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to become a civil engineer

  • 1 travail

    travail (plural - aux) [tʀavaj, o]
    1. masculine noun
       a. ( = activité) le travail work
    • avoir du travail/beaucoup de travail to have some work/a lot of work to do
    • horaire/vêtements de travail work schedule/clothes
    • conditions/méthodes/groupe/déjeuner de travail working conditions/methods/group/lunch
    • à travail égal, salaire égal equal pay for equal work
    • améliorer la communication, c'est tout un travail ! improving communications is quite a task!
       b. ( = tâche) work uncount, job ; ( = résultat) work uncount
    • travaux de recherche/de construction research/building work
    • « pendant les travaux, le magasin restera ouvert » "business as usual during alterations"
    • « attention ! travaux ! » "caution! work in progress!" ; (sur la route) "roadworks ahead!" (Brit) "roadwork ahead!" (US)
       c. ( = métier, profession) job ; ( = situation) work uncount, job
    • avoir un travail intéressant/lucratif to have an interesting/a highly paid job
    • travail d'équipe or en équipe team work
       d. ( = façonnage) [de bois, cuir, fer] working
       e. ( = accouchement) labour (Brit), labor (US)
    ► un travail de fourmi a long, painstaking job
    * * *

    1.
    pl - aux tʀavaj, o nom masculin
    2) (tâche faite, à faire) job; (ensemble des tâches, besogne) work [U]

    j'ai un travail fou — I'm up to my eyes in work, I've got a lot of work on

    3) ( fait d'exercer un emploi) work; ( emploi rémunéré) work [U], job; ( lieu) work
    4) Économie, Sociologie (activité, population active) labour [BrE] [U]

    division du travail — division of labour [BrE]

    5) ( résultat d'un fonctionnement) (de machine, d'organe) work [U]
    6) ( ouvrage érudit) work ( sur on)

    le travail de — working with ou in [métal, bois, pierre]

    apprendre le travail du bois/métal — to learn woodwork/metalwork

    8) (technique, exécution) workmanship
    9) Physique work
    10) ( action) (d'eau, érosion) action (de of); fig (d'imagination, inconscient) workings (pl) (de of)
    11) ( altération) ( de vin) fermentation, working; ( de bois) warping

    2.
    travaux nom masculin pluriel
    1) ( en chantier) work [U]; ( sur une route) roadworks GB, roadwork [U] US

    travaux de construction — construction work [U]

    ‘fermé pour travaux’ — ( sur une devanture) ‘closed for repairs ou alterations’

    ‘attention, travaux’ — gén ‘caution, work in progress’; ( sur une route) ‘caution, road under repair’

    2) (recherche, études) work [U] ( sur on)
    3) ( débats) deliberations

    les travaux agricoles/de la ferme — agricultural/farm work [U]

    travaux de couture — needlework [U]

    •
    Phrasal Verbs:
    * * *
    tʀavaj, o travaux pl
    1. nm
    1) (= activité, effort) work

    J'ai beaucoup de travail. — I've got a lot of work.

    C'est un travail épuisant. — It's exhausting work.

    se mettre au travail — to start work, to get down to work

    outils de travail — working tools, work tools

    2) (= tâche spécifique) job

    Donne-lui un travail facile. — Give him an easy job.

    3) (= emploi, gagne-pain) job, work no pl

    Il a un travail intéressant. — He's got an interesting job.

    Il est sans travail depuis un an. — He has been out of work for a year.

    4) (= lieu) work

    Au travail, je m'entends bien avec mes collègues. — I get on well with my colleagues at work.

    5) ÉCONOMIE (= ressource, facteur) labour Grande-Bretagne labor USA

    la législation du travail — labour law, labour legislation

    6) MÉDECINE (de l'accouchement) labour Grande-Bretagne labor USA
    7) (= façonnage)
    2. travaux nmpl
    (= chantier) (de réparation, agricoles) work, (sur route) roadworks, [construction] building work, building
    * * *
    I.
    travail, pl - aux
    A nm
    1 ( contraire de repos) work; le travail intellectuel intellectual work; le travail scolaire schoolwork; ça demande des mois de travail it requires months of work; se mettre au travail to get down to work, to start work; être en plein travail to be busy working;
    2 (tâche faite, à faire) job; (ensemble des tâches, besogne) work ¢; faire un travail to do a job; distribuer le travail to allocate jobs; ce n'est pas mon travail it's not my job; c'est un travail de professionnel ( à faire) it's a job for a professional; ( bien fait) it's a very professional job; c'est un travail d'homme it's man's work; commencer un travail to start a job; mener un travail de recherche to do research work; avoir du travail to have work to do; j'ai un travail fou I'm up to my eyes in work, I've got a lot of work on; les enfants, ça donne du travail, les enfants, c'est du travail children make a lot of work; les gros travaux the heavy work; s'occuper à de petits travaux to do little jobs; faire quelques travaux de jardinage to do a few gardening jobs; (félicitations) c'est du beau travail! aussi iron you've done a great job on that; qu'est-ce que c'est que ce travail? what do you call this?; et voilà le travail! that's that done!;
    3 ( fait d'exercer un emploi) work; ( emploi rémunéré) work ¢, job; ( lieu) work; ne me téléphone pas à mon travail don't call me at work; chercher du/un travail to look for work/a job; bien content d'avoir du/un travail glad to be in work/to have a job; être sans travail to be out of work; donner du travail à qn ( employer) to give sb a job; reprendre le travail to go back to work; cesser le travail to stop work; aller au travail to go to work; être au travail to be at work; que fais-tu comme travail? what do you do?, what's your job?; il ne fait que son travail he's only doing his job; le travail en usine/de bureau factory/office ou clerical work; le travail temporaire/à mi-temps temporary/part-time work; un travail à mi-temps a part-time job; le travail en équipe team work; le travail en équipes shiftwork; le travail de nuit nightwork; il a un travail de nuit he works nights; le travail indépendant freelance work, self-employment; conditions/semaine de travail working conditions/week; vivre de son travail to work for one's living; ⇒ salaire;
    4 Écon, Sociol (activité, population active) labourGB ¢; le capital et le travail capital and labourGB; organisation/division du travail organization/division of labourGB; force de travail workforce; entrer dans le monde du travail to enter the world of work; la psychologie du travail industrial psychology;
    5 ( résultat d'un fonctionnement) (de machine, d'organe) work ¢; le travail du cœur the work done by the heart; le travail musculaire muscular effort, the work done by the muscles;
    6 ( ouvrage érudit) work (sur on); publier un travail sur la Renaissance to publish a work on the Renaissance;
    7 ( façonnage) le travail de working with ou in [métal, bois, pierre]; le travail de l'ivoire est difficile working with ou in ivory is difficult; apprendre le travail du bois/métal to learn woodwork/metalwork;
    8 (technique, exécution) workmanship; un travail superbe a superb piece of workmanship; un coffret d'un beau travail a beautifully made box; une dentelle d'un travail délicat a delicate piece of lacework;
    9 Mécan, Phys work;
    10 ( action) (d'eau, érosion) action (de of); fig (d'imagination, inconscient) workings (pl) (de of); le travail du temps the work of time;
    11 ( altération) ( de vin) fermentation, working; ( de bois) warping;
    12 Méd ( pendant accouchement) labourGB; entrer/être en travail to go into/be in labourGB; salle de travail labourGB ward.
    B travaux nmpl
    1 ( en chantier) work (sg); ( sur une route) roadworks GB, roadwork ¢ US; travaux de construction/réfection/soutènement construction/renovation/retaining work ¢; travaux de terrassement earthworks; travaux d'aménagement ( de bâtiment) alterations (de to), improvements (de to); ( d'un site) redevelopment ¢ (de of); ( d'une route) roadworks (de on); faire faire des travaux dans sa maison to have work done in one's house; nous sommes en plein travaux we're in the middle of having some work done; ‘fermé pour travaux’ ( sur une devanture) ‘closed for repairs ou alterations’; ‘attention, travaux’ gén ‘caution, work in progress’; ( sur une route) ‘caution, road under repair’;
    2 (recherche, études) work ¢ (sur on); publier le résultat de ses travaux to publish the results of one's work;
    3 ( débats) (d'assemblée, de commission) deliberations;
    4 ( opérations de même nature) les travaux agricoles/de la ferme agricultural/farm work; travaux de couture needlework.
    travail à la chaîne assembly-line work; travail clandestin work for which no earnings are declared; travail à domicile working at or from home; travail des enfants child labourGB; travail d'intérêt général Jur community service; travail manuel manual work; travail au noir○ gén work for which no earnings are declared; ( exercice d'un second emploi non déclaré) moonlighting; travail aux pièces piece work; travail posté shift work; travail de Romain Herculean task; travail de titan = travail de Romain; travaux d'aiguille needlework ¢; travaux des champs agricultural ou farm work ¢; travaux de dame fancywork ¢; travaux dirigés, TD Univ practical (sg); travaux forcés Jur hard labourGB (sg); fig slave labourGB ¢; travaux manuels Scol handicrafts; travaux ménagers housework ¢; travaux pratiques, TP Scol, Univ practical work ¢; ( en laboratoire) lab work ¢; travaux préparatoires Jur ( pour un texte de loi) preliminary documents; travaux publics, TP ( travail) civil engineering ¢; ( ouvrages) civil engineering works, public works; travaux routiers roadworks GB, roadwork ¢ US.
    II.
    travail, pl travails nm ( appareil) trave.
    I
    ( pluriel travaux) [travaj, o] nom masculin
    A.[ACTION]
    1. [occupation]
    le travail de jour/nuit day/night work
    le travail posté ou par roulement shift work
    a. [occasionnel] undeclared casual work, moonlighting
    b. [comme pratique généralisée] black economy
    a. [généralement] temporary work
    b. [dans un bureau] temping
    2. [tâches imposées] work
    3. [tâche déterminée] job
    faire un travail de recherche/traduction to do a piece of research/a translation
    c'est un travail de bagnard ou forçat it's back-breaking work ou a back-breaking job
    4. [efforts] (hard) work
    5. [exécution] work
    on lui a confié les peintures et elle a fait du bon/mauvais travail she was responsible for doing the painting and she made a good/bad job of it
    je ne retrouve pas une seule disquette, qu'est-ce que c'est que ce travail? I can't find a single floppy disc, what's going on here?
    6. [façonnage] working
    elle est attirée par le travail du bois/de la soie she's interested in working with wood/with silk
    7. [poste] job, occupation, post
    [responsabilité] job
    chercher du ou un travail to be job-hunting, to be looking for a job
    sans travail unemployed, jobless, out of work
    8. [dans le système capitaliste] labour
    9. [contrainte exercée - par la chaleur, l'érosion] action
    10. PHYSIOLOGIE [accouchement] labour
    le travail n'est pas commencé/est commencé the patient has not yet gone/has gone into labour
    [activité] work
    réduire le travail du cœur/des reins to lighten the strain on the heart/on the kidneys
    11. MÉCANIQUE & PHYSIQUE work
    B.[RÉSULTAT, EFFET]
    1. [écrit] piece
    2. [transformation - généralement] work
    [modification interne - dans le bois] warping ; [ - dans le fromage] maturing ; [ - dans le vin] working
    C.[LIEU D'ACTIVITÉ PROFESSIONNELLE] work, workplace
    travaux nom masculin pluriel
    1. [tâches] work, working
    ‘fermé pendant les travaux’ ‘closed for ou during alterations’
    ‘attention, travaux’ ‘caution, work in progress’
    a. [généralement] arts and crafts
    a. [généralement] practical work
    b. [en laboratoire] lab work
    2. [d'une commission] work
    ————————
    au travail locution adverbiale
    1. [en activité] at work, working
    allez, au travail! come on, get to work!
    2. [sur le lieu d'activité] at work, in the workplace
    ————————
    de travail locution adjectivale
    1. [horaire, séance] working
    [vêtement, camarade, permis] work (modificateur)
    2. [d'accouchement - période] labour (modificateur) ; [ - salle] labour (modificateur), delivery (modificateur)
    ————————
    du travail locution adjectivale
    [accident, sociologie, législation] industrial
    ————————
    en travail adverbe
    entrer en travail to go into ou to start labour
    II
    ( pluriel travails) [travaj] nom masculin

