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The focus of this series is engineering, broadly construed. It covers technological innovation from a range of periods and cultures, but centres on the technological achievements of the industrial era in the West, particularly in the nineteenth century, as understood by their contemporaries. Infrastructure is one major focus, covering the building of railways and canals, bridges and tunnels, land drainage, the laying of submarine cables, and the construction of docks and lighthouses. Other key topics include developments in industrial and manufacturing fields such as mining technology, the production of iron and steel, the use of steam power and chemical processes such as photography and textile dyes.

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151 results in Cambridge Library Collection - Technology

Page 1 of 8

Reports of the Late John Smeaton
  • Made on Various Occasions, in the Course of his Employment as a Civil Engineer
  • Volume 3
  • John Smeaton
  • Published online:
    05 June 2016
    Print publication:
    11 September 2014
    First published in:
    1812
  • Celebrated for his construction of the Eddystone Lighthouse near Plymouth, John Smeaton (1724–92) established himself as Britain's foremost civil engineer in the eighteenth century. A founder member of the Society of Civil Engineers, he was instrumental in promoting the growth of the profession. After his death his papers were acquired by the president of the Royal Society, Sir Joseph Banks, Smeaton's friend and patron. Using these materials, a special committee decided to publish 'every paper of any consequence' written by Smeaton, as a 'fund of practical instruction' for current and future engineers. These were published in four illustrated volumes between 1812 and 1814. As a consulting engineer, Smeaton carried out surveys and reports of existing structures, as well as drawing up proposals for new designs. Volume 3 contains mainly reports relating to bridges and harbours, including work at such major ports as Aberdeen, Dover and Hull.

The Evolution of the Parsons Steam Turbine
  • An Account of Experimental Research on the Theory, Efficiency, and Mechanical Details of Land and Marine Reaction and Impulse-Reaction Turbines
  • Alexander Richardson
  • Published online:
    05 June 2016
    Print publication:
    11 September 2014
    First published in:
    1911
  • Responsible for the generation of most of the world's electricity, and with applications to sea and land transport, the steam turbine may be regarded as a pivotal invention in the creation of a technologically advanced modern society. Charles Parsons (1854–1931) built the first practical steam turbine in 1884, and he remained at the forefront of its development for nearly fifty years, as he saw his invention become first the prime means by which thermal energy could be turned into electricity, and then the power behind pioneering cruise liners and warships. Alexander Richardson (1864–1928), an engineer and politician, had access to the inventor's papers when writing this account of the turbine's history. Published in 1911, and featuring more than 170 illustrative plates, it provides a valuable insight into the development of a technology that revolutionised power generation, marine transport and naval warfare.

Reports of the Late John Smeaton
  • Made on Various Occasions, in the Course of his Employment as a Civil Engineer
  • Volume 4, Miscellaneous Papers, Comprising his Communications to the Royal Society, Printed in the Philosophical Transactions
  • John Smeaton
  • Published online:
    05 June 2016
    Print publication:
    11 September 2014
    First published in:
    1814
  • Celebrated for his construction of the Eddystone Lighthouse near Plymouth, John Smeaton (1724–92) established himself as Britain's foremost civil engineer in the eighteenth century. A founder member of the Society of Civil Engineers, he was instrumental in promoting the growth of the profession. The Royal Society awarded him its Copley medal for research into wind and water power in 1759. After his death his papers were acquired by the president of the Royal Society, Sir Joseph Banks, Smeaton's friend and patron. Using these materials, a special committee decided to publish 'every paper of any consequence' written by Smeaton, as a 'fund of practical instruction' for current and future engineers. These were published in four illustrated volumes between 1812 and 1814. Published in 1814 using the original engraved plates, Volume 4 contains the papers that Smeaton published in the Royal Society's Philosophical Transactions, as well as related correspondence.

