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61 excursion
nounAusflug, derday excursion — Tagesausflug, der
* * *[ik'skə:ʃən, ]( American[) -ʒən]* * *ex·cur·sion[ɪkˈskɜ:ʃən, eks-, AM -ˈskɜ:rʒ-]n Ausflug mannual \excursion Jahresausflug mto make an \excursion einen Abstecher machen* * *[Ik'skɜːSən]nAusflug m; (fig, into a subject also) Exkurs m* * *1. fig Exkurs m, Abschweifung f2. Ausflug m:go on an excursion einen Ausflug machen;scientific excursion wissenschaftliche Exkursion;excursion train Sonder-, Ausflugszug m3. Streifzug m4. ASTRON Abweichung f6. TECH Weg m (eines Maschinenteils), z. B. (Kolben)Hub mexc. abk1. excellent2. except (excepted)3. exception4. excursion* * *nounAusflug, derday excursion — Tagesausflug, der
* * *n.Ausflug -ë m.Auslenkung f.Exkurs -e m. -
62 specialty
(esp. Amer.) see academic.ru/69299/speciality">speciality* * *spe·cial·ty* * *["speʃI'lItɪ] (US) ['speʃəltɪ]nSpezialität f; (= subject also) Spezialgebiet ntto make a speciality of sth — sich auf etw (acc) spezialisieren
to make a speciality of doing sth — sich darauf spezialisieren, etw zu tun
a speciality of the house — eine Spezialität des Hauses
* * *specialty [ˈspeʃltı] s besonders US1. Spezialfach n, -gebiet n2. WIRTSCHa) Spezialartikel m, Spezialität fb) Neuheit f3. JURa) formgebundener Vertragb) besiegelte Urkunde* * *(esp. Amer.) see speciality -
63 typography
nounTypographie, die* * *ty·pog·ra·phy[taɪˈpɒgrəfi, AM -ˈpɑ:-]* * *[taI'pɒgrəfɪ]nTypografie f; (= subject also) Buchdruckerkunst f* * *typography [-fı] s1. Buchdruckerkunst f, Typografie f2. (Buch)Druck m3. Druckbild ntyp., typog. abk1. typographer2. typographic (typographical)3. typographytypo., typog. abk1. typographer2. typographic (typographical)3. typography* * *nounTypographie, die* * *n.Drucktechnik f. -
64 discussiegroep
n. discussion group, forum devoted to discussion on a particular subject (also on the Internet) -
65 gespreksgroep
n. discussion group, forum devoted to discussion on a particular subject (also on the Internet) -
66 Abel, Sir Frederick August
[br]b. 17 July 1827 Woolwich, London, Englandd. 6 September 1902 Westminster, London, England[br]English chemist, co-inventor of cordite find explosives expert.[br]His family came from Germany and he was the son of a music master. He first became interested in science at the age of 14, when visiting his mineralogist uncle in Hamburg, and studied chemistry at the Royal Polytechnic Institution in London. In 1845 he became one of the twenty-six founding students, under A.W.von Hofmann, of the Royal College of Chemistry. Such was his aptitude for the subject that within two years he became von Hermann's assistant and demonstrator. In 1851 Abel was appointed Lecturer in Chemistry, succeeding Michael Faraday, at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and it was while there that he wrote his Handbook of Chemistry, which was co-authored by his assistant, Charles Bloxam.Abel's four years at the Royal Military Academy served to foster his interest in explosives, but it was during his thirty-four years, beginning in 1854, as Ordnance Chemist at the Royal Arsenal and at Woolwich that he consolidated and developed his reputation as one of the international leaders in his field. In 1860 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, but it was his studies during the 1870s into the chemical changes that occur during explosions, and which were the subject of numerous papers, that formed the backbone of his work. It was he who established the means of storing gun-cotton without the danger of spontaneous explosion, but he also developed devices (the Abel Open Test and Close Test) for measuring the flashpoint of petroleum. He also became interested in metal alloys, carrying out much useful work on their composition. A further avenue of research occurred in 1881 when he was appointed a member of the Royal Commission set up to investigate safety in mines after the explosion that year in the Sealham Colliery. His resultant study on dangerous dusts did much to further understanding on the use of explosives underground and to improve the safety record of the coal-mining industry. The achievement for which he is most remembered, however, came in 1889, when, in conjunction with Sir James Dewar, he invented cordite. This stable explosive, made of wood fibre, nitric acid and glycerine, had the vital advantage of being a "smokeless powder", which meant that, unlike the traditional ammunition propellant, gunpowder ("black powder"), the firer's position was not given away when the weapon was discharged. Although much of the preliminary work had been done by the Frenchman Paul Vieille, it was Abel who perfected it, with the result that cordite quickly became the British Army's standard explosive.Abel married, and was widowed, twice. He had no children, but died heaped in both scientific honours and those from a grateful country.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsGrand Commander of the Royal Victorian Order 1901. Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath 1891 (Commander 1877). Knighted 1883. Created Baronet 1893. FRS 1860. President, Chemical Society 1875–7. President, Institute of Chemistry 1881–2. President, Institute of Electrical Engineers 1883. President, Iron and Steel Institute 1891. Chairman, Society of Arts 1883–4. Telford Medal 1878, Royal Society Royal Medal 1887, Albert Medal (Society of Arts) 1891, Bessemer Gold Medal 1897. Hon. DCL (Oxon.) 1883, Hon. DSc (Cantab.) 1888.Bibliography1854, with C.L.Bloxam, Handbook of Chemistry: Theoretical, Practical and Technical, London: John Churchill; 2nd edn 1858.Besides writing numerous scientific papers, he also contributed several articles to The Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1875–89, 9th edn.Further ReadingDictionary of National Biography, 1912, Vol. 1, Suppl. 2, London: Smith, Elder.CMBiographical history of technology > Abel, Sir Frederick August
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67 Kapp, Gisbert Johann Eduard Karl
