Anchor escapement

In horology, the anchor escapement is a type of escapement used in pendulum clocks. The escapement is a mechanism in a mechanical clock that maintains the swing of the pendulum by giving it a small push each swing, and allows the clock's wheels to advance a fixed amount with each swing, moving the clock's hands forward. The anchor escapement was so named because one of its principal parts is shaped vaguely like a ship's anchor.
The anchor escapement was probably invented by British scientist Robert Hooke around 1657, although some references credit clockmaker William Clement, who popularized the anchor in his invention of the longcase or grandfather clock around 1680. When Clement's clock appeared Hooke claimed the invention of the escapement, saying that he had shown a clock with the same escapement to the Royal Society soon after the great fire of 1666. The oldest known anchor clock is Wadham College Clock, a tower clock built at Wadham College, Oxford, in 1670, probably by clockmaker Joseph Knibb. The anchor became the standard escapement used in almost all pendulum clocks.
A more accurate variation without recoil called the deadbeat escapement was invented by Richard Towneley around 1675 and introduced by British clockmaker George Graham around 1715. This gradually superseded the ordinary anchor escapement and is used in most modern pendulum clocks.
How it works.
The anchor escapement consists of two parts: the "escape wheel", which is a vertical wheel with pointed teeth on it rather like saw teeth, and the "anchor", shaped vaguely like a ship's anchor, which swings back and forth on a pivot just above the escape wheel. On the two arms of the anchor are curved faces which the teeth of the escape wheel push against, called "pallets". The central shaft of the anchor is attached to a fork pushed by the pendulum, so the anchor swings back and forth, with the pallets alternately catching and releasing an escape wheel tooth on each side.
Each time one pallet moves away from the escape wheel, releasing a tooth, the wheel turns and a tooth on the other side catches on the other pallet, which is moving toward the wheel. The momentum of the pendulum continues to move the second pallet toward the wheel, pushing the escape wheel backward for a distance, until the pendulum reverses direction and the pallet begins to move away from the wheel, with the tooth sliding along its surface, pushing it. Then the tooth slides off the end of the pallet, beginning the cycle again.
Neither the anchor escapement nor the deadbeat form, below, are self-starting. The pendulum must be given a swing to get them going.
Recoil.
The backward motion of the escape wheel during part of the cycle, called "recoil", is one of the disadvantages of the anchor escapement. It results in a temporary reversal of the entire wheel train back to the driving weight with each tick of the clock, causing extra wear in the wheel train, excessive wear to the gear teeth, and inaccuracy. It can also cause the points of the escape wheel teeth to dig into the pallet surface. The teeth are slanted backward, opposite the direction of rotation, and the surface of the pallets is slightly convex, to prevent this.
Another reason the escape wheel teeth are slanted backward is as a safety measure. If the clock is moved without immobilising the pendulum, the uncontrolled swinging of the pendulum can cause the anchor pallets to collide violently with the escape wheel. The slanted teeth ensure that the flat faces of the anchor pallets hit the sides of the teeth first, protecting the delicate points from being broken.
The deadbeat escapement (below) doesn't have recoil. One way to determine whether an antique pendulum clock has an anchor or deadbeat escapement is to observe the second hand. If it moves backward slightly after every tick, showing recoil, the clock has an anchor escapement.
Crutch and fork.
The shaft of the anchor, called the "crutch" ends in a fork which embraces the shaft of the pendulum, giving it transverse impulses. The pendulum rod is hung from a short straight suspension spring attached to a sturdy support directly behind the anchor. The pivot of the anchor is aligned with the bending point of the spring. This arrangement results in a more stable pendulum support than simply suspending the pendulum directly from the anchor.
Design details.
The anchor is very tolerant of variations in its geometry, so its shape varied widely. In late 19th century, in Britain, the usual design was a 90° angle between the pallets, which meant locating the anchor pivot a distance of ≈ 1.4 times the escape wheel radius from the escape wheel pivot. In a grandfather clock, which had a pendulum which swung once per second, the escape wheel often had 30 teeth, which made the escape wheel rotate once per minute so the second hand could be attached to its shaft. In a 30 tooth escape wheel the pallets span about 7½ teeth. The impulse angle of the pallets, which determined the swing of the pendulum, was 3°-4°.
History.
The anchor was the second widely used escapement in Europe, replacing the primitive 400-year-old verge escapement in pendulum clocks. The pendulums in verge escapement clocks had very wide swings of 80° to 100°. In 1673, seventeen years after he invented the pendulum clock, Christiaan Huygens published his mathematical analysis of pendulums, "Horologium Oscillatorium". In it he showed that the wide pendulum swings of verge clocks caused them to be inaccurate, because the period of oscillation of the pendulum was not isochronous but varied to a small degree due to circular error with changes in the amplitude of the pendulum's swing, which occurred with unavoidable changes in drive force. The realization that only small pendulum swings were nearly isochronous motivated clockmakers to design escapements with small swings.
The chief advantage of the anchor was that by locating the pallets farther from the pivot, the swing of the pendulum was reduced from around 100° in verge clocks to only 4°-6°. In addition to the improved accuracy due to isochronism, this allowed clocks to use longer pendulums, which had a slower 'beat'. Lower air drag meant they needed less power to keep swinging, and caused less wear on the clock's movement. The anchor also allowed the use of a heavier pendulum bob for a given drive force, making the pendulum more independent of the escapement (higher Q), and thus more accurate. These long pendulums required long narrow clock cases. Around 1680 British clockmaker William Clement began selling the first commercial clocks to use the anchor escapement, tall freestanding clocks with 1 meter (39 inch) seconds pendulums contained inside a long narrow clock case that came to be called longcase or 'grandfather' clocks. The anchor increased the accuracy of clocks so much that around 1680–1690 the use of the minute hand, formerly the exception in clocks, became the rule.
The anchor escapement replaced the verge in pendulum clocks within about fifty years, although French clockmakers continued to use verges until about 1800. Many verge clocks were rebuilt with anchors. In the 18th century the more accurate deadbeat form of the escapement replaced the anchor in precision regulators, but the anchor remained the workhorse in home pendulum clocks. During the 19th century the deadbeat form gradually took over in most quality clocks, but the anchor form is still used in a few pendulum clocks today.
Disadvantages.
The anchor escapement is reliable and tolerant of large geometrical errors in its construction, but its operation is similar to the old verge escapement, and retains two of the major disadvantages of the verge:
Deadbeat escapement.

The above two disadvantages were removed with the invention of an improved version of the anchor escapement: the deadbeat or Graham escapement. This is often erroneously credited to English clockmaker George Graham who introduced it around 1715 in his precision regulator clocks. However it was actually invented around 1675 by astronomer Richard Towneley, and first used by Graham's mentor Thomas Tompion in a clock built for Sir Jonas Moore, and in the two precision regulators he made for the new Greenwich Observatory in 1676, mentioned in correspondence between Astronomer Royal John Flamsteed and Towneley
The deadbeat form of the anchor escapement is less tolerant of inaccuracy in its manufacture or wear during operation and was initially used only in precision clocks, but its use spread during the 19th century to most quality pendulum clocks. Almost all pendulum clocks made today use it.
Tower clocks are one of the few types of pendulum clock which the anchor escapement did not dominate. The varying force applied to the wheel train by the large exterior hands, exposed to wind, snow, and ice loads, was better handled by gravity escapements.
How it works.
The deadbeat escapement has two faces to the pallets, a 'locking' or 'dead' face, with a curved surface concentric with the axis on which the anchor rotates, and a sloping 'impulse' face. When an escape wheel tooth is resting against one of the dead faces, its force is directed through the anchor's pivot axis, so it gives no impulse to the pendulum, allowing it to swing freely. When the pallet on the other side releases the escape wheel, a tooth lands on this "dead" face first, and remains resting against it for most of the pendulum's outward swing and return. For this period the escape wheel is "locked" and unable to turn. Near the bottom of the pendulum's swing the tooth slides off the dead face onto the slanted 'impulse' face of the pallet, allowing the escape wheel to turn and give the pendulum a push, before dropping off the pallet. It is still a frictional rest escapement because the sliding of the escape tooth on the dead face adds friction to the pendulum's swing, but it has less friction than the recoil escapement because there is no recoil force.
In contrast to the backward slant of the anchor escape wheel teeth, the deadbeat escape wheel teeth are radial or slant forward to ensure that the tooth makes contact with the 'dead' face of the pallet, preventing recoil.
The Airy condition.
Clockmakers discovered in the 1700s that for accuracy, the best place to apply the impulse to keep the pendulum swinging was at the bottom of its swing, as it passes through its equilibrium position. If the impulse is applied during the pendulum's downswing, before it reaches the bottom, the impulse force tends to decrease the period of the swing, so an increase in drive force causes the clock to gain time. If the impulse is applied during the pendulum's upswing, after it reaches the bottom, the impulse force tends to increase the period of the swing, so an increase in drive force causes the clock to lose time.
In 1826 British astronomer George Airy proved this; specifically he proved that a pendulum that is driven by a drive impulse that is symmetrical about its bottom equilibrium position is isochronous for different drive forces, ignoring friction, and that the deadbeat escapement approximately satisfies this condition. It would be exactly satisfied if the escape wheel teeth were made to fall exactly on the corner between the two pallet faces, but for the escapement to operate reliably the teeth must be made to fall above the corner, on the 'dead' face.
Comparison of motion in anchor and deadbeat.
A major cause of error in clocks is changes in the drive force applied to the escapement, caused by small changes in the friction of the gears or the pallets, or the diminishing force of the mainspring as it unwinds. An escapement in which changes in drive force do not affect the rate is called isochronous. The superior performance of the deadbeat over the recoil is due to improved isochronism. This is due to the different ways changes in drive force affect the swing of the pendulum in the two escapements:
When the deadbeat was invented, clockmakers initially believed it had inferior isochronism to the anchor, because of the greater effect of changes in force on the pendulum's amplitude. Recent analyses point out that the nonisochronism of the anchor can cancel the circular error of the pendulum. That is, an increase in amplitude of swing causes a slight increase in period of a pendulum due to circular error, and that this can compensate for the decreased period due to isochronism. Due to this effect a carefully adjusted anchor escapement with polished pallets might be more accurate than a deadbeat. This has been confirmed by at least one modern experiment.