    Dictionnaire Français-Anglais > travail

  • 2 Vignoles, Charles Blacker

    [br]
    b. 31 May 1793 Woodbrook, Co. Wexford, Ireland
    d. 17 November 1875 Hythe, Hampshire, England
    [br]
    English surveyor and civil engineer, pioneer of railways.
    [br]
    Vignoles, who was of Huguenot descent, was orphaned in infancy and brought up in the family of his grandfather, Dr Charles Hutton FRS, Professor of Mathematics at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. After service in the Army he travelled to America, arriving in South Carolina in 1817. He was appointed Assistant to the state's Civil Engineer and surveyed much of South Carolina and subsequently Florida. After his return to England in 1823 he established himself as a civil engineer in London, and obtained work from the brothers George and John Rennie.
    In 1825 the promoters of the Liverpool \& Manchester Railway (L \& MR) lost their application for an Act of Parliament, discharged their engineer George Stephenson and appointed the Rennie brothers in his place. They in turn employed Vignoles to resurvey the railway, taking a route that would minimize objections. With Vignoles's route, the company obtained its Act in 1826 and appointed Vignoles to supervise the start of construction. After Stephenson was reappointed Chief Engineer, however, he and Vignoles proved incompatible, with the result that Vignoles left the L \& MR early in 1827.
    Nevertheless, Vignoles did not sever all connection with the L \& MR. He supported John Braithwaite and John Ericsson in the construction of the locomotive Novelty and was present when it competed in the Rainhill Trials in 1829. He attended the opening of the L \& MR in 1830 and was appointed Engineer to two railways which connected with it, the St Helens \& Runcorn Gap and the Wigan Branch (later extended to Preston as the North Union); he supervised the construction of these.
    After the death of the Engineer to the Dublin \& Kingstown Railway, Vignoles supervised construction: the railway, the first in Ireland, was opened in 1834. He was subsequently employed in surveying and constructing many railways in the British Isles and on the European continent; these included the Eastern Counties, the Midland Counties, the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyme \& Manchester (which proved for him a financial disaster from which he took many years to recover), and the Waterford \& Limerick. He probably discussed rail of flat-bottom section with R.L. Stevens during the winter of 1830–1 and brought it into use in the UK for the first time in 1836 on the London \& Croydon Railway: subsequently rail of this section became known as "Vignoles rail". He considered that a broader gauge than 4 ft 8½ in. (1.44 m) was desirable for railways, although most of those he built were to this gauge so that they might connect with others. He supported the atmospheric system of propulsion during the 1840s and was instrumental in its early installation on the Dublin \& Kingstown Railway's Dalkey extension. Between 1847 and 1853 he designed and built the noted multi-span suspension bridge at Kiev, Russia, over the River Dnieper, which is more than half a mile (800 m) wide at that point.
    Between 1857 and 1863 he surveyed and then supervised the construction of the 155- mile (250 km) Tudela \& Bilbao Railway, which crosses the Cantabrian Pyrenees at an altitude of 2,163 ft (659 m) above sea level. Vignoles outlived his most famous contemporaries to become the grand old man of his profession.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society 1829. FRS 1855. President, Institution of Civil Engineers 1869–70.
    Bibliography
    1830, jointly with John Ericsson, British patent no. 5,995 (a device to increase the capability of steam locomotives on grades, in which rollers gripped a third rail).
    1823, Observations upon the Floridas, New York: Bliss \& White.
    1870, Address on His Election as President of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
    Further Reading
    K.H.Vignoles, 1982, Charles Blacker Vignoles: Romantic Engineer, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (good modern biography by his great-grandson).
    PJGR

    Biographical history of technology > Vignoles, Charles Blacker

  • 3 Telford, Thomas

    SUBJECT AREA: Canals, Civil engineering
    [br]
    b. 9 August 1757 Glendinning, Dumfriesshire, Scotland
    d. 2 September 1834 London, England.
    [br]
    Scottish civil engineer.
    [br]
    Telford was the son of a shepherd, who died when the boy was in his first year. Brought up by his mother, Janet Jackson, he attended the parish school at Westerkirk. He was apprenticed to a stonemason in Lochmaben and to another in Langholm. In 1780 he walked from Eskdale to Edinburgh and in 1872 rode to London on a horse that he was to deliver there. He worked for Sir William Chambers as a mason on Somerset House, then on the Eskdale house of Sir James Johnstone. In 1783–4 he worked on the new Commissioner's House and other buildings at Portsmouth dockyard.
    In late 1786 Telford was appointed County Surveyor for Shropshire and moved to Shrewsbury Castle, with work initially on the new infirmary and County Gaol. He designed the church of St Mary Magdalene, Bridgnorth, and also the church at Madley. Telford built his first bridge in 1790–2 at Montford; between 1790 and 1796 he built forty-five road bridges in Shropshire, including Buildwas Bridge. In September 1793 he was appointed general agent, engineer and architect to the Ellesmere Canal, which was to connect the Mersey and Dee rivers with the Severn at Shrewsbury; William Jessop was Principal Engineer. This work included the Pont Cysyllte aqueduct, a 1,000 ft (305 m) long cast-iron trough 127 ft (39 m) above ground level, which entailed an on-site ironworks and took ten years to complete; the aqueduct is still in use today. In 1800 Telford put forward a plan for a new London Bridge with a single cast-iron arch with a span of 600 ft (183 m) but this was not built.
    In 1801 Telford was appointed engineer to the British Fisheries Society "to report on Highland Communications" in Scotland where, over the following eighteen years, 920 miles (1,480 km) of new roads were built, 280 miles (450 km) of the old military roads were realigned and rebuilt, over 1,000 bridges were constructed and much harbour work done, all under Telford's direction. A further 180 miles (290 km) of new roads were also constructed in the Lowlands of Scotland. From 1804 to 1822 he was also engaged on the construction of the Caledonian Canal: 119 miles (191 km) in all, 58 miles (93 km) being sea loch, 38 miles (61 km) being Lochs Lochy, Oich and Ness, 23 miles (37 km) having to be cut.
    In 1808 he was invited by King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden to assist Count Baltzar von Platen in the survey and construction of a canal between the North Sea and the Baltic. Telford surveyed the 114 mile (183 km) route in six weeks; 53 miles (85 km) of new canal were to be cut. Soon after the plans for the canal were completed, the King of Sweden created him a Knight of the Order of Vasa, an honour that he would have liked to have declined. At one time some 60,000 soldiers and seamen were engaged on the work, Telford supplying supervisors, machinery—including an 8 hp steam dredger from the Donkin works and machinery for two small paddle boats—and ironwork for some of the locks. Under his direction an ironworks was set up at Motala, the foundation of an important Swedish industrial concern which is still flourishing today. The Gotha Canal was opened in September 1832.
    In 1811 Telford was asked to make recommendations for the improvement of the Shrewsbury to Holyhead section of the London-Holyhead road, and in 1815 he was asked to survey the whole route from London for a Parliamentary Committee. Construction of his new road took fifteen years, apart from the bridges at Conway and over the Menai Straits, both suspension bridges by Telford and opened in 1826. The Menai bridge had a span of 579 ft (176 m), the roadway being 153 ft (47 m) above the water level.
    In 1817 Telford was appointed Engineer to the Exchequer Loan Commission, a body set up to make capital loans for deserving projects in the hard times that followed after the peace of Waterloo. In 1820 he became the first President of the Engineers Institute, which gained its Royal Charter in 1828 to become the Institution of Civil Engineers. He was appointed Engineer to the St Katharine's Dock Company during its construction from 1825 to 1828, and was consulted on several early railway projects including the Liverpool and Manchester as well as a number of canal works in the Midlands including the new Harecastle tunnel, 3,000 ft (914 m) long.
    Telford led a largely itinerant life, living in hotels and lodgings, acquiring his own house for the first time in 1821, 24 Abingdon Street, Westminster, which was partly used as a school for young civil engineers. He died there in 1834, after suffering in his later years from the isolation of deafness. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    FRSE 1803. Knight of the Order of Vasa, Sweden 1808. FRS 1827. First President, Engineers Insitute 1820.
    Further Reading
    L.T.C.Rolt, 1979, Thomas Telford, London: Penguin.
    C.Hadfield, 1993, Thomas Telford's Temptation, London: M. \& M.Baldwin.
    IMcN

    Biographical history of technology > Telford, Thomas

  • 4 camino

    m.
    1 path, track (sendero).
    camino de Santiago Milky Way; (astronomy) = pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela (religion)
    camino trillado well-trodden path
    2 way.
    el camino de la estación the way to the station
    camino de on the way to
    está camino de la capital it's on the way to the capital
    a estas horas ya estarán en camino they'll be on their way by now
    me pilla de camino it's on my way
    en el o de camino on the way
    por este camino this way
    3 journey (viaje).
    nos espera un largo camino we have a long journey ahead of us
    ponerse en camino to set off
    4 road, footpath, pathway, track.
    5 cart track, cart road.
    pres.indicat.
    1st person singular (yo) present indicative of spanish verb: caminar.
    * * *
    1 (vía) path, track
    2 (ruta) way, route
    3 (viaje) journey
    \
    a medio camino half-way
    abrir camino to clear the way (a, for)
    abrir el camino to clear the way (a, for)
    abrirse camino to make one's way
    abrirse camino en la vida to get on in life
    coger de camino / pillar de camino to be on the way
    estar en camino to be on the way
    ir camino de to be on one's way to
    ir por (el) buen/mal camino figurado to be on the right/wrong track
    llevar buen camino to be on the right track
    llevar camino de to be on the way to, be heading for, look set to
    ponerse en camino to set off (on a journey)
    camino de herradura bridle path
    camino forestal forest track
    el camino del éxito figurado the road to success
    * * *
    noun m.
    1) road, path, track
    2) way
    * * *
    SM
    1) [sin asfaltar] track; (=sendero) path; (=carretera) road

    Caminos, Canales y Puertos — (Univ) Civil Engineering

    camino de ingresos, camino de peaje — toll road

    camino de rosas, la vida no es ningún camino de rosas — life's no bed of roses

    camino forestal — forest track; [para paseos] forest trail

    = Camino de Santiago

    camino trillado, caminos turísticos no trillados — tourist routes that are off the beaten track

    experimentan con nuevas técnicas, huyen de los caminos trillados — they are experimenting with new techniques and avoiding conventional approaches o the well-trodden paths

    este escritor ha recorrido los caminos trillados de sus antecesores — this writer has been down the well-trodden paths followed by his predecessors

    2) (=ruta)
    a) (lit) way, route; (=viaje) journey

    ¿sabes el camino a su casa? — do you know the way to his house?

    ¿cuánto camino hay de aquí a San José? — how far is it from here to San José?

    • abrirse camino entre la multitud — to make one's way through the crowd

    • de camino a, lo puedo recoger de camino al trabajo — I can collect it on my way to work

    • echar camino adelante — to strike out

    • en el camino — on the way, en route

    tienen dos niños, y otro en camino — they have two children, and another on the way

    • a medio camino — halfway (there)

    a medio camino paramos para comer — halfway there, we stopped to eat

    • se quedaron a mitad de camino — they only got halfway (there)

    b) (fig) (=medio) path, course

    • el camino a seguir, yo te explico el camino a seguir — I'll tell you the way o route

    allanar el camino —

    ir camino de —

    traer a algn por buen camino — (=orientar) to put sb on the right track o road; (=desengañar) to set sb straight

    quedarse en el camino —

    un 70% sacó el diploma y el resto se quedó en el camino — 70 per cent of them got the diploma, the rest didn't make it

    no me fijo en mis rivales, yo sigo por mi camino — I don't take any notice of what my rivals are doing, I just do my own thing

    3) (Inform) path
    4) And, Cono Sur (=alfombra, tapete) runner, strip of carpet o matting
    CAMINO DE SANTIAGO The Camino de Santiago is a medieval pilgrim route stretching from the Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain, where tradition has it that the body of Saint James the Apostle (Spain's patron saint) is buried. Those who had made the long, dangerous journey returned proudly wearing on their hat or cloak the venera or concha (scallop shell) traditionally associated with this pilgrimage - Saint James' body had reportedly been found covered in scallops. Today this symbolic shell can still be seen all along the Camino de Santiago, carved on ancient buildings and painted on modern-day road signs marking the historic route for the benefit of tourists and pilgrims. In astronomy the Camino de Santiago is another name for the Vía Láctea (Milky Way), hence the title of Buñuel's famous satirical film about the route to Compostela.
    * * *
    1) ( de tierra) track; ( sendero) path; ( en general) road

    abrir nuevos caminos — to break new o fresh ground

    allanar or preparar or abrir el camino — to pave the way, prepare the ground

    el camino trillado — the well-worn o well-trodden path

    la vida no es un camino de rosas — life is no bed of roses

    tener el camino trillado: tenía el camino trillado he'd had the ground prepared for him; todos los caminos llevan or conducen a Roma — all roads lead to Rome