SUBJECT AREA: Electricity[br]b. 2 September 1852 Mauer, Vienna, Austriad. 10 August 1922 Birmingham, England[br]Austrian (naturalized British in 1881) engineer and a pioneer of dynamo design, being particularly associated with the concept of the magnetic circuit.[br]Kapp entered the Polytechnic School in Zurich in 1869 and gained a mechanical engineering diploma. He became a member of the engineering staff at the Vienna International Exhibition of 1873, and then spent some time in the Austrian navy before entering the service of Gwynne \& Co. of London, where he designed centrifugal pumps and gas exhausters. Kapp resolved to become an electrical engineer after a visit to the Paris Electrical Exhibition of 1881 and in the following year was appointed Manager of the Crompton Co. works at Chelmsford. There he developed and patented the dynamo with compound field winding. Also at that time, with Crompton, he patented electrical measuring instruments with over-saturated electromagnets. He became a naturalized British subject in 1881.In 1886 Kapp's most influential paper was published. This described his concept of the magnetic circuit, providing for the first time a sound theoretical basis for dynamo design. The theory was also developed independently by J. Hopkinson. After commencing practice as a consulting engineer in 1884 he carried out design work on dynamos and also electricity-supply and -traction schemes in Germany, Italy, Norway, Russia and Switzerland. From 1891 to 1894 much of his time was spent designing a new generating station in Bristol, officially as Assistant to W.H. Preece. There followed an appointment in Germany as General Secretary of the Verband Deutscher Electrotechniker. For some years he edited the Electrotechnische Zeitschrift and was also a part-time lecturer at the Charlottenberg Technical High School in Berlin. In 1904 Kapp was invited to accept the new Chair of Electrical Engineering at the University of Birmingham, which he occupied until 1919. He was the author of several books on electrical machine and transformer design.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsInstitution of Civil Engineers Telford Medal 1886 and 1888. President, Institution of Electrical Engineers 1909.Bibliography10 October 1882, with R.E.B.Crompton, British patent no. 4,810; (the compound wound dynamo).1886, "Modern continuous current dynamo electric machines and their engines", Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers 83: 123–54.Further ReadingD.G.Tucker, 1989, "A new archive of Gisbert Kapp papers", Proceedings of the Meeting on History of Electrical Engineering, IEE 4/1–4/11 (a transcript of an autobiography for his family).D.G.Tucker, 1973, Gisbert Kapp 1852–1922, Birmingham: Birmingham University (includes a bibliography of his most important publications).GWBiographical history of technology > Kapp, Gisbert Johann Eduard Karl
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68 Shannon, Claude Elwood
[br]b. 30 April 1916 Gaylord, Michigan, USA[br]American mathematician, creator of information theory.[br]As a child, Shannon tinkered with radio kits and enjoyed solving puzzles, particularly crypto-graphic ones. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1936 with a Bachelor of Science in mathematics and electrical engineering, and earned his Master's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1937. His thesis on applying Boolean algebra to switching circuits has since been acclaimed as possibly the most significant this century. Shannon earned his PhD in mathematics from MIT in 1940 with a dissertation on the mathematics of genetic transmission.Shannon spent a year at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, then in 1941 joined Bell Telephone Laboratories, where he began studying the relative efficiency of alternative transmission systems. Work on digital encryption systems during the Second World War led him to think that just as ciphers hide information from the enemy, "encoding" information could also protect it from noise. About 1948, he decided that the amount of information was best expressed quantitatively in a two-value number system, using only the digits 0 and 1. John Tukey, a Princeton colleague, named these units "binary digits" (or, for short, "bits"). Almost all digital computers and communications systems use such on-off, or two-state logic as their basis of operation.Also in the 1940s, building on the work of H. Nyquist and R.V.L. Hartley, Shannon proved that there was an upper limit to the amount of information that could be transmitted through a communications channel in a unit of time, which could be approached but never reached because real transmissions are subject to interference (noise). This was the beginning of information theory, which has been used by others in attempts to quantify many sciences and technologies, as well as subjects in the humanities, but with mixed results. Before 1970, when integrated circuits were developed, Shannon's theory was not the preferred circuit-and-transmission design tool it has since become.Shannon was also a pioneer in the field of artificial intelligence, claiming that computing machines could be used to manipulate symbols as well as do calculations. His 1953 paper on computers and automata proposed that digital computers were capable of tasks then thought exclusively the province of living organisms. In 1956 he left Bell Laboratories to join the MIT faculty as Professor of Communications Science.On the lighter side, Shannon has built many devices that play games, and in particular has made a scientific study of juggling.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsNational Medal of Science. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Medal of Honor, Kyoto Prize.BibliographyHis seminal paper (on what has subsequently become known as information theory) was entitled "The mathematical theory of communications", first published in Bell System Technical Journal in 1948; it is also available in a monograph (written with Warren Weaver) published by the University of Illinois Press in 1949, and in Key Papers in the Development of Information Theory, ed. David Slepian, IEEE Press, 1974, 1988. For readers who want all of Shannon's works, see N.J.A.Sloane and A.D.Wyner, 1992, TheCollected Papers of Claude E.Shannon.HO -
