de Or. 2, 86, 352:

quid vos hanc miseram ac tenuem sectamini praedam, quibus licet jam esse fortunatissimis?

Caes. B. G. 6, 35, 8.—

Fortūnātae Insŭlae, Gr. tôn Makarôn niêsoi, the fabulous isles of the Western Ocean, the abodes of the blessed; acc. to some, the Canary Isles, Plin. 4, 22, 36, § 119; 6, 32, 37, § 202;

also called Fortunatorum insulae,

Plaut. Trin. 2, 4, 148;

and transf.: amoena virecta fortunatorum nemorum,

Verg. A. 6, 639.— Adv.: fortūnāte, fortunately, prosperously:

nunc bene vivo et fortunate atque ut volo,

Plaut. Mil. 3, 1, 112:

facile et fortunate evenit,

id. Ep. 2, 2, 61:

feliciter, absolute, fortunate vivere,

Cic. Fin. 3, 7, 26:

scite aut fortunate gestum,

Liv. 10, 18, 5.

occātor, ōris, m. [id.], a harrower, Col. 2, 13, 1; cf.: occatorem Verrius putat dictum ab occaedendo quod caedat grandis globos terrae, cum Cicero venustissime dicat ab occaecando fruges satas, Paul. ex Fest. p. 181 Müll.— Trop.: sator sartorque scelerum, et messor maxume. Ty. Non occatorem prius audebas dicere? Plaut. Capt. 3, 5, 3.—

Personified, the Roman god who prospered the harrower's work, Serv. Verg. G. 1, 21.

ὀφέλλω (A), [dialect] Ep., [dialect] Aeol., and Arc. for ὀφείλω (q. v. sub init.).

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ὀφέλλω (B), [dialect] Aeol. [tense] aor. ind. [ per.] 3sg.

A

ὤφελλε Od.16.174

, ὄφελλε ([etym.] ν) Il. 2.420, Theoc.25.120 (unless these are [tense] impf.); [tense] aor. subj. [ per.] 3pl. ὀφέλλωσιν Il.1.510; [tense] aor. opt.

ὀφέλλειεν 16.651

, Od.2.334:—old [dialect] Ep. Verb, increase, enlarge, strengthen,

στόνον Il.4.445

;

πόνον 16.651

, Od.2.334;

ἀνδρὸς ἐρωήν Il.3.62

;

δέμας δ' ὤφελλε καὶ ἥβην Od.16.174

; ἲς ἀνέμου.. κύματ' ὀφέλλει the force of the wind raises high the waves, Il.15.383; μῦθον ὀ. multiply words, 16.631; ὕβριν ὀ. add to insult, Hes.Op. 213; πόλεμον καὶ δῆριν ὀ. ib.14, cf. 33; ὄφρ' ἂν Ἀχαιοὶ υἱὸν ἐμὸν τίσωσιν, ὀφέλλωσίν τέ ἑ τιμῇ advance him in honour, Il.1.510; οἶκον ὀ. advance it, make it thrive, Od.15.21, Hes.Op. 495 (hence οἰκωφελίη) ; πεδίον σὺν θεῶν τιμαῖς ὀ. Pi.P.4.260:—[voice] Pass., οἶκος ὀφέλλετο it waxed great, prospered, Od.14.233;

ὀφέλλετο γὰρ μένος ἠῢ ἵππου Il.23.524

;

λήϊον.. ὀφελλόμενον Διὸς ὄμβρῳ Theoc.17.78

;

τὰ τῶν θύραθεν.. ὀφέλλεται A.Th. 103

; ἀραγμὸς ἐν πύλαις ὀφέλλεται increases, waxes louder, ib. 249. (Dialectal word acc. to Pl.Cra. 417c.)

