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1 science of metals
science of metals Metallkunde fEnglish-German dictionary of Architecture and Construction > science of metals
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2 science of metals
(met) metalografie -
3 Volta, Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio
SUBJECT AREA: Electricity[br]b. 18 February 1745 Como, Italyd. 5 March 1827 Como, Italy[br]Italian physicist, discoverer of a source of continuous electric current from a pile of dissimilar metals.[br]Volta had an early command of English, French and Latin, and also learned to read Dutch and Spanish. After completing studies at the Royal Seminary in Como he was involved in the study of physics, chemistry and electricity. He became a teacher of physics in his native town and in 1779 was appointed Professor of Physics at the University of Pavia, a post he held for forty years.With a growing international reputation and a wish to keep abreast of the latest developments, in 1777 he began the first of many travels abroad. A journey started in 1781 to Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Holland, France and England lasted about one year. By 1791 he had been elected to membership of many learned societies, including those in Zurich, Berlin, Berne and Paris. Volta's invention of his pile resulted from a controversy with Luigi Galvani, Professor of Anatomy at the University of Bologna. Galvani discovered that the muscles of frogs' legs contracted when touched with two pieces of different metals and attributed this to a phenomenon of the animal tissue. Volta showed that the excitation was due to a chemical reaction resulting from the contact of the dissimilar metals when moistened. His pile comprised a column of zinc and silver discs, each pair separated by paper moistened with brine, and provided a source of continuous current from a simple and accessible source. The effectiveness of the pile decreased as the paper dried and Volta devised his crown of cups, which had a longer life. In this, pairs of dissimilar metals were placed in each of a number of cups partly filled with an electrolyte such as brine. Volta first announced the results of his experiments with dissimilar metals in 1800 in a letter to Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society. This letter, published in the Transactions of the Royal Society, has been regarded as one of the most important documents in the history of science. Large batteries were constructed in a number of laboratories soon after Volta's discoveries became known, leading immediately to a series of developments in electrochemistry and eventually in electromagnetism. Volta himself made little further contribution to science. In recognition of his achievement, at a meeting of the International Electrical Congress in Paris in 1881 it was agreed to name the unit of electrical pressure the "volt".[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsFRS 1791. Royal Society Copley Medal 1794. Knight of the Iron Crown, Austria, 1806. Senator of the Realm of Lombardy 1809.Bibliography1800, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society 18:744–6 (Volta's report on his discovery).Further ReadingG.Polvani, 1942, Alessandro Volta, Pisa (the best account available).B.Dibner, 1964, Alessandro Volta and the Electric Battery, New York (a detailed account).C.C.Gillispie (ed.), 1976, Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Vol. XIV, New York, pp.66–82 (includes an extensive biography).F.Soresni, 1988, Alessandro Volta, Milan (includes illustrations of Volta's apparatus, with brief text).GWBiographical history of technology > Volta, Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio
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4 Davy, Sir Humphry
[br]b. 17 December 1778 Penzance, Cornwall, Englandd. 29 May 1829 Geneva, Switzerland[br]English chemist, discoverer of the alkali and alkaline earth metals and the halogens, inventor of the miner's safety lamp.[br]Educated at the Latin School at Penzance and from 1792 at Truro Grammar School, Davy was apprenticed to a surgeon in Penzance. In 1797 he began to teach himself chemistry by reading, among other works, Lavoisier's elementary treatise on chemistry. In 1798 Dr Thomas Beddoes of Bristol engaged him as assistant in setting up his Pneumatic Institution to pioneer the medical application of the newly discovered gases, especially oxygen.In 1799 he discovered the anaesthetic properties of nitrous oxide, discovered not long before by the chemist Joseph Priestley. He also noted its intoxicating qualities, on account of which it was dubbed "laughing-gas". Two years later Count Rumford, founder of the Royal Institution in 1800, appointed Davy Assistant Lecturer, and the following year Professor. His lecturing ability soon began to attract large audiences, making science both popular and fashionable.Davy was stimulated by Volta's invention of the voltaic pile, or electric battery, to construct one for himself in 1800. That enabled him to embark on the researches into electrochemistry by which is chiefly known. In 1807 he tried decomposing caustic soda and caustic potash, hitherto regarded as elements, by electrolysis and obtained the metals sodium and potassium. He went on to discover the metals