    2)
    a) (ruta, dirección) way

    me salieron al camino — asaltantes they blocked my path o way; amigos/niños they came out to meet me

    el camino a la fama — the road o path to fame

    se me fue por mal camino or por el otro camino — it went down the wrong way

    abrir camino a algo — to clear the way for something

    abrirse camino — to make one's way

    buen/mal camino: este niño va por mal camino or lleva mal camino this boy's heading for trouble; ibas por or llevabas buen camino pero te equivocaste you were on the right track but you made a mistake; las negociaciones van por or llevan muy buen camino the negotiations are going extremely well; llevar a alguien por mal camino to lead somebody astray; cruzarse en el camino de alguien: superó todos los obstáculos que se le cruzaron en el camino he overcame all the problems that arose; errar el camino to be in the wrong job o the wrong line of work; tirar por el camino de en medio — to take the middle path

    b) (trayecto, viaje)

    llevamos 300 kms/una hora de camino — we've done 300 kms/been traveling for an hour

    todavía estamos a o nos quedan dos horas de camino — we still have two hours to go

    paramos a mitad de camino or a medio camino — we stopped halfway

    cortar o acortar camino — to take a shortcut

    a mitad de or a medio camino — halfway through

    camino de/a: me encontré con él camino del or al mercado I ran into him on the o on my way to the market; ya vamos camino del invierno winter's on the way o on its way; llevar or ir camino de algo: una tradición que va camino de desaparecer a tradition which looks set to disappear; de camino on the way to; pilla de camino it's on the way; me queda de camino I pass it on my way; de camino a on the way; está de camino a la estación it is on the way to the station; en el camino or de camino al trabajo on my/his/her way o the way to work; en camino on the way; tiene un niño y otro en camino she has one child and another on the way; deben estar ya en camino they must be on their way already; por el camino — on the way

    •
    * * *
    = avenue, path, road, route, footpath, lane, pathway, way.
    Ex. In the attempt to match the above criteria, there are two fundamentally distinct avenues to the construction of the schedules of a classification scheme.
    Ex. It can be in only one place, unless duplicates are used; one has to have rules as to which path will locate it, and the rules are cumbersome.
    Ex. Use of Woolston Library has declined slightly: the area is isolated by the River Itchen, a busy main road, and a natural escarpment.
    Ex. Each packet includes the address of the final destination, and the packets travel separately, perhaps taking different routes through the network.
    Ex. Equivalence relationships normally imply the selection of one form as the preferred term, as we have seen, so we make a cross-reference pointing from the non-preferred term to the preferred term: footpaths See Trails; Bovines USE Cattle.
    Ex. The title of the article is 'Changing lanes on the information superhighway: academic libraries and the Internet'.
    Ex. This system automates the scientific task of determining the pathway of steps underlying a chemical reaction.
    Ex. He has chosen self-denial and altruism as the way to follow.
    ----
    * abrir camino a = make + way (for).
    * abrir nuevos caminos = break + new ground, push + Nombre + into new latitudes, break + ground, blaze + trail.
    * abrirse camino = plough through, elbow + Posesivo + way into, elbow into, foist + Posesivo + way into, make + Posesivo + way in the world.
    * abrirse camino (a empujones) = push + Posesivo + way across/into.
    * abrirse camino en el mundo = make + Posesivo + way in the world.
    * abrirse camino en la vida = get on in + life.
    * abrir un camino = chart + direction.
    * al borde del camino = at the roadside.
    * alto en el camino = stopover.
    * a medio camino = halfway [half-way/half way].
    * a mitad de camino = halfway [half-way/half way].
    * a mitad de camino entre... y... = midway between, half way between... and....
    * a mitad de camino entre... y... = astride... and....
    * andar camino trillado = tread + well-worn ground.
    * apartarse del buen camino = go off + the rails, stray from + the straight and narrow.
    * apartarse del camino de la verdad = stray from + the straight and narrow.
    * apartarse de los caminos principales = go + off-road.
    * borde del camino = roadside, wayside.
    * buen camino, el = straight and narrow (path), the.
    * buscar el camino = wind + Posesivo + way.
    * cambiar de opinión a mitad de camino = change + horses in midstream.
    * cambiar de parecer a mitad de camino = change + horses in midstream.
    * cambiar de política a mitad de camino = change + horses in midstream.
    * camino apartado = byway.
    * camino a seguir, el = way forward, the.
    * camino correcto, el = way forward, the.
    * camino de acceso = approach path.
    * camino definido = charted route.
    * camino de herradura = bridle path, bridleway.
    * camino de la verdad, el = straight and narrow (path), the.
    * camino de tierra = dirt track, dirt road.
    * camino elevado = causeway.
    * camino hacia el estrellato = road to stardom.
    * camino hacia la fama = road to stardom.
    * camino largo y difícil = long haul.
    * camino largo y tortuoso = long and winding road.
    * camino lleno de baches = bumpy road.
    * camino más fácil, el = path of least resistance, the.
    * camino muy largo = circuitous route.
    * camino pecuario = cattle lane.
    * camino por recorrer, el = road ahead, the.
    * camino rural = country lane, country road.
    * camino seguro al desastre = blueprint for disaster.
    * camino seguro al éxito = blueprint for success.
    * camino seguro al fracaso = blueprint for failure.
    * camino sin rumbo = the road to nowhere.
    * camino trillado = worn path, beaten road.
    * camino vecinal = country road, minor road, back road.
    * construcción de caminos = road construction.
    * continuar + Posesivo camino = continue on + Posesivo + way.
    * cruce de caminos = crossroads, fork in the road.
    * cruzar en el camino de Alguien = cross + Posesivo + path.
    * cruzársele a Uno en el camino = come + Posesivo + way.
    * de camino = on the way, while we're at it.
    * de camino a = en route for, on + Posesivo + way to, en route to.
    * descanso en el camino = rest stop.
    * desviarse del buen camino = go off + the rails.
    * detener en el camino = waylay.
    * detenerse en el camino = stop along + the way.
    * detenerse en el lado del camino = pull over.
    * el camino a seguir = the way ahead, the way to go.
    * el camino correcto = the way ahead, the way to go.
    * el camino hacia + Nombre + está lleno de + Nombre = the road (to/towards) + Nombre + is paved with + Nombre.
    * el camino hacia + Nombre + está plagado de + Nombre = the road (to/towards) + Nombre + is paved with + Nombre.
    * el camino por recorrer = the way ahead.
    * el camino que lleva a = a/the doorway to.
    * el camino recorrido = the road travelled so far.
    * el camino se hace andando = actions speak louder than words.
    * elegir el camino más fácil = take + the path of least resistance.
    * en camino = on the way.
    * encontrar el camino = wayfinding.
    * encontrar el camino de vuelta = find + Posesivo + way back.
    * en el camino = along the way, en route, in the process.
    * estar a medio camino entre... y... = lie + midway between... and....
    * estar de camino a = be on the road to.
    * estar en camino de = be on the way to.
    * fuera de los caminos trillados = off the beaten track.
    * hacerse camino = foist + Posesivo + way into.
    * hacer una parada en el camino = stop along + the way.
    * hallar el camino de la verdad = think + Posesivo + way to the truth.
    * indicar el camino a seguir = point + the way forward.
    * indicar el camino a seguir para = point + the way to.
    * indicar el camino correcto = point + Nombre + in the right direction.
    * ingeniería de caminos = civil engineering.
    * ingeniero de caminos = civil engineer.
    * ir por buen camino = be on the right track.
    * ir por el buen camino = be right on track.
    * ir por mal camino = be on the wrong track, be headed down the wrong track.
    * junto al camino = by the roadside.
    * lado del camino = wayside.
    * ¡la vida no es un camino de rosas! = the course of true love never did run smooth!.
    * llevar camino de enfrentamiento con = be on a collision course with.
    * llevar por el camino de = lead + Pronombre + down the road to.
    * llevar por el mal camino = lead + astray.
    * llevar por mal camino = mislead.
    * mantener Algo en el buen camino = keep + Nombre + on track.
    * marcar el camino correcto = point + Nombre + in the right direction.
    * mostrar el camino = blaze + the way, light + the way.
    * mostrar el camino a seguir = point + the way forward.
    * mostrar el camino para = point + the way to, show + the way to.
    * no apartarse del buen camino = keep on + the right track.
    * parada en el camino = rest stop, stop along the way.
    * parapeto del camino = road bank.
    * pararse en el lado del camino = pull over.
    * perderse por los caminos secundarios = go + off-road.
    * por buen camino = a step in the right direction.
    * por caminos apartados = off-road.
    * por mal camino = astray.
    * preparar el camino = set + the scene, smooth + the way, open + the way, set + the stage, pave + the path (for/towards/to), pave + the way (for/towards/to), pave + the road (for/towards/to).
    * preparar el camino para = smooth + the path of.
    * quedarse en el camino = fall by + the wayside.
    * retomar el camino = get back on + Posesivo + path.
    * retomar su camino = get back on + track.
    * seguir el buen camino = keep on + the right track, keep on + the straight and narrow.
    * seguir el camino de la verdad = keep on + the straight and narrow.
    * seguir el camino más ético = take + the high ground, take + the high road.
    * seguir este camino = go along + this road.
    * seguir por el buen camino = keep out of + trouble, keep on + the right track.
    * seguir un camino = take + path, take + direction, tread + path, walk + path.
    * seguir un camino diferente = strike out on + a different path.
    * tener mucho camino que recorrer = have + a long way to go.
    * un alto en el camino = a stop on the road, a pit stop on the road.
    * un camino largo y difícil = a long haul.
    * volver a su camino = get back on + track, get back on + Posesivo + path.
    * * *
    1) ( de tierra) track; ( sendero) path; ( en general) road

    abrir nuevos caminos — to break new o fresh ground

    allanar or preparar or abrir el camino — to pave the way, prepare the ground

    el camino trillado — the well-worn o well-trodden path

    la vida no es un camino de rosas — life is no bed of roses

    tener el camino trillado: tenía el camino trillado he'd had the ground prepared for him; todos los caminos llevan or conducen a Roma — all roads lead to Rome

    2)
    a) (ruta, dirección) way

    me salieron al camino — asaltantes they blocked my path o way; amigos/niños they came out to meet me

    el camino a la fama — the road o path to fame

    se me fue por mal camino or por el otro camino — it went down the wrong way

    abrir camino a algo — to clear the way for something

    abrirse camino — to make one's way

    buen/mal camino: este niño va por mal camino or lleva mal camino this boy's heading for trouble; ibas por or llevabas buen camino pero te equivocaste you were on the right track but you made a mistake; las negociaciones van por or llevan muy buen camino the negotiations are going extremely well; llevar a alguien por mal camino to lead somebody astray; cruzarse en el camino de alguien: superó todos los obstáculos que se le cruzaron en el camino he overcame all the problems that arose; errar el camino to be in the wrong job o the wrong line of work; tirar por el camino de en medio — to take the middle path

    b) (trayecto, viaje)

    llevamos 300 kms/una hora de camino — we've done 300 kms/been traveling for an hour

    todavía estamos a o nos quedan dos horas de camino — we still have two hours to go

    paramos a mitad de camino or a medio camino — we stopped halfway

    cortar o acortar camino — to take a shortcut

    a mitad de or a medio camino — halfway through

    camino de/a: me encontré con él camino del or al mercado I ran into him on the o on my way to the market; ya vamos camino del invierno winter's on the way o on its way; llevar or ir camino de algo: una tradición que va camino de desaparecer a tradition which looks set to disappear; de camino on the way to; pilla de camino it's on the way; me queda de camino I pass it on my way; de camino a on the way; está de camino a la estación it is on the way to the station; en el camino or de camino al trabajo on my/his/her way o the way to work; en camino on the way; tiene un niño y otro en camino she has one child and another on the way; deben estar ya en camino they must be on their way already; por el camino — on the way

    •
    * * *
    = avenue, path, road, route, footpath, lane, pathway, way.

    Ex: In the attempt to match the above criteria, there are two fundamentally distinct avenues to the construction of the schedules of a classification scheme.