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ὀφέλλω (C),

A sweep,

τὴν στέγην Hippon.51

.

under ['ʌndə(r)]

sous ⇒ 1 (a), 1 (d)-(g) moins de ⇒ 1 (b) au-dessous de ⇒ 1 (b) sous le poids de ⇒ 1 (c) conformément à ⇒ 1 (h) en cours de ⇒ 1 (i) dessous ⇒ 2 (a)

1 preposition

(a) (beneath, below) sous;

∎ the newspaper was under the chair/cushion le journal était sous la chaise/le coussin;

∎ the pantry is under the stairs le garde-manger est sous l'escalier;

∎ I can't see anything under it je ne vois rien (en) dessous;

∎ put it under that mettez-le là-dessous;

∎ there is a coat of paint under the wallpaper il y a une couche de peinture sous le papier peint;

∎ the body was lying under a sheet le cadavre était étendu sous un drap;

∎ he wore a white shirt under his jacket il portait une chemise blanche sous sa veste;

∎ he pulled a wallet from under his jersey il a sorti un portefeuille de sous son pull;

∎ he was carrying a paper under his arm il portait un journal sous le bras;

∎ hold your hand under the tap mettez votre main sous le robinet;

∎ stand under my umbrella mettez-vous sous mon parapluie;

∎ we took shelter under a tree nous nous sommes abrités sous un arbre;

∎ to be born under Aries/Leo être né sous le signe du Bélier/du Lion;

∎ it can only be seen under a microscope on ne peut le voir qu'au microscope;

∎ we had to crawl under the barbed wire on a dû passer sous les barbelés en rampant;

∎ you have to crawl under it il faut ramper dessous;

∎ the tunnel ran under the sea le tunnel passait sous la mer;

∎ she was swimming under water/under the bridge elle nageait sous l'eau/sous le pont;

∎ it's unlucky to walk under a ladder ça porte malheur de passer sous une échelle

(b) (less than) moins de, au-dessous de;

∎ under £7,000 moins de 7000 livres;

∎ everything is under £5 tout est à moins de 5 livres;

∎ is she under 16? est-ce qu'elle a moins de 16 ans?;

∎ children under ten les enfants au-dessous ou de moins de dix ans;

∎ in under ten minutes en moins de dix minutes

(c) (weighed down by) sous le poids de;

∎ he staggered under his heavy load il chancelait sous le poids de son lourd chargement;

∎ figurative to sink under the weight of one's debts sombrer sous le poids de ses dettes

(d) (indicating conditions or circumstances) sous, dans;

∎ we had to work under appalling conditions on a dû travailler dans des conditions épouvantables;

∎ she was murdered under strange circumstances elle a été tuée dans d'étranges circonstances;

∎ under the circumstances vu les circonstances

(e) (subject to) sous;

∎ under duress/threat sous la contrainte/la menace

(f) Medicine sous;

∎ under sedation/treatment sous calmants/traitement

(g) (directed, governed by) sous (la direction de);

∎ he studied under Fox il a été l'élève de Fox;

∎ she has two assistants under her elle a deux assistants sous ses ordres;

∎ Music the Bristol Chamber Orchestra under Martin Davenport l'orchestre de (musique de) chambre de Bristol sous la direction de Martin Davenport;

∎ I served under General White j'ai servi sous le général White;

∎ the book describes Uganda under Amin le livre décrit l'Ouganda sous (le régime d')Amin Dada;

∎ to come under (the authority of) the Home Office relever du ministère de l'Intérieur;

∎ under her management, the firm prospered sous sa direction, l'entreprise a prospéré;

∎ under fascism, many groups were outlawed sous le régime fasciste, de nombreux groupes furent interdits

(h) (according to) conformément à, en vertu de, selon;

∎ under the new law, all this will change avec la nouvelle loi, tout cela va changer;

∎ under the new law, elections will be held every four years en vertu de ou selon la nouvelle loi, les élections auront lieu tous les quatre ans;

∎ under the Emergency Powers Act conformément à la loi instituant l'état d'urgence;

∎ under this system, the President has little real power dans ce système, le Président a peu de pouvoir véritable;

∎ under (the terms of) his will/the agreement selon (les termes de) son testament/l'accord

(i) (in the process of) en cours de;

∎ under construction en cours de construction;

∎ the matter is under consideration/discussion on est en train d'étudier/de discuter la question

(j) Agriculture

∎ under wheat/barley en blé/orge

(k) (in classification)

∎ you'll find the book under philosophy vous trouverez le livre sous la rubrique philosophie;

∎ you'll find my number under Magee vous trouverez mon numéro sous Magee;

∎ she writes under the name of Heidi Croft elle écrit sous le nom de Heidi Croft;

∎ few singers perform under their own name peu de chanteurs gardent leur vrai nom

2 adverb

(a) (below ground, water, door etc)