69 Sutton, Thomas
SUBJECT AREA: Photography, film and optics[br]b. 1819 Englandd. 1875 Jersey, Channel Islands[br]English photographer and writer on photography.[br]In 1841, while studying at Cambridge, Sutton became interested in photography and tried out the current processes, daguerreotype, calotype and cyanotype among them. He subsequently settled in Jersey, where he continued his photographic studies. In 1855 he opened a photographic printing works in Jersey, in partnership with L.-D. Blanquart- Evrard, exploiting the latter's process for producing developed positive prints. He started and edited one of the first photographic periodicals, Photographic Notes, in 1856; until its cessation in 1867, his journal presented a fresher view of the world of photography than that given by its London-based rivals. He also drew up the first dictionary of photography in 1858.In 1859 Sutton designed and patented a wideangle lens in which the space between two meniscus lenses, forming parts of a sphere and sealed in a metal rim, was filled with water; the lens so formed could cover an angle of up to 120 degrees at an aperture of f12. Sutton's design was inspired by observing the images produced by the water-filled sphere of a "snowstorm" souvenir brought home from Paris! Sutton commissioned the London camera-maker Frederick Cox to make the Panoramic camera, demonstrating the first model in January 1860; it took panoramic pictures on curved glass plates 152×381 mm in size. Cox later advertised other models in a total of four sizes. In January 1861 Sutton handed over manufacture to Andrew Ross's son Thomas Ross, who produced much-improved lenses and also cameras in three sizes. Sutton then developed the first single-lens reflex camera design, patenting it on 20 August 1961: a pivoted mirror, placed at 45 degrees inside the camera, reflected the image from the lens onto a ground glass-screen set in the top of the camera for framing and focusing. When ready, the mirror was swung up out of the way to allow light to reach the plate at the back of the camera. The design was manufactured for a few years by Thomas Ross and J.H. Dallmeyer.In 1861 James Clerk Maxwell asked Sutton to prepare a series of photographs for use in his lecture "On the theory of three primary colours", to be presented at the Royal Institution in London on 17 May 1861. Maxwell required three photographs to be taken through red, green and blue filters, which were to be printed as lantern slides and projected in superimposition through three projectors. If his theory was correct, a colour reproduction of the original subject would be produced. Sutton used liquid filters: ammoniacal copper sulphate for blue, copper chloride for the green and iron sulphocyanide for the red. A fourth exposure was made through lemon-yellow glass, but was not used in the final demonstration. A tartan ribbon in a bow was used as the subject; the wet-collodion process in current use required six seconds for the blue exposure, about twice what would have been needed without the filter. After twelve minutes no trace of image was produced through the green filter, which had to be diluted to a pale green: a twelve-minute exposure then produced a serviceable negative. Eight minutes was enough to record an image through the red filter, although since the process was sensitive only to blue light, nothing at all should have been recorded. In 1961, R.M.Evans of the Kodak Research Laboratory showed that the red liquid transmitted ultraviolet radiation, and by an extraordinary coincidence many natural red dye-stuffs reflect ultraviolet. Thus the red separation was made on the basis of non-visible radiation rather than red, but the net result was correct and the projected images did give an identifiable reproduction of the original. Sutton's photographs enabled Maxwell to establish the validity of his theory and to provide the basis upon which all subsequent methods of colour photography have been founded.JW / BC -
70 Blackett, William Cuthbert
SUBJECT AREA: Mining and extraction technology[br]b. 18 November 1859 Durham, Englandd. 13 June 1935 Durham, England[br]English mine manager, expert in preventing mine explosions and inventor of a coal-face conveyor.[br]After leaving Durham college of Physical Science and having been apprenticed in different mines, he received the certificate for colliery managers and subsequently, in 1887, was appointed Manager of all the mines of Charlaw and Sacriston collieries in Durham. He remained in this position for the rest of his working life.Frequent explosions in mines led him to investigate the causes. He was among the first to recognize the role contributed by coal-dust on mine roads, pioneered the use of inert rock-or stone-dust to render the coal-dust harmless and was the originator of many technical terms on the subject. He contributed many papers on explosion and was appointed a member of many advisory committees on prevention measures. A liquid-air rescue apparatus, designed by him and patented in 1910, was installed in various parts of the country.Blackett also developed various new devices in mining machinery. He patented a wire-rope socket which made use of a metal wedge; invented a rotary tippler driven by frictional contact instead of gearing and which stopped automatically; and he designed a revolving cylindrical coal-washer, which also gained interest among German mining engineers. His most important invention, the first successful coal-face conveyor, was patented in 1902. It was driven by compressed air and consisted of a trough running along the length of the race through which ran an endless scraper chain. Thus fillers cast the coal into the trough, and the scraper chain drew it to the main gate to be loaded into trams.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsKnight of Grace of the Order of St John of Jerusalem. OBE. Honorary MSc University of Durham; Honorary LLD University of Birmingham. Honorary Member, Institution of Mining and Metallurgy. Honorary Member, American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers. Royal Humane Society Medal.Further ReadingTransactions of the Institution of Mining Engineers (1934–5) 89:339–41.Mining Association of Great Britain (ed.), 1924, Historical Review of Coal Mining London (describes early mechanical devices for the extraction of coal).WKBiographical history of technology > Blackett, William Cuthbert