An Historical and Descriptive Account of the Steam Engine
  • Comprising a General View of the Various Modes of Employing Elastic Vapour as a Prime Mover in Mechanics
  • Charles Frederick Partington
  • Published online:
    05 June 2016
    Print publication:
    25 September 2014
    First published in:
    1822
  • Though much about his life is uncertain, Charles Frederick Partington is known to have lectured at the London Institution between 1823 and 1830 on a variety of technical topics, and he delivered some of the first lectures specifically designed for young people. He had a particular interest in the steam engine, and this book, reissued here in the first edition of 1822, was one of the earliest overviews of its history and development. A third edition appeared in 1826. Noting the excessive frequency with which 'the faults of any new invention are unjustly magnified, while its real advantages are seldom duly appreciated', the author is keen to act as evangelist. Detailed and illustrated descriptions of various early engines are included, comparing their characteristics and advantages. Also of note are Partington's descriptions of early attempts to mitigate the 'smoke and noxious effluvia which proceed from their capacious vomitories'.

Reports of the Late John Smeaton
  • Made on Various Occasions, in the Course of his Employment as a Civil Engineer
  • Volume 1
  • John Smeaton
  • Published online:
    05 June 2016
    Print publication:
    11 September 2014
    First published in:
    1812
  • Celebrated for his construction of the Eddystone Lighthouse near Plymouth, John Smeaton (1724–92) established himself as Britain's foremost civil engineer in the eighteenth century. A founder member of the Society of Civil Engineers, he was instrumental in promoting the growth of the profession. After his death his papers were acquired by the president of the Royal Society, Sir Joseph Banks, Smeaton's friend and patron. Using these materials, a special committee decided to publish 'every paper of any consequence' written by Smeaton, as a 'fund of practical instruction' for current and future engineers. These were published in four illustrated volumes between 1812 and 1814. Volume 1 contains correspondence with and reports for clients regarding waterworks, canals, bridges, lighthouses and other engineering works, including harbour improvements at Christchurch, Bristol and Whitby. It also contains descriptions of some of Smeaton's inventions, such as an improved fire engine.

Rivers and Canals
  • With Statistics of the Traffic on Inland Waterways
  • Volume 1, Rivers
  • Leveson Francis Vernon-Harcourt
  • Published online:
    05 June 2016
    Print publication:
    02 July 2015
    First published in:
    1882
  • Leveson Francis Vernon-Harcourt (1839–1907) drew on a distinguished career in canal and river engineering for this illustrated two-volume survey, here reissued in its enlarged 1896 second edition. Having started as an assistant to the civil engineer John Hawkshaw, Vernon-Harcourt was appointed resident engineer in 1866 for new works on London's East and West India docks. Later, as a consulting engineer, he specialised in the design and construction of harbours, docks, canals and river works, and he was elected professor of civil engineering at University College London in 1882. This publication covers the design and construction of tidal and flood defences, canals, locks, and irrigation works. Volume 1 covers the physical characteristics of rivers and estuaries, and the control of their flow through dredging and works such as weirs and breakwaters. Vernon-Harcourt also discusses the design of flood defences. His Harbours and Docks (1885) is also reissued in this series.

Reports of the Late John Smeaton
  • Made on Various Occasions, in the Course of his Employment as a Civil Engineer
  • Volume 2
  • John Smeaton
  • Published online:
    05 June 2016
    Print publication:
    11 September 2014
    First published in:
    1812
  • Celebrated for his construction of the Eddystone Lighthouse near Plymouth, John Smeaton (1724–92) established himself as Britain's foremost civil engineer in the eighteenth century. A founder member of the Society of Civil Engineers, he was instrumental in promoting the growth of the profession. After his death his papers were acquired by the president of the Royal Society, Sir Joseph Banks, Smeaton's friend and patron. Using these materials, a special committee decided to publish 'every paper of any consequence' written by Smeaton, as a 'fund of practical instruction' for current and future engineers. These were published in four illustrated volumes between 1812 and 1814. Volume 2 contains Smeaton's reports on engineering works for bridges, including a proposal for the widening and improvement of London Bridge, as well as many plans for the creation or improvement of canals, mills and waterwheels.