RenderMan

The name RenderMan can cause confusion because it has been used to refer to different things developed by Pixar Animation Studios:


Enscape

Enscape is a commercial real-time rendering and virtual reality plugin. It is mainly used in the architecture, engineering, and construction fields and is developed and maintained by Enscape GmbH, founded in 2013 and based in Karlsruhe, Germany with an office in New York, USA.
Overview.
The main focus of Enscape lies in the calculation of realistic visualizations of architecture with low operating complexity. A real-time method is applied to achieve higher iteration speeds at the planning project by reducing waiting times. The respective CAD model is used, for example, to derive a virtual reality simulation.
Enscape uses OpenGL 4.4 and Vulkan and provides photorealistic representations of the underlying CAD models. With the help of a path-tracing procedure and physically based material models, the global illumination can be visualized realistically.
The following design solutions are currently supported:


Arsen Panosyan

Arsen Panosyan ( Armenian: ) (September 27, 1940 – July 7, 2012) was an Armenian ornament painter, wood carver, Khachqar sculptor and painter.
Biography.
Arsen Panosyan was born in the village of Argel (Lusakert) in Kotayk province, Armenia.
He started woodcarving as a young child with the assistance and mentorship of the famous sculptor and his uncle Hovsep Margaryan. Studying Armenian classic decoration art and engraving techniques, he created his own style of ornaments and started making multilayered woodcarving.
For three times, Arsen Panosyan and his sons various works of art have been awarded gold medals in international contests that took place in a variety of prestigious museums and private collections. On 1950s, with his works Arsen Panosyan is participating in foundation of museum of folk art of Yerevan.
Studying cross-stones art (khachqar), on 1980s boys begin to deal with cross-stones art, creating both classical and new, his unique style cross.
In 1998, in his native village of Argel, Panosyan unselfishly built in memory of fallen soldiers during the Artsakh war a cross-stone complex, and in 2001 donated to the village a cross-stone memorial, consisting of 15 stones, called "Christian Armenia", devoted to the celebration of 1700th anniversary of adoption of Christianity in Armenia.
In the cities of Bremen, , Moscow and Lyon his cross stones immortalize the memory of the innocent victims of the Armenian Genocide.
Arsen Panosyan's cross stones dedicated to the memories of the fallen soldiers can be found in different communities in Armenia and Artsakh. The Master's numerous stone crosses are also found in the courtyards of the Armenian churches.
In 2004, he was awarded the “Movses Khorenatsi” medal, and in 2010,he was decorated with the “” medal.
During more than his 50 years of creative works of arts, Arsen Panosyan, (later with his two sons, Artur and Paruyr) participated in various international exhibitions and award winning festivals, created more than 300 wood carvings and more than 150 cross stones.
Others about Arsen Panosyan.
«Master Arsen's works are initially created within soul and later are shaped by hand.»
«I watch and am in awe... how our people with so little patience gave birth to a man of such great patience "Arsen Panosyan"the wizard of the art of woodcarving...Bless him!»
«With his art, Panosyan continues and maintains the unique, the beautiful, the good trend in the art of the Armenian people.»
Grigor Khanjyan
«Panosyan worked with wood, as Paganini with his violin.»
External links.
[[Category:Woodcarvers]]
[[Category:Armenian painters]]
[[Category:1940 births]]
[[Category:2012 deaths]]


Isaac W. Smith (surveyor)

Isaac W. Smith (born Isaac Williams Smith; February 15, 1826 – January 1, 1897) was an American surveyor and civil engineer. He also served as an engineer officer in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.
Early life and education.
Smith was born February 15, 1826, in Fredericksburg, Virginia, the son of Rev. George A. and Ophelia Williams Smith. He attended the Fairfax Institute at Clairens and the Virginia Military Institute at Lexington, graduating in 1846. One of his professors was Thomas Stonewall Jackson. After graduation Smith served as assistant surveyor on many projects, including under Captain Emory on the survey of the northeastern boundary between the United States and Canada.
Mexican-American War.
In 1847, Smith was appointed a Second Lieutenant in Company K of the U.S. Regiment of Voltigeurs during the Mexican-American War, and fought at Veracruz.
Early career.
After his discharge from the Army, Smith returned to surveying and became assistant surveyor and astronomer on the survey of the parallel between the Creek and Cherokee nations of Native Americans under lieutenants Sitgreaves and Woodruff. He was also assistant astronomer and first assistant surveyor of the parallel between the states of Iowa and Minnesota, and resident surveyor and engineer for the construction of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, Virginia. In 1854 Smith was assistant engineer on the Pacific Railroad surveys and explorations along the southern route of a proposed transcontinental railway route under U.S. Engineer lieutenants Williamson and Parke.
Smith moved to Washington Territory in 1855 where he supervised the building of various lighthouses along the Pacific coast and Strait of Juan de Fuca. This work was accomplished, in his own words, "with considerably difficulty and peril, journeys to and from the works being made either in small rowboats or Indian canoes through water that were of a very treacherous character and often with only Indians for crew". In 1858, Smith was appointed Lighthouse Agent for Washington Territory. In 1859 he surveyed the Puget Sound Guide Meridian from the area just north of Seattle to within feet of the international boundary with British Columbia. Smith was appointed chief registrar of the General Land Office in Seattle in 1860 and was an aide-de-camp to Governor Isaac Stevens.
American Civil War.
During the American Civil War, when the Union Army invaded his home state, Smith had to flee north to British Columbia because of his well-known Southern sympathies. He returned to Virginia in 1862 by way of steamer to Baltimore, Maryland, and then on to Richmond. Smith enlisted in the Confederate States Army and was appointed Captain in the Engineer Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia in charge of the Confederate pontoon service. He was instrumental in the defense of Petersburg and Richmond during the Siege of Petersburg, and was present at the surrender of Confederate forces at Appomattox Court House. Smith returned home with "an old gray uniform, much tattered and worn, a good horse and a large amount of experience."
Later career.
After the war, Smith went to Mexico where he served as district engineer on the Imperial Mexican Railroad from Veracruz to Mexico City. He returned to the Pacific Coast in 1869 and worked as surveyor and engineer on various railroad surveys in California, Oregon and the Northern Pacific Railroad in Washington. He built the canals and locks around Willamette Falls in Oregon City in 1871–72.
In December 1873, Smith platted gas and water lines for the city of Tacoma, Washington. He then worked in British Columbia in the employ of the Dominion Government where he conducted a survey of the Fraser River from Soda Creek to Lytton to examine the feasibility of steamship travel. From 1876 to 1878 he served on the Board of Railroad Commissioners for the State of California, and was appointed chief engineer of the Sacramento River Drainage Commission. In 1880 he served as chief engineer of the Board of State Harbor Commissioners of California.
Smith then returned to Washington in the employ of the Northern Pacific Railroad and was put in charge of surveys through the Cascade Range to find the most practical route across to Tacoma. The route adopted was through "Stampede Pass", one of the lines Smith surveyed and mapped.
"Father" of Portland Oregon's water system.
From 1885 to 1897 Smith was Chief Engineer for the City of Portland, Oregon, Water Works. In January, 1886, at the request of the Portland Water Committee, Isaac Smith led a survey to discover a new water source for Portland. He designed and supervised the building of the pipeline from the newly surveyed Bull Run Reservoir to Portland, from which the city still gets its drinking water. For several months the survey party fought through country described by another member of the survey team as "rugged wilderness, unsurveyed and unknown. The only trails are those of elk, deer, etc. There is not a trace of civilization in any direction."
Death.
"The Colonel", as he was called, was extremely dedicated to his work. He took to his bed on Christmas Day 1896 with pneumonia. Over the next three days he suffered bouts of chills and fever. His last words before death were, "How is the wingdam in the Sandy River getting along? I hope the cost of it will not exceed the estimate of $600. I would not like to have the cost exceed the estimate." Isaac Williams Smith never married and died of pneumonia in Portland on January 1, 1897.
His obituary in "The Oregonian" called this devotion to duty his "sterling and unapproachable integrity…his great but unostentatious love for all created things." It went on to state that Isaac Smith was "one of nature's noblemen, a man of lofty nature, who could not stoop to give place in his large and generous heart to anything that partook of the small and petty in act or sentiment. His life was colored strongly by his sense of duty, his sterling and unapproachable integrity…"
Smith is buried in a very plain grave in section three of River View Cemetery, in the Teal family plot.
Legacy.
Camp No. 458 (established 2003) of the Sons of Confederate Veterans in Portland, Oregon, is named after him.