∎ to slide or to slip under se glisser dessous;

∎ to pass under passer dessous;

∎ to stay under (under water) rester sous l'eau

(b) Medicine (anaesthetized) sous l'effet de l'anesthésie

(c) (less → in age, price)

∎ you have to be 16 or under to enter il faut avoir 16 ans ou moins pour se présenter;

∎ items at £20 and under des articles à 20 livres et au-dessous

✾ Play 'Under Milk Wood' Thomas 'Au bois lacté'

✾ Book 'Under Western Eyes' Conrad 'Sous les yeux de l'Occident'

✾ Book ✾ Film 'Under the Volcano' Lowry, Huston 'Au-dessous du volcan'

luxuriated, prospered, thrived

bloomed, blooming, efflorescent, flourished, flowered, flowered, luxuriated, prospered, prosperous, thrived, thriven

SUBJECT AREA: Agricultural and food technology

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As the son of an inn keeper, Nicolas Appert would have learned about pickling and brewing, but he chose to become a chef and confectioner, establishing himself in the rue des Lombards in Paris in 1780. He prospered there until about 1795, and in that year he began experimenting in ways to preserve foodstuffs, succeeding with soups, vegetables, juices, dairy products, jellies, jams and syrups. His method was to place food in glass jars, seal the jars with cork and sealing wax, then sterilize them by immersion in boiling water for a predetermined time.

In 1810 the French Government offered a 12,000 franc award to anyone succeeding in preserving high-quality foodstuffs for its army and navy. Appert won the award and in 1812 used the money to open the world's first food-bottling factory, La Maison Appert, in the town of Massey, near Paris. He established agents in all the major sea ports, recognizing the marine market as his most likely customer, and supplied products to Napoleon's troops in the field. By 1820 Appert's method was in use all over the United States, in spite of the simultaneous development of other containers of tin or other metals by an English merchant, Peter Durand, and the production of canned food products by the Bermondsey firm of Donkin \& Hall, London. The latter had opened the first canning factory in England in 1811.

Initially Appert used glass jars and bottles, but in 1822 he changed to tin-plated metal cans. To heat the cans he used an autoclave, which heated the water to a temperature higher than its boiling point. A hammer and chisel were needed to open cans until the invention of a can opener by an Englishman named Yates in 1855. Despite Appert's successes, he received little financial reward and died in poverty; he was buried in a common grave.

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SUBJECT AREA: Textiles

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

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

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SUBJECT AREA: Domestic appliances and interiors, Textiles

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Blanchard was the daughter of a wealthy ship owner. She was said to have had inventive talents but seems to have had no technical training. She patented nothing until she was over 30, although that may have been due to shortage of funds. Inheriting the family wealth after the death of her father brought her talents out into the open. She moved to Boston, Massachusetts, and made and patented a number of mechanical devices to improve the sewing machine: these included the "over seaming" machine, a crochet attachment and methods of making knitwear. In 1881, with an unmarried sister, she founded the Blanchard Overseam Machine Company to exploit her sewing machine inventions. Her company seems to have prospered, for in 1891 she was said to own "great estates", a factory and many patent rights, the returns from which made her a wealthy woman. Patents for sewing machine improvements and attachments continued to flow until 1915. She suffered a stroke in 1916, and died six years later; no will was ever probated, so the fate of her wealth can only be surmised.

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SUBJECT AREA: Aerospace

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In 1915 William E.Boeing and his friend Commander Conrad Westervelt decided that they could improve on the aeroplanes then being produced in the United States. Boeing was a prominent Seattle businessman with interests in land and timber, while Westervelt was an officer in the US Navy. They bought a Martin Model T float-plane in order to gain some experience and then produced their own design, the B \& W, which first flew in June 1916. Westervelt was transferred to the East, leaving Boeing to continue the production of the B \& W floatplanes, for which purpose he set up the Pacific Aero Products Company. On 26 April 1917 this became the Boeing Airplane Company, which prospered following the US involvement in the First World War.