barium, strontium, calcium and magnesium by the same means. Next, he turned his attention to chlorine, which was then regarded as an oxide in accordance with Lavoisier's theory that oxygen was the essential component of acids; Davy failed to decompose it, however, even with the aid of electricity and concluded that it was an element, thus disproving Lavoisier's view of the nature of acids. In 1812 Davy published his Elements of Chemical Philosophy, in which he presented his chemical ideas without, however, committing himself to the atomic theory, recently advanced by John Dalton.In 1813 Davy engaged Faraday as Assistant, perhaps his greatest service to science. In April 1815 Davy was asked to assist in the development of a miner's lamp which could be safely used in a firedamp (methane) laden atmosphere. The "Davy lamp", which emerged in January 1816, had its flame completely surrounded by a fine wire mesh; George Stephenson's lamp, based on a similar principle, had been introduced into the Northumberland pits several months earlier, and a bitter controversy as to priority of invention ensued, but it was Davy who was awarded the prize for inventing a successful safety lamp.In 1824 Davy was the first to suggest the possibility of conferring cathodic protection to the copper bottoms of naval vessels by the use of sacrificial electrodes. Zinc and iron were found to be equally effective in inhibiting corrosion, although the scheme was later abandoned when it was found that ships protected in this way were rapidly fouled by weeds and barnacles.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsKnighted 1812. FRS 1803; President, Royal Society 1820. Royal Society Copley Medal 1805.Bibliography1812, Elements of Chemical Philosophy.1839–40, The Collected Works of Sir Humphry Davy, 9 vols, ed. John Davy, London.Further ReadingJ.Davy, 1836, Memoirs of the Life of Sir Humphry Davy, London (a classic biography). J.A.Paris, 1831, The Life of Sir Humphry Davy, London (a classic biography). H.Hartley, 1967, Humphry Davy, London (a more recent biography).J.Z.Fullmer, 1969, Cambridge, Mass, (a bibliography of Davy's works).ASD -
5 Hunter, Matthew Albert
SUBJECT AREA: Metallurgy[br]b. 9 November 1878 Auckland Province, New Zealandd. 24 March 1961 Troy, New York, USA[br]New Zealand/American technologist and academic who was a pioneer in the production of metallic titanium.[br]Hunter arrived in England in 1902, the seventh in the succession of New Zealand students nominated for the 1851 Exhibition science research scholarships (the third, in 1894, having been Ernest Rutherford). He intended to study the metallurgy of tellurides at the Royal School of Mines, but owing to the death of the professor concerned, he went instead to University College London, where his research over two years involved the molecular aggregation of liquified gases. In 1904–5 he spent a third year in Göttingen, Paris and Karlsruhe. Hunter then moved to the USA, beginning work in 1906 with the General Electric Company in Schenectady. His experience with titanium came as part of a programme to try to discover satisfactory lamp-filament materials. He and his colleagues achieved more success in producing moderately pure titanium than previous workers had done, but found the metal's melting temperature inadequate. However, his research formed the basis for the "Hunter sodium process", a modern method for producing commercial quantities of titanium. In 1908 he was appointed Assistant Professor of Electrochemistry and Physics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, where he was to remain until his retirement in 1949 as Dean Emeritus. In the 1930s he founded and headed the Institute's Department of Metallurgical Engineering. As a consultant, he was associated with the development of Invar, Managanin and Constantan alloys.[br]Principal Honours and Distinctions1851 Great Exhibition science research scholar 1902–5. DSc London University 1904. American Die Casting Institute Doehler Award 1959. American Society for Metals Gold Medal 1959.Bibliography1910, "Metallic titanium", Journal of the American Chemistry Society 32:330–6 (describes his work relating to titanium production).Further Reading1961, "Man of metals", Rensselaer Alumni News (December), 5–7:32.JKA -
6 Lavoisier, Antoine Laurent
SUBJECT AREA: Chemical technology[br]b. 26 August 1743 Paris, Franced. 8 May 1794 Paris, France[br]French founder of the modern science of chemistry.[br]As well as receiving a formal education in law and literature, Lavoisier studied science under some of the leading figures of the day. This proved to be an ideal formation of the man in whom "man of science" and "public servant" were so intimately combined. His early work towards the first geological map of France and on the water supply of Paris helped to win him election to the Royal Academy of Sciences in 1768 at the youthful age of 25. In the same year he used some of his private income to buy a part-share in the "tax farm", a private company which leased from the Government the right to collect certain indirect taxes.In 1772 Lavoisier began his researches into the related phenomena of combustion, respiration and the calcination or oxidation of metals. This culminated in the early 1780s in the overthrow of the prevailing theory, based on an imponderable