William Halcrow

Sir William Halcrow (4 July 1883 – 31 October 1958) was one of the most notable English civil engineers of the 20th century, particularly renowned for his expertise in the design of tunnels and for projects during the Second World War.
Early years.
Halcrow was born in Bishopwearmouth, Sunderland, (at 9 Shakespeare Terrace) at a time when Sunderland was the site of extensive railway and harbour developments.
He joined the London-based firm of PW and CS Meik as a pupil (coincidentally, engineering brothers Patrick Meik and Charles Meik were also born in Bishopwearmouth) in the early 1900s and one of his earliest projects was the Kinlochleven hydroelectric scheme in the Western Highlands of Scotland, where he worked as assistant resident engineer.
In 1910 he left the firm to gain overseas experience (working on construction of the King George V Dock in Singapore). During World War I, back in Scotland, he was in charge of the construction of the Invergordon naval base and for defences at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands.
Lochaber.
After a brief return to Singapore to work on the Johor–Singapore Causeway (c.1919), he returned to rejoin Charles Meik and work on the design of the Lochaber hydroelectric scheme. When Meik died in 1923, the delivery of this ambitious project (which involved boring a main tunnel 5m in diameter and 24 km long under the northern edge of the Ben Nevis massif, and creating a series of dams and reservoirs) was left in Halcrow's hands; that same year, the firm was renamed CS Meik and Halcrow.
Wartime exploits.
His responsibilities extended to tunnels under Whitehall and tunnels for the Post Office and telecommunications.
The knowledge he had gained at Lochaber was to prove invaluable as the Second World War approached and the transport authorities sought to protect the London Underground system from flooding. He also helped design deep air raid shelters, eight of which were attached to existing stations such as Goodge Street tube station (which also housed a signals centre used by General Eisenhower to direct the D-Day landings in Normandy in 1944).
Halcrow's expertise was also used in preparatory works at the Manod slate quarry in north Wales, used to keep treasures from the National Gallery, London safe from enemy air raids. His firm was also involved in designing the reinforced concrete caissons used for the Mulberry Harbours employed after D-Day in northern France, while his knowledge of dam construction was used by Barnes Wallis to help perfect the 'bouncing bomb' used in the famous Operation Chastise or "Dam Busters" raids of July 1943.
Peace-time expansion.
After the war, Halcrow's attention once again turned to Scotland. Instead of generating power for aluminium production, the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board proposed a new generation of hydroelectric schemes to generate power for public consumption. The Glen Affric scheme, started in 1947, was the biggest, but there were equally impressive projects in neighbouring catchments such as Glen Garry and Glen Moriston – the latter including one of the first underground power stations in the UK – and Strathfarrar and Kilmorack.
In Wales, the Halcrow firm's attention also turned to water supply projects. The Claerwen dam opened in 1952 and, later, the Clywedog dam, helped create reservoirs to supply the towns and cities of the English West Midlands. Halcrow was also instrumental in persuading the UK government to set up a hydraulics research laboratory at Wallingford in Oxfordshire, while his colleagues were designing railway tunnels at Potters Bar (1955) and the earlier Woodhead Tunnel (1954) and starting work on the new Victoria line underground line beneath central London.
Overseas, Halcrow led the company to work on a wide range of engineering projects, from roads, bridges and harbours in Ghana, Libya and Mozambique to dams in Venezuela.
The Halcrow legacy.
Halcrow was knighted in 1944, and elected as President of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1946. He retired in the late 1950s and died in Folkestone, Kent in 1958.
The firm, renamed "WT Halcrow and Partners" in 1941 and "Sir William Halcrow and Partners" in 1944, was known in the early 21st century as Halcrow Group Limited. On 10 November 2011, the firm was acquired by the American consultant CH2M Hill; in 2017 CH2M was acquired by Jacobs Engineering Group.
References.


Peter Smith Michie

Peter Smith Michie (March 24, 1839 - February 16, 1901) was an American educator and soldier.
Biography.
He was born in Brechin, Scotland, came to the United States in 1843, and was brought up in Cincinnati. He graduated second in the class of 1863 at West Point and entered the engineer corps. During the Civil War, he served in the campaign of 1864 against Richmond, Virginia; was chief engineer of General Benjamin Butler's Army of the James during the construction of the Dutch Gap Canal; and was at the head of all engineering operations of the left column at Hatcher's Run and in the pursuit of General Robert E. Lee's army.
After the war, having attained brevet rank of brigadier in 1865, he was for a year engaged in the government survey of the theatre of the war. From 1867 to 1869 he taught various branches at West Point; was member of a coastal fortification commission which visited Europe in 1870; and for the last thirty years of his life was professor of natural and experimental philosophy at West Point. He was an overseer of the Thayer School of Civil Engineering at Dartmouth College (1871-1901).


Las Vegas station (Brightline West)

Las Vegas is the planned northern terminus of the Brightline West high-speed rail service. The station site is located on the south end of the Las Vegas Strip, west of the Las Vegas Premium Outlets South between Robindale Road and El Dorado Lane. The two-story station will feature retail and restaurant space, areas for connecting transportation, as well as a 2400-space parking garage. Construction permits were acquired in March 2020 by Brightline, construction is expected to begin in the second half of 2023, and the station is expected to open in the second half of 2024.


Muramatsu Flutes

Muramatsu Flute is a flute manufacturer founded by Koichi Muramatsu. It is probably the oldest Japanese flute company, having manufactured the instrument since 1923. Their handmade flutes are made from sterling silver; 9K, 14K, 18K, and 24K gold; as well as platinum. Many artisans who have worked for Muramatsu have also created many of the new companies in Japan that make high-quality handmade flutes.
The factory is located in the city of Tokorozawa, Japan. The sister company that sells the flutes is and is located in Shinjuku, Tokyo, with branches in Osaka, Nagoya, and Yokohama in Japan, and dealers all over the world.
Famous flautists who use this brand include James Galway, Sharon Bezaly, and Lizzo.