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71 Douglas, Donald Wills
SUBJECT AREA: Aerospace[br]b. 6 April 1892 Brooklyn, New York, USAd. 1 February 1981 Palm Springs, California, USA[br]American aircraft designer best known for bis outstanding airliner', the DC-3.[br]In 1912 Donald Douglas went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study aeronautical engineering. After graduating in this relatively new subject he joined the Glenn L.Martin Company as Chief Engineer. In 1920 he founded the Davis-Douglas Company in California to build an aircraft capable of flying across America non-stop: unfortunately, the Cloudster failed to achieve its target. Douglas reorganized the company in 1921 as the Douglas Company (later it became the Douglas Aircraft Company). In 1924 a team of US Army personnel made the first round-the-world flight in specially designed Douglas World Cruisers, a feat which boosted Douglas's reputation considerably. This reputation was further enhanced by his airliner, designed in 1935, that revolutionized air travel: the Douglas Commercial 3, or DC-3, of which some 13,000 were built. A series of piston-engined airliners followed, culminating in the DC-7. Meanwhile, in the military field, Douglas aircraft played a major part in the Second World War. In the jet age Douglas continued to produce a wide range of successful civil and military aircraft, and the company also moved into the rocket and guided missile business. In 1966 Donald W. Douglas was still Chairman of the company, with Donald W.Douglas Jr as President. In 1967 the company merged with the McDonnell Aircraft Company to become the giant McDonnell Douglas Corporation.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsAmerican Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics; Daniel Guggenheim Medal 1939.Bibliography1935, "The development and reliability of the modern multi-engined airliner", Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society, London (lecture).Further ReadingB.Yenne, 1985, McDonnell Douglas: A Tale of Two Giants, London (pays some attention to both Douglas and McDonnell, but also covers the history of the companies and the aircraft they produced).René J.Francillon, 1979, McDonnell Douglas Aircraft since 1920, London; 1988, 2nd edn (a comprehensive history of the company's aircraft).JDS -
72 Dyer, Joseph Chessborough
SUBJECT AREA: Textiles[br]b. 15 November 1780 Stonnington Point, Connecticut, USAd. 2 May 1871 Manchester, England[br]American inventor of a popular type of roving frame for cotton manufacture.[br]As a youth, Dyer constructed an unsinkable life-boat but did not immediately pursue his mechanical bent, for at 16 he entered the counting-house of a French refugee named Nancrède and succeeded to part of the business. He first went to England in 1801 and finally settled in 1811 when he married Ellen Jones (d. 1842) of Gower Street, London. Dyer was already linked with American inventors and brought to England Perkins's plan for steel engraving in 1809, shearing and nail-making machines in 1811, and also received plans and specifications for Fulton's steamboats. He seems to have acted as a sort of British patent agent for American inventors, and in 1811 took out a patent for carding engines and a card clothing machine. In 1813 there was a patent for spinning long-fibred substances such as hemp, flax or grasses, and in 1825 there was a further patent for card making machinery. Joshua Field, on his tour through Britain in 1821, saw a wire drawing machine and a leather splitting machine at Dyer's works as well as the card-making machines. At first Dyer lived in Camden Town, London, but he had a card clothing business in Birmingham. He moved to Manchester c.1816, where he developed an extensive engineering works under the name "Joseph C.Dyer, patent card manufacturers, 8 Stanley Street, Dale Street". In 1832 he founded another works at Gamaches, Somme, France, but this enterprise was closed in 1848 with heavy losses through the mismanagement of an agent. In 1825 Dyer improved on Danforth's roving frame and started to manufacture it. While it was still a comparatively crude machine when com-pared with later versions, it had the merit of turning out a large quantity of work and was very popular, realizing a large sum of money. He patented the machine that year and must have continued his interest in these machines as further patents followed in 1830 and 1835. In 1821 Dyer had been involved in the foundation of the Manchester Guardian (now The Guardian) and he was linked with the construction of the Liverpool \& Manchester Railway. He was not so successful with the ill-fated Bank of Manchester, of which he was a director and in which he lost £98,000. Dyer played an active role in the community and presented many papers to the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society. He helped to establish the Royal Institution in London and the Mechanics Institution in Manchester. In 1830 he was a member of the delegation to Paris to take contributions from the town of Manchester for the relief of those wounded in the July revolution and to congratulate Louis-Philippe on his accession. He called for the reform of Parliament and helped to form the Anti-Corn Law League. He hated slavery and wrote several articles on the subject, both prior to and during the American Civil War.[br]Bibliography1811, British patent no. 3,498 (carding engines and card clothing machine). 1813, British patent no. 3,743 (spinning long-fibred substances).1825, British patent no. 5,309 (card making machinery).1825, British patent no. 5,217 (roving frame). 1830, British patent no. 5,909 (roving frame).1835, British patent no. 6,863 (roving frame).Further ReadingDictionary of National Biography.J.W.Hall, 1932–3, "Joshua Field's diary of a tour in 1821 through the Midlands", Transactions of the Newcomen Society 6.Evan Leigh, 1875, The Science of Modern Cotton Spinning, Vol. II, Manchester (provides an account of Dyer's roving frame).D.J.Jeremy, 1981, Transatlantic Industrial Revolution: The Diffusion of TextileTechnologies Between Britain and America, 1790–1830s, Oxford (describes Dyer's links with America).See also: Arnold, AzaRLHBiographical history of technology > Dyer, Joseph Chessborough