combustion principle called "phlogiston", and the substitution of the modern explanation of these processes. At the same time, understanding of the nature of acids, bases and salts was placed on a sounder footing. More important, Lavoisier defined a chemical element in its modern sense and showed how it should be applied by drawing up the first modern list of the chemical elements. With the revolution in chemistry initiated by Lavoisier, chemists could begin to understand correctly the fundamental processes of their science. This understanding was the foundationo of the astonishing advance in scientific and industrial chemistry that has taken place since then. As an academician, Lavoisier was paid by the Government to carry out investigations into a wide variety of practical questions with a chemical bias, such as the manufacture of starch and the distillation of phosphorus. In 1775 Louis XVI ordered the setting up of the Gunpowder Commission to improve the supply and quality of gunpowder, deficiencies in which had hampered France's war efforts. Lavoisier was a member of the Commission and, as usual, took the leading part, drawing up its report and supervising its implementation. As a result, the industry became profitable, output increased so that France could even export powder, and the range of the powder increased by two-thirds. This was a material factor in France's war effort in the Revolution and the Napoleonic wars.As if his chemical researches and official duties were not enough, Lavoisier began to apply his scientific principles to agriculture when he purchased an estate at Frechines, near Blois. After ten years' work on his experimental farm there, Lavoisier was able to describe his results in the memoir "Results of some agricultural experiments and reflections on their relation to political economy" (Paris, 1788), which holds historic importance in agriculture and economics. In spite of his services to the nation and to humanity, his association with the tax farm was to have tragic consequences: during the reign of terror in 1794 the Revolutionaries consigned to the guillotine all the tax farmers, including Lavoisier.[br]Bibliography1862–93, Oeuvres de Lavoisier, Vols I–IV, ed. J.B.A.Dumas; Vols V–VI, ed. E.Grimaux, Paris (Lavoisier's collected works).Further ReadingD.I.Duveen and H.S.Klickstein, 1954, A Bibliography of the Works of Antoine Laurent Lavoisier 1743–1794, London: William Dawson (contains valuable biographical material).D.McKie, 1952, Antoine Lavoisier, Scientist, Economist, Social Reformer, London: Constable (the best modern, general biography).H.Guerlac, 1975, Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, Chemist and Revolutionary, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons (a more recent work).LRDBiographical history of technology > Lavoisier, Antoine Laurent
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7 Le Chatelier, Henri Louis
SUBJECT AREA: Metallurgy[br]b. 8 November 1850 Paris, Franced. 17 September 1926 Miribel-les-Echelle, France[br]French inventor of the rhodium—platinum thermocouple and the first practical optical pyrometer, and pioneer of physical metallurgy.[br]The son of a distinguished engineer, Le Chatelier entered the Ecole Polytechnique in 1869: after graduating in the Faculty of Mines, he was appointed Professor at the Ecole Supérieure des Mines in 1877. After assisting Deville with the purification of bauxite in unsuccessful attempts to obtain aluminium in useful quantities, Le Chatelier's work covered a wide range of topics and he gave much attention to the driving forces of chemical reactions. Between 1879 and 1882 he studied the mechanisms of explosions in mines, and his doctorate in 1882 was concerned with the chemistry and properties of hydraulic cements. The dehydration of such materials was studied by thermal analysis and dilatometry. Accurate temperature measurement was crucial and his work on the stability of thermocouples, begun in 1886, soon established the superiority of rhodium-platinum alloys for high-temperature measurement. The most stable combination, pure platinum coupled with a 10 per cent rhodium platinum positive limb, became known as Le Chatelier couple and was in general use throughout the industrial world until c. 1922. For applications where thermocouples could not be used, Le Chatelier also developed the first practical optical pyrometer. From hydraulic cements he moved on to refractory and other ceramic materials which were also studied by thermal analysis and dilatometry. By 1888 he was systematically applying such techniques to metals and alloys. Le Chatelier, together with Osmond, Worth, Genet and Charpy, was a leading member of that group of French investigators who established the new science of physical metallurgy between 1888 and 1900. Le Chatelier was determining the recalescence points in steels in 1888 and was among the first to study intermetallic compounds in a systematic manner. To facilitate such work he introduced the inverted microscope, upon which metallographers still depend for the routine examination of polished and etched metallurgical specimens under incident light. The principle of mobile equilibrium, developed independently by Le Chatelier in 1885 and F.Braun in 1886, stated that if one parameter in an equilibrium situation changed, the equilibrium point of the system would move in a direction which tended to reduce the effect of this change. This provided a useful qualitative working tool for the experimentalists, and was soon used with great effect by Haber in his work on the synthesis of ammonia.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsGrand Officier de la Légion d'honneur. Honorary Member of the Institute of Metals 1912. Iron and Steel Institute Bessemer Medal.Further ReadingF.Le Chatelier, 1969, Henri Le Chatelier.C.K.Burgess and H.L.Le Chatelier, The Measurement of High Temperature.ASDBiographical history of technology > Le Chatelier, Henri Louis