Rivers and Canals
  • With Statistics of the Traffic on Inland Waterways
  • Volume 2, Canals
  • Leveson Francis Vernon-Harcourt
  • Published online:
    05 June 2016
    Print publication:
    02 July 2015
    First published in:
    1882
  • Leveson Francis Vernon-Harcourt (1839–1907) drew on a distinguished career in canal and river engineering for this illustrated two-volume survey, here reissued in its enlarged 1896 second edition. Having started as an assistant to the civil engineer John Hawkshaw, Vernon-Harcourt was appointed resident engineer in 1866 for new works on London's East and West India docks. Later, as a consulting engineer, he specialised in the design and construction of harbours, docks, canals and river works, and he was elected professor of civil engineering at University College London in 1882. This publication covers the design and construction of tidal and flood defences, canals, locks, and irrigation works. Volume 2 covers canal engineering, discussing the design and construction of canals and their associated works such as locks and lifts. Vernon-Harcourt also discusses ship canals and irrigation works. His Harbours and Docks (1885) is also reissued in this series.

Economics of Construction in Relation to Framed Structures
  • Robert H. Bow
  • Published online:
    05 June 2016
    Print publication:
    25 September 2014
  • From the 1850s onwards, the civil engineer Robert Henry Bow (1827–1909) became known for his expertise in structural analysis, publishing on the design of bridge and roof trusses, and working with the prolific railway engineer Sir Thomas Bouch (of later Tay Bridge infamy). In the first part of this 1873 publication, Bow describes 337 different truss structures, grouping them into four classes according to their structural characteristics: statically determinate, kinematically determinate, indeterminate, and other. In the second part, he describes a method for graphically analysing truss structures, based on the work of Thomas Maxwell and others, and applies this method to the structures listed in the first part. Perhaps of most interest to the working engineer are the explanations as to which structures are most efficient given typical material constraints, such as girders of uniform cross-section. The work remained a useful resource for practising engineers well into the twentieth century.

The Mechanical Principles of Engineering and Architecture
  • Henry Moseley
  • Published online:
    05 June 2016
    Print publication:
    25 September 2014
  • Seventh wrangler in the Cambridge mathematical tripos in 1826, Henry Moseley (1801–72) was adept at applying mathematical analysis to a wide variety of problems. Appointed professor of natural and experimental philosophy and astronomy at London's newly established King's College in 1831, he was instrumental in creating the institution's department of engineering and applied science. This 1843 textbook is based on the lectures in statics, dynamics and structures that he gave to students of engineering and architecture. Moseley draws on the latest continental work in mechanics, and the treatment of problems is mathematically sophisticated. Starting with basic statics and dynamics, Moseley covers topics of interest to both civil and military engineers, with sections on the theory of machines and on the stability of walls, arches and other structures. Notably, the American edition of this work was adopted as a textbook by the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Electromagnetic Waves
  • Oliver Heaviside
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    22 December 2011
    First published in:
    1889
  • Oliver Heaviside (1850–1925), the self-taught physicist and electrical engineer, began his career as an operator on the newly laid Anglo-Danish telegraph cable in 1868. The most advanced electrical technology of the time, the cable system inspired several of his early mathematical papers. This monograph, first published as a paper in the Philosophical Magazine in 1888, then as a book in 1889, draws on his established work on telegraphic propagation and self-inductance, and on Maxwell's field theory. In a fascinating insight into the contemporary scientific community, he complains that these subjects are still often misunderstood, and explains his formulae afresh from several angles. Also covered - and frequently questioned - are contemporary theories of permittivity, the speed of electromagnetic waves, and the dielectric properties of conductors. Heaviside's Electrical Papers (2 volumes, 1892) and his Electromagnetic Theory (3 volumes, 1893–1912) have also been reissued in this series.

