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Thomas Savery
Thomas Savery (; c. 1650 – 15 May 1715) was an English inventor and engineer. He invented the first commercially used steam-powered device, a steam pump which is often referred to as the "Savery engine". Savery's steam pump was a revolutionary method of pumping water, which solved the problem of mine drainage and made widespread public water supply practicable. Career Thomas Savery was born at the manor house of Shilstone, near Modbury, Devon. He became a military engineer, rising to the rank of captain by 1702, and spent his free time performing experiments in mechanics. In 1696 he took out a patent for a machine for polishing glass or marble and another for "rowing of ships with greater ease and expedition than hitherto been done by any other" which involved paddle-wheels driven by a capstan and which was dismissed by the Admiralty following a negative report by the Surveyor of the Navy, Edmund Dummer. Savery also worked for the Sick and Hurt Commissioners, contracting ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shilstone
Modbury is a large village, ecclesiastical parish, civil parish and former manor situated in the South Hams district of the county of Devon in England. Today due to its large size it is generally referred to as a "town" although the parish council has not elected to give itself the status of a town as it could do under s.245(6) of the Local Government Act 1972, so it does not have a town council and cannot have a town mayor. It is also known informally as a "market town", as from at least 1199 the lord of the manor has held the right to hold a regular market. The village is situated on the A379 road, which links it to Plymouth and Kingsbridge. The current parish population is approximately 1,500. Etymology The name Modbury is a corruption of the Anglo-Saxon name, ''Moot burgh'' from 'Moot' meaning either 'Mud' or 'meeting' and 'bury' meaning 'fortified enclosure'. History Modbury is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. It has had permission to hold a weekly fair since befo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pistonless Pump
A pistonless pump is a type of pump designed to move fluids without any moving parts other than three chamber valves. The pump contains a chamber which has a valved inlet from the fluid to be pumped, a valved outlet – both of these at the bottom of the pump, and a pressurant inlet at the top of the pump. A pressurant is used, such as steam or pressurized helium, to drive the fluid through the pump. Introduction NASA have developed a low-cost rocket-fuel pump which has comparable performance to a turbopump at 80–90% lower cost. Perhaps the most difficult barrier to entry in the liquid rocket business is the turbopump. A turbopump design requires a large engineering effort and is expensive to manufacture and test. Starting a turbopump-fed rocket engine is a complex process, requiring a careful synchronisation of many valves and subsystems. In fact, Beal aerospace tried to avoid the issue entirely by building a huge pressure feed booster. Their booster never flew, but the engin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atmosphere (unit)
The standard atmosphere (symbol: atm) is a unit of pressure defined as Pa. It is sometimes used as a ''reference pressure'' or ''standard pressure''. It is approximately equal to Earth's average atmospheric pressure at sea level. History The standard atmosphere was originally defined as the pressure exerted by 760 mm of mercury at and standard gravity (''g''n = ). It was used as a reference condition for physical and chemical properties, and was implicit in the definition of the Celsius temperature scale, which defined as the boiling point of water at this pressure. In 1954, the 10th General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) adopted ''standard atmosphere'' for general use and affirmed its definition of being precisely equal to dynes per square centimetre (). This defined both temperature and pressure independent of the properties of particular substance. In addition, the CGPM noted that there had been some misapprehension that it "led some physicists to beli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
York Buildings Company
The York Buildings Company was an English company in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Waterworks The full name of the company was The Governor and Company for raising the Thames Water at York Buildings. The undertaking was established in 1675 and incorporated in 1690 with a capital of £4,800 (), but obtained a private act in 1691 to increase its capital and enable it to buy lands. As might be expected this provided the company with a steady, but unspectacular income from the rents paid by the householders supplied with water. Water supply was its sole business until 1719. The company was technologically advanced for its time. It tried the steam pump of Thomas Savery, a precursor of the steam engine, though this proved a failure. In 1726, a Newcomen engine was installed at York Buildings but when the company fell into financial difficulties in 1732 the engine was broken up, cylinders being sold to the London Lead Company and Sir James Lowther. However the company conti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Boyle
Robert Boyle (; 25 January 1627 – 31 December 1691) was an Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, alchemist and inventor. Boyle is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist, and therefore one of the founders of modern chemistry, and one of the pioneers of modern experimental scientific method. He is best known for Boyle's law, which describes the inversely proportional relationship between the absolute pressure and volume of a gas, if the temperature is kept constant within a closed system. Among his works, '' The Sceptical Chymist'' is seen as a cornerstone book in the field of chemistry. He was a devout and pious Anglican and is noted for his writings in theology. Biography Early years Boyle was born at Lismore Castle, in County Waterford, Ireland, the seventh son and fourteenth child of The 1st Earl of Cork ('the Great Earl of Cork') and Catherine Fenton. Lord Cork, then known simply as Richard Boyle, had arrived in Dublin from En ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, Theology, theologian, and author (described in his time as a "natural philosophy, natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the greatest mathematicians and physicists and among the most influential scientists of all time. He was a key figure in the philosophical revolution known as the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment. His book (''Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy''), first published in 1687, established classical mechanics. Newton also made seminal contributions to optics, and Multiple discovery, shares credit with German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz for developing calculus, infinitesimal calculus. In the , Newton formulated the Newton's laws of motion, laws of motion and Newton's law of universal gravitation, universal gravitation that formed the dominant scientific viewpoint for centuries until it was supersede ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Denis Papin
