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Percy Pilcher
Percy Sinclair Pilcher (16 January 1867 – 2 October 1899) was a British inventor and pioneer aviator who was his country's foremost experimenter in unpowered flight near the end of the nineteenth century. After corresponding with Otto Lilienthal, Pilcher had considerable success with developing hang gliders. In 1895, he made repeated flights in the ''Bat'', and in 1896–1897 many flights in the ''Hawk'' culminated in a world distance record. By 1899, Pilcher had produced a motor-driven triplane, which he planned to test at Stanford Hall in Leicestershire on September 30, 1899; however, the attempt was delayed by mechanical problems. When he substituted a flight of ''Hawk'', it suffered structural failure in mid-air and he was fatally injured in the resulting crash, with his powered aircraft never having been tested. Research carried out by Cranfield University in the early 2000s concluded that Pilcher's triplane was more or less workable, and would have been capable of fli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ella Pilcher
Ella Sophia Gertrude Pilcher ( - 19 May 1939) was a British pioneer aviator, and the first woman to fly in a glider in the British Isles. She co-created and flew in gliders designed by Percy Pilcher, her younger brother, in the 1890s. She was made an honorary member of the Royal Aeronautical Society in December 1899. Early life Ella Pilcher was born in Harrow to a Scottish mother, Sophia (née Robinson), and Somerset-born father, Thomas Webb Pilcher. Her father was on his second marriage, having had a previous life as curator of a British gallery in Rome and husband of an Italian marchioness. He was in his sixties for most of his children's births and died in 1874. Sophia took Ella and her siblings Thomas, Ada Violet and Percy to Germany but then herself died only three years later. The orphans returned to England, the charges of the eldest brother Thomas Pilcher, who at 19 joined the army to pay for the schooling of his sisters. Percy was enrolled as a naval cadet at the age o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bath, Somerset
Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 101,557. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, west of London and southeast of Bristol. The city became a World Heritage Site in 1987, and was later added to the transnational World Heritage Site known as the " Great Spa Towns of Europe" in 2021. Bath is also the largest city and settlement in Somerset. The city became a spa with the Latin name ' ("the waters of Sulis") 60 AD when the Romans built baths and a temple in the valley of the River Avon, although hot springs were known even before then. Bath Abbey was founded in the 7th century and became a religious centre; the building was rebuilt in the 12th and 16th centuries. In the 17th century, claims were made for the curative properties of water from the springs, and Bath became popular as a spa town in the Georgian era. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
History Of Hang Gliding
Hang gliding is an air sport employing a foot-launchable aircraft known as a hang glider. Typically, a modern hang glider is constructed of an aluminium alloy or composite-framed fabric wing. The pilot is ensconced in a harness suspended from the airframe, and exercises control by shifting body weight in opposition to a control frame. Overview Early hang glider designs did not reliably achieve safe flight, their builders lacking a comprehensive understanding of the underlying principles of flight. The first recorded ''controlled'' flights were by German engineer Otto Lilienthal, whose research, published in 1889, strongly influenced later designers. The type of aircraft employed by Lilienthal is now referred to as a hang glider. Further hang glider research was undertaken during the 1920s in Europe, Australia and the US, where designers tested several wing concepts and the 'pendulum weight-shift control system'. In 1957 the American space agency NASA began testing various for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pilcher Monument
Pilcher is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Thomas Pilcher (1557–1587), English Roman Catholic priest and martyr * George Pilcher (1801–1855), English aural surgeon and medical reformer * Jane Pilcher (PhD 1992), British sociologist * John Pilcher (1766–1838), English cricketer *Sir John Arthur Pilcher (1912–1990), British diplomat *J. L. Pilcher (1898–1981), American politician *Joshua Pilcher (1790–1843), American fur trader and Indian agent *Lewis Pilcher (1871–1941), American academic and architect * Norman Pilcher (born 1935), British former police officer *Percy Pilcher (1866–1899), British inventor and aviator * Robin Pilcher (born 1950), British author, son of Rosamunde *Rosamunde Pilcher (1924-2019), British author, mother of Robin *Thomas Pilcher Major-General Thomas David Pilcher, CB (8 July 1858 – 14 December 1928) was a British Army officer, who commanded a mounted infantry unit in the Second Boer War and the 17th (Nor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sir William Tritton
Sir William Ashbee Tritton, JP, (19 June 1875 – 24 September 1946) was a British expert in agricultural machinery, and was directly involved, together with Major Walter Gordon Wilson, in the development of the tank. Early in World War I he was asked to produce tractors for moving heavy howitzers, the result being eventually the first tanks. Early life Tritton was born in Islington, where his father William Birch Tritton (1845, Hythe, Kent – 29 July 1918) and mother Ellen Hannah Ashbee (16 December 1847 – 19 April 1921) lived at 51 Carleton Road. His parents had married on 22 October 1873 in Boughton under Blean, Kent. His brother was Percy Kingsnorth Tritton (1878–1903). He was the son of a London stockbroker, educated at Christ's College, Finchley and King's College London. By 1901 he was living in Altrincham. Career He joined Gwynnes Pumps in 1891. He later became a linotype mechanic and an electrical engineer. In 1906 he joined William Foster & Co. on Waterloo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tank