Janney coupler

Janney couplers are a semi-automatic design, also known as American, AAR, APT, ARA, MCB, knuckle, or center-buffer couplers, which were first patented in 1873 by Eli H. Janney (). Andrew Jackson Beard was amongst various inventors that made a multitude of improvements to the knuckle coupler; Beard's patents were granted 23 November 1897, which then sold for approximately $50,000, and granted 16 May 1899.
In the UK, several versions of Janney couplers (Alliance, BuckEye|DropHead, TightLock, SwingHead...) are fitted to a limited number of coaches, multiple units, wagons and locomotives.
Janney Type E, Type F InterLock, and Type H TightLock couplers are compatible subtypes, each intended for specific rail car types: goods freight wagons, tank wagons, rotary dump gondolas, passenger coaches, etc.
Prior to the formation of the Association of American Railroads (AAR) these were known as or Master Car Builder (MCB) couplers. In 1934 the MCB was renamed as the AAR.
Knuckle couplers of the 1880s and 1890s had a chaotic mixture of proprietary internal components, but all had the standard MCB external contour, making them compatible. There was a multitude of makes and models — Burns, Climax, Gould, Miller, Sharon and Tower. Some worked better than others.
In 1913, American Steel Foundries (ASF) developed the Janney "Type D" coupler, that was then made the MCB standard coupler for North America; new and rebuilt rolling stock had to be fitted with this coupler. This standard ended the market for knuckle couplers with proprietary components, excepting those exported from the US to other countries not complying with MCB standards.
The Alliance coupler, named after the ASF-owned foundry in Alliance, Ohio, was developed as a lighter build than the "Type D", and was marketed by the Amsted Corporation, parent of ASF, as the "Standard for the World". It is still the most-used knuckle coupler in the world. The modern Alliance coupler still uses the modern AAR-10 or 10A contour, but has a shorter thus weaker head length, and thus cannot be used on North American interchanged rolling stock.
Manufacturers of modern "Type E", "Type F InterLock" and "Type H Tightlock" couplers include McConway & Torley, ASF, and Buckeye, also known as Columbus Castings.
The external contour of Janney knuckle couplers was the first aspect to be standardized by the MCB in the 1880s. Prior to this, there was a chaotic variety of constantly evolving and proprietary external contours and internal components. In 1893, manufacturers standardized on the MCB-5 or Type C contour, then in 1915 on the improved MCB-10 or Type D contour, and again in 1932 on the AAR-10A or Type E contour. The 1893, 1915, and 1932 contours are measurably different with slight dimensional changes that improved performance, yet remain compatible. Janney couplers still use the 1932 contour, though tolerances, metallurgy and machining techniques have improved, resulting in notable reductions in coupler slack. Type H TightLock couplers used on passenger stock have a variation of the 10A contour that nearly eliminates slack during normal operation and minimizes the possibility of "telescoping" during a derailment.
Purpose.
The purpose of couplers is to join rail cars and locomotives to each other so they all are securely linked together. Major Eli Janney, a Confederate veteran of the American Civil War, invented the semi-automatic knuckle coupler in 1868. It automatically locks the couplers on cars or locomotives together without a rail worker having to get between the cars, and replaced the link and pin coupler, which was a major cause of injuries to railroad workers. The locking pin that ensures Janney couplers remain fastened together is withdrawn manually by a worker using the "cut lever", which is operated from either side of the railroad car and does not require the person to go between the cars. The only time the worker has to go between cars is after they have been securely coupled, to hook up the air lines for the pneumatic brakes, and the head-end power cables in the case of passenger cars.
Modern Janney couplers typically mount to rail cars and locomotives via draw gear; early Janney couplers often had transitional shanks which mounted into legacy link and pin coupler pockets, or bolted directly to steam locomotive headstocks.
Janney/MCB/ARA/AAR/APTA coupler.
The Janney coupler is used in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Chile, Brazil, China, South and North Korea, and elsewhere.
Among its features:
Janney Type E.
Janney Type E DoubleShelf couplers are yet another variety, typical on North American HazMat tank cars.
Gooseneck coupler.
With gooseneck couplers or offset shank couplers, the horizontal centerline of the coupler head is above the horizontal centerline of the coupler shank, or shaft, and the draw gear. This arrangement is designed for use with low-floor freight cars, to lift the coupler head high enough to match the couplers on other rolling stock. The large bogie boxvans for car parts, used on the Victorian Railways, were fitted with gooseneck couplers for that reason.
Henricot coupler.
The Henricot coupler is a variation on the Janney coupler, introduced by Belgian engineer and entrepreneur of Court-Saint-Étienne. It is used on certain EMUs of the Belgian State Railways, including the NMBS/SNCB class 75.
History.
Janney was a dry goods clerk and former Confederate Army officer from Alexandria, Virginia, who used his lunch hours to whittle from wood an alternative to the link and pin coupler. The term Buckeye comes from the nickname of the US state of Ohio, the "Buckeye state" and the Ohio Brass Company which originally marketed the coupling.
In 1893, satisfied that an automatic coupler could meet the demands of commercial railroad operations and, at the same time, be manipulated safely, the US Congress passed the Safety Appliance Act. Its success in promoting switch-yard safety was stunning. Between 1877 and 1887, approximately 38% of all railworker accidents involved coupling. That percentage fell as the railroads began to replace link and pin couplers with automatic couplers. By 1902, only two years after the SAA's effective date, coupling accidents constituted only 4% of all employee accidents. Coupler-related accidents dropped from nearly 11,000 in 1892 to just over 2,000 in 1902, even though the number of railroad employees steadily increased during that decade.
When the Janney coupling was chosen to be the American standard, there were 8,000 patented alternatives to choose from. The only significant disadvantage of using the AAR (Janney) design is that sometimes the drawheads need to be manually aligned.
During the transition period from link-and-pin couplers, knuckle couplers on many locomotives had a horizontal gap and a vertical hole in the knuckle itself to accommodate, respectively, a link and a pin, to enable it to couple to vehicles which were still equipped with the older link-and-pin couplers.
Changes since 1873.
The Janney coupler has withstood the test of time since its invention, with only minor changes:
Bazeley Coupler.
Bazeley Coupler 1905-1918 M.C.B. D Type established as the Universal M.C.B. Standard, Adopted 1915
"Arthur James Bazeley" (1872-1937), railway couplings inventor/design engineer; was born in Bristol, England, in 1872, and worked for the Great Western Railway until the age of 34 when he immigrated to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1906, where he worked as a mechanical engineer for National Malleable Castings, Co., inventing and designing improvements in the function, strength, and durability of the (MCB/ARA/AAR/APTA) Janney, Knuckle, Alliance couplers and other coupling devices/draw gear for the evolving heavier demands by US railways, as well as, National Malleable Castings' international customers in the United Kingdom, India, and many other countries building and expanding their railway systems. A.J. Bazeley was directly responsible for over 90 registered U.S. patents for railway automatic coupler improvements through design, under the coupler type names which included the "Buckeye coupler", the "Sharon Coupler" PAT APP Nov. 10, 1910, 1911,1913, 1914, the "Simplex Coupler" PAT APP May 3, 1903, the "Climax Coupler", the "Latrobe Coupler", the "Tower Coupler", the "Major Coupler", the "Gould Coupler", the "Pitt Coupler", the "R.E. Janney Coupler", the "Kelso Coupler" and others.
A.J. Bazeley related railway inventions, U.S. patents and railway coupler mechanical drawings and illustrations filed and assigned to National Malleable Castings Company can be referenced by a patent search under "Bazeley, railway couplings" or "Arthur James Bazeley, railway couplings patents" which have been drawn/filed and provided by Roger Bazeley-USA, MSTM, MSID, CHSRM Mineta Transportation Institute, Transportation Industrial Designer. A.J. Bazeley Railway Coupling, Construction/Design Improvements and Draft Rigging related patents include: US 1193222, US 124622, US 1932719, US 1518299, US 1932503, US 2235194, US 1932440 and others.
National Malleable Castings in 1891 absorbed the Chicago Malleable Iron which was founded in 1873 by Alfred A. Pope and John C. Coonley, who operated similar companies in Ohio and Indiana. By the late 1880s, the company employed nearly 1,000 men at its 26th and Western Chicago works, which manufactured various railroad couplers and steel products for the railroad industries. In 1891, Chicago Malleable became part of the new National Malleable Castings Co., the Cleveland-based company, where Arthur J. Bazeley was employed as a senior design engineer, had additional manufacturing plants across the Midwest. National Malleable purchased the Latrobe Steel & Coupler's plant in Melrose Park, Illinois, in 1909. In 1923, when it had begun to supply the automobile industry, the company changed its name to National Malleable & Steel Castings. Its stock was listed on the New York Stock Exchange beginning in 1936
The National Malleable Castings Bazeley Coupler 1905-1918 M.C.B. D Type as Universal M.C.B. Standard Adopted 1915
At a joint M.C.B. Coupler Committee meeting on July 15, 1913, out of numerous studied competing railway coupler manufacturers and designs two couplers were selected for the new proposed universal U.S./Canadian coupler design standard, adopted, June 15, 1916 by the M.C.B. The two couplers accepted were the "Malleable Castings Company Bazeley Coupler", and the American Steel Foundries No.3 modified Alliance Coupler, out of nine couplers submitted to the committee as embodying the joint specification of design, The TYPE D coupler design based on "The National Malleable Castings Bazeley Coupler "patented designs and improvements was selected as the standard M.C.B Association's standard from 1918., after M.C.B. performance tested it along with the Type C designs.
The Type “D” Experimental Standard M.C.B. Coupler was unanimously recommended by the Master Car Builders Association and its Coupler Committee for adoption as the National/International (United States/Canadian) standard for coupler design and manufacturing specification uniformity by the M.C.B. Master Car Builders’ Association on June 15, 1916 after its 1915 Convention. This resulted in the sharing of U.S. Patent improvements and agreed to by The National Malleable Castings Company, Henry Pope President; The Buckeye Steel Castings Company, The Gould Coupler Company, American Steel Foundries and The Monarch Steel Castings Company, and to be the active standard M.C.B. D Type forward from January 1, 1918. Buckeye Steel Castings Company was founded in 1881 as the Murray-Hayden Foundry before changing to The Buckeye Automatic Car Coupler Company and in 2002 after filing bankruptcy was reformed as Columbus Castings.
Railway couplers were manufactured in accordance with the Standard Specifications of the AAR covering the purchase and acceptance of couplers, knuckles, locks and other working parts as shown in their "Mechanical Division Manual of Standards and Recommended Practice". Specifications as of March 1939 required that the fabrication casting material be of open hearth or electric furnace grade "B" steel with specific metallurgic requirements to insure proper tensile strength and reliability of the coupler and its moving parts. In order to govern uniform standards for the interchangeability and the proper relation between fitting parts, the A.R.A. Committee on Couplers and draft gears designed and distributed templates, gauges, and master guides to assure the proper interchangeability and fitting of parts to maintain the proper operation of various multi-source manufactured railway couplers.