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8 Merica, Paul Dyer
SUBJECT AREA: Metallurgy[br]b. 17 March 1889 Warsaw, Indiana, USAd. 20 October 1957 Tarrytown, New York, USA[br]American physical metallurgist who elucidated the mechanism of the age-hardening of alloys.[br]Merica graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1908. Before proceeding to the University of Berlin, he spent some time teaching in Wisconsin and in China. He obtained his doctorate in Berlin in 1914, and in that year he joined the US National Bureau of Standards (NBS) in Washington. During his five years there, he investigated the causes of the phenomenon of age-hardening of the important new alloy of aluminium, Duralumin.This phenomenon had been discovered not long before by Dr Alfred Wilm, a German research metallurgist. During the early years of the twentieth century, Wilm had been seeking a suitable light alloy for making cartridge cases for the Prussian government. In the autumn of 1909 he heated and quenched an aluminium alloy containing 3.5 per cent copper and 0.5 per cent magnesium and found its properties unremarkable. He happened to test it again some days later and was impressed to find its hardness and strength were much improved: Wilm had accidentally discovered age-hardening. He patented the alloy, but he made his rights over to Durener Metallwerke, who marketed it as Duralumin. This light and strong alloy was taken up by aircraft makers during the First World War, first for Zeppelins and then for other aircraft.Although age-hardened alloys found important uses, the explanation of the phenomenon eluded metallurgists until in 1919 Merica and his colleagues at the NBS gave the first rational explanation of age-hardening in light alloys. When these alloys were heated to temperatures near their melting points, the alloying constituents were taken into solution by the matrix. Quenching retained the alloying metals in supersaturated solid solution. At room temperature very small crystals of various intermetallic compounds were precipitated and, by inserting themselves in the aluminium lattice, had the effect of increasing the hardness and strength of the alloy. Merica's theory stimulated an intensive study of hardening and the mechanism that brought it about, with important consequences for the development of new alloys with special properties.In 1919 Merica joined the International Nickel Company as Director of Research, a post he held for thirty years and followed by a three-year period as President. He remained in association with the company until his death.[br]Bibliography1919, "Heat treatment and constitution of Duralumin", Sci. Papers, US Bureau of Standards, no. 37; 1932, "The age-hardening of metals", Transactions of the American Institution of Min. Metal 99:13–54 (his two most important papers).Further ReadingZ.Jeffries, 1959, "Paul Dyer Merica", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Science 33:226–39 (contains a list of Merica's publications and biographical details).LRD -
9 Taylor, Frederick Winslow
SUBJECT AREA: Mechanical, pneumatic and hydraulic engineering[br]b. 20 March 1856 Germantown, Pennsylvania, USAd. 21 March 1915 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA[br]American mechanical engineer and pioneer of scientific management.[br]Frederick W.Taylor received his early education from his mother, followed by some years of schooling in France and Germany. Then in 1872 he entered Phillips Exeter Academy, New Hampshire, to prepare for Harvard Law School, as it was intended that he should follow his father's profession. However, in 1874 he had to abandon his studies because of poor eyesight, and he began an apprenticeship at a pump-manufacturing works in Philadelphia learning the trades of pattern-maker and machinist. On its completion in 1878 he joined the Midvale Steel Company, at first as a labourer but then as Shop Clerk and Foreman, finally becoming Chief Engineer in 1884. At the same time he was able to resume study in the evenings at the Stevens Institute of Technology, and in 1883 he obtained the degree of Mechanical Engineer (ME). He also found time to take part in amateur sport and in 1881 he won the tennis doubles championship of the United States.It was while with the Midvale Steel Company that Taylor began the systematic study of workshop management, and the application of his techniques produced significant increases in the company's output and productivity. In 1890 he became Manager of a company operating large paper mills in Maine and Wisconsin, until 1893 when he set up on his own account as a consulting engineer specializing in management organization. In 