    Ex: It can be in only one place, unless duplicates are used; one has to have rules as to which path will locate it, and the rules are cumbersome.
    Ex: Use of Woolston Library has declined slightly: the area is isolated by the River Itchen, a busy main road, and a natural escarpment.
    Ex: Each packet includes the address of the final destination, and the packets travel separately, perhaps taking different routes through the network.
    Ex: Equivalence relationships normally imply the selection of one form as the preferred term, as we have seen, so we make a cross-reference pointing from the non-preferred term to the preferred term: footpaths See Trails; Bovines USE Cattle.
    Ex: The title of the article is 'Changing lanes on the information superhighway: academic libraries and the Internet'.
    Ex: This system automates the scientific task of determining the pathway of steps underlying a chemical reaction.
    Ex: He has chosen self-denial and altruism as the way to follow.
    * abrir camino a = make + way (for).
    * abrir nuevos caminos = break + new ground, push + Nombre + into new latitudes, break + ground, blaze + trail.
    * abrirse camino = plough through, elbow + Posesivo + way into, elbow into, foist + Posesivo + way into, make + Posesivo + way in the world.
    * abrirse camino (a empujones) = push + Posesivo + way across/into.
    * abrirse camino en el mundo = make + Posesivo + way in the world.
    * abrirse camino en la vida = get on in + life.
    * abrir un camino = chart + direction.
    * al borde del camino = at the roadside.
    * alto en el camino = stopover.
    * a medio camino = halfway [half-way/half way].
    * a mitad de camino = halfway [half-way/half way].
    * a mitad de camino entre... y... = midway between, half way between... and....
    * a mitad de camino entre... y... = astride... and....
    * andar camino trillado = tread + well-worn ground.
    * apartarse del buen camino = go off + the rails, stray from + the straight and narrow.
    * apartarse del camino de la verdad = stray from + the straight and narrow.
    * apartarse de los caminos principales = go + off-road.
    * borde del camino = roadside, wayside.
    * buen camino, el = straight and narrow (path), the.
    * buscar el camino = wind + Posesivo + way.
    * cambiar de opinión a mitad de camino = change + horses in midstream.
    * cambiar de parecer a mitad de camino = change + horses in midstream.
    * cambiar de política a mitad de camino = change + horses in midstream.
    * camino apartado = byway.
    * camino a seguir, el = way forward, the.
    * camino correcto, el = way forward, the.
    * camino de acceso = approach path.
    * camino definido = charted route.
    * camino de herradura = bridle path, bridleway.
    * camino de la verdad, el = straight and narrow (path), the.
    * camino de tierra = dirt track, dirt road.
    * camino elevado = causeway.
    * camino hacia el estrellato = road to stardom.
    * camino hacia la fama = road to stardom.
    * camino largo y difícil = long haul.
    * camino largo y tortuoso = long and winding road.
    * camino lleno de baches = bumpy road.
    * camino más fácil, el = path of least resistance, the.
    * camino muy largo = circuitous route.
    * camino pecuario = cattle lane.
    * camino por recorrer, el = road ahead, the.
    * camino rural = country lane, country road.
    * camino seguro al desastre = blueprint for disaster.
    * camino seguro al éxito = blueprint for success.
    * camino seguro al fracaso = blueprint for failure.
    * camino sin rumbo = the road to nowhere.
    * camino trillado = worn path, beaten road.
    * camino vecinal = country road, minor road, back road.
    * construcción de caminos = road construction.
    * continuar + Posesivo camino = continue on + Posesivo + way.
    * cruce de caminos = crossroads, fork in the road.
    * cruzar en el camino de Alguien = cross + Posesivo + path.
    * cruzársele a Uno en el camino = come + Posesivo + way.
    * de camino = on the way, while we're at it.
    * de camino a = en route for, on + Posesivo + way to, en route to.
    * descanso en el camino = rest stop.
    * desviarse del buen camino = go off + the rails.
    * detener en el camino = waylay.
    * detenerse en el camino = stop along + the way.
    * detenerse en el lado del camino = pull over.
    * el camino a seguir = the way ahead, the way to go.
    * el camino correcto = the way ahead, the way to go.
    * el camino hacia + Nombre + está lleno de + Nombre = the road (to/towards) + Nombre + is paved with + Nombre.
    * el camino hacia + Nombre + está plagado de + Nombre = the road (to/towards) + Nombre + is paved with + Nombre.
    * el camino por recorrer = the way ahead.
    * el camino que lleva a = a/the doorway to.
    * el camino recorrido = the road travelled so far.
    * el camino se hace andando = actions speak louder than words.
    * elegir el camino más fácil = take + the path of least resistance.
    * en camino = on the way.
    * encontrar el camino = wayfinding.
    * encontrar el camino de vuelta = find + Posesivo + way back.
    * en el camino = along the way, en route, in the process.
    * estar a medio camino entre... y... = lie + midway between... and....
    * estar de camino a = be on the road to.
    * estar en camino de = be on the way to.
    * fuera de los caminos trillados = off the beaten track.
    * hacerse camino = foist + Posesivo + way into.
    * hacer una parada en el camino = stop along + the way.
    * hallar el camino de la verdad = think + Posesivo + way to the truth.
    * indicar el camino a seguir = point + the way forward.
    * indicar el camino a seguir para = point + the way to.
    * indicar el camino correcto = point + Nombre + in the right direction.
    * ingeniería de caminos = civil engineering.
    * ingeniero de caminos = civil engineer.
    * ir por buen camino = be on the right track.
    * ir por el buen camino = be right on track.
    * ir por mal camino = be on the wrong track, be headed down the wrong track.
    * junto al camino = by the roadside.
    * lado del camino = wayside.
    * ¡la vida no es un camino de rosas! = the course of true love never did run smooth!.
    * llevar camino de enfrentamiento con = be on a collision course with.
    * llevar por el camino de = lead + Pronombre + down the road to.
    * llevar por el mal camino = lead + astray.
    * llevar por mal camino = mislead.
    * mantener Algo en el buen camino = keep + Nombre + on track.
    * marcar el camino correcto = point + Nombre + in the right direction.
    * mostrar el camino = blaze + the way, light + the way.
    * mostrar el camino a seguir = point + the way forward.
    * mostrar el camino para = point + the way to, show + the way to.
    * no apartarse del buen camino = keep on + the right track.
    * parada en el camino = rest stop, stop along the way.
    * parapeto del camino = road bank.
    * pararse en el lado del camino = pull over.
    * perderse por los caminos secundarios = go + off-road.
    * por buen camino = a step in the right direction.
    * por caminos apartados = off-road.
    * por mal camino = astray.
    * preparar el camino = set + the scene, smooth + the way, open + the way, set + the stage, pave + the path (for/towards/to), pave + the way (for/towards/to), pave + the road (for/towards/to).
    * preparar el camino para = smooth + the path of.
    * quedarse en el camino = fall by + the wayside.
    * retomar el camino = get back on + Posesivo + path.
    * retomar su camino = get back on + track.
    * seguir el buen camino = keep on + the right track, keep on + the straight and narrow.
    * seguir el camino de la verdad = keep on + the straight and narrow.
    * seguir el camino más ético = take + the high ground, take + the high road.
    * seguir este camino = go along + this road.
    * seguir por el buen camino = keep out of + trouble, keep on + the right track.
    * seguir un camino = take + path, take + direction, tread + path, walk + path.
    * seguir un camino diferente = strike out on + a different path.
    * tener mucho camino que recorrer = have + a long way to go.
    * un alto en el camino = a stop on the road, a pit stop on the road.
    * un camino largo y difícil = a long haul.
    * volver a su camino = get back on + track, get back on + Posesivo + path.

    * * *
    camino Camino de Santiago (↑ camino a1)
    A (de tierra) track; (sendero) path; (en general) road
    sigan por ese camino continue along that path ( o road etc)
    han abierto/hecho un caminito a través del bosque they've opened up/made a path o little track through the wood
    están todos los caminos cortados all the roads are blocked
    abrir nuevos caminos to break new o fresh ground
    allanar or preparar or abrir el camino to pave the way, prepare the ground
    el camino trillado the well-worn o well-trodden path
    la vida no es un camino de rosas life is no bed of roses, life isn't a bowl of cherries
    tener el camino trillado: tenía el camino trillado he'd had the ground prepared for him
    todos los caminos llevan or conducen a Roma: por todos los caminos se va a Roma all roads lead to Rome
    el camino del infierno está empedrado de buenas intenciones the road to hell is paved o strewn with good intentions
    Compuestos:
    bridle path
    towpath
    ( Hist) highway
    ● Caminos, Canales y Puertos
    civil engineering ingeniero
    B
    1 (ruta, dirección) way
    tomamos el camino más corto we took the shortest route o way
    ¿sabes el camino para ir allí? do you know how to get there?, do you know the way there?
    me salieron al camino «asaltantes» they blocked my path o way;
    «amigos/niños» they came out to meet me
    afrontaron todas las dificultades que se les presentaron en el camino they faced up to all the difficulties in their path
    éste es el mejor camino a seguir en estas circunstancias this is the best course to follow in these circumstances
    por ese camino no vas a ninguna parte you won't get anywhere that way o like that
    al terminar la carrera cada cual se fue por su camino after completing their studies they all went their separate ways
    sigue caminos muy diferentes de los trazados por sus predecesores he is taking very different paths from those of his predecessors
    se me fue por mal caminoor por el otro camino it went down the wrong way
    abrir(le) camino (a algo/algn) to clear the way (for sth/sb)
    los vehículos que abrían camino a los corredores the vehicles that were clearing the way for the runners
    abrirse camino to make one's way
    se abrió camino entre la espesura/a través de la multitud she made her way through the dense thickets/through the crowds of people
    no es fácil abrirse camino en esa profesión it's not easy to carve a niche for oneself in that profession
    estas técnicas se están abriendo camino entre nuestros médicos these techniques are gaining ground o are beginning to gain acceptance with our doctors
    tuvo que luchar mucho para abrirse camino en la vida he had to fight hard to get on in life
    buen/mal camino: este niño va por mal caminoor lleva mal camino this boy's heading for trouble
    ya tiene trabajo, va por buen camino he's found a job already, he's doing well
    ibas por or llevabas buen camino pero te equivocaste aquí you were on the right track o lines, but you made a mistake here
    las negociaciones van por or llevan muy buen camino the negotiations are going extremely well o very smoothly
    llevar a algn por mal camino to lead sb astray
    cruzarse en el camino de algn: la mala suerte se cruzó en su camino he ran up against o came up against some bad luck
    supo superar todos los obstáculos que se le cruzaron en el camino he was able to overcome all the problems which arose o which he came across
    errar el camino to be in the wrong job o the wrong line of work
    2
    (trayecto, viaje): emprendimos el camino de regreso we set out on the return journey
    se me hizo muy largo el camino the journey seemed to take forever
    lo debí perder en el camino de casa al trabajo I must have lost it on my o on the way to work
    se pusieron en camino al amanecer they set off at dawn
    llevamos ya una hora de camino we've been traveling for an hour now, we've been on the road for an hour now
    estamos todavía a dos horas de camino we still have two hours to go o two hours ahead of us
    paramos a mitad de caminoor a medio camino a descansar we stopped halfway to rest
    por aquí cortamos or acortamos camino we can take a shortcut this way o this way's shorter
    hizo todo el camino a pie he walked the whole way, he did the whole journey on foot
    se ha avanzado mucho en este campo, pero queda aún mucho camino por recorrer great advances have been made in this field, but there's still a long way to go
    el camino será largo y difícil, pero venceremos the road will be long and difficult, but we shall be victorious
    quedarse a mitad de or a medio camino: iba para médico, pero se quedó a mitad de camino he was studying to be a doctor, but he never completed the course o he gave up halfway through the course
    el programa de remodelación se quedó a medio camino the renovation project was left unfinished
    no creo que terminemos este año, ni siquiera estamos a mitad de camino I don't think we'll finish it this year, we're not even half way through yet
    3 ( en locs):
    camino de/a: me encontré con él camino del or al mercado I ran into him on the o on my way to the market
    ya vamos camino del invierno winter's coming o approaching, winter's on the way o on its way
    llevar or ir camino de algo: un actor que va camino del estrellato an actor on his way o on the road to stardom, an actor heading for stardom, an actor who looks set for stardom
    van camino de la bancarrota they are on the road to o heading for bankruptcy, they look set to go bankrupt
    una tradición que va camino de desaparecer a tradition which looks set to disappear
    de camino: tu casa me queda de camino I pass your house on my way, your house is on my way
    ve por el pan y, de camino, compra el periódico go and get the bread and buy a newspaper on the way o your way
    de camino a: íbamos de camino a Zacatecas we were on our way o the way to Zacatecas
    está de camino a la estación it is on the way to the station
    en el caminoor de camino al trabajo paso por tres bancos I pass three banks on my way o the way to work
    en camino: deben estar ya en camino they must be on the o on their way already
    tiene un niño y otro en camino she has one child and another on the way
    por el camino on the way
    te lo cuento por el camino I'll tell you on the way
    Compuestos:
    Inca trail
    el Camino de Santiago ( Hist, Relig) the pilgrims' road to Santiago;
    ( Astron) the Milky Way
    * * *

     

    Del verbo caminar: ( conjugate caminar)

    camino es:

    1ª persona singular (yo) presente indicativo

    caminó es:

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

    Multiple Entries:
    caminar    
    camino
    caminar ( conjugate caminar) verbo intransitivo
    1 ( andar) to walk;

    podemos ir caminando we can walk, we can go on foot;
    camino hacia algo ‹hacia meta/fin› to move toward(s) sth
    2 (AmL) [reloj/motor] to work;

    verbo transitivo ‹ distancia› to walk
    camino sustantivo masculino
    1 ( en general) road;
    ( de tierra) track;
    ( sendero) path;

    2
    a) (ruta, dirección) way;


    me salieron al camino [ asaltantes] they blocked my path o way;

    [ amigos] they came out to meet me;

    el camino a la fama the road o path to fame;
    se abrió camino entre la espesura she made her way through the dense thickets;
    abrirse camino en la vida to get on in life;
    buen/mal camino: este niño va por mal camino this boy's heading for trouble;
    ibas por buen camino pero te equivocaste you were on the right track but you made a mistake;
    llevar a algn por mal camino to lead sb astray
    b) (trayecto, viaje):


    se pusieron en camino they set off;
    todavía nos quedan dos horas de camino we still have two hours to go
    c) ( en locs)