A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; usually their main armament is mounted in a turret. They are a mainstay of modern 20th and 21st century ground forces and a key part of combined arms combat. Modern tanks are versatile mobile land weapons platforms whose main armament is a large- caliber tank gun mounted in a rotating gun turret, supplemented by machine guns or other ranged weapons such as anti-tank guided missiles or rocket launchers. They have heavy vehicle armour which provides protection for the crew, the vehicle's munition storage, fuel tank and propulsion systems. The use of tracks rather than wheels provides improved operational mobility which allows the tank to overcome rugged terrain and adverse conditions such as mud and ice/snow better than whe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Commission On Awards To Inventors
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A Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors is a periodic Royal Commission of the United Kingdom used to hear patent disputes. On 6 October 1919 a Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors was convened to hear 11 claims for the invention of the tank; one of the eleven "claimants" was a team of two (thus there were 12 individuals involved). A Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors was established in 1946 to hear claims of inventors who "allege that their inventions, drawings or processes have been used by Government Departments and Allied Governments during the War". References External links "Awards to inventors - use of inventions and designs by government departments" Inventors An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wilson-Pilcher
Wilson-Pilcher was an English car company founded in 1901 and acquired by Sir WG Taken Armstrong Whitworth & Co., Limited in 1904. History The company ''Wilson-Pilcher'' was founded in 1901 by Walter Gordon Wilson in London to produce automobiles. In 1904 it was acquired by Sir WG Taken Armstrong Whitworth & Co., Limited and production moved to Newcastle upon Tyne. Percy Pilcher had died in a gliding accident in 1899, and Wilson had been working with him on the engine for an attempt at powered flight. According to Bonhams there is photographic evidence of a wooden mock-up of the car in 1899, and a photo of a working car taken at Stanhope Hall in 1900. Production stopped in 1907. Vehicles The first model had a 9 hp four cylinder flat engine of 2400 cc displacement. In 1903 this was replaced by the 12/16 hp engine of 2694 cc capacity. In 1904 a six-cylinder 18/24 HP engine of 4041 cc capacity was added to the range. In April 1904 The ''Automotor Journal'' gave ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walter Gordon Wilson
Major Walter Gordon Wilson (21 April 1874 – 1 July 1957) was an Irish mechanical engineer, inventor and member of the British Royal Naval Air Service. He was credited by the 1919 Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors as the co-inventor of the tank, along with Sir William Tritton. Education Walter was born in Blackrock, County Dublin, on 21 April 1874. In 1888 he enlisted as a midshipman on HMS ''Britannia'', but resigned in 1892. In 1894 he entered King's College, Cambridge, where he studied the mechanical sciences tripos, graduating with a first class degree, B.A., in 1897. Wilson acted as 'mechanic' for the Hon C. S. Rolls on several occasions while they were undergraduates in Cambridge. Aero engine 1898 Interested in powered flight, he collaborated with Percy Sinclair Pilcher and the Hon Adrian Verney-Cave later Lord Braye to attempt to make an aero-engine from 1898. The engine was a flat-twin air cooled and weighed only 40 lb, but shortly before a demonstra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Internal Combustion Engine
An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal combustion engine, the expansion of the high- temperature and high-pressure gases produced by combustion applies direct force to some component of the engine. The force is typically applied to pistons ( piston engine), turbine blades ( gas turbine), a rotor (Wankel engine), or a nozzle ( jet engine). This force moves the component over a distance, transforming chemical energy into kinetic energy which is used to propel, move or power whatever the engine is attached to. This replaced the external combustion engine for applications where the weight or size of an engine was more important. The first commercially successful internal combustion engine was created by Étienne Lenoir around 1860, and the first modern internal combustion eng ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horsepower
Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are the mechanical horsepower (or imperial horsepower), which is about 745.7 watts, and the metric horsepower, which is approximately 735.5 watts. The term was adopted in the late 18th century by Scottish engineer James Watt to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses. It was later expanded to include the output power of other types of piston engines, as well as turbines, electric motors and other machinery. The definition of the unit varied among geographical regions. Most countries now use the SI unit watt for measurement of power. With the implementation of the EU Directive 80/181/EEC on 1 January 2010, the use of horsepower in the EU is permitted only as a supplementary unit. History The development of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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