1898 he was retained exclusively by the Bethlehem Steel Company, and there continued his work on the metal-cutting process that he had started at Midvale. In collaboration with J.Maunsel White (1856–1912) he developed high-speed tool steels and their heat treatment which increased cutting capacity by up to 300 per cent. He resigned from the Bethlehem Steel Company in 1901 and devoted the remainder of his life to expounding the principles of scientific management which became known as "Taylorism". The Society to Promote the Science of Management was established in 1911, renamed the Taylor Society after his death. He was an active member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and was its President in 1906; his presidential address "On the Art of Cutting Metals" was reprinted in book form.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsParis Exposition Gold Medal 1900. Franklin Institute Elliott Cresson Gold Medal 1900. President, American Society of Mechanical Engineers 1906. Hon. ScD, University of Pennsylvania 1906. Hon. LLD, Hobart College 1912.BibliographyF.W.Taylor was the author of about 100 patents, several papers to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, On the Art of Cutting Metals (1907, New York) and The Principles of Scientific Management (1911, New York) and, with S.E.Thompson, 1905 A Treatise on Concrete, New York, and Concrete Costs, 1912, New York.Further ReadingThe standard biography is Frank B.Copley, 1923, Frederick W.Taylor, Father of Scientific Management, New York (reprinted 1969, New York) and there have been numerous commentaries on his work: see, for example, Daniel Nelson, 1980, Frederick W.Taylor and the Rise of Scientific Management, Madison, Wis.RTSBiographical history of technology > Taylor, Frederick Winslow
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10 MSCI
1) Общая лексика: Morgan Stanley's Capital International group2) Спорт: Michigan Speech Coaches, Inc.3) Военный термин: Minnesota Supercomputer Center, Inc4) Техника: molten steel coolant interaction5) Железнодорожный термин: Mississippi Central Railroad Company7) Фирменный знак: Metals Service Center Institute, Morgan Stanley Capital International8) Общественная организация: Margaret Sanger Center International9) Должность: Military Science -
11 Msci
1) Общая лексика: Morgan Stanley's Capital International group2) Спорт: Michigan Speech Coaches, Inc.3) Военный термин: Minnesota Supercomputer Center, Inc4) Техника: molten steel coolant interaction5) Железнодорожный термин: Mississippi Central Railroad Company7) Фирменный знак: Metals Service Center Institute, Morgan Stanley Capital International8) Общественная организация: Margaret Sanger Center International9) Должность: Military Science -
12 noble
1. adjective1) (by rank, title, or birth) ad[e]ligbe of noble birth — von adliger od. edler Geburt sein (geh.); adlig sein
3) (showing greatness of character) edel; hochherzig (geh.)2. nounAdlige, der/die* * *['nəubl] 1. adjective2) (of high birth or rank: a noble family; of noble birth.) adelig2. noun(a person of high birth: The nobles planned to murder the king.) der/die Adelig- academic.ru/50074/nobility">nobility- nobly
- nobleman* * *no·ble[ˈnəʊbl̩, AM ˈnoʊ-]I. adj1. (aristocratic) ad[e]ligto be of \noble birth [or descent] ad[e]lig sein, von ad[e]liger Herkunft sein\noble act [or deed] edle [o noble] Tat\noble-sounding edel klingend geh\noble landscape/park/trees prächtige Landschaft/prächtiger Park/prächtige Bäumea \noble whiskey ein ausgezeichneter [o vortrefflicher] Whiskeya \noble horse/horse of \noble breeding ein edles Pferd/ein Rassepferd* * *['nəʊbl]1. adj (+er)1) (= aristocratic) person, rank adligto be of noble birth — adlig sein, von edler or adliger Geburt sein
2) (= fine, distinguished) person, deed, thought etc edel, nobel; appearance vornehm; monument stattlich, prächtig; stag also kapital; (= brave) resistance heldenhaft, wackerthe noble art of self-defence — die edle Kunst der Selbstverteidigung
that was a noble attempt — das war ein heldenhafter Versuch
3) (inf: selfless) edel, großmütig, edelmütig4) metal edel2. nAdlige(r) mf, Edelmann m (HIST)the nobles — die Adligen or Edelleute (Hist)
* * *noble [ˈnəʊbl]A adj (adv nobly)1. ad(e)lig, von Adel:be of noble birth adliger Abstammung sein2. edel, erlaucht3. fig edel, Edel…, erhaben, groß(mütig), nobel, vortrefflich:4. prächtig, stattlich (Gebäude)5. prächtig geschmückt ( with mit)6. PHYS Edel…:B s1. (hoher) Adliger, HIST Edelmann m:the nobles der Adel, die Adligen2. HIST Nobel m (alte englische Goldmünze)* * *1. adjective1) (by rank, title, or birth) ad[e]ligbe of noble birth — von adliger od. edler Geburt sein (geh.); adlig sein
2) (of lofty character) edel [Gedanken, Gefühle]3) (showing greatness of character) edel; hochherzig (geh.)2. nounAdlige, der/die* * *adj.adlig adj.edel adj.erhaben adj.erlaucht adj.großmütig adj.großzügig adj.nobel adj.prächtig adj.stattlich adj.von Adel ausdr. -
13 Champion, Nehemiah