    ◊ camino de/a … on my/his/her way to …;

    ir camino de algo: una tradición que va camino de desaparecer a tradition which looks set to disappear;
    de camino on the way;
    pilla de camino it's on the way;
    me queda de camino I pass it on my way;
    de camino a la estación on the way to the station;
    en camino on the way;
    deben estar ya en camino they must be on their way already;
    por el camino on the way;
    a mitad de or a medio camino halfway through
    caminar
    I verbo intransitivo to walk
    II verbo transitivo (recorrer a pie) to cover,walk: camino un par de kilómetros diarios, I walk two kilometres every day
    camino sustantivo masculino
    1 (estrecho, sin asfaltar) path, track
    (en general) road
    2 (itinerario, ruta) route, way
    3 (medio, modo) way
    ♦ Locuciones: coger o pillar de camino, to be on the way
    estar en camino, to be on the way
    ir camino de, to be going to
    figurado ir por buen/mal camino, to be on the right/wrong track
    ponerse en camino, to set off
    a medio camino, halfway: lo deja todo a medio camino, she drops everything she starts halfway through
    figurado una casa de turismo rural es un sitio a medio camino entre un hotel y una casa de labranza, a rural tourism house is something halfway between a hotel and a farmhouse
    de camino a, on the way to
    ' camino' also found in these entries:
    Spanish:
    abrirse
    - acceso
    - ahorrar
    - andar
    - baja
    - bajo
    - bifurcación
    - borde
    - caminar
    - como
    - conducir
    - cruzarse
    - desbloquear
    - desviarse
    - dificultosa
    - dificultoso
    - división
    - empinada
    - empinado
    - enderezar
    - enfilar
    - enrevesada
    - enrevesado
    - enseñar
    - entorpecer
    - escultórica
    - escultórico
    - franca
    - franco
    - ir
    - guiar
    - horqueta
    - indicar
    - interponerse
    - intersectarse
    - intrincada
    - intrincado
    - lado
    - marcha
    - margen
    - media
    - mitad
    - mostrar
    - obstáculo
    - orientar
    - orilla
    - paso
    - pillar
    - por
    - promedio
    English:
    astray
    - blaze
    - bridle path
    - circuitous
    - claw
    - concrete
    - devious
    - dirt road
    - drive
    - driveway
    - en route
    - fight
    - footpath
    - guide
    - half-way
    - lane
    - midway
    - passable
    - path
    - pathway
    - pave
    - road
    - rocky
    - rough
    - set off
    - set out
    - show
    - signpost
    - sloping
    - stray
    - strike out
    - struggle on
    - thrust aside
    - towpath
    - track
    - up
    - uphill
    - wade through
    - way
    - wayside
    - weave
    - wind
    - winding
    - work
    - work up to
    - bound
    - by
    - continue
    - direct
    - do
    * * *
    camino nm
    1. [sendero] path, track;
    [carretera] road;
    han abierto un camino a través de la selva they've cleared a path through the jungle;
    acorté por el camino del bosque I took a shortcut through the forest;
    Univ
    Caminos(, Canales y Puertos) [ingeniería] civil engineering;
    la vida no es un camino de rosas life is no bed of roses;
    todos los caminos llevan a Roma all roads lead to Rome
    camino de acceso access road; Fam Fig camino de cabras rugged path;
    camino forestal forest track;
    camino de grava gravel path;
    camino de herradura bridle path;
    camino de hierro railway, US railroad;
    Am camino de mesa table runner; Hist camino real king's highway;
    Camino de Santiago Rel = pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela;
    Astron Milky Way;
    camino de sirga towpath;
    Fig camino trillado well-trodden path; Fig
    tiene el camino trillado the hard work has already been done for him;
    camino vecinal country lane
    2. [ruta, vía] way;
    el camino de la estación the way to the station;
    equivocarse de camino to go the wrong way;
    indicar el camino a alguien to show sb the way;
    no recuerdo el camino de vuelta I can't remember the way back;
    iremos por el camino más corto we'll go by the shortest route, we'll go the quickest way;
    está camino de la capital it's on the way to the capital;
    me encontré a Elena camino de casa I met Elena on the way home;
    de camino [de paso] on the way;
    ve a comprar el periódico, y de camino sube también la leche go for the newspaper and bring the milk up while you're at it;
    me pilla de camino it's on my way;
    a estas horas ya estarán en camino they'll be on their way by now;
    en el camino on the way;
    por este camino this way
    3. [viaje] journey;
    nos espera un largo camino we have a long journey ahead of us;
    se detuvieron tras cinco horas de camino they stopped after they had been on the road for five hours;
    estamos casi a mitad de camino we're about halfway there;
    pararemos a mitad de camino we'll stop halfway;
    hicimos un alto en el camino para comer we stopped (along the way) to have a bite to eat;
    también Fig
    todavía nos queda mucho camino por delante we've still got a long way to go;
    ponerse en camino to set off
    4. [medio] way;
    el camino para conseguir tus propósitos es la honestidad the way to get what you want is to be honest
    5. Comp
    abrir camino a to clear the way for;
    el hermano mayor ha abierto camino a los pequeños the older brother cleared the way for the younger ones;
    dos jinetes abrían camino a la procesión two people rode ahead to clear a path for the procession;
    abrirse camino to get on o ahead;
    se abrió camino entre la maraña de defensas he found a way through the cluster of defenders;
    abrirse camino en el mundo to make one's way in the world;
    le costó mucho abrirse camino, pero ahora tiene una buena posición it wasn't easy for him to get on, but he's got a good job now;
    allanar el camino to smooth the way;
    atravesarse o [m5] cruzarse o [m5] interponerse en el camino de alguien to stand in sb's way;
    no permitiré que nadie se cruce en mi camino I won't let anyone stand in my way;
    Fam
    tienen un bebé en camino they've got a baby on the way;
    ir por buen camino to be on the right track;
    ir por mal camino to go astray;
    con su comportamiento, estos alumnos van por mal camino the way they are behaving, these pupils are heading for trouble;
    fueron cada cual por su camino they went their separate ways;
    van camino del desastre/éxito they're on the road to disaster/success;
    va o [m5] lleva camino de convertirse en estrella she's on her way to stardom;
    a medio camino halfway;
    siempre deja todo a medio camino she always leaves things half-done;
    estar a medio camino to be halfway there;
    está a medio camino entre un delantero y un centrocampista he's somewhere between a forward and a midfielder;
    quedarse a medio camino to stop halfway through;
    el proyecto se quedó a medio camino por falta de presupuesto the project was left unfinished o was abandoned halfway through because the funds dried up;
    iba para estrella, pero se quedó a mitad de camino she looked as if she would become a star, but never quite made it;
    traer a alguien al buen camino to put sb back on the right track
    CAMINO DE SANTIAGO
    The Galician city of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain, traditionally held to be the burial site of the Apostle St James, was one of the most important Christian pilgrimage centres in Europe during the Middle Ages, second only to Rome. Countless pilgrims made the journey from different parts of Europe to Santiago along recognized pilgrimage routes. The main one crosses the north of Spain from the Pyrenees to Galicia and is known as the Camino de Santiago. Although its religious significance has declined, it has become a popular tourist route attracting a wide range of travellers: nature lovers on day trips, hikers and cyclists, and even latter-day pilgrims, whether solitary walkers or on package tours. Many of them avail themselves of the free or low-cost accommodation provided along the way by local councils and religious institutions.
    * * *
    m
    1 ( senda) path;
    no es (todo) un camino de rosas it isn’t all a bed of roses
    2 INFOR path
    3 ( ruta) way;
    a medio camino halfway;
    de camino a on the way to;
    por el camino on the way;
    camino de on the way to;
    abrirse camino fig make one’s way;
    estar en camino be on the way;
    abrirse camino en la vida get on;
    ir por buen/mal camino fig be on the right/wrong track;
    abrir camino hacia algo fig pave the way for sth;
    mitad de camino fig leave sth half finished
    * * *
    camino nm
    1) : path, road
    2) : journey
    ponerse en camino: to set off
    3) : way
    a medio camino: halfway there
    * * *
    1. (sendero) path
    2. (ruta, medio) way
    camino de on the way / on your way
    ponerse en camino to set off [pt. & pp. set]

    Spanish-English dictionary > camino

  • 5 Clark, Edwin

    SUBJECT AREA: Civil engineering
    [br]
    b. 7 January 1814 Marlow, Buckinghamshire, England
    d. 22 October 1894 Marlow, Buckinghamshire, England
    [br]
    English civil engineer.
    [br]
    After a basic education in mathematics, latin, French and geometry, Clark was articled to a solicitor, but he left after two years because he did not like the work. He had no permanent training otherwise, and for four years he led an idle life, becoming self-taught in the subjects that interested him. He eventually became a teacher at his old school before entering Cambridge, although he returned home after two years without taking a degree. He then toured the European continent extensively, supporting himself as best he could. He returned to England in 1839 and obtained further teaching posts. With the railway boom in progress he decided to become a surveyor and did some work on a proposed line between Oxford and Brighton.
    After being promised an interview with Robert Stephenson, he managed to see him in March 1846. Stephenson took a liking to Clark and asked him to investigate the strains on the Britannia Bridge tubes under various given conditions. This work so gained Stephenson's full approval that, after being entrusted with experiments and designs, Clark was appointed Resident Engineer for the Britannia Bridge across the Menai Straits. He not only completed the bridge, which was opened on 19 October 1850, but also wrote the history of its construction. After the completion of the bridge—and again without any professional experience—he was appointed Engineer-in-Chief to the Electric and International Telegraph Company. He was consulted by Captain Mark Huish of the London \& North Western Railway on a telegraphic system for the railway, and in 1853 he introduced the Block Telegraph System.
    Clark was engaged on the Crystal Palace and was responsible for many railway bridges in Britain and abroad. He was Engineer and part constructor of the harbour at Callao, Peru, and also of harbour works at Colón, Panama. On canal works he was contractor for the marine canal, the Morskoy Canal, in 1875 between Kronstadt and St Petersburg. His great work on canals, however, was the concept with Edward Leader Williams of the hydraulically operated barge lift at Anderton, Cheshire, linking the Weaver Navigation to the Trent \& Mersey Canal, whose water levels have a vertical separation of 50 ft (15 m). This was opened on 26 July 1875. The structure so impressed the French engineers who were faced with a bottleneck of five locks on the Neuffossée Canal south of Saint-Omer that they commissioned Clark to design a lift there. This was completed in 1878 and survives as a historic monument. The design was also adopted for four lifts on the Canal du Centre at La Louvière in Belgium, but these were not completed until after Clark's death.
    JHB

    Biographical history of technology > Clark, Edwin

  • 6 Kapp, Gisbert Johann Eduard Karl

    SUBJECT AREA: Electricity
    [br]
    b. 2 September 1852 Mauer, Vienna, Austria
    d. 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 Distinctions
    Institution of Civil Engineers Telford Medal 1886 and 1888. President, Institution of Electrical Engineers 1909.
    Bibliography
    10 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 Reading
    D.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).
    GW

    Biographical history of technology > Kapp, Gisbert Johann Eduard Karl

  • 7 Lartigue, Charles François Marie-Thérèse

    [br]
    b. 1834 Toulouse, France d. 1907
    [br]
    French engineer and businessman, inventor of the Lartigue monorail.
    [br]
    Lartigue worked as a civil engineer in Algeria and while there invented a simple monorail for industrial or agricultural use. It comprised a single rail carried on trestles; vehicles comprised a single wheel with two tubs suspended either side, like panniers. These were pushed or pulled by hand or, occasionally, hauled by mule. Such lines were used in Algerian esparto-grass plantations.
    In 1882 he patented a monorail system based on this arrangement, with important improvements: traction was to be mechanical; vehicles were to have two or four wheels and to be able to be coupled together; and the trestles were to have, on each side, a light guide rail upon which horizontal rollers beneath the vehicles would bear. Early in 1883 the Lartigue Railway Construction Company was formed in London and two experimental prototype monorails were subsequently demonstrated in public. One, at the Paris Agricultural Exhibition, had an electric locomotive that was built in two parts, one either side of the rail to maintain balance, hauling small wagons. The other prototype, in London, had a small, steam locomotive with two vertical boilers and was designed by Anatole Mallet. By now Lartigue had become associated with F.B. Behr. Behr was Managing Director of the construction company and of the Listowel \& Ballybunion Railway Company, which obtained an Act of Parliament in 1886 to built a Lartigue monorail railway in the South West of Ireland between those two places. Its further development and successful operation are described in the article on Behr in this volume.
    A much less successful attempt to establish a Lartigue monorail railway took place in France, in the départment of Loire. In 1888 the council of the département agreed to a proposal put forward by Lartigue for a 10 1/2 mile (17 km) long monorail between the towns of Feurs and Panissières: the agreement was reached on the casting vote of the Chairman, a contact of Lartigue. A concession was granted to successive companies with which Lartigue was closely involved, but construction of the line was attended by muddle, delay and perhaps fraud, although it was completed sufficiently for trial trains to operate. The locomotive had two horizontal boilers, one either side of the track. But the inspectors of the department found deficiencies in the completeness and probable safety of the railway; when they did eventually agree to opening on a limited scale, the company claimed to have insufficient funds to do so unless monies owed by the department were paid. In the end the concession was forfeited and the line dismantled. More successful was an electrically operated Lartigue mineral line built at mines in the eastern Pyrenees.
    It appears to have reused equipment from the electric demonstration line, with modifications, and included gradients as steep as 1 in 12. There was no generating station: descending trains generated the electricity to power ascending ones. This line is said to have operated for at least two years.
    [br]
    Bibliography
    1882, French patent no. 149,301 (monorail system). 1882, British patent no. 2,764 (monorail system).
    Further Reading
    D.G.Tucker, 1984, "F.B.Behr's development of the Lartigue monorail", Transactions of the Newcomen Society 55 (describes Lartigue and his work).
    P.H.Chauffort and J.-L.Largier, 1981, "Le monorail de Feurs à Panissières", Chemin defer régionaux et urbains (magazine of the Fédération des Amis des Chemins de Fer
    Secondaires) 164 (in French; describes Lartigue and his work).
    PJGR