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73 Maxim, Sir Hiram Stevens
[br]b. 5 February 1840 Brockway's Mills, Maine, USAd. 24 November 1916 Streatham, London, England[br]American (naturalized British) inventor; designer of the first fully automatic machine gun and of an experimental steam-powered aircraft.[br]Maxim was born the son of a pioneer farmer who later became a wood turner. Young Maxim was first apprenticed to a carriage maker and then embarked on a succession of jobs before joining his uncle in his engineering firm in Massachusetts in 1864. As a young man he gained a reputation as a boxer, but it was his uncle who first identified and encouraged Hiram's latent talent for invention.It was not, however, until 1878, when Maxim joined the first electric-light company to be established in the USA, as its Chief Engineer, that he began to make a name for himself. He developed an improved light filament and his electric pressure regulator not only won a prize at the first International Electrical Exhibition, held in Paris in 1881, but also resulted in his being made a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur. While in Europe he was advised that weapons development was a more lucrative field than electricity; consequently, he moved to England and established a small laboratory at Hatton Garden, London. He began by investigating improvements to the Gatling gun in order to produce a weapon with a faster rate of fire and which was more accurate. In 1883, by adapting a Winchester carbine, he successfully produced a semi-automatic weapon, which used the recoil to cock the gun automatically after firing. The following year he took this concept a stage further and produced a fully automatic belt-fed weapon. The recoil drove barrel and breechblock to the vent. The barrel then halted, while the breechblock, now unlocked from the former, continued rearwards, extracting the spent case and recocking the firing mechanism. The return spring, which it had been compressing, then drove the breechblock forward again, chambering the next round, which had been fed from the belt, as it did so. Keeping the trigger pressed enabled the gun to continue firing until the belt was expended. The Maxim gun, as it became known, was adopted by almost every army within the decade, and was to remain in service for nearly fifty years. Maxim himself joined forces with the large British armaments firm of Vickers, and the Vickers machine gun, which served the British Army during two world wars, was merely a refined version of the Maxim gun.Maxim's interests continued to occupy several fields of technology, including flight. In 1891 he took out a patent for a steam-powered aeroplane fitted with a pendulous gyroscopic stabilizer which would maintain the pitch of the aeroplane at any desired inclination (basically, a simple autopilot). Maxim decided to test the relationship between power, thrust and lift before moving on to stability and control. He designed a lightweight steam-engine which developed 180 hp (135 kW) and drove a propeller measuring 17 ft 10 in. (5.44 m) in diameter. He fitted two of these engines into his huge flying machine testrig, which needed a wing span of 104 ft (31.7 m) to generate enough lift to overcome a total weight of 4 tons. The machine was not designed for free flight, but ran on one set of rails with a second set to prevent it rising more than about 2 ft (61 cm). At Baldwyn's Park in Kent on 31 July 1894 the huge machine, carrying Maxim and his crew, reached a speed of 42 mph (67.6 km/h) and lifted off its rails. Unfortunately, one of the restraining axles broke and the machine was extensively damaged. Although it was subsequently repaired and further trials carried out, these experiments were very expensive. Maxim eventually abandoned the flying machine and did not develop his idea for a stabilizer, turning instead to other projects. At the age of almost 70 he returned to the problems of flight and designed a biplane with a petrol engine: it was built in 1910 but never left the ground.In all, Maxim registered 122 US and 149 British patents on objects ranging from mousetraps to automatic spindles. Included among them was a 1901 patent for a foot-operated suction cleaner. In 1900 he became a British subject and he was knighted the following year. He remained a larger-than-life figure, both physically and in character, until the end of his life.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsChevalier de la Légion d'Honneur 1881. Knighted 1901.Bibliography1908, Natural and Artificial Flight, London. 1915, My Life, London: Methuen (autobiography).Further ReadingObituary, 1916, Engineer (1 December).Obituary, 1916, Engineering (1 December).P.F.Mottelay, 1920, The Life and Work of Sir Hiram Maxim, London and New York: John Lane.Dictionary of National Biography, 1912–1921, 1927, Oxford: Oxford University Press.See also: Pilcher, Percy SinclairCM / JDSBiographical history of technology > Maxim, Sir Hiram Stevens
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74 Mercer, John