SUBJECT AREA: Metallurgy[br]b. 1678 probably Bristol, Englandd. 9 September 1747 probably Bristol, England[br]English merchant and brass manufacturer of Bristol.[br]Several members of Champion's Quaker family were actively engaged as merchants in Bristol during the late seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries. Port records show Nehemiah in receipt of Cornish copper ore at Bristol's Crews Hole smelting works by 1706, in association with the newly formed brassworks of the city. He later became a leading partner, managing the company some time after Abraham Darby left the Bristol works to pursue his interest at Coalbrookdale. Champion, probably in company with his father, became the largest customer for Darby's Coalbrookdale products and also acted as Agent, at least briefly, for Thomas Newcomen.A patent in 1723 related to two separate innovations introduced by the brass company.The first improved the output of brass by granulating the copper constituent and increasing its surface area. A greater proportion of zinc vapour could permeate the granules compared with the previous practice, resulting in the technique being adopted generally in the cementation process used at the time. The latter part of the same patent introduced a new type of coal-fired furnace which facilitated annealing in bulk so replacing the individual processing of pieces. The principle of batch annealing was generally adopted, although the type of furnace was later improved. A further patent, in 1739, in the name of Nehemiah, concerned overshot water-wheels possibly intended for use in conjunction with the Newcomen atmospheric pumping engine employed for recycling water by his son William.Champion's two sons, John and William, and their two sons, both named John, were all concerned with production of non-ferrous metals and responsible for patented innovations. Nehemiah, shortly before his death, is believed to have partnered William at the Warmley works to exploit his son's new patent for producing metallic zinc.[br]Bibliography1723, British patent no. 454 (granulated copper technique and coal-fired furnace). 1739, British patent no. 567 (overshot water-wheels).Further ReadingA.Raistrick, 1950, Quakers in Science and Industry, London: Bannisdale Press (for the Champion family generally).J.Day, 1973, Bristol Brass, a History of the Industry, Newton Abbot: David \& Charles (for the industrial activities of Nehemiah).JD -
14 Ercker, Lazarus
[br]b. c.1530 Annaberg, Saxony, Germanyd. 1594 Prague, Bohemia[br]German chemist and metallurgist.[br]Educated at Wittenberg University during 1547–8, Ercker obtained in 1554, through one of his wife's relatives, the post of Assayer from the Elector Augustus at Dresden. From then on he took a succession of posts in mining and metallurgy. In 1555 he was Chief Consultant and Supervisor of all matters relating to mines, but for some unknown reason was demoted to Warden of the Mint at Annaberg. In 1558 he travelled to the Tyrol to study the mines in that region, and in the same year Prince Henry of Brunswick appointed him Warden, then Master, of the Mint at Goslar. Ercker later moved to Prague where, through another of his wife's relatives, he was appointed Control Tester at Kutna Hora. It was there that he wrote his best-known book, Die Beschreibung allfürnemisten mineralischen Ertz, which drew him to the attention of the Emperor Maximilian, who made him Courier for Mining and a clerk of the Supreme Court of Bohemia. The next Emperor, Rudolf II, a noted patron of science and alchemy, promoted Ercker to Chief Inspector of Mines and ennobled him in 1586 with the title Von Schreckenfels'. His second wife managed the mint at Kutna Hora and his two sons became assayers. These appointments gained him much experience of the extraction and refining of metals. This first bore fruit in a book on assaying, Probierbüchlein, printed in 1556, followed by one on minting, Münzbuch, in 1563. His main work, Die Beschreibung, was a systematic review of the methods of obtaining, refining and testing the alloys and minerals of gold, silver, copper, antimony, mercury and lead. The preparation of acids, salts and other compounds is also covered, and his apparatus is fully described and illustrated. Although Ercker used Agricola's De re metattica as a model, his own work was securely based on his practical experience. Die Beschreibung was the first manual of analytical and metallurgical chemistry and influenced later writers such as Glauber on assaying. After the first edition in Prague came four further editions in Frankfurt-am-Main.[br]BibliographyDie Beschreibung allfürnemisten mineralischen Ertz, Prague. 1556, Probierbuchlein.1563, Munzbuch.Further ReadingP.R.Beierlein, 1955, Lazarus Ercker, Bergmann, Hüttenmann und Münzmeister im 16. Jahrhundert, Berlin (the best biography, although the chemical details are incomplete).J.R.Partington, 1961, History of Chemistry, London, Vol. II, pp. 104–7.E.V.Armstrong and H.Lukens, 1939, "Lazarus Ercker and his Probierbuch", J.Chem. Ed.16: 553–62.LRD -
15 Graham, George