    Biographical history of technology > Lartigue, Charles François Marie-Thérèse

  • 8 Guo Shoujing (Kuo Shou-Ching)

    SUBJECT AREA: Canals, Civil engineering
    [br]
    b. 1231 China
    d. 1316 China
    [br]
    Chinese mathematician, astronomer and civil engineer.
    [br]
    First, from 1262, he was engaged in hydraulic-engineering works for Kublai Khan. He began astronomical and calendrical investigations in 1276, and became the greatest astronomer of the Yuan dynasty. He perfected interpolation formulae (a method of finite differences) and was the founder of the study of spherical trigonometry in China; this was applied to the circles of the heavenly sphere. He planned the Ji Zhou, the summit section of the Grand Canal through the Shandong foothills, in 1283. Although the canal had to await further improvement before it could become fully effective, it was nevertheless the world's first successful entirely artificial summit canal.
    Guo Shoujing was responsible for the construction of the Tong Hui He (Channel of Communicating Grace) canal with twenty lock gates in 1293, in addition to the overhaul of the entire Grand Canal. He constructed a number of devices, including 40 ft (12 m) gnomons in 1276, with which he made some of the most accurate measurements of the sun's solstitial shadows, the results of which were collected in a book that is now lost. Between 1276 and 1279 he also constructed at least one water-driven mechanical escapement clock with sophisticated jack work, and the Beijing observatory and its equipment.
    [br]
    Further Reading
    J.Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1959–1971, vols III, pp. 48–50, 109–10, 294, 296, 299, 349, 350; IV. 2, pp. 504–5; IV.
    3, pp. 312ff., 319, 355; Heavenly Clockwork, 1960, pp. 134, 136ff., 159, 160, 163;
    Clerks and Craftsmen in China and the West, 1970, pp. 2, 5, 9–10, 16, 96, 398.
    LRD

    Biographical history of technology > Guo Shoujing (Kuo Shou-Ching)

  • 9 Rosenhain, Walter

    SUBJECT AREA: Metallurgy
    [br]
    b. 24 August 1875 Berlin, Germany
    d. 17 March 1934 Kingston Hill, Surrey, England
    [br]
    German metallurgist, first Superintendent of the Department of Metallurgy and Metallurgical Chemistry at the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, Middlesex.
    [br]
    His family emigrated to Australia when he was 5 years old. He was educated at Wesley College, Melbourne, and attended Queen's College, University of Melbourne, graduating in physics and engineering in 1897. As an 1851 Exhibitioner he then spent three years at St John's College, Cambridge, under Sir Alfred Ewing, where he studied the microstructure of deformed metal crystals and abandoned his original intention of becoming a civil engineer. Rosenhain was the first to observe the slip-bands in metal crystals, and in the Bakerian Lecture delivered jointly by Ewing and Rosenhain to the Royal Society in 1899 it was shown that metals deformed plastically by a mechanism involving shear slip along individual crystal planes. From this conception modern ideas on the plasticity and recrystallization of metals rapidly developed. On leaving Cambridge, Rosenhain joined the Birmingham firm of Chance Brothers, where he worked for six years on optical glass and lighthouse-lens systems. A book, Glass Manufacture, written in 1908, derives from this period, during which he continued his metallurgical researches in the evenings in his home laboratory and published several papers on his work.
    In 1906 Rosenhain was appointed Head of the Metallurgical Department of the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), and in 1908 he became the first Superintendent of the new Department of Metallurgy and Metallurgical Chemistry. Many of the techniques he introduced at Teddington were described in his Introduction to Physical Metallurgy, published in 1914. At the outbreak of the First World War, Rosenhain was asked to undertake work in his department on the manufacture of optical glass. This soon made it possible to manufacture optical glass of high quality on an industrial scale in Britain. Much valuable work on refractory materials stemmed from this venture. Rosenhain's early years at the NPL were, however, inseparably linked with his work on light alloys, which between 1912 and the end of the war involved virtually all of the metallurgical staff of the laboratory. The most important end product was the well-known "Y" Alloy (4% copper, 2% nickel and 1.5% magnesium) extensively used for the pistons and cylinder heads of aircraft engines. It was the prototype of the RR series of alloys jointly developed by Rolls Royce and High Duty Alloys. An improved zinc-based die-casting alloy devised by Rosenhain was also used during the war on a large scale for the production of shell fuses.
    After the First World War, much attention was devoted to beryllium, which because of its strength, lightness, and stiffness would, it was hoped, become the airframe material of the future. It remained, however, too brittle for practical use. Other investigations dealt with impurities in copper, gases in aluminium alloys, dental alloys, and the constitution of alloys. During this period, Rosenhain's laboratory became internationally known as a centre of excellence for the determination of accurate equilibrium diagrams.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    FRS 1913. President, Institute of Metals 1828–30. Iron and Steel Institute Bessemer Medal, Carnegie Medal.
    Bibliography
    1908, Glass Manufacture.
    1914, An Introduction to the Study of Physical Metallurgy, London: Constable. Rosenhain published over 100 research papers.
    Further Reading
    J.L.Haughton, 1934, "The work of Walter Rosenhain", Journal of the Institute of Metals 55(2):17–32.
    ASD

    Biographical history of technology > Rosenhain, Walter

  • 10 Adamson, Daniel

    [br]
    b. 1818 Shildon, Co. Durham, England
    d. January 1890 Didsbury, Manchester, England
    [br]
    English mechanical engineer, pioneer in the use of steel for boilers, which enabled higher pressures to be introduced; pioneer in the use of triple-and quadruple-expansion mill engines.
    [br]
    Adamson was apprenticed between 1835 and 1841 to Timothy Hackworth, then Locomotive Superintendent on the Stockton \& Darlington Railway. After this he was appointed Draughtsman, then Superintendent Engineer, at that railway's locomotive works until in 1847 he became Manager of Shildon Works. In 1850 he resigned and moved to act as General Manager of Heaton Foundry, Stockport. In the following year he commenced business on his own at Newton Moor Iron Works near Manchester, where he built up his business as an iron-founder and boilermaker. By 1872 this works had become too small and he moved to a 4 acre (1.6 hectare) site at Hyde Junction, Dukinfield. There he employed 600 men making steel boilers, heavy machinery including mill engines fitted with the American Wheelock valve gear, hydraulic plant and general millwrighting. His success was based on his early recognition of the importance of using high-pressure steam and steel instead of wrought iron. In 1852 he patented his type of flanged seam for the firetubes of Lancashire boilers, which prevented these tubes cracking through expansion. In 1862 he patented the fabrication of boilers by drilling rivet holes instead of punching them and also by drilling the holes through two plates held together in their assembly positions. He had started to use steel for some boilers he made for railway locomotives in 1857, and in 1860, only four years after Bessemer's patent, he built six mill engine boilers from steel for Platt Bros, Oldham. He solved the problems of using this new material, and by his death had made c.2,800 steel boilers with pressures up to 250 psi (17.6 kg/cm2).
    He was a pioneer in the general introduction of steel and in 1863–4 was a partner in establishing the Yorkshire Iron and Steel Works at Penistone. This was the first works to depend entirely upon Bessemer steel for engineering purposes and was later sold at a large profit to Charles Cammell \& Co., Sheffield. When he started this works, he also patented improvements both to the Bessemer converters and to the engines which provided their blast. In 1870 he helped to turn Lincolnshire into an important ironmaking area by erecting the North Lincolnshire Ironworks. He was also a shareholder in ironworks in South Wales and Cumberland.
    He contributed to the development of the stationary steam engine, for as early as 1855 he built one to run with a pressure of 150 psi (10.5 kg/cm) that worked quite satisfactorily. He reheated the steam between the cylinders of compound engines and then in 1861–2 patented a triple-expansion engine, followed in 1873 by a quadruple-expansion one to further economize steam. In 1858 he developed improved machinery for testing tensile strength and compressive resistance of materials, and in the same year patents for hydraulic lifting jacks and riveting machines were obtained.
    He was a founding member of the Iron and Steel Institute and became its President in 1888 when it visited Manchester. The previous year he had been President of the Institution of Civil Engineers when he was presented with the Bessemer Gold Medal. He was a constant contributor at the meetings of these associations as well as those of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. He did not live to see the opening of one of his final achievements, the Manchester Ship Canal. He was the one man who, by his indomitable energy and skill at public speaking, roused the enthusiasm of the people in Manchester for this project and he made it a really practical proposition in the face of strong opposition.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    President, Institution of Civil Engineers 1887.
    President, Iron and Steel Institute 1888. Institution of Civil Engineers Bessemer Gold Medal 1887.
    Further Reading
    Obituary, Engineer 69:56.
    Obituary, Engineering 49:66–8.
    H.W.Dickinson, 1938, A Short History of the Steam Engine, Cambridge University Press (provides an illustration of Adamson's flanged seam for boilers).
    R.L.Hills, 1989, Power from Steam. A History of the Stationary Steam Engine, Cambridge University Press (covers the development of the triple-expansion engine).
    RLH

    Biographical history of technology > Adamson, Daniel

  • 11 Mylne, Robert

    [br]
    b. 1733 Edinburgh, Scotland d. 1811
    [br]
    Scottish engineer, architect and bridge-builder.
    [br]
    Mylne was the eldest son of Thomas Mylne, Surveyor to the City of Edinburgh. Little is known of his early education. In 1754, at the age of 21, he left Edinburgh by sea and journeyed to Rome, where he attended the Academy of St Luke. There he received the first prize for architecture. In 1759 he left Rome to travel back to England, where he arrived in time for the competition then going ahead for the design and building of a new bridge across the Thames at Blackfriars. Against 68 other competitors, Mylne won the competition; the work took some ten years to complete.
    In 1760 he was appointed Engineer and Architect to the City of London, and in 1767 Joint Engineer to the New River Company together with Henry Mill, who died within a few years to leave Mylne to become Chief Engineer in 1770. Thus for the next forty years he was in charge of all the works for the New River Company between Clerkenwell and Ware, the opposite ends of London's main water supply. By 1767 he had also been appointed to a number of other important posts, which included Surveyor to Canterbury Cathedral and St Paul's Cathedral. In addition to undertaking his responsibilities for these great public buildings, he designed many private houses and villas all over the country, including several buildings for the Duke of Argyll on the Inverary Castle estate.
    Mylne was also responsible for the design of a great number of bridges, waterworks and other civil engineering works throughout Britain. Called in to advise on the Norwich city waterworks, he fell out with Joseph Bramah in a somewhat spectacular dispute.
    For much of his life Mylne lived at the Water House at the New River Head at Islington, from which he could direct much of the work on that waterway that came under his supervision. He also had residences in New Bridge Street and, as Clerk of Works, at Greenwich Hospital. Towards the end of his life he built himself a small house at Amwell, a country retreat at the outer end of the New River. He kept a diary from 1762 to 1810 which includes only brief memoranda but which shows a remarkable diligence in travelling all over the country by stagecoach and by postchaise. He was a freemason, as were many of his family; he married Mary Home on 10 September 1770, with whom he had ten children, four of whom survived into adulthood.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Fellow of the Royal Society 1767.
    Further Reading
    Dictionary of National Biography, London.
    A.E.Richardson, 1955, Robert Mylne, 1733–1811, Engineer and Architect, London: Batsford.