SUBJECT AREA: Textiles[br]b. 21 February 1791 Great Harwood, Lancashire, Englandd. 30 November 1866 Oakenshaw, Lancashire, England[br]English pioneer in textile chemistry.[br]Mercer began work at the age of 9 as a bobbinwinder and then a hand-loom weaver. He had no formal education in chemistry but taught himself and revealed remarkable ability in both theoretical and applied aspects of the subject. He became the acknowledged "father of textile chemistry" and the Royal Society elected him Fellow in 1850. His name is remembered in connection with the lustrous "mercerized" cotton which, although not developed commercially until 1890, arose from his discovery, c. 1844, of the effect of caustic soda on cotton linters. He also discovered that cotton could be dissolved in a solution of copper oxide in ammonia, a phenomenon later exploited in the manufacture of artificial silk. As a youth, Mercer experimented at home with dyeing processes and soon acquired sufficient skill to set up as an independent dyer. Most of his working life was, however, spent with the calico-printing firm of Oakenshaw Print Works in which he eventually became a partner, and it was there that most of his experimental work was done. The association was a very appropriate one, for it was a member of this firm's staff who first recognized Mercer's potential talent and took the trouble in his spare time to teach him reading, writing and arithmetic. Mercer developed manganese-bronze colours and researched into catalysis and the ferrocyanides. Among his innovations was the chlorination of wool in order to make it print as easily as cotton. It was many years later that it was realized that this treatment also conferred valuable shrink-resisting qualities. Becoming interested in photochemistry, he devised processes for photographic printing on fabric. Queen Victoria was presented with a handkerchief printed in this way when she visited the Great Exhibition of 1851, of which Mercer was a juror. A photograph of Mercer himself on cloth is preserved in the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. He presented papers to the British Association and was a member of the Chemical Society.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsFRS 1850.Further ReadingObituary, Manchester Memoirs, Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society.Dictionary of National Biography.E.A.Parnell, 1886. The Life and Labours of John Mercer, F.R.S., London (biography). 1867, biography, Journal of the Chemical Society.A.E.Musson and E.Robinson, 1969, Science and Technology in the Industrial Revolution, Manchester (includes a brief reference to Mercer's work).RLH -
75 Plimsoll, Samuel
SUBJECT AREA: Ports and shipping[br]b. 10 February 1824 Bristol, Englandd. 8 June 1898 Folkestone, Kent, England[br]English inventor of the Plimsoll Line on ships.[br]Plimsoll was educated privately and at Dr Eadon's school in Sheffield. On leaving school he became Clerk to a solicitor and then to a brewery, where he rose to become Manager. In 1851 he acted as an honorary secretary to the Great Exhibition. Two years later he went to London and set up as a coal merchant: he published two pamphlets on the coal trade in 1862. After several unsuccessful attempts, he managed to be elected as Member of Parliament for Derby in 1868, in the Radical interest. He concerned himself with mercantile shipping and in 1870 he began his campaign to improve safety at sea, particularly by the imposition of a load-line on vessels to prevent dangerous overloading. In 1871 he introduced a resolution into the House of Commons and also a bill, the Government also having proposed one on the same subject, but strong opposition from the powerful shipping-business interest forced a withdrawal. Plimsoll published a pamphlet, Our Seamen, bitterly attacking the shipowners. This aroused public feeling and controversy, and under pressure the Government appointed a Royal Commission in 1873, under the chairmanship of the Duke of Somerset, to examine the matter. Their report did not support Plimsoll's proposal for a load-line, but that did not prevent him from bringing forward his own bill, which was narrowly defeated by only three votes. The Government then introduced its own merchant shipping bill in 1875, but it was so mauled by the Opposition that the Prime Minister, Disraeli, threatened to withdraw it. That provoked a violent protest from Plimsoll in the House, including a description of the shipowners which earned him temporary suspension from the House. He was allowed to return after an apology, but the incident served to heighten public feeling for the seamen. The Government were obliged to hustle through the Merchant Shipping Act 1876, which ensured, among other things, that ships should be marked with what has become universally known as the Plimsoll Line; Plimsoll himself became known as "The Seamen's Friend".In 1880 he relinquished his parliamentary seat at Derby, but he continued his campaign to improve conditions for seamen and to ensure that the measures in the Act were properly carried out.LRD -
76 Torricelli, Evangelista
SUBJECT AREA: Photography, film and optics[br]b. 15 October 1608 Faenza, Italyd. 25 October 1647 Florence, Italy[br]Italian physicist, inventor of the mercury barometer and discoverer of atmospheric pressure.[br]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.[br]Bibliography1641, De motu gravium.Further ReadingT.I.Williams (ed.), 1969, A Biographical Dictionary of Scientists, London: A. \& C.Black.Chambers Concise Dictionary of Scientists, 1989, Cambridge.A Dictionary of Scientific Biography, 1976, Vol. XIII, New York: C.Scribner's Sons.A.Stowers, 1961–2, "Thomas Newcomen's first steam engine 250 years ago and the initial development of steam power", Transactions of the Newcomen Society 34 (provides an account of his mercury barometer).W.E.Knowles Middleton, 1964, The History of the Barometer, Baltimore.RLHBiographical history of technology > Torricelli, Evangelista
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77 Burgi, Jost