SUBJECT AREA: Horology[br]b. c.1674 Cumberland, Englandd. 16 November 1751 London, England[br]English watch-and clockmaker who invented the cylinder escapement for watches, the first successful dead-beat escapement for clocks and the mercury compensation pendulum.[br]Graham's father died soon after his birth, so he was raised by his brother. In 1688 he was apprenticed to the London clockmaker Henry Aske, and in 1695 he gained his freedom. He was employed as a journeyman by Tompion in 1696 and later married his niece. In 1711 he formed a partnership with Tompion and effectively ran the business in Tompion's declining years; he took over the business after Tompion died in 1713. In addition to his horological interests he also made scientific instruments, specializing in those for astronomical use. As a person, he was well respected and appears to have lived up to the epithet "Honest George Graham". He befriended John Harrison when he first went to London and lent him money to further his researches at a time when they might have conflicted with his own interests.The two common forms of escapement in use in Graham's time, the anchor escapement for clocks and the verge escapement for watches, shared the same weakness: they interfered severely with the free oscillation of the pendulum and the balance, and thus adversely affected the timekeeping. Tompion's two frictional rest escapements, the dead-beat for clocks and the horizontal for watches, had provided a partial solution by eliminating recoil (the momentary reversal of the motion of the timepiece), but they had not been successful in practice. Around 1720 Graham produced his own much improved version of the dead-beat escapement which became a standard feature of regulator clocks, at least in Britain, until its supremacy was challenged at the end of the nineteenth century by the superior accuracy of the Riefler clock. Another feature of the regulator clock owed to Graham was the mercury compensation pendulum, which he invented in 1722 and published four years later. The bob of this pendulum contained mercury, the surface of which rose or fell with changes in temperature, compensating for the concomitant variation in the length of the pendulum rod. Graham devised his mercury pendulum after he had failed to achieve compensation by means of the difference in expansion between various metals. He then turned his attention to improving Tompion's horizontal escapement, and by 1725 the cylinder escapement existed in what was virtually its final form. From the following year he fitted this escapement to all his watches, and it was also used extensively by London makers for their precision watches. It proved to be somewhat lacking in durability, but this problem was overcome later in the century by using a ruby cylinder, notably by Abraham Louis Breguet. It was revived, in a cheaper form, by the Swiss and the French in the nineteenth century and was produced in vast quantities.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsFRS 1720. Master of the Clockmakers' Company 1722.BibliographyGraham contributed many papers to the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, in particular "A contrivance to avoid the irregularities in a clock's motion occasion'd by the action of heat and cold upon the rod of the pendulum" (1726) 34:40–4.Further ReadingBritten's Watch \& Clock Maker's Handbook Dictionary and Guide, 1978, rev. Richard Good, 16th edn, London, pp. 81, 84, 232 (for a technical description of the dead-beat and cylinder escapements and the mercury compensation pendulum).A.J.Turner, 1972, "The introduction of the dead-beat escapement: a new document", Antiquarian Horology 8:71.E.A.Battison, 1972, biography, Biographical Dictionary of Science, ed. C.C.Gillespie, Vol. V, New York, 490–2 (contains a résumé of Graham's non-horological activities).DV -
16 Percy, John
SUBJECT AREA: Metallurgy[br]b. 23 March 1817 Nottingham, Englandd. 19 June 1889 London, England[br]English metallurgist, first Professor of Metallurgy at the School of Mines, London.[br]After a private education, Percy went to Paris in 1834 to study medicine and to attend lectures on chemistry by Gay-Lussac and Thenard. After 1838 he studied medicine at Edinburgh, obtaining his MD in 1839. In that year he was appointed Professor of Chemistry at Queen's College, Birmingham, moving to Queen's Hospital at Birmingham in 1843. During his time at Birmingham, Percy became well known for his analysis of blast furnace slags, and was involved in the manufacture of optical glass. On 7 June 1851 Percy was appointed Metallurgical Professor and Teacher at the Museum of Practical Geology established in Jermyn Street, London, and opened in May 1851. In November of 1851, when the Museum became the Government (later Royal) School of Mines, Percy was appointed Lecturer in Metallurgy. In addition to his work at Jermyn Street, Percy lectured on metallurgy to the Advanced Class of Artillery at Woolwich from 1864 until his death, and from 1866 he was Superintendent of Ventilation at the Houses of Parliament. He served from 1861 to 1864 on the Special Committee on Iron set up to examine the performance of armour-plate in relation to its purity, composition and structure.Percy is best known for his metallurgical text books, published by John Murray. Volume I of Metallurgy, published in 1861, dealt with fuels, fireclays, copper, zinc and brass; Volume II, in 1864, dealt with iron and steel; a volume on lead appeared in 1870, followed by one on fuels and refractories in 1875, and the first volume on gold and silver in 1880. Further projected volumes on iron and steel, noble metals, and on copper, did not materialize. In 1879 Percy resigned from his School of Mines appointment in protest at the proposed move from Jermyn Street to South Kensington. The rapid growth of Percy's metallurgical collection, started in 1839, eventually forced him to move to a larger house. After his death, the collection was bought by the South Kensington (later Science) Museum. Now comprising 3,709 items, it provides a comprehensive if unselective record of nineteenth-century metallurgy, the most interesting specimens being those of the first sodium-reduced aluminium made in Britain and some of the first steel produced by Bessemer in Baxter House. Metallurgy for Percy was a technique of chemical extraction, and he has been criticized for basing his system of metallurgical instruction on this assumption. He stood strangely aloof from new processes of steel making such as that of Gilchrist and Thomas, and tended to neglect early developments in physical metallurgy, but he was the first in Britain to teach metallurgy as a discipline in its own right.