The Mining Industry
  • Evidence and Report of the Industrial Commission of Enquiry
  • Compiled by The Witwatersrand Chamber of Mines
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    26 September 2013
  • The mining industry was a fundamental part of the economy of South Africa in the late nineteenth century, and control of the region's gold mines was a significant factor in the tension between Dutch and English settlers that led to the Second Boer War in 1899. In 1889 the Witwatersrand Chamber of Mines had been formed to promote the industry's development. Economic problems in the region led the Volksraad of the South African Republic to set up a Commission of Enquiry in 1897 to investigate high tariffs, labour and transport costs which were adversely affecting the mining industry. The 1897 report reissued here was not that of the commission itself, but contains much of the evidence and statistical material presented to it, in the hope that the mining industry would adopt its recommendations. As such, this detailed resource remains relevant to economic historians of South Africa and the British Empire.

History of the Cotton Manufacture in Great Britain
  • With a Notice of its Early History in the East, and in All the Quarters of the Globe
  • Edward Baines
  • Published online:
    05 September 2015
    Print publication:
    02 April 2015
    First published in:
    1835
  • The journalist and politician Edward Baines (1800–90) succeeded his father as editor of the Leeds Mercury and as MP for Leeds. From a dissenting family, he was a social reformer but passionately believed that the state should not interfere in matters such as working hours and education. In this 1835 work, he sees the cotton industry as an exemplar of the unity of 'the manufactory, the laboratory, and the study of the natural philosopher', in making practical use of creative ideas and scientific discoveries. He surveys cotton manufacture from its origins to its 'second birth' in England, and focuses on the current state of machinery, trade and working conditions in all aspects of the business, and its outputs, including cloth, lace, stockings and cotton wool. This comprehensive work was important for its detailed analysis of a vital commercial activity, and remains so today for the historical information it contains.

Papers on Iron and Steel, Practical and Experimental
  • David Mushet
  • Published online:
    05 July 2015
    Print publication:
    20 January 2011
    First published in:
    1840
  • David Mushet (1772–1847) was a self-taught Scottish metallurgist, who experimented with the making of iron and steel while working as an accountant for a foundry, and soon became an acknowledged authority on the subject. In 1800 he patented a method to make cast steel from wrought iron. His discovery that the previously ignored black-band ironstone could be used without additional coal to economically manufacture iron transformed the Scottish iron industry. Moving to England he was connected with several foundries where he continued his research, patenting a method of making refined iron in the blast furnace. He became a managing director of the British Iron Company, and was involved in collieries, railway and canal companies. Mushet was a pioneer in technical writing, publishing many papers in the Philosophical Magazine. This two-volume collection was published in 1840, and includes analytical data on many coals and their coking properties.

Treatise on Mills and Millwork
  • William Fairbairn
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    21 August 2014
    First published in:
    1861
  • One of the great Victorian engineers, Sir William Fairbairn (1789–1874) had started his career as a millwright's apprentice, going on to become a civil engineer, a designer of industrial machinery and an expert on the failure of materials and structures. The present work distils a lifetime's experience of mechanical design into two highly illustrated parts. First published in 1861 and 1863, they are here reissued in a single volume. Part 1 gives a general overview of mechanisms such as gears, cranks and cams, and then moves on to the design of prime movers: waterwheels and turbines, steam engines and boilers, and windmills. Part 2 covers the design of mechanisms in more detail, and discusses power transmissions and their components: shafts, gears, bearings, couplings and so on. Lastly, Fairbairn gives overviews of the most important types of industrial mill - including cotton, wool, paper, iron and gunpowder - and their machinery.

A System of Mechanical Philosophy
  • Volume 4
  • John Robison
  • Edited by David Brewster
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    21 August 2014
    First published in:
    1822
  • After a brief career at sea, during which he tested Harrison's chronometer for the Board of Longitude, John Robison (1739–1805) became lecturer in chemistry at the University of Glasgow. In 1774, having spent a period teaching mathematics in Russia, he returned to Scotland as professor of natural philosophy at Edinburgh. Despite his busy schedule, he contributed major articles on the sciences to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, giving an overview of contemporary scientific knowledge for the educated layperson. After his death, these and other pieces of his scientific writing were edited by his former pupil David Brewster (1781–1868) and were finally published in four volumes in 1822, with a separate volume of illustrative plates. This reissue incorporates those plates in the relevant volumes of text. Volume 4 contains a variety of Robison's encyclopaedia articles: on electricity and on magnetism, various pieces on the physics of sound and music, and assorted others.

