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J G Parry-Thomas
John Godfrey Parry-Thomas (6 April 1884 – 3 March 1927) was a Welsh engineer and motor-racing driver who at one time held the land speed record. He was the first driver to be killed in pursuit of the land speed record. Early life and education Parry-Thomas was born in Wrexham, Wales, the son of the curate of Rhosddu. The family moved to nearby Oswestry when he was five years old, and he was educated at Oswestry School. He went on to study engineering at The City and Guilds College in London. Leyland Motors Parry-Thomas became chief engineer at Leyland Motors, a company whose main products were commercial vehicles. He filed for and received a number of patents, in the fields of electrical and automotive engineering. After the First World War he and his assistant Reid Railton designed the Leyland Eight luxury motor car, which was intended to compete with Rolls-Royce. His experience of driving this car around Brooklands in 1920 persuaded him to give up his career with L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wrexham
Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the county of Denbighshire, and later the county of Clwyd in 1974, it has been the principal settlement of Wrexham County Borough since 1996. Wrexham has historically been one of the primary settlements of Wales. At the 2011 Census, it had an urban population of 61,603 as part of the wider Wrexham built-up area which made it Wales's fourth largest urban conurbation and the largest in north Wales. The city comprises the local government communities of Acton, Caia Park, Offa and Rhosddu. Wrexham's built-up area extends further into villages like Bradley, Brymbo, Brynteg, Gwersyllt, New Broughton, Pentre Broughton and Rhostyllen. Wrexham was likely founded prior to the 11th century and developed in the Middle Ages as a regional centre for t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomson & Taylor
Thomson & Taylor were a motor-racing engineering and car-building firm, based within the Brooklands race track. They were active between the wars and built several of the famous land speed record breaking cars of the day. Thomas Inventions Development Co. Ltd. The firm was founded as ''Thomas Inventions Development Co. Ltd.'' by J. G. Parry-Thomas & Major Ken Thomson. Their workshops were based in the 'flying village' inside the circuit at Brooklands, a convenient location for their customers, who raced there. Parry-Thomas lived in an adjacent former Royal Flying Corps building named ''The Hermitage''. Thomson & Taylor After Parry-Thomas' death whilst driving ''Babs'' at Pendine Sands in 1927, Major Ken Thomson carried on, joined by Ken Taylor, under the new name of ''Thomson & Taylor''. Reid Railton, who had previously worked for Parry-Thomas at Leyland joined them as Technical Director and chief designer. In 1926 Malcolm Campbell had opened the 'Campbell Shed' at Brookla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pendine Museum Of Speed
The Pendine Museum of Speed was dedicated to the use of Pendine Sands for land speed record attempts. It was opened in 1996 in the village of Pendine, on the south coast of Wales, and was owned and run by Carmarthenshire County Council. The museum received 33,522 visitors in 2009. For part of each summer the museum housed ''Babs'', the land speed record car in which was killed in 1927. ''Babs'' was excavated in 1969 after 42 years of burial on the beach at Pendine Sands, and restored over the following 16 years by Owen Wyn Owen. In 2018 it was decided to replace the 1990s museum building, at a cost of £7 million. As of February 2021, the museum was closed and demolished, with a replacement under construction, whose opening date is yet to be confirmed. ''Babs'' was on display at Beaulieu Motor Museum until February 2019, but as of May 2019 was being maintained and no longer on display. See also * British land speed record The British land speed record is the fastest land sp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bangor University
, former_names = University College of North Wales (1884–1996) University of Wales, Bangor (1996–2007) , image = File:Arms_of_Bangor_University.svg , image_size = 250px , caption = Arms Flag , motto = cy, Gorau Dawn Deall , mottoeng = "The Best Gift is Knowledge" , established = 1884 , type = Public , administrative_staff = , chancellor = George Meyrick , vice_chancellor = Edmund Burke , students = () , undergrad = () , postgrad = () , city = Bangor , state = , country = Wales , coordinates = , campus = Bangor , colours = , other_name = cy, Y Coleg ar y Bryn ("The College on the Hill") , affiliations = EUAUniversities UKUniversity of Wales ACUHEA EIBFS , website bangor.ac.uk, logo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Owen Wyn Owen
Owen Wyn Owen (1925 – 13 March 2012) was a Welsh automobile restorer and mechanic. He lived in Capel Curig, Snowdonia. His working life was spent as a lecturer in engineering at Caernarfonshire Technical College in Bangor, but he is known for his outside achievements. He died in March 2012. Restoration of ''Babs'' His most famous restoration project, which received worldwide attention, was to excavate and restore ''Babs'', after 40 years buried on a tidal beach. "Babs" was the car that in 1927, driven by J. G. Parry-Thomas, whilst attempting the land speed record at the time (180 mph or 290 km/h), crashed and killed the driver. The car was buried where the accident occurred on Pendine Sands. In 1967 Wyn Owen decided to excavate and restore ''Babs''. The car was first successfully tested on The Helyg straight in the early 1970s and was later successfully demonstrated in front of the world press and television on an air field near RAF Valley, Anglesey. The resto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Babs (land Speed Record Car)
''Babs'' was the land speed record car built and driven by John Parry-Thomas. It was powered by a 27-litre Liberty aero-engine. ''Babs'' began as ' Chitty 4', one of Count Louis Zborowski's series of aero-engined cars named 'Chitty Bang Bang'. As it was built at Zborowski's estate of Higham Park near Canterbury, it was also known as the Higham Special. Using a V12 Liberty aero engine of 27 litres capacity, with a gearbox and chain-drive from a pre-war Blitzen Benz, it was the largest capacity racing car ever to run at Brooklands. Still not fully developed by the time of Zborowski's death in 1924, it was purchased from his estate by J.G. Parry-Thomas for the sum of £125. Parry-Thomas rechristened the car ''Babs'' and rebuilt it with four Zenith carburettors and his own design of pistons. In April 1926, Parry-Thomas used the car to break the land speed record at 171.02 mph (273.6 km/h). ''Babs'' used exposed chains (covered by a fairing) to take power to the dr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Napier Lion