SUBJECT AREA: Horology[br]b. 28 February 1552 Lichtensteig, Switzerlandd. 31 January 1632 Kassel, Germany[br]Swiss clockmaker and mathematician who invented the remontoire and the cross-beat escapement, also responsible for the use of exponential notation and the calculation of tables of anti-logarithms.[br]Burgi entered the service of Duke William IV of Hesse in 1579 as Court Clockmaker, although he also assisted William with his astronomical observations. In 1584 he invented the cross-beat escapement which increased the accuracy of spring-driven clocks by two orders of magnitude. During the last years of the century he also worked on the development of geometrical and astronomical instruments for the Royal Observatory at Kassel.On the death of Duke Wilhelm in 1603, and with news of his skills having reached the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II, in 1604 he went to Prague to become Imperial Watchmaker and to assist in the creation of a centre of scientific activity, subsequently becoming Assistant to the German astronomer, Johannes Kepler. No doubt this association led to an interest in mathematics and he made significant contributions to the concept of decimal fractions and the use of exponential notation, i.e. the use of a raised number to indicate powers of another number. It is likely that he was developing the idea of logarithms at the same time (or possibly even before) Napier, for in 1620 he made his greatest contribution to mathematics, science and, eventually, engineering, namely the publication of tables of anti-logarithms.At Prague he continued the series of accurate clocks and instruments for astronomical measurements that he had begun to produce at Kassel. At that period clocks were very poor timekeepers since the controller, the foliot or balance, had no natural period of oscillation and was consequently dependent on the driving force. Although the force of the driving weight was constant, irregularities occurred during the transmission of the power through the train as a result of the poor shape and quality of the gearing. Burgi attempted to overcome this directly by superb craftsmanship and indirectly by using a remontoire. This device was wound at regular intervals by the main driving force and fed the power directly to the escape wheel, which impulsed the foliot. He also introduced the crossbeat escapement (a variation on the verge), which consisted of two coupled foliots that swung in opposition to each other. According to contemporary evidence his clocks produced a remarkable improvement in timekeeping, being accurate to within a minute a day. This improvement was probably a result of the use of a remontoire and the high quality of the workmanship rather than a result of the cross-beat escapement, which did not have a natural period of oscillation.Burgi or Prague clocks, as they were known, were produced by very few other makers and were supplanted shortly afterwards by the intro-duction of the pendulum clock. Burgi also produced superb clockwork-driven celestial globes.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsEnnobled 1611.BibliographyBurgi only published one book, and that was concerned with mathematics.Further ReadingL.von Mackensen, 1979, Die erste Sternwarte Europas mit ihren Instrumenten and Uhren—400 Jahre Jost Burgi in Kassel, Munich.K.Maurice and O.Mayr (eds), 1980, The Clockwork Universe, Washington, DC, pp. 87– 102.H.A.Lloyd, 1958, Some Outstanding Clocks Over 700 Years, 1250–1950, London. E.T.Bell, 1937, Men of Mathematics, London: Victor Gollancz.See also: Briggs, HenryKF / DV -
78 Crookes, Sir William
SUBJECT AREA: Electricity[br]b. 17 June 1832 London, Englandd. 4 April 1919 London, England[br]English chemist and physicist who carried out studies of electrical discharges and cathode rays in rarefied gases, leading to the development of the cathode ray tube; discoverer of the element thallium and the principle of the Crookes radiometer.[br]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.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsKnighted 1897. Order of Merit 1910. FRS 1863. President, Royal Society 1913–15. Honorary LLD Birmingham. Honorary DSc Oxon, Cambridge, Sheffield, Durham, Ireland and Cape of Good Hope.Bibliography1874, On Attraction and Repulsion Resulting from Radiation.1874, "Researches in the phenomenon of spiritualism", Society of Metaphysics; reprinted in facsimile, 1986.For many years he was also Proprietor and Editor of Chemical News.Further ReadingE.E.Fournier D'Albe, 1923, Life of Sir William Crookes. Who Was Who II, 1916–28, London: A. \& C. Black. T.I.Williams, 1969, A Biographical Dictionary of Scientists. See also Braun, Karl Ferdinand.KF / MG -
79 Adams, William Bridges
[br]b. 1797 Madeley, Staffordshire, Englandd. 23 July 1872 Broadstairs, Kent, England[br]English inventory particularly of road and rail vehicles and their equipment.[br]Ill health forced Adams to live abroad when he was a young man and when he returned to England in the early 1830s he became a partner in his father's firm of coachbuilders. Coaches during that period were steered by a centrally pivoted front axle, which meant that the front wheels had to swing beneath the body and were therefore made smaller than the rear wheels. Adams considered this design defective and invented equirotal coaches, built by his firm, in which the front and rear wheels were of equal diameter and the coach body was articulated midway along its length so that the front part pivoted. He also applied himself to improving vehicles for railways, which were developing rapidly then.In 1843 he opened his own engineering works, Fairfield Works in north London (he was not related to his contemporary William Adams, who was appointed Locomotive Superintendent to the North London Railway in 1854). In 1847 he and James Samuel, Engineer to the Eastern Counties Railway, built for that line a small steam inspection car, the Express, which was light enough to be lifted off the track. The following year Adams built a broad-gauge steam railcar, the Fairfield, for the Bristol \& Exeter Railway at the insistance of the line's Engineer, C.H.Gregory: self-propelled and passenger-carrying, this was the first railcar. Adams developed the concept further into a light locomotive that could haul two or three separate carriages, and light locomotives built both by his own firm and by other noted builders came into vogue for a decade or more.In 1847 Adams also built eight-wheeled coaches for the Eastern Counties Railway that were larger and more spacious than most others of the day: each in effect comprised two four-wheeled coaches articulated together, with wheels that were allowed limited side-play. He also realized the necessity for improvements to railway track, the weakest point of which was the joints between the rails, whose adjoining ends were normally held in common chairs. Adams invented the fishplated joint, first used by the Eastern Counties Railway in 1849 and subsequently used almost universally.Adams was a prolific inventor. Most important of his later inventions was the radial axle, which was first applied to the leading and trailing wheels of a 2–4–2 tank engine, the White Raven, built in 1863; Adams's radial axle was the forerunner of all later radial axles. However, the sprung tyres with which White Raven was also fitted (an elastic steel hoop was interposed between wheel centre and tyre) were not perpetuated. His inventiveness was not restricted to engineering: in matters of dress, his adoption, perhaps invention, of the turn-down collar at a time when men conventionally wore standup collars had lasting effect.