A System of Mechanical Philosophy
  • Volume 1
  • John Robison
  • Edited by David Brewster
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    21 August 2014
    First published in:
    1822
  • After a brief career at sea, during which he tested Harrison's chronometer for the Board of Longitude, John Robison (1739–1805) became lecturer in chemistry at the University of Glasgow. In 1774, having spent a period teaching mathematics in Russia, he returned to Scotland as professor of natural philosophy at Edinburgh. Despite his busy schedule, he contributed major articles on the sciences to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, giving an overview of contemporary scientific knowledge for the educated layperson. After his death, these and other pieces of his scientific writing were edited by his former pupil David Brewster (1781–1868) and were finally published in four volumes in 1822, with a separate volume of illustrative plates. This reissue incorporates those plates in the relevant volumes of text. Volume 1 contains articles on dynamics and on the construction of roofs, arches and bridges, as well as a previously unpublished manuscript on projectile motion.

A Description of Westminster Bridge
  • To Which Are Added, an Account of the Methods Made Use of in Laying the Foundations of its Piers
  • Charles Labelye
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    21 August 2014
  • The construction of the first Westminster Bridge, upon which Wordsworth composed his famous sonnet, presented many challenges in terms of the materials and methods with which a sturdy bridge could be built in tidal water and on a gravelly riverbed. A number of candidates presented their surveys to the commissioners of the bridge, but it was the Swiss-born Charles Labelye (1705–62) who was appointed to oversee construction in 1738. The bridge opened to traffic in 1750. This 1751 publication expands upon the shorter work that Labelye had prepared in 1739 to address the laying of the foundations. Significantly, he used caissons - vast wooden structures sunk into the riverbed - within which the stone piers were built. Although the promised illustrations did not appear in this work, the book provides a valuable insight into the technical problems of a major engineering project, and the solutions available at that time.

Life of Robert Stevenson
  • Civil Engineer
  • David Stevenson
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    28 August 2014
    First published in:
    1878
  • Published in 1878, this biography of the civil engineer Robert Stevenson (1772–1850) was written by his second-youngest son David (1815–86), also a civil engineer and uncle to the author Robert Louis Stevenson. Having already published The Principles and Practice of Canal and River Engineering in 1872 (also reissued in this series), he set about writing this survey of his father's life and works, based on extracts from Robert's professional reports, notes from his diary, and communications to scientific journals and societies between 1798 and 1843. Perhaps most widely known for his practical and persuasive leadership in building many lighthouses for the Northern Lighthouse Board - including that on the notorious Bell Rock, over which he came into conflict with engineer John Rennie regarding the design - Stevenson ensured that the Scottish coastline became a much safer place for shipping for decades to come.

On the Power of Machines
  • John Banks
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    21 August 2014
    First published in:
    1803
  • From the 1770s onwards, John Banks (1740–1805) taught natural philosophy and gave courses of public lectures across the north west of England. Much of his work aimed to show engineers, mechanics and artisans how they could benefit from expanding their practical and theoretical knowledge. In this 1803 publication, Banks ranges across mechanics, hydraulics and the strength of materials. He considers various designs for important industrial machines, such as watermills, pumps and steam engines, offering calculations of their power. Drawing on his own experiments, as well as those of others, he shows readers how to estimate the strength of wooden and iron beams, and how to calculate the airflow from a pair of bellows. Diverse in its topics, the book sheds light on how rational calculation came to be applied to the machinery of the industrial revolution. Banks' Treatise on Mills (2nd edition, 1815) is also reissued in this series.

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