By W.G.S Scaife
From Galaxies to generators: technology, know-how and the Parsons kinfolk seems on the manner technological know-how and relate to one another, and on the approach social attitudes impact this dating. a professional at the Parsons relations, the writer fantastically illustrates this by way of tracing the tale of the amazing endeavors of the Parsons relations in the course of the one hundred twenty five years that embraced their lives in eire and nice Britain through the constructing commercial Revolution.
The father of the relatives, William Parsons, Earl of Rosse, came across the Spiral Nebulae at his observatory in eire and displayed an strange familiarity with engineering ideas within the development of his big telescopes. His son, Charles, was once on the vanguard of the hot age of expertise between shipbuilders and engineers within the northeast coast of britain.
Lavishly illustrated all through, with a convenient genealogy and map of the River Tyne pin-pointing key historical occasions, this can be a hugely available and engaging account for the overall reader attracted to the best way medical wisdom and commercial software have slowly emerged in fresh heritage.
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Extra resources for From galaxies to turbines : science, technology, and the Parsons family
Example text
It is interesting to speculate what it was that introduced this interest in astronomy. Whatever the truth, it was in Laurence the second Earl of Rosse that an interest in matters scientific was first displayed. At the turn of the century he continued the work of turning Birr Castle into a comfortable and stylish residence. As Governor of King's County, and as a magistrate, Lord Rosse was closely involved in the local community. Eventually the cousins left Birr: Michael Crotty emigrated to England and became a minister of the Church of England, while William joined the Presbyterian ministry in the west of Ireland.
This interest in steam engines was later communicated to his two younger sons. the performance of the machine has improved faster than I could have anticipated. The first machine was developed to cope with discs of up to 36 in diameter, but years later a second larger machine was built to handle mirrors twice this size. Page 28 Figure 5. Machine for grinding and polishing a 36 in speculum, driven by a 2 HP steam engine. The lathe itself was about 18 ft long, with the bed 3–4 ft above the ground.
The surface was ground to give a smooth finish, and the slight gaps between adjacent strips were just sufficient to allow gases to escape without allowing any loss of molten metal. The plates were allowed to cool for three to four days in Page 35 Figure 9. © Birr Scientific and Heritage Foundation by courtesy of Lord Rosse. But having assembled them, he abandoned for the moment any further work on the composite construction. He quickly published a detailed account of his methods for others to follow (Parsons W 1840), and indeed many of his contemporaries like Lassell, De la Rue, Draper and Grubb adopted his methods (King 1980).