In March 1919 Boeing and Edward Hubbard inaugurated the world's first international airmail service between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The Boeing Company then had to face the slump in aircraft manufacturing after the war: they survived, and by 1922 they had started producing a successful series of fighters while continuing to develop their flying-boat and floatplane designs. Boeing set up the Boeing Air Transport Corporation to tender for lucrative airmail contracts and then produced aircraft which could out-perform those of his rivals. The company went from strength to strength and by the end of the 1920s a huge conglomerate had been built up: the United Aircraft and Transport Corporation. They produced an advanced high-speed monoplane mailplane, the model 200 Monomail in 1930, which saw the birth of a new era of Boeing designs.

The Wall Street crash of 1929 and legislation in 1934, which banned any company from both building aeroplanes and running an airline, were setbacks which the Boeing Airplane Company overcame, moving ahead to become world leaders. William E.Boeing decided that it was time he retired, but he returned to work during the Second World War.

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SUBJECT AREA: Aerospace

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Gianni Caproni studied civil and electrical engineering in Munich and Liège before moving on to Paris, where he developed an interest in aeronautics. He built his first aircraft in 1910, a biplane with a tricycle undercarriage (which has been claimed as the world's first tricycle undercarriage). Caproni and his brother, Dr Fred Caproni, set up a factory at Malpensa in northern Italy and produced a series of monoplanes and biplanes. In 1913 Caproni astounded the aviation world with his Ca 30 three-engined biplane bomber. There followed many variations, of which the most significant were the Ca 32 of 1915, the first large bomber to enter service in significant numbers, and the Ca 42 triplane of 1917 with a wing span of almost 30 metres.

After the First World War, Caproni designed an even larger aircraft with three pairs of triplane wings (i.e. nine wings each of 30 metres span) and eight engines. This Ca 60 flying boat was designed to carry 100 passengers. In 1921 it made one short flight lightly loaded; however, with a load of sandbags representing sixty passengers, it crashed soon after take-off. The project was abandoned but Caproni's company prospered and expanded to become one of the largest groups of companies in Italy. In the 1930s Caproni aircraft twice broke the world altitude record. Several Caproni types were in service when Italy entered the Second World War, and an unusual research aircraft was under development. The Caproni-Campini No. 1 (CC2) was a jet, but it did not have a gas-turbine engine. Dr Campini's engine used a piston engine to drive a compressor which forced air out through a nozzle, and by burning fuel in this airstream a jet was produced. It flew with limited success in August 1940, amid much publicity: the first German jet (1939) and the first British jet (1941) were both flown in secret. Caproni retained many of his early aircraft for his private museum, including some salvaged parts from his monstrous flying boat.

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See also: Heinkel, Ernst; Ohain, Hans Joachim Pabst von; Whittle, Sir Frank

SUBJECT AREA: Metallurgy

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Darby's father, John, was a farmer who also worked a small forge to produce nails and other ironware needed on the farm. He was brought up in the Society of Friends, or Quakers, and this community remained important throughout his personal and working life. Darby was apprenticed to Jonathan Freeth, a malt-mill maker in Birmingham, and on completion of his apprenticeship in 1699 he took up the trade himself in Bristol. Probably in 1704, he visited Holland to study the casting of brass pots and returned to Bristol with some Dutch workers, setting up a brassworks at Baptist Mills in partnership with others. He tried substituting cast iron for brass in his castings, without success at first, but in 1707 he was granted a patent, "A new way of casting iron pots and other pot-bellied ware in sand without loam or clay". However, his business associates were unwilling to risk further funds in the experiments, so he withdrew his share of the capital and moved to Coalbrookdale in Shropshire. There, iron ore, coal, water-power and transport lay close at hand. He took a lease on an old furnace and began experimenting. The shortage and expense of charcoal, and his knowledge of the use of coke in malting, may well have led him to try using coke to smelt iron ore. The furnace was brought into blast in 1709 and records show that in the same year it was regularly producing iron, using coke instead of charcoal. The process seems to have been operating successfully by 1711 in the production of cast-iron pots and kettles, with some pig-iron destined for Bristol. Darby prospered at Coalbrookdale, employing coke smelting with consistent success, and he sought to extend his activities in the neighbourhood and in other parts of the country. However, ill health prevented him from pursuing these ventures with his previous energy. Coke smelting spread slowly in England and the continent of Europe, but without Darby's technological breakthrough the ever-increasing demand for iron for structures and machines during the Industrial Revolution simply could not have been met; it was thus an essential component of the technological progress that was to come.