    Biographical history of technology > Mylne, Robert

  • 12 Kennedy, Sir Alexander Blackie William

    SUBJECT AREA: Ports and shipping
    [br]
    b. 17 March 1847 Stepney, London, England d. 1928
    [br]
    English marine engineer and educator.
    [br]
    Sir Alexander Kennedy was trained as a marine engineer. The son of a Congregational minister, he was educated at the City of London School and the School of Mines, Jermyn Street. He was then apprenticed to J. \& W.Dudgeon of Millwall, marine engineers, and went on to become a draughtsman to Sir Charles Marsh Palmer of Jarrow (with whom he took part in the development of the compound steam-engine for marine use) and T.M.Tennant \& Co. of Leith. In 1874 he was appointed Professor of Engineering at University College, London. He built up an influential School of Engineering, being the first in England to integrate laboratory work as a regular feature of instruction. The engineering laboratory that he established in 1878 has been described as "the first of its kind in England" (Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers). He and his students conducted important experiments on the strength and elasticity of materials, boiler testing and related subjects. He followed the teaching of Franz Reuleaux, whose Kinematics of Machinery he translated from the German.
    While thus breaking new educational ground at University College, Kennedy concurrently established a very thriving private practice as a consulting engineer in partnership with Bernard Maxwell Jenkin (the son of Fleeming Jenkin), to pursue which he relinquished his academic posts in 1889. He planned and installed the whole electricity system for the Westminster Electric Supply Corporation, and other electricity companies. He was also heavily involved in the development of electrically powered transport systems. During the First World War he served on a panel of the Munitions Invention Department, and after the war he undertook to record photographically the scenes of desolation in his book From Ypres to Verdun (1921). Towards the end of his life, he pursued his interest in archaeology with the exploration of Petra, recorded in a monograph: Petra. Its History and Monuments (1925). He also joined the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1879, becoming the President of that body in 1894, and he joined the Institution of Electrical Engineers in 1890. Kennedy was thus something of an engineering polymath, as well as being an outstanding engineering educationalist.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    FRS 1887. Knighted 1905. Member, Institution of Civil Engineers 1879; President, 1906. President, Institution of Mechanical Engineers 1894.
    Bibliography
    1921, From Ypresto Verdum.
    1925, Petra. Its History and Monuments.
    Further Reading
    DNB supplement.
    AB

    Biographical history of technology > Kennedy, Sir Alexander Blackie William

  • 13 Elder, John

    [br]
    b. 9 March 1824 Glasgow, Scotland
    d. 17 September 1869 London, England
    [br]
    Scottish engineer who introduced the compound steam engine to ships and established an important shipbuilding company in Glasgow.
    [br]
    John was the third son of David Elder. The father came from a family of millwrights and moved to Glasgow where he worked for the well-known shipbuilding firm of Napier's and was involved with improving marine engines. John was educated at Glasgow High School and then for a while at the Department of Civil Engineering at Glasgow University, where he showed great aptitude for mathematics and drawing. He spent five years as an apprentice under Robert Napier followed by two short periods of activity as a pattern-maker first and then a draughtsman in England. He returned to Scotland in 1849 to become Chief Draughtsman to Napier, but in 1852 he left to become a partner with the Glasgow general engineering company of Randolph Elliott \& Co. Shortly after his induction (at the age of 28), the engineering firm was renamed Randolph Elder \& Co.; in 1868, when the partnership expired, it became known as John Elder \& Co. From the outset Elder, with his partner, Charles Randolph, approached mechanical (especially heat) engineering in a rigorous manner. Their knowledge and understanding of entropy ensured that engine design was not a hit-and-miss affair, but one governed by recognition of the importance of the new kinetic theory of heat and with it a proper understanding of thermodynamic principles, and by systematic development. In this Elder was joined by W.J.M. Rankine, Professor of Civil Engineering and Mechanics at Glasgow University, who helped him develop the compound marine engine. Elder and Randolph built up a series of patents, which guaranteed their company's commercial success and enabled them for a while to be the sole suppliers of compound steam reciprocating machinery. Their first such engine at sea was fitted in 1854 on the SS Brandon for the Limerick Steamship Company; the ship showed an improved performance by using a third less coal, which he was able to reduce still further on later designs.
    Elder developed steam jacketing and recognized that, with higher pressures, triple-expansion types would be even more economical. In 1862 he patented a design of quadruple-expansion engine with reheat between cylinders and advocated the importance of balancing reciprocating parts. The effect of his improvements was to greatly reduce fuel consumption so that long sea voyages became an economic reality.
    His yard soon reached dimensions then unequalled on the Clyde where he employed over 4,000 workers; Elder also was always interested in the social welfare of his labour force. In 1860 the engine shops were moved to the Govan Old Shipyard, and again in 1864 to the Fairfield Shipyard, about 1 mile (1.6 km) west on the south bank of the Clyde. At Fairfield, shipbuilding was commenced, and with the patents for compounding secure, much business was placed for many years by shipowners serving long-distance trades such as South America; the Pacific Steam Navigation Company took up his ideas for their ships. In later years the yard became known as the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Ltd, but it remains today as one of Britain's most efficient shipyards and is known now as Kvaerner Govan Ltd.
    In 1869, at the age of only 45, John Elder was unanimously elected President of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland; however, before taking office and giving his eagerly awaited presidential address, he died in London from liver disease. A large multitude attended his funeral and all the engineering shops were silent as his body, which had been brought back from London to Glasgow, was carried to its resting place. In 1857 Elder had married Isabella Ure, and on his death he left her a considerable fortune, which she used generously for Govan, for Glasgow and especially the University. In 1883 she endowed the world's first Chair of Naval Architecture at the University of Glasgow, an act which was reciprocated in 1901 when the University awarded her an LLD on the occasion of its 450th anniversary.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    President, Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland 1869.
    Further Reading
    Obituary, 1869, Engineer 28.
    1889, The Dictionary of National Biography, London: Smith Elder \& Co. W.J.Macquorn Rankine, 1871, "Sketch of the life of John Elder" Transactions of the
    Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland.
    Maclehose, 1886, Memoirs and Portraits of a Hundred Glasgow Men.
    The Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Works, 1909, London: Offices of Engineering.
    P.M.Walker, 1984, Song of the Clyde, A History of Clyde Shipbuilding, Cambridge: PSL.
    R.L.Hills, 1989, Power from Steam. A History of the Stationary Steam Engine, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (covers Elder's contribution to the development of steam engines).
    RLH / FMW

    Biographical history of technology > Elder, John

  • 14 Roberts, Richard

    [br]
    b. 22 April 1789 Carreghova, Llanymynech, Montgomeryshire, Wales
    d. 11 March 1864 London, England
    [br]
    Welsh mechanical engineer and inventor.
    [br]
    Richard Roberts was the son of a shoemaker and tollkeeper and received only an elementary education at the village school. At the age of 10 his interest in mechanics was stimulated when he was allowed by the Curate, the Revd Griffith Howell, to use his lathe and other tools. As a young man Roberts acquired a considerable local reputation for his mechanical skills, but these were exercised only in his spare time. For many years he worked in the local limestone quarries, until at the age of 20 he obtained employment as a pattern-maker in Staffordshire. In the next few years he worked as a mechanic in Liverpool, Manchester and Salford before moving in 1814 to London, where he obtained employment with Henry Maudslay. In 1816 he set up on his own account in Manchester. He soon established a reputation there for gear-cutting and other general engineering work, especially for the textile industry, and by 1821 he was employing about twelve men. He built machine tools mainly for his own use, including, in 1817, one of the first planing machines.
    One of his first inventions was a gas meter, but his first patent was obtained in 1822 for improvements in looms. His most important contribution to textile technology was his invention of the self-acting spinning mule, patented in 1825. The normal fourteen-year term of this patent was extended in 1839 by a further seven years. Between 1826 and 1828 Roberts paid several visits to Alsace, France, arranging cottonspinning machinery for a new factory at Mulhouse. By 1826 he had become a partner in the firm of Sharp Brothers, the company then becoming Sharp, Roberts \& Co. The firm continued to build textile machinery, and in the 1830s it built locomotive engines for the newly created railways and made one experimental steam-carriage for use on roads. The partnership was dissolved in 1843, the Sharps establishing a new works to continue locomotive building while Roberts retained the existing factory, known as the Globe Works, where he soon after took as partners R.G.Dobinson and Benjamin Fothergill (1802–79). This partnership was dissolved c. 1851, and Roberts continued in business on his own for a few years before moving to London as a consulting engineer.
    During the 1840s and 1850s Roberts produced many new inventions in a variety of fields, including machine tools, clocks and watches, textile machinery, pumps and ships. One of these was a machine controlled by a punched-card system similar to the Jacquard loom for punching rivet holes in plates. This was used in the construction of the Conway and Menai Straits tubular bridges. Roberts was granted twenty-six patents, many of which, before the Patent Law Amendment Act of 1852, covered more than one invention; there were still other inventions he did not patent. He made his contribution to the discussion which led up to the 1852 Act by publishing, in 1830 and 1833, pamphlets suggesting reform of the Patent Law.
    In the early 1820s Roberts helped to establish the Manchester Mechanics' Institute, and in 1823 he was elected a member of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester. He frequently contributed to their proceedings and in 1861 he was made an Honorary Member. He was elected a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1838. From 1838 to 1843 he served as a councillor of the then-new Municipal Borough of Manchester. In his final years, without the assistance of business partners, Roberts suffered financial difficulties, and at the time of his death a fund for his aid was being raised.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Member, Institution of Civil Engineers 1838.
    Further Reading
    There is no full-length biography of Richard Roberts but the best account is H.W.Dickinson, 1945–7, "Richard Roberts, his life and inventions", Transactions of the Newcomen Society 25:123–37.
    W.H.Chaloner, 1968–9, "New light on Richard Roberts, textile engineer (1789–1864)", Transactions of the Newcomen Society 41:27–44.
    RTS

    Biographical history of technology > Roberts, Richard

  • 15 Clegg, Samuel

    [br]
    b. 2 March 1781 Manchester, England
    d. 8 January 1861 Haverstock Hill, Hampstead, London, England
    [br]
    English inventor and gas engineer.
    [br]
    Clegg received scientific instruction from John Dalton, the founder of the atomic theory, and was apprenticed to Boulton \& Watt. While at their Soho factory in Birmingham, he assisted William Murdock with his experiments on coal gas. He left the firm in 1804 and set up as a gas engineer on his own account. He designed and installed gas plant and lighting in a number of factories, including Henry Lodge's cotton mill at Sowerby Bridge and in 1811 the Jesuit College at Stoneyhurst in Lancashire, the first non-industrial establishment to be equipped with gas lighting.
    Clegg moved to London in 1813 and successfully installed gas lighting at the premises of Rudolf Ackermann in the Strand. His success in the manufacture of gas had earned him the Royal Society of Arts Silver Medal in 1808 for furthering "the art of gas production", and in 1813 it brought him the appointment of Chief Engineer to the first gas company, the Chartered Gas, Light \& Coke Company. He left in 1817, but remained in demand to set up gas works and advise on the formation of gas companies. Throughout this time there flowed from Clegg a series of inventions of fundamental importance in the gas industry. While at Lodge's mill he had begun purifying gas by adding lime to the gas holder, and at Stoneyhurst this had become a separate lime purifier. In 1815, and again in 1818, Clegg patented the wet-meter which proved to be the basis for future devices for measuring gas. He invented the gas governor and, favouring the horizontal retort, developed the form which was to become standard for the next forty years. But after all this, Clegg joined a concern in Liverpool which failed, taking all his possessions with it. He made a fresh start in Lisbon, where he undertook various engineering works for the Portuguese government. He returned to England to find railway construction gathering pace, but he again backed a loser by engaging in the ill-fated atmospheric-rail way project. He was finally discouraged from taking part in further enterprises, but he received a government appointment as Surveying Officer to conduct enquiries in connection with the various Bills on gas that were presented to Parliament. Clegg also contributed to his son's massive treatise on the manufacture of coal gas.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Royal Society of Arts Silver Medal 1808.
    Further Reading
    Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers (1862) 21:552–4.
    S.Everard, 1949, The History of the Gas light and Coke Company, London: Ernest Benn.
    LRD