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsFRS 1847. President, Iron and Steel Institute 1885, 1886.Bibliography1861–80, Metallurgy, 5 vols, London: John Murray.Further ReadingS.J.Cackett, 1989, "Dr Percy and his metallurgical collection", Journal of the Hist. Met. Society 23(2):92–8.RLH -
17 Perkins, Jacob
[br]b. 9 July 1766 Newburyport, Massachusetts, USAd. 30 July 1849 London, England[br]American inventor of a nail-making machine and a method of printing banknotes, investigator of the use of steam at very high pressures.[br]Perkins's occupation was that of a gold-and silversmith; while he does not seem to have followed this after 1800, however, it gave him the skills in working metals which he would continue to employ in his inventions. He had been working in America for four years before he patented his nail-making machine in 1796. At the time there was a great shortage of nails because only hand-forged ones were available. By 1800, other people had followed his example and produced automatic nail-making machines, but in 1811 Perkins' improved machines were introduced to England by J.C. Dyer. Eventually Perkins had twenty-one American patents for a range of inventions in his name.In 1799 Perkins invented a system of engraving steel plates for printing banknotes, which became the foundation of modern siderographic work. It discouraged forging and was adopted by many banking houses, including the Federal Government when the Second United States Bank was inaugurated in 1816. This led Perkins to move to Philadelphia. In the intervening years, Perkins had improved his nail-making machine, invented a machine for graining morocco leather in 1809, a fire-engine in 1812, a letter-lock for bank vaults and improved methods of rolling out spoons in 1813, and improved armament and equipment for naval ships from 1812 to 1815.It was in Philadelphia that Perkins became interested in the steam engine, when he met Oliver Evans, who had pioneered the use of high-pressure steam. He became a member of the American Philosophical Society and conducted experiments on the compressibility of water before a committee of that society. Perkins claimed to have liquified air during his experiments in 1822 and, if so, was the real discoverer of the liquification of gases. In 1819 he came to England to demonstrate his forgery-proof system of printing banknotes, but the Bank of England was the only one which did not adopt his system.While in London, Perkins began to experiment with the highest steam pressures used up to that time and in 1822 took out his first of nineteen British patents. This was followed by another in 1823 for a 10 hp (7.5 kW) engine with only 2 in. (51 mm) bore, 12 in. (305 mm) stroke but a pressure of 500 psi (35 kg/cm2), for which he claimed exceptional economy. After 1826, Perkins abandoned his drum boiler for iron tubes and steam pressures of 1,500 psi (105 kg/cm2), but the materials would not withstand such pressures or temperatures for long. It was in that same year that he patented a form of uniflow cylinder that was later taken up by L.J. Todd. One of his engines ran for five days, continuously pumping water at St Katherine's docks, but Perkins could not raise more finance to continue his experiments.In 1823 one his high-pressure hot-water systems was installed to heat the Duke of Wellington's house at Stratfield Saye and it acquired a considerable vogue, being used by Sir John Soane, among others. In 1834 Perkins patented a compression ice-making apparatus, but it did not succeed commercially because ice was imported more cheaply from Norway as ballast for sailing ships. Perkins was often dubbed "the American inventor" because his inquisitive personality allied to his inventive ingenuity enabled him to solve so many mechanical challenges.[br]Further ReadingHistorical Society of Pennsylvania, 1943, biography which appeared previously as a shortened version in the Transactions of the Newcomen Society 24.D.Bathe and G.Bathe, 1943–5, "The contribution of Jacob Perkins to science and engineering", Transactions of the Newcomen Society 24.D.S.L.Cardwell, 1971, From Watt to Clausius. The Rise of Thermodynamics in the Early Industrial Age, London: Heinemann (includes comments on the importance of Perkins's steam engine).A.F.Dufton, 1940–1, "Early application of engineering to warming of buildings", Transactions of the Newcomen Society 21 (includes a note on Perkins's application of a high-pressure hot-water heating system).RLH
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