Darby's eldest son, Abraham II (1711–63), entered the Coalbrookdale Company partnership in 1734 and largely assumed control of the technical side of managing the furnaces and foundry. He made a number of improvements, notably the installation of a steam engine in 1742 to pump water to an upper level in order to achieve a steady source of water-power to operate the bellows supplying the blast furnaces. When he built the Ketley and Horsehay furnaces in 1755 and 1756, these too were provided with steam engines. Abraham II's son, Abraham III (1750–89), in turn, took over the management of the Coalbrookdale works in 1768 and devoted himself to improving and extending the business. His most notable achievement was the design and construction of the famous Iron Bridge over the river Severn, the world's first iron bridge. The bridge members were cast at Coalbrookdale and the structure was erected during 1779, with a span of 100 ft (30 m) and height above the river of 40 ft (12 m). The bridge still stands, and remains a tribute to the skill and judgement of Darby and his workers.

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SUBJECT AREA: Land transport, Railways and locomotives

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England trained with John Penn \& Sons, marine engine and boilermakers, and set up his own business at Hatcham Iron Works, South London, in about 1840. This was initially a general engineering business and made traversing screw jacks, which England had patented, but by 1850 it was building locomotives. One of these, Little England, a 2–2– 2T light locomotive owing much to the ideas of W.Bridges Adams, was exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851, and England then prospered, supplying many railways at home and abroad with small locomotives. In 1863 he built two exceptionally small 0–4–0 tank locomotives for the Festiniog Railway, which enabled the latter's Manager and Engineer C.E. Spooner to introduce steam traction on this line with its gauge of just under 2 ft (60 cm). England's works had a reputation for good workmanship, suggesting he inspired loyalty among his employees, yet he also displayed increasingly tyrannical behaviour towards them: the culmination was a disastrous strike in 1865 that resulted in the loss of a substantial order from the South Eastern Railway. From 1866 George England became associated with development of locomotives to the patent of Robert Fairlie, but in 1869 he retired due to ill health and leased his works to a partnership of his son (also called George England), Robert Fairlie and J.S.Fraser under the title of the Fairlie Engine \& Steam Carriage Company. However, George England junior died within a few months, locomotive production ceased in 1870 and the works was sold off two years later.

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

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He was the son of a cloth mill worker in Leeds and at the age of 10 he joined his father at the mill. Showing a mechanical inclination, he was apprenticed to a firm of machine-tool makers, Smith, Beacock and Tannett. There he rose to become Foreman and Traveller, and designed and patented tools for cutting bevelled gears. With his brother and one Refitt, he set up the Silver Cross engineering works for making special machine tools. In 1874 he founded the Leeds Forge Company, acting as Managing Director until 1896 and then as Chairman until shortly before his death.

It was in 1877 that he patented his most important invention, the corrugated furnace for steam-boilers. These furnaces could withstand much higher pressures than the conventional form, and higher working pressures in marine boilers enabled triple-expansion engines to be installed, greatly improving the performance of steamships, and the outcome was the great ocean-going liners of the twentieth century. The first vessel to be equipped with the corrugated furnace was the Pretoria of 1878. At first the furnaces were made by hammering iron plates using swage blocks under a steam hammer. A plant for rolling corrugated plates was set up at Essen in Germany, and Fox installed a similar mill at his works in Leeds in 1882.

In 1886 Fox installed a Siemens steelmaking plant and he was notable in the movement for replacing wrought iron with steel. He took out several patents for making pressed-steel underframes for railway wagons. The business prospered and Fox opened a works near Chicago in the USA, where in addition to wagon underframes he manufactured the first American pressed-steel carriages. He later added a works at Pittsburgh.

Fox was the first in England to use water gas for his metallurgical operations and for lighting, with a saving in cost as it was cheaper than coal gas. He was also a pioneer in the acetylene industry, producing in 1894 the first calcium carbide, from which the gas is made.

Fox took an active part in public life in and around Leeds, being thrice elected Mayor of Harrogate. As a music lover, he was a benefactor of musicians, contributing no less than £45,000 towards the cost of building the Royal College of Music in London, opened in 1894. In 1897 he sued for libel the author Jerome K.Jerome and the publishers of the Today magazine for accusing him of misusing his great generosity to the College to give a misleading impression of his commercial methods and prosperity. He won the case but was not awarded costs.

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