    Biographical history of technology > Clegg, Samuel

  • 16 Roebling, John Augustus

    SUBJECT AREA: Civil engineering
    [br]
    b. 12 July 1806 Muhlhausen, Prussia
    d. 22 July 1869 Brooklyn, New York, USA
    [br]
    German/American bridge engineer and builder.
    [br]
    The son of Polycarp Roebling, a tobacconist, he studied mathematics at Dr Unger's Pedagogium in Erfurt and went on to the Royal Polytechnic Institute in Berlin, from which he graduated in 1826 with honours in civil engineering. He spent the next three years working for the Prussian government on the construction of roads and bridges. With his brother and a group of friends, he emigrated to the United States, sailing from Bremen on 23 May 1831 and docking in Philadelphia eleven weeks later. They bought 7,000 acres (2,800 hectares) in Butler County, western Pennsylvania, and established a village, at first called Germania but later known as Saxonburg. Roebling gave up trying to establish himself as a farmer and found work for the state of Pennsylvania as Assistant Engineer on the Beaver River canal and others, then surveying a railroad route across the Allegheny Mountains. During his canal work, he noted the failings of the hemp ropes that were in use at that time, and recalled having read of wire ropes in a German journal; he built a rope-walk at his Saxonburg farm, bought a supply of iron wire and trained local labour in the method of wire twisting.
    At this time, many canals crossed rivers by means of aqueducts. In 1844, the Pennsylvania Canal aqueduct across the Allegheny River was due to be renewed, having become unsafe. Roebling made proposals which were accepted by the canal company: seven wooden spans of 162 ft (49 m) each were supported on either side by a 7 in. (18 cm) diameter cable, Roebling himself having to devise all the machinery required for the erection. He subsequently built four more suspension aqueducts, one of which was converted to a toll bridge and was still in use a century later.
    In 1849 he moved to Trenton, New Jersey, where he set up a new wire rope plant. In 1851 he started the construction (completed in 1855) of an 821 ft (250 m) long suspension railroad bridge across the Niagara River, 245 ft (75 m) above the rapids; each cable consisted of 3,640 wrought iron wires. A lower deck carried road traffic. He also constructed a bridge across the Ohio River between Cincinnati and Covington, a task which was much protracted due to the Civil War; this bridge was finally completed in 1866.
    Roebling's crowning achievement was to have been the design and construction of the bridge over the Hudson River between Brooklyn and Staten Island, New York, but he did not live to see its completion. It had a span of 1,595 ft (486 m), designed to bear a load of 18,700 tons (19,000 tonnes) with a headroom of 135 ft (41 m). The work of building had barely started when, at the Brooklyn wharf, a boat crushed Roebling's foot against the timbering and he died of tetanus three weeks later. His son, Washington Augustus Roebling, then took charge of this great work.
    [br]
    Further Reading
    D.B.Steinman and S.R.Watson, 1941, Bridges and their Builders, New York: Dover Books.
    D.McCullough, 1982, The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge, New York: Simon \& Schuster.
    IMcN

    Biographical history of technology > Roebling, John Augustus

  • 17 Booth, Hubert Cecil

    [br]
    b. 1871 Gloucester, England d. 1955
    [br]
    English mechanical, civil and construction engineer best remembered as the inventor of the vacuum cleaner.
    [br]
    As an engineer Booth contributed to the design of engines for Royal Navy battleships, designed and supervised the erection of a number of great wheels (in Blackpool, Vienna and Paris) and later designed factories and bridges.
    In 1900 he attended a demonstration, at St Paneras Station in London, of a new form of railway carriage cleaner that was supposed to blow the dirt into a container. It was not a very successful experiment and Booth, having considered the problem carefully, decided that sucking might be better than blowing. He tried out his idea by placing a piece of damp cloth over an upholstered armchair. When he sucked air by mouth through his cloth the dirt upon it was tangible proof of his theory.
    Various attempts were being made at this time, especially in America, to find a successful cleaner of carpets and upholstery. Booth produced the first truly satisfactory machine, which he patented in 1901, and coined the term "vacuum cleaner". He formed the Vacuum Cleaner Co. (later to become Goblin BVC Ltd) and began to manufacture his machines. For some years the company provided a cleaning service to town houses, using a large and costly vacuum cleaner (the first model cost £350). Painted scarlet, it measured 54×10×42 in. (137×25×110 cm) and was powered by a petrol-driven 5 hp piston engine. It was transported through the streets on a horse-driven van and was handled by a team of operators who parked outside the house to be cleaned. With the aid of several hundred feet of flexible hose extending from the cleaner through the windows into all the rooms, the machine sucked the dirt of decades from the carpets; at the first cleaning the weight of many such carpets was reduced by 50 per cent as the dirt was sucked away.
    Many attempts were made in Europe and America to produce a smaller and less expensive machine. Booth himself designed the chief British model in 1906, the Trolley- Vac, which was wheeled around the house on a trolley. Still elaborate, expensive and heavy, this machine could, however, be operated inside a room and was powered from an electric light fitting. It consisted of a sophisticated electric motor and a belt-driven rotary vacuum pump. Various hoses and fitments made possible the cleaning of many different surfaces and the dust was trapped in a cloth filter within a small metal canister. It was a superb vacuum cleaner but cost 35 guineas and weighed a hundredweight (50 kg), so it was difficult to take upstairs.
    Various alternative machines that were cheaper and lighter were devised, but none was truly efficient until a prototype that married a small electric motor to the machine was produced in 1907 in America.
    [br]
    Further Reading
    The Story of the World's First Vacuum Cleaner, Leatherhead: BSR (Housewares) Ltd. See also Hoover, William Henry.
    DY

    Biographical history of technology > Booth, Hubert Cecil

  • 18 Armstrong, Sir William George, Baron Armstrong of Cragside

    [br]
    b. 26 November 1810 Shieldfield, Newcastle upon Tyne, England
    d. 27 December 1900 Cragside, Northumbria, England
    [br]
    English inventor, engineer and entrepreneur in hydraulic engineering, shipbuilding and the production of artillery.
    [br]
    The only son of a corn merchant, Alderman William Armstrong, he was educated at private schools in Newcastle and at Bishop Auckland Grammar School. He then became an articled clerk in the office of Armorer Donkin, a solicitor and a friend of his father. During a fishing trip he saw a water-wheel driven by an open stream to work a marble-cutting machine. He felt that its efficiency would be improved by introducing the water to the wheel in a pipe. He developed an interest in hydraulics and in electricity, and became a popular lecturer on these subjects. From 1838 he became friendly with Henry Watson of the High Bridge Works, Newcastle, and for six years he visited the Works almost daily, studying turret clocks, telescopes, papermaking machinery, surveying instruments and other equipment being produced. There he had built his first hydraulic machine, which generated 5 hp when run off the Newcastle town water-mains. He then designed and made a working model of a hydraulic crane, but it created little interest. In 1845, after he had served this rather unconventional apprenticeship at High Bridge Works, he was appointed Secretary of the newly formed Whittle Dene Water Company. The same year he proposed to the town council of Newcastle the conversion of one of the quayside cranes to his hydraulic operation which, if successful, should also be applied to a further four cranes. This was done by the Newcastle Cranage Company at High Bridge Works. In 1847 he gave up law and formed W.G.Armstrong \& Co. to manufacture hydraulic machinery in a works at Elswick. Orders for cranes, hoists, dock gates and bridges were obtained from mines; docks and railways.
    Early in the Crimean War, the War Office asked him to design and make submarine mines to blow up ships that were sunk by the Russians to block the entrance to Sevastopol harbour. The mines were never used, but this set him thinking about military affairs and brought him many useful contacts at the War Office. Learning that two eighteen-pounder British guns had silenced a whole Russian battery but were too heavy to move over rough ground, he carried out a thorough investigation and proposed light field guns with rifled barrels to fire elongated lead projectiles rather than cast-iron balls. He delivered his first gun in 1855; it was built of a steel core and wound-iron wire jacket. The barrel was multi-grooved and the gun weighed a quarter of a ton and could fire a 3 lb (1.4 kg) projectile. This was considered too light and was sent back to the factory to be rebored to take a 5 lb (2.3 kg) shot. The gun was a complete success and Armstrong was then asked to design and produce an equally successful eighteen-pounder. In 1859 he was appointed Engineer of Rifled Ordnance and was knighted. However, there was considerable opposition from the notably conservative officers of the Army who resented the intrusion of this civilian engineer in their affairs. In 1862, contracts with the Elswick Ordnance Company were terminated, and the Government rejected breech-loading and went back to muzzle-loading. Armstrong resigned and concentrated on foreign sales, which were successful worldwide.
    The search for a suitable proving ground for a 12-ton gun led to an interest in shipbuilding at Elswick from 1868. This necessitated the replacement of an earlier stone bridge with the hydraulically operated Tyne Swing Bridge, which weighed some 1450 tons and allowed a clear passage for shipping. Hydraulic equipment on warships became more complex and increasing quantities of it were made at the Elswick works, which also flourished with the reintroduction of the breech-loader in 1878. In 1884 an open-hearth acid steelworks was added to the Elswick facilities. In 1897 the firm merged with Sir Joseph Whitworth \& Co. to become Sir W.G.Armstrong Whitworth \& Co. After Armstrong's death a further merger with Vickers Ltd formed Vickers Armstrong Ltd.
    In 1879 Armstrong took a great interest in Joseph Swan's invention of the incandescent electric light-bulb. He was one of those who formed the Swan Electric Light Company, opening a factory at South Benwell to make the bulbs. At Cragside, his mansion at Roth bury, he installed a water turbine and generator, making it one of the first houses in England to be lit by electricity.
    Armstrong was a noted philanthropist, building houses for his workforce, and endowing schools, hospitals and parks. His last act of charity was to purchase Bamburgh Castle, Northumbria, in 1894, intending to turn it into a hospital or a convalescent home, but he did not live long enough to complete the work.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Knighted 1859. FRS 1846. President, Institution of Mechanical Engineers; Institution of Civil Engineers; British Association for the Advancement of Science 1863. Baron Armstrong of Cragside 1887.
    Further Reading
    E.R.Jones, 1886, Heroes of Industry', London: Low.
    D.J.Scott, 1962, A History of Vickers, London: Weidenfeld \& Nicolson.
    IMcN

    Biographical history of technology > Armstrong, Sir William George, Baron Armstrong of Cragside

  • 19 Rankine, William John Macquorn

    [br]
    b. 5 July 1820 Edinburgh, Scotland
    d. 1872
    [br]
    [br]
    Rankine was educated at Ayr Academy and Glasgow High School, although he appears to have learned much of his basic mathematics and physics through private study. He attended Edinburgh University and then assisted his father, who was acting as Superintendent of the Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway. This introduction to engineering practice was followed in 1838 by his appointment as a pupil to Sir John MacNeill, and for the next four years he served under MacNeill on his Irish railway projects. While still in his early twenties, Rankine presented pioneering papers on metal fatigue and other subjects to the Institution of Civil Engineers, for which he won a prize, but he appears to have resigned from the Civils in 1857 after an argument because the Institution would not transfer his Associate Membership into full Membership. From 1844 to 1848 Rankine worked on various projects for the Caledonian Railway Company, but his interests were becoming increasingly theoretical and a series of distinguished papers for learned societies established his reputation as a leading scholar in the new science of thermodynamics. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1853. At the same time, he remained intimately involved with practical questions of applied science, in shipbuilding, marine engineering and electric telegraphy, becoming associated with the influential coterie of fellow Scots such as the Thomson brothers, Napier, Elder, and Lewis Gordon. Gordon was then the head of a large and successful engineering practice, but he was also Regius Professor of Engineering at the University of Glasgow, and when he retired from the Chair to pursue his business interests, Rankine, who had become his Assistant, was appointed in his place.
    From 1855 until his premature death in 1872, Rankine built up an impressive engineering department, providing a firm theoretical basis with a series of text books that he wrote himself and most of which remained in print for many decades. Despite his quarrel with the Institution of Civil Engineers, Rankine took a keen interest in the institutional development of the engineering profession, becoming the first President of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland, which he helped to establish in 1857. Rankine campaigned vigorously for the recognition of engineering studies as a full university degree at Glasgow, and he achieved this in 1872, the year of his death. Rankine was one of the handful of mid-nineteenth century engineers who virtually created engineering as an academic discipline.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    FRS 1853. First President, Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland, 1857.
    Bibliography
    1858, Manual of Applied Mechanics.
    1859, Manual of the Steam Engine and Other Prime Movers.
    1862, Manual of Civil Engineering.
    1869, Manual of Machinery and Millwork.
    Further Reading
    J.Small, 1957, "The institution's first president", Proceedings of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland: 687–97.
    H.B.Sutherland, 1972, Rankine. His Life and Times.
    AB

    Biographical history of technology > Rankine, William John Macquorn

  • 20 Ransome, Frederick

    [br]
    b. 18 June 1818 Rushmere, Suffolk, England
    d. 19 April 1893 London, England
    [br]
    English engineer and inventor of a type of artificial stone.
    [br]
    Frederick Ransome was the son of James Ransome (1782–1849) and grandson of Robert Ransome, founder of the well-known Ipswich firm of engineers. He did not become a partner in the family firm, but devoted his life to experiments to develop an artificial stone. These experiments were recorded in a paper which he presented to the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1848 and in a long series of over thirty patents dating from 1844. The material so formed was a sandstone, the particles of which were bonded together by a silicate of lime. It could be moulded into any required form while in its initial soft state, and when hard was suitable for surface-dressing or carving. It was used for many public buildings, but time proved it unsuitable for outside work. Ransome also used his artificial stone to make grinding wheels by incorporating emery powder in the mixture. These were found to be much superior to those made of natural stone. Another use of the artificial stone was in a porous form which could be used as a filter. In later years Ransome turned his attention to the manufacture of Portland cement and of a cheaper substitute incorporating blast-furnace slag. He also invented a rotary kiln for burning the cement, the first of these being built in 1887. It was 26 ft (7.9 m) long and 5 ft (1.5 m) in diameter; although reasonably successful, the development of such kilns of much greater length was carried out in America rather than England. Ransome was elected an Associate of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1848 and served as an Associate of
    [br]
    Bibliography
    1848, "On the manufacture of artificial stone with a silica base", Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers 7:57.
    RTS

    Biographical history of technology > Ransome, Frederick

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