[br]BibliographyAdams took out some thirty five British patents, including one for the fishplate in 1847. He wrote copiously, as journalist and author: his most important book was English Pleasure Carriages (1837), a detailed description of coachbuilding, together with ideas for railway vehicles and track. The 1971 reprint (Bath: Adams \& Dart) has a biographical introduction by Jack Simmons.Further ReadingC.Hamilton Ellis, 1958, Twenty Locomotive Men, Shepperton: Ian Allan, Ch. 1. See also England, George.PJGR -
80 Bateman, John Frederick La Trobe
[br]b. 30 May 1810 Lower Wyke, near Halifax, Yorkshire, Englandd. 10 June 1889 Moor Park, Farnham, Surrey, England[br]English civil engineer whose principal works were concerned with reservoirs, water-supply schemes and pipelines.[br]Bateman's maternal grandfather was a Moravian missionary, and from the age of 7 he was educated at the Moravian schools at Fairfield and Ockbrook. At the age of 15 he was apprenticed to a "civil engineer, land surveyor and agent" in Oldham. After this apprenticeship, Bateman commenced his own practice in 1833. One of his early schemes and reports was in regard to the flooding of the river Medlock in the Manchester area. He came to the attention of William Fairbairn, the engine builder and millwright of Canal Street, Ancoats, Manchester. Fairbairn used Bateman as his site surveyor and as such he prepared much of the groundwork for the Bann reservoirs in Northern Ireland. Whilst the reports on the proposals were in the name of Fairbairn, Bateman was, in fact, appointed by the company as their engineer for the execution of the works. One scheme of Bateman's which was carried forward was the Kendal Reservoirs. The Act for these was signed in 1845 and was implemented not for the purpose of water supply but for the conservation of water to supply power to the many mills which stood on the river Kent between Kentmere and Morecambe Bay. The Kentmere Head dam is the only one of the five proposed for the scheme to survive, although not all the others were built as they would have retained only small volumes of water.Perhaps the greatest monument to the work of J.F.La Trobe Bateman is Manchester's water supply; he was consulted about this in 1844, and construction began four years later. He first built reservoirs in the Longdendale valley, which has a very complicated geological stratification. Bateman favoured earth embankment dams and gravity feed rather than pumping; the five reservoirs in the valley that impound the river Etherow were complex, cored earth dams. However, when completed they were greatly at risk from landslips and ground movement. Later dams were inserted by Bateman to prevent water loss should the older dams fail. The scheme was not completed until 1877, by which time Manchester's population had exceeded the capacity of the original scheme; Thirlmere in Cumbria was chosen by Manchester Corporation as the site of the first of the Lake District water-supply schemes. Bateman, as Consulting Engineer, designed the great stone-faced dam at the west end of the lake, the "gothic" straining well in the middle of the east shore of the lake, and the 100-mile (160 km) pipeline to Manchester. The Act for the Thirlmere reservoir was signed in 1879 and, whilst Bateman continued as Consulting Engineer, the work was supervised by G.H. Hill and was completed in 1894.Bateman was also consulted by the authorities in Glasgow, with the result that he constructed an impressive water-supply scheme derived from Loch Katrine during the years 1856–60. It was claimed that the scheme bore comparison with "the most extensive aqueducts in the world, not excluding those of ancient Rome". Bateman went on to superintend the waterworks of many cities, mainly in the north of England but also in Dublin and Belfast. In 1865 he published a pamphlet, On the Supply of Water to London from the Sources of the River Severn, based on a survey funded from his own pocket; a Royal Commission examined various schemes but favoured Bateman's.Bateman was also responsible for harbour and dock works, notably on the rivers Clyde and Shannon, and also for a number of important water-supply works on the Continent of Europe and beyond. Dams and the associated reservoirs were the principal work of J.F.La Trobe Bateman; he completed forty-three such schemes during his professional career. He also prepared many studies of water-supply schemes, and appeared as professional witness before the appropriate Parliamentary Committees.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsFRS 1860. President, Institution of Civil Engineers 1878, 1879.BibliographyAmong his publications History and Description of the Manchester Waterworks, (1884, London), and The Present State of Our Knowledge on the Supply of Water to Towns, (1855, London: British Association for the Advancement of Science) are notable.Further ReadingObituary, 1889, Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers 97:392– 8.Obituary, 1889, Proceedings of the Royal Society 46:xlii-xlviii. G.M.Binnie, 1981, Early Victorian Water Engineers, London.P.N.Wilson, 1973, "Kendal reservoirs", Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society 73.KM / LRDBiographical history of technology > Bateman, John Frederick La Trobe
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