Denis Papin FRS (; 22 August 1647 – 26 August 1713) was a French physicist, mathematician and inventor, best known for his pioneering invention of the steam digester, the forerunner of the pressure cooker and of the steam engine. Early life and education Born in Chitenay ( Loir-et-Cher, Centre-Val de Loire Région), Papin attended a Jesuit school there. In 1661, he attended the University of Angers, from which he graduated with a medical degree in 1669. Career In 1673, Papin worked with Christiaan Huygens and Gottfried Leibniz in Paris, and became interested in using a vacuum to generate motive power. In 1675, he first visited London, where he worked with Robert Boyle from 1676 to 1679, publishing an account of his work in ''Continuation of New Experiments'' (1680). During this period, Papin invented the ''steam digester,'' a type of pressure cooker with a safety valve. He first addressed the Royal Society in 1679 on the subject of his digester, and remained mostly in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Newcomen Steam Engine
The atmospheric engine was invented by Thomas Newcomen in 1712, and is often referred to as the Newcomen fire engine (see below) or simply as a Newcomen engine. The engine was operated by condensing steam drawn into the cylinder, thereby creating a partial vacuum which allowed the atmospheric pressure to push the piston into the cylinder. It was historically significant as the first practical device to harness steam to produce mechanical work. Newcomen engines were used throughout Britain and Europe, principally to pump water out of mines. Hundreds were constructed throughout the 18th century. James Watt's later engine design was an improved version of the Newcomen engine that roughly doubled fuel efficiency. Many atmospheric engines were converted to the Watt design, for a price which was based on a fraction of the fuel-savings. As a result, Watt is today better known than Newcomen in relation to the origin of the steam engine. Precursors Prior to Newcomen a number of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fathom
A fathom is a unit of length in the imperial and the U.S. customary systems equal to , used especially for measuring the depth of water. The fathom is neither an International Standard (SI) unit, nor an internationally-accepted non-SI unit. Historically, however, it is the most frequently employed maritime measure of depth in the English-speaking world. There are two yards (6 feet) in an imperial fathom. Originally the span of a man's outstretched arms, the size of a fathom has varied slightly depending on whether it was defined as a thousandth of an (Admiralty) nautical mile or as a multiple of the imperial yard. Formerly, the term was used for any of several units of length varying around . Name The name (pronounced ) derives from the Old English word ''fæðm'', cognate to the Danish (via the Vikings) word "favn" meaning embracing arms or a pair of outstretched arms. Cognate maybe also via the Old High German word "fadum" of the same meaning.''Oxford English Dict ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parliament Of Scotland
The Parliament of Scotland ( sco, Pairlament o Scotland; gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba) was the legislature of the Kingdom of Scotland from the 13th century until 1707. The parliament evolved during the early 13th century from the king's council of bishops and earls, with the first identifiable parliament being held in 1235 during the reign of Alexander II, when it already possessed a political and judicial role. A unicameral institution, for most of its existence the Parliament consisted of the three estates of clergy, nobility, and the burghs. By the 1690s it comprised the nobility, the shires, the burghs, and various officers of state. Parliament gave consent for the raising of taxation and played an important role in the administration of justice, foreign policy, war, and the passing of a broad range of legislation. Parliamentary business was also carried out by "sister" institutions, such as General Councils or Conventions of Estates, which could both carry out muc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Smith (architect)
James Smith (c. 1645–1731) was a Scottish architect, who pioneered the Palladian style in Scotland. He was described by Colen Campbell, in his ''Vitruvius Britannicus'' (1715–1725), as "the most experienced architect of that kingdom". Biography Born in Tarbat, Ross, Smith was the son of James Smith (died c.1684), a mason, who became a burgess of Forres, Moray, in 1659.Colvin, pp.755–758 The architect is generally identified as the "James Smith of Morayshire" who attended the Scots College, Rome from 1671–75, initially with the aim of entering the Catholic priesthood, although some scholars are cautious about the certainty of this identification. He had certainly travelled abroad, however, and was well-educated, with a knowledge of Latin.Gifford, pp.62–67 By December 1677, Smith was in touch with Sir William Bruce, the most prominent architect of the time in Scotland, and the designer of the rebuilt Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh. Here, Smith served as a mason, under ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Act Of Parliament
Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of parliament begin as a bill, which the legislature votes on. Depending on the structure of government, this text may then be subject to assent or approval from the executive branch. Bills A draft act of parliament is known as a bill. In other words, a bill is a proposed law that needs to be discussed in the parliament before it can become a law. In territories with a Westminster system, most bills that have any possibility of becoming law are introduced into parliament by the government. This will usually happen following the publication of a " white paper", setting out the issues and the way in which the proposed new law is intended to deal with them. A bill may also be introduced into parliament without formal government backing; this is known ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