Petroform

Petroforms, also known as boulder outlines or boulder mosaics, are human-made shapes and patterns made by lining up large rocks on the open ground, often on quite level areas. Petroforms in North America were originally made by various Native American and First Nation tribes, who used various terms to describe them. Petroforms can also include a rock cairn or inukshuk, an upright monolith slab, a medicine wheel, a fire pit, a desert kite, sculpted boulders, or simply rocks lined up or stacked for various reasons. Old World petroforms include the Carnac stones and many other megalithic monuments.
Definition.
Petroforms are shapes and geometrical patterns made from arranging large rocks and boulders, often over large areas of open ground, unlike the smaller petroglyphs and graphs which are inscribed on rock surfaces. They were originally made in North America by native peoples for astronomical, religious, sacred, healing, mnemonic devices, and teaching purposes. The specific names of these rock formations and the uses varied by political and religious group. Presently, some of these sites are still being used by First Nations, elders, and others.
History.
The first stone phase at Stonehenge has been dated to about 2600 BCE. Stone circles are still being made in Wales as part of the Eisteddfod movement, which incorporates this among other elements from the Druidic revival. Desert kites were used possibly by 3000 BCE; they fell out of use in the Neolithic as prey populations declined and the human population rose.
Some of the North American petroform shapes are over 2,500 years old. It is difficult to date all of them accurately because of a lack of soil deposits in some areas. Like the petroglyphs, many petroforms have complex and lengthy teachings that have been passed down orally by the Ojibway, other First Nations, and the Midewiwin. Some teachings may have been lost, along with the peoples that originally made some of the oldest petroforms in North America. In some North American states and provinces, there are laws to protect these important archaeological and historical sites. There were very few studies or specific mention of Manitoba petroform sites until the 20th century. The first detailed studies and descriptions of some sites in Manitoba were done by J. Steinbring and R. Sutton after the 1950s.
Presently, many Ojibway or Anishinaabe ceremonies in North America involve the making of turtle shaped fire pits for sacred fires. In some instances, rocks are aligned near the entrance and fire of sweat lodge ceremonies that symbolize the Moon, the Sun and other things. Rock piles are still made to mark trails and important locations. A large turtle petroform of piled up boulders was recently made in the Whiteshell Park area of Manitoba.
Designs and purposes.
In some cases, petroforms were made by non-literate cultures who have left no written record of whatever reasons led them to construct these forms. Oral history was passed along by many native groups, and a few groups had very complex symbolic writings on rock, petroglyphs, birch bark scrolls, and other media.
Astronomical markers.
Some petroforms were used as astronomical calendars, with rocks aligned to solstice and equinox sunrises and sunsets. They are often found in higher areas, on hills, mounds, ridges, and natural rock formations. Higher ground allowed humans to carefully observe the horizon to mark and measure astronomical events. Some rock alignments point out four or more directions, lunar events, the rising and setting of planets, some stars, and other astronomical events. Some petroforms can also be used in more complex ways for astronomical predictions, mapping of the sky and ground, and for complex ceremonies that help to memorize many oral stories and songs. Petroforms are similar in some ways to medicine wheels which are also aligned with sunrises and sunsets, equinoxes, solstices, lunar events, and star patterns. Petroforms also mirrored the night sky, and the patterns of the stars, similar to astrological signs and symbols. The Sioux have oral stories of the serpent in the sky, a turtle, a bear, and other patterns seen in the stars. What is often known today as Orion's belt was one prominent, bright star formation, along with the central and stationary north star, now named as Polaris. What is now known as the planet Venus is the very bright morning and evening star that is very noticeable and at times is the first and last to appear. Petroform sites in North America can be found in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Wyoming, Montana, along the Mississippi River, the Missouri River, and elsewhere. It has been suggested that megalithic monuments including Stonehenge may have incorporated important astronomical alignments.
Hunting aids.
The desert kites of Syria, Jordan, and the Negev—long lines of stones—are interpreted as aids to hunting large game animals like gazelles, ibexes, wild asses. There are similar structures on most continents.
Navigation aids.
The inuksuit of the Arctic act as navigation aids, an aid for hunting, or to mark important locations. The rock marker helped the traveler or hunter to find the best route across the land. Someone left a marker to help anyone else passing through the area, and to help with not getting lost. These markers can have very practical and universal purposes. Some petroforms are located along portage routes and canoe routes as well. Human made markers can be easier to remember than common natural features of the landscape. Rock ridges would have been natural trails through dense forest or wet terrain. Whiteshell Provincial Park petroforms are located on top of the granite ridges that snake through the forest and wetlands landscape.
Burial sites.
The Dolmens widespread in Europe and much of Asia are interpreted as Neolithic burial chambers. Large boulders make excellent long term markers for important and sacred places, just as burial plots are marked by large stones today. Some petroforms could be close to ancient burial areas, or near sacred areas associated with the dead. Large rocks are a universal marker that can last for generations. Boulders will last for tens of thousands of years. In memory of a person or the history about a place, these markers help future generations to learn about the past. These markers help to provide long term memories and reminders of a time long ago.
Mnemonic device.
Indigenous peoples have an oral tradition of story telling. Many of these rock shapes are used to memorize and to help tell stories and legends. Some petroforms go in the order of the story, helping one to memorize the successive steps. Large rocks are very permanent, thereby helping to pass along certain memories, knowledge, and wisdom. Some large boulders in North America have long stories that relate to the area and a memory about that place. A large boulder, sitting alone, catches the eye as a major landmark. Many petroforms in Whiteshell Provincial Park have long stories associated with each one.
Other rituals and unknown purposes.
Aboriginal groups also made shapes of humans, snakes, turtles, fish, bears, cougars, thunderbirds, medicine wheels, circles, rectangles, and other complex geometric shapes that are still intact today. There was certainly an attempt to leave their mark upon the landscape, and large boulders or rocks are very permanent markers. The Nazca Lines include many animal and other shapes. Petroforms in North America are often related to earthen mounds. Mounds were sometimes built over the older petroforms, or later made near them. Petroforms also marked out the area for various ceremonies, sweatlodges, fasting, and sacred fires. They often mark an important or sacred area, or point to an important place. Offerings and prayers are made in these areas, along with initiations and vision quests. The exact, original purposes of the Carnac stones, Stonehenge, and many other megalithic monuments are lost.
Localities.
Whiteshell Provincial Park.
One of the locations of petroform sites, including effigies, is in Southeastern Manitoba, in Whiteshell Provincial Park, Canada. Whiteshell Park is named after the white cowrie shells used by some Anishinaabe peoples in ceremonies. The natural landscape of the park, with many movable rocks and boulders left behind after the last ice age, gave humans the easy opportunity to arrange them into many human-made patterns. It is an area where three rivers meet, along the edge of the Canadian Shield, close to the edge of prairie grasslands. The rivers were ancient highways and trade routes, bringing humans from far and wide to the area. Some large boulders appear to be carved, chipped, or altered to look like turtle heads and other animals. A very wide variety of petroform shapes are found in the park, including snakes, turtles, geometric lines, patterns, and large circles. Most of the known petroforms are found on the top of granite ridges. The granite ridges and hills are often very flat in areas, resembling a large concrete parking lot. These open areas have a very smooth granite left behind from the last ice age. In some areas there is no soil, no lichen, and the surface is polished to a shine. The large boulders aligned are in striking contrast to the flat granite beneath them. Local First Nations have teachers and elders that pass along the stories associated with some of these petroforms. Many of the sites and their past use is a mystery, with no certain answers. Some elders refer to one site as extremely sacred and important, and few people should venture there. The Midewiwin have oral teachings about some of the petroforms, but no one group claims to know all the history of the area.
Wisconsin.
The petroform sites in Wisconsin are being studied more closely, and can be dated more easily because of soil deposits over centuries. Many other sites have no layers of soil deposited around the petroforms. Forested areas and soil cover have partially protected many of the petroforms in Wisconsin and Minnesota. In many areas across the prairies, large circular medicine wheels were made as astronomical devices, directional maps, and for ceremonial use. Some of these medicine wheels are large, and many were destroyed for agricultural needs by clearing the grasslands of any rocks. Some are intact, such as in the Turtle Mountains, and other sandy, rocky, or more remote areas that had less crop farms and settlements. Mound building was also associated in some way with petroform use. Petroforms originally predated the use of mounds and other human-made earthen works that required more time and effort. Although mound building could have originally been necessary and practical to provide some higher ground during floods. There is some speculation that larger mounds would have served as dikes and defensive fortifications, including providing higher ground to keep watch.