The Napier Lion is a 12-cylinder, petrol-fueled 'broad arrow' W12 configuration aircraft engine built by D. Napier & Son from 1917 until the 1930s. A number of advanced features made it the most powerful engine of its day and kept it in production long after other contemporary designs had been superseded. It is particularly well known for its use in a number of racing designs, for aircraft, boats and cars. Design and development Early in the First World War, Napier were contracted to build aero engines to designs from other companies, initially a Royal Aircraft Factory model and then Sunbeams. Both engines proved to be unreliable and in 1916 Napier decided to design an engine with high power, light weight and low frontal area. Napier's engineers laid out the engine with its 12 cylinders in what they called a "broad arrow"—three banks of four cylinders sharing a common crankcase. This suggested the design's first name, the Triple-Four. The configuration is also known as a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Segrave
Sir Henry O'Neal de Hane Segrave (22 September 1896 – 13 June 1930) was an early British pioneer in land speed and water speed records. Segrave, who set three land and one water record, was the first person to hold both titles simultaneously and the first person to travel at over in a land vehicle. He died in an accident in 1930 shortly after setting a new world water speed record on Windermere in the Lake District, England. The Segrave Trophy was established to commemorate his life. Early life Segrave, who was a British national, was born on 22 September 1896 in Baltimore, Maryland, to an American mother and an Irish father. He was raised in Ireland and attended Eton College in England. He spent some time at 'Belle Isle' house, near Portumna and learnt to drive the family houseboat. He is reported to have attended the North Shannon Yacht Club regatta on Lough Boderg between Leitrim and Roscommon. First World War At the outbreak of war the Sandhurst officer training cour ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liberty L-12
The Liberty L-12 is an American water-cooled 45° V-12 aircraft engine displacing and making designed for a high power-to-weight ratio and ease of mass production. It saw wide use in aero applications, and, once marinized Marinisation (also marinization) is design, redesign, or testing of products for use in a marine environment. Most commonly, it refers to use and long-term survival in harsh, highly corrosive salt water conditions. Marinisation is done by many manu ..., in marine use both in racing and runabout boats. A single bank 6-cylinder version, the Liberty L-6, and V-8, the Liberty L-8, were derived from the Liberty L-12. It was succeeded by the Packard 1A-2500. Development In May 1917, a month after the United States had declared war on Germany, a federal task force known as the Aircraft Board, Aircraft Production Board summoned two top engine designers, Jesse G. Vincent (of the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit) and Elbert J. Hall (of the Hall-Scott Motor Co. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Count Zborowski
Louis Vorow Zborowski (20 February 1895 – 19 October 1924) was an English racing driver and automobile engineer, best known for creating a series of aero-engined racing cars known as the "Chitty-Bang-Bangs", which provided the inspiration for Ian Fleming's children's story, ''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'' and culminated in the "Higham Special" which, much modified in the hands of John Godfrey Parry Thomas, broke the World Land Speed Record 18 months after the death of its creator. Background Louis Zborowski was born in 1895 in London to American parents, who had moved to England nine years earlier. His father, William Elliott Morris Zborowski (1858–1903), was also a racing driver, and died in a racing crash, in 1903 at La Turbie Hillclimb in Nice, France. His mother was a wealthy American heiress, born Margaret Laura Astor Carey (1853–1911), a granddaughter of William Backhouse Astor Sr. and Margaret Rebecca Armstrong of the prominent Astor family. She had been Madame de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chitty Bang Bang
Chitty Bang Bang was the informal name of a number of celebrated British racing cars, built and raced by Count Louis Zborowski and his engineer Clive Gallop in the 1920s, which inspired the book, film and stage musical ''Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang''. The Chittys were built in Canterbury, Kent and stored at Higham Park, Zborowski's country house at Bridge near Canterbury. The cars were so loud that Canterbury reportedly passed a by-law prohibiting them from entering within the city walls. The origin of the name "Chitty Bang Bang" is disputed, but may have been inspired by aeronautical engineer Letitia Chitty, the sound of an idling aeroplane engine or from a salacious World War I song. Chitty 1 ''Chitty 1'' was a chain-driven customised Mercedes chassis containing a 23-litre 6-cylinder Maybach aero-engine. It won two races at its debut at Brooklands in 1921, coming second to another Zborowski car in a sprint race at the same event. ''Chitty 1'' was fitted with four seats and a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parry Thomas And Babs, Pendine, April 1926 (Our Generation, 1938)
PARRY was an early example of a chatbot, implemented in 1972 by psychiatrist Kenneth Colby. History PARRY was written in 1972 by psychiatrist Kenneth Colby, then at Stanford University. While ELIZA was a tongue-in-cheek simulation of a Rogerian therapist, PARRY attempted to simulate a person with paranoid schizophrenia. The program implemented a crude model of the behavior of a person with paranoid schizophrenia based on concepts, conceptualizations, and beliefs (judgements about conceptualizations: accept, reject, neutral). It also embodied a conversational strategy, and as such was a much more serious and advanced program than ELIZA. It was described as "ELIZA with attitude". PARRY was tested in the early 1970s using a variation of the Turing Test. A group of experienced psychiatrists analysed a combination of real patients and computers running PARRY through teleprinters. Another group of 33 psychiatrists were shown transcripts of the conversations. The two groups were the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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