Lexiu Road station

Lexiu Road (), formerly known as Jinyuanwu Road (), is a station under construction on the future Line 14 of the Shanghai Metro. Located at the intersection of Lexiu Road and Cao'an Highway in the city's Jiading District, the station is scheduled to open with the rest of Line 14 in 2021.


Owens River

The Owens River is a river in eastern California in the United States, approximately long. It drains into and through the Owens Valley, an arid basin between the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada and the western faces of the Inyo and White Mountains. The river terminates at the endorheic Owens Lake south of Lone Pine, at the bottom of a watershed.
In the early 1900s the Owens River was the focus of the California Water Wars, fought between the city of Los Angeles and the inhabitants of Owens Valley over the construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct. Since 1913, the Owens River has been diverted to Los Angeles, causing the ruin of the valley's economy and the drying of Owens Lake. In winter 2006, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power restored 5% of the pre-aqueduct flow to the river, by court order, allowing the Owens River Gorge, the river bed in the valley, and Owens Lake to contain a small amount of water.
Course.
The river rises in the Sierra Nevada in southwestern Mono County, approximately south of Mono Lake and east of Yosemite Valley. It flows southeast across the Long Valley Caldera, through Lake Crowley reservoir, then descends through the Owens River Gorge, emerging at the north end of the Owens Valley northwest of Bishop. In the area around Bishop, it is diverted through many ditches to irrigate the surrounding farming region. It flows south-southeast through the Owens Valley between the Sierra Nevada on the west and the White and Inyo Mountains on the east, past Big Pine. Approximately south-southeast of Big Pine, most of the remaining river is diverted into the Los Angeles Aqueduct, completed in 1913 to supply municipal, recreational and agricultural water to Los Angeles. The remaining river flows through the southern valley, flanked by the Los Angeles Aqueduct, past Lone Pine, entering the lake bed of predominantly dry Owens Lake at the southern end of Owens Valley.
Watershed.
The river flows through two major valleys of the extreme southwestern Great Basin – the Long Valley and Owens Valley. The north to south drainage basin is in portions of Mono and Inyo counties and terminates in the now-dry Owens Lake. To the northwest of the valley is the Long Valley Caldera, which is only a fraction of the size of the Owens Valley. The Owens River enters Owens Valley from the northwest, while the Spring Valley Wash drains the northernmost part of the valley, extending a tiny portion of the basin into Nevada. The river flows mainly on the east side of the valley, because alluvial deposits from Sierra Nevada streams have forced the river channel in that direction.
Vertical relief in the basin is immense – elevations range from at Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the continental United States, to on the bed of Owens Lake. The Owens River itself heads at an elevation of . Few people inhabit the sparse, open grasslands and steep mountainsides of the watershed; the 2009 population of Mono County was about 12,927 while Inyo County had some 17,293 inhabitants. The largest city on the river is Bishop, with a population of just under 4,000. Other significant towns include Lone Pine (population 2,035), Big Pine (population 1,707), and Independence (population 669).
Geology.
The Owens River flows through part of the Basin and Range Province of North America's Great Basin. The Owens Valley is a graben or rift valley, a section of land that has dropped down between two parallel faults, while the land on either side has risen. This has resulted in the flat floor and steep, towering walls of the present-day valley. With the Sierra Nevada on the west side and the Inyo Mountains and White Mountains on the east, with the highest peaks of either range rising to over and the floor of the valley at a comparatively low , the Owens River flows in one of the deepest valleys in the United States.
Further to the north, the Owens River basin encompasses predominantly igneous rocks and vast remnants of past volcanic activity. The upper of the river run through the Long Valley Caldera, an enormous -wide crater formed by a volcanic eruption some 760,000 years ago. The eruption's resulting ash cloud covered much of the southwestern United States, including parts of ten U.S. states.
Mammoth Mountain, to the southwest (more popularly known as a major ski area) also formed from eruptions related to the Long Valley Caldera. To the north of the Caldera, extending to the Mono Lake area, lie the chain of Mono-Inyo Craters, which range in age from 400,000 to 500 years old.
During the Pleistocene at the end of the last glacial period, melting glaciers in the Sierra Nevada and Inyo/White Mountains fed prodigious amounts of runoff into the Owens River, causing it to expand to many times its current size. The increased volume of the river caused Owens Lake to rise as well, eventually spilling out the south side of the valley into the Mojave Desert. Ancient, now-abandoned river channels suggest that the extended Owens River ran south to China Lake, then east into Searles Lake, north into the Panamint Valley (where it formed Panamint Lake) and finally east into Death Valley and the ancient Lake Manly. This great inland sea was also fed by the Mojave River from the south, the Amargosa River from the east and the Death Valley Wash from the north. During this relatively short time, the Owens River became part of a vast interior drainage system that stretched east to west covering over . During the peak of runoff, water from this massive basin may have even escaped to the Colorado River through a valley leading to the southeast.
History.
For thousands of years the Owens River valley was inhabited by the seminomadic Owens Valley Northern Paiute and the Shoshone tribes of Native Americans. The indigenous name for the river was "Wakopee", while they called Owens Lake "Pacheta". In the upper Owens Valley lie traces of some of California's first irrigation systems, created by Paiute groups to water small patches of crops. It is believed that native people in the upper portion of the valley once built dams across the Owens River (and possibly one of its major tributaries, Bishop Creek) to divert water into local canals. The switch from a hunter-gatherer to a settled, agricultural lifestyle is probably the result of the climate of the Owens Valley becoming drier some 1,000 years ago.
Typically, the Native Americans built dams across the river or other tributary streams in the spring out of materials including boulders, dirt, reeds, grass or other elements. The watercourse below the dam would then be desiccated, and the water led by canal to the irrigated plot of land, typically no more than a few square miles. Directly after the dam was closed and the river dried up, fish trapped on the dry riverbed would then be gathered and eaten. Before winter storms caused floods, the dam would be breached, allowing the river to flow naturally again, while fish would be collected in the dried-up river channel. By then, there would be enough food stored to last the winter in which the cropland would lie fallow.
In the nineteenth century, the Owens River was first seen by American explorers. One of the first explorers was John C. Fremont, who led a cartographic expedition to the Owens Valley in 1845. His party included Kit Carson, Edward Kern and Richard Owens, the latter for whom the river, lake and valley are named. Other well-known adventurers included Jedediah Smith and Joseph R. Walker, who also came into the area in the 1800s. Gradually, the river's surroundings were settled by farmers and ranchers. The valley never accumulated a very large population, but mining activities brought significant income to the new inhabitants of the area. Ore was shipped down the Owens River from the north, and also borax and silver from Death Valley to the east. Up until 1924, Owens Lake was still so large that a steamboat ferry operated between its east and west sides, ferrying freight and passengers across in three hours, much less than the three days required to semi-circumnavigate the lake. In 1872, the Lone Pine earthquake killed 27 people in the Owens Valley, mostly in Lone Pine.
Ecology.
Beaver were re-introduced to the Owens Valley by the California Department of Fish and Game in 1948 in Baker Creek, and have since spread throughout the Owens Valley. Although it is controversial whether beaver were once native to the Owens Valley, there is growing evidence that they were native to the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada. In particular, the northern Paiute of Walker Lake, Honey Lake and Pyramid Lake have a word for beaver "su-i'-tu-ti-kut'-teh". When Stephen Powers visited the northern Paiute to collect Indian materials for the Smithsonian Institution in preparation for the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, he reported that the northern Paiute wrapped their hair in strips of beaver fur, made medicine from parts of beaver and that their creation legend included beaver. In addition, fur trapper Stephen Hall Meek "set his traps on the Truckee River in 1833", which strongly suggests that he saw beaver or beaver sign. Supporting this line of evidence, Tappe records in 1941 an eyewitness who said beaver were plentiful on the upper part of the Carson River and its tributaries in Alpine County until 1892 when they fell victim to heavy trapping.
In 2011, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) decided to trap beaver ("Castor canadensis") out of the Owens Valley, claiming that beaver are damming flows into their diversions of water to Los Angeles. This decision runs counter to an independent assessment commissioned by LADWP and the Inyo County Water Department in 1997, where it was recommended that beaver be maintained in reasonable populations and their dams left in place because "Although beaver activity has resulted in the removal of much willow and other shrub and woody vegetation and the dams create favorable tule conditions and reduce fish spawning habitat, they also provide important fish rearing habitat, mesic meadows, and promote the growth of other riparian species. It is most likely that the physical removal of beaver dams will result in more adverse environmental impacts than environmental benefits."
Water rights controversy.
The acquisition of water rights for the Los Angeles Aqueduct under the direction of William Mulholland was highly controversial and led to violence and sabotage by local residents in the 1920s. The diversion of water and the subsequent desiccation of Owens Lake remains highly controversial, and the restoration of the lake has been a long-time goal of the California environmentalist community. The lower Owens River and Owens Lake were left dry by the 1913 diversions, until lawsuits forced LADWP to start releasing water into the lower Owens River in December 2006. In less than one year, the lower Owens River was teeming with fish, birds and other wildlife.


Herbert Wurlitzer

The company Herbert Wurlitzer Manufaktur für Holzblasinstrumente GmbH is a German clarinet manufacturer based in Neustadt an der Aisch / Bavaria with a second production site in Markneukirchen / Saxony. It was founded in 1959 by Herbert Wurlitzer. His father Fritz Wurlitzer operated since the 1930s in Erlbach, now a district of Markneukirchen, a manufactory for the production of clarinets. The company W. Wurlitzer makes clarinets with German System (Oehler fingering system) and with the "Reform Boehm system", developed by Fritz Wurlitzer in the late 1940s, an instrument with Boehm fingering system and the sound of an Oehler Clarinet.
Biography.
Herbert Wurlitzer escaped from East Germany in 1959 with his family into the Federal Republic of Germany. Here he built a manufactory for the production of clarinets, as he had learned from his father in Erlbach/Vogtland.
He managed the company until his death in 1989 together with his wife Ruth Wurlitzer. Ruth Wurlitzer continued the business together with Bernd Wurlitzer, her son-in-law as commercial director and her son Frank-Ulrich as artistic director. Since the death of Ruth in September 2014 the company is run only by Frank-Ulrich and Bernd Wurlitzer.
The enterprise.
The extensive family Wurlitzer (there is also an American branch) has been manufacturing musical instruments since 1659.
The company Herbert Wurlitzer was initially located in Bubenreuth / Bavaria and moved its headquarters in 1964 to Neustadt an der Aisch. In 1992, the company built another production site in Markneukirchen, where numerous musical instrument makers are based. In this context, it also took over the former workshop of Fritz Wurlitzer, which was integrated into the new production after some time.
The company produces almost all clarinets of the clarinet family (with the exception of the very rare double bass clarinet and the contralto clarinet). All instruments are made only of wood, mainly grenadilla wood, but also cocobolo and boxwood are available. They are made exclusively to order individually.
Herbert Wurlitzer acquired with his company a significant position nationally and internationally.The main exporting countries are the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and Japan. There was and still is a low distribution in the USA.
Wurlitzer clarinets are represented in Germany and some other countries in numerous cultural orchestras.


Slewing drive

The slewing drive is a gearbox that can safely hold radial and axial loads, as well as transmit a torque for rotating. The rotation can be in a single axis, or in multiple axes together. Slewing drives are made by manufacturing gearing, bearings, seals, housing, motor and other auxiliary components and assembling them into a finished gearbox.
History.
The slewing drive is a modernized take on the worm drive mechanism that dates back many centuries and was widely used during the Renaissance Era. Pappus of Alexandria (3rd century AD), a Greek mathematician is credited for an early version of the endless screw, which would later evolve into the worm drive. This mechanism was also used by Leonardo da Vinci as a component in many of his designs for machines. It can also be found in the notebooks of Francesco di Giorgio of Siena. Many slewing drive concepts found prominence with the emergence of larger scale construction and engineering in the height of the Greek and Roman Empires.
Technology.
Slewing drives function with standard worm technology, in which the worm on the horizontal shaft acts as the driver for the gear. The rotation of the horizontal screw turns a gear about an axis perpendicular to the screw axis. This combination reduces the speed of the driven member and also multiplies its torque; increasing it proportionally as the speed decreases. The speed ratio of shafts depends upon the relation of the number of threads on the worm to the number of teeth in the worm wheel or gear.
As technology has improved, more slewing drives are using hourglass worm technology, in which the worm is shaped to engage more teeth in the gear. This increased tooth engagement results in greater strength, efficiency and durability.
Performance characteristics.
Because of their multiple uses, slewing drives come in a variety of model sizes, performance ranges and mounting characteristics. The drives are well suited for applications that require both load holding and rotational torque from the same gear box. They can also be made with dual axes of rotation, (turning axes at the same time) or with dual drives on the same axis, (two worm threads driving the same ring gear in one axis).
Materials.
The specifications for drives and gears varies depending on the material the gear is composed of. However, a majority of the drives and gears commonly used are composed of steel and phosphor bronze. According to an extensive series of tests by the Hamilton Gear & Machine Co., chill-cast nickel-phosphor bronze ranked first in resistance to wear and deformation. Number two on the list was SAE No. 65 bronze. For bronze gears a good casting should have the following minimum physical characteristics:
Applications.
There are many applications in which the slewing drive can be utilized, primarily because it is perfect for applications that require both load-holding power and rotational torque strength.
Typical slewing drive applications include but are not limited to:
References.
Slewing Drive
What is a Slewing Drive?


Ball chain

Ball chain is a type of chain consisting of small sheet metal balls connected via short lengths of wire.
The balls are hollow and have two small antipodal holes. These holes accept a short length of wire deformed on the end like a rivet so that the end is bound inside the ball. The wire is then connected to another ball using the same method. Many of the balls and wires are joined together to form a chain. Because of the connection method, the chain can swivel on itself unrestrictedly, which helps prevent kinking. However, the chain has a relatively low strength. Ball chains are also sometimes known as "snake link" or "toilet chain".
The most common ball chain accessories are connectors. Each end of a connector is able to surround a ball at the end of a chain and snap over its wire connection, which holds it secure. These can be used to connect two lengths of chain, or to connect the ends of the same chain to form a loop. The connectors require no tools to apply or remove and are reusable.
Other common accessories include other terminations similar to the connectors, but with a different connection on one end, such as a screw hole for semi-permanent affixing of a chain.
Common uses of ball chain are for pull cords on light fixtures and ceiling fans, keychains, as retaining chains for things such as counter pens, and dogtag chains.
A typical width is Size #3, or 2.4mm steel ball chain. In the jewelry industry, pure 925 Sterling Silver may be in 1mm, 1.2mm, 1.5mm, 1.8mm, and 2.2mm ball chain.


Pierre Maline

Pierre Maline (b. 1883 –d.1934) in Mirecourt (Vosges) was a luthier and an archetier / bow maker.
Son of François Alexandre MALINE (1862-1922) a bow maker, who was the nephew of Nicolas Maline ("One of history's important bowmakers.").
Pierre Maline (grandnephew of Nicolas Maline) apprenticed first with his father before joining CUNIOT HURY's workshop.
After his apprenticeship he returned to his father's workshop in Mirecourt where he stayed for the rest of his career (as well as his life).
His work is quite rare. Many of his bows were stamped PIERRE MALINE.
Some of his production can be found unsigned or bearing the stamp of other violin & / or bow makers.


Heliodon

A heliodon (HEE-leo-don) is a device for adjusting the angle between a flat surface and a beam of light to match the angle between a horizontal plane at a specific latitude and the solar beam. Heliodons are used primarily by architects and students of architecture. By placing a model building on the heliodon’s flat surface and making adjustments to the light/surface angle, the investigator can see how the building would look in the three-dimensional solar beam at various dates and times of day.
Scientific background.
The Earth is a ball in space perpetually intercepting a cylinder of parallel energy rays from the sun. (Think of a tennis ball being held in the wind.) The angle of any earthly site to the solar beam is determined by
The change due to date is the most difficult to visualize. The Earth’s axis is steady but "tilted": the plane that includes the Earth’s equator, which is perpendicular to the axis, is not parallel to the plane that includes the center of the sun and the center of the Earth, called the ecliptic. Think of the Earth as a car on a Ferris wheel. The car’s axis always points “down”, which changes its relation to the center of the wheel. A light at the center of the wheel would touch the bottom of the car at the top of the orbit and the top of the car at the bottom of the orbit. As the Earth orbits, the location of the centerline of the solar cylinder changes, sliding from the Tropic of Cancer (in June) to the Tropic of Capricorn (in December) and back again. This changes sun angles all over Earth according to the date. "See more at analemma."
Utility.
Heliodons can mimic latitude, time of day, and date. They must also show a clear north-south direction on their surface in order to orient models. Some heliodons are very elaborate, using tracks in a high ceiling to carry a light across a large studio. Others are very simple, using a sundial as a guide to the adjustments and the sun of the day as a light source. In general, the date adjustment causes the most difficulty for the heliodon designer, while the light source presents the most problems in use. The parallel rays of the sun are not easy to duplicate with an artificial light at a useful scale, while the real sun is no respecter of deadlines or class hours.
All heliodons can benefit by including a moveable, tiltable device that can be set to match any surface on a model to show angle of incidence. The angle of incidence device indicates the relative intensity of the direct beam on the surface. The device consists of a diagram of concentric rings around a shadow-casting pointer perpendicular to the diagram. Each ring represents a percent of the direct solar beam incident on the surface. The percentage varies from 100%—the ray runs straight down the pointer perpendicular to the diagram—to zero—the ray runs parallel to the diagram and misses surface. The cosine of the angle of incidence gives the percentage. A cosine of 0.9, 90%, for example, corresponds to an angle of incidence of 26.84 degrees. The radius of the ring for the angle is equal to its tangent times the height of the shadow casting pointer. A 45 degree angle of incidence would generate a cosine of about .7, 70%, for example. Since the tangent of 45 degrees is 1, the radius of the 70% ring would be equal to the height of the shadow-casting rod.


A. M. Hamilton

Archibald Milne Hamilton (1898–1972) was a New Zealand-born civil engineer, notable for building the Hamilton Road through Kurdistan and designing the Callender-Hamilton bridge system., and with the Callendar-Hamilton aeroplane shed of the late 1930s.
Early life, marriage and children.
He was born in Waimate, New Zealand, the son of W.M. and J.S. Hamilton, on 18 November 1898. He was educated at Waitaki Boys' High School. In 1924 he graduated from Canterbury College with a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) degree.
He married Bettina Matraves Collier, a medical doctor in 1934, and they had six children. The second eldest of these was the evolutionary biologist W. D. Hamilton, and one of their daughters, Mary R. Bliss, who followed her mother by becoming a doctor, achieved some notability for designing mattresses to prevent bedsores in geriatric patients.
Early career.
He worked for the Lyttelton Harbour Board, New Zealand where he designed a wave model for planning port improvements. Next he worked at the Admiralty, London, designing the Singapore Naval Base.
Hamilton Road.
Between 1928 and 1932 Hamilton was the principal engineer of a British-built strategic road across Southern Kurdistan, which ran from Erbil, through Rawandiz, to the Iranian border near modern-day Piranshahr. The road became known as the Hamilton Road. Although Hamilton hoped the road would unite the peoples of the region, it has been fought over many times. He described the building of the road in a 1937 book entitled "Road through Kurdistan".
Callender-Hamilton Bridge.
During the construction of the road, Hamilton became aware of the need for strong, adaptable bridges with components that could easily be transported and erected in remote and/or difficult terrain. With British Insulated Callenders Cables, now Balfour Beatty Power Networks Ltd, he designed the Callender-Hamilton bridge system, the income from which helped support his family. The parts of the bridge were bolted together like a Meccano set, and it was popular with the British Army away from the battle front. The failure of the First World War Inglis bridge led to the development of the Bailey bridge. Hamilton successfully claimed to the Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors that the Bailey bridge had breached his patent. Because the Bailey bridge used a pin joining system similar to that used in the Martel Bridge designed by Lieutenant-General Sir Giffard Le Quesne Martel, Hamilton told the commission the Bailey bridge should be called a 'Martel Mk2'.
In 1936 the British War Office paid Hamilton £4,000 for the free non-civil use of his Unit Construction Bridge. In 1954 the Commission awarded him £10,000 in respect of the bridges used in South East Asia Command during WW2 in India. In 1955 Hamilton told the Commission that Martel deserved more than the £12,000 that Bailey had received. Martel was awarded £500..
Callendar-Hamilton Aeroplane Shed.
BICC also designed an interesting type of transportable aeroplane hangar in the late 1930s for military use. Although not ordered in quantity by the Air Ministry, a number of these Callendar-Hamilton hangars were built in Britain in the late 1930s and early years of World War II. These are easily recognisable from the more numerous contemporary Bellman and T-type hangars by their intricate internal framework and external overhead door rails. Preserved examples – now listed – of these hangars can be seen today at the Museum of Flight at East Fortune near Edinburgh.


Emilian Wehrle

Emilian Wehrle (1832 – 1896, born in Schönenbach (Furtwangen), was a reputed Black Forest clockmaker famous for his high-quality musical clocks. These musical clocks included the trumpeter clock, flute clock, singing bird clock, and rooster clock. These timepieces call the hour with the sound of a trumpeter, flute, bird and rooster respectively. He was also a maker of cuckoo clocks, but these were not the primary focus of the firm.
Emilian came from a poverty-stricken farming area. His father, Konrad Wehrle (1796-1871), was a poor cottage clockmaker and farmer who, remarkably supported his family on less than a third of an acre of land. In spite of limited schooling, he proved he was an outstanding student of extreme achievements and technically very talented. With the money he saved by serving several years in the military he started his own clockmaking business in Furtwangen in 1857.
Emilian Wehrle never produced clocks in high numbers compared to other Black Forest makers. Instead he developed a niche selling his expensive musical clocks to people who could afford them.
In early 1866 Emilian formed a partnership with his next door neighbor Franz Xaver Wehrle (1819-1885), renaming the firm Emilian Wehrle & Co. Later that year on August 23, 1866, Emilian married F.X. Wehrle's daughter Norma Wehrle (1844-1901). Although both of the Wehrle families shared the same last name, there is no known blood relation between the two families until Emilain married Norma.
The gifted musical talent of the entire Wehrle clan, accompanied by outstanding skill and craftsmanship, originality and an enjoyment of tinkering, all these assets are credited for the great success of the Wehrle's, whose clocks were exported worldwide, primarily to the United States and Great Britain.
These clocks of the period were very expensive and never sold in large numbers like the more popular and much cheaper cuckoo clock. Today these clocks are very rare and command very high prices.
After Emilian's death in 1896, Emilian Wehrle's brother-in-law, and then partner in the firm Julian Wehrle took control of the factory. Within a very short period of time the firm moved away from making musical clocks, and instead specialized in the fabrication of specialized parts for other industries. Today the firm is still in business and specializes in the production of water meters and other flow metering technology.
The Emilian Wehrle's clocks are sought-after museum pieces due to its high artistic, technical and musical level that went into each of his clocks.


Jane Brenkley

Hannah Eliza Jane Brenkley (née Hopkins, 7 March 1882 – 25 February 1973) was a New Zealand artist and craftswoman. She created artworks through carving, needlework, and painting. Items of her work are in the permanent collections of the National Library of New Zealand, the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and the Museum Theatre Gallery Hawke's Bay.
Biography.
Brenkley was born in Norsewood, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand. Her parents were Scandinavian and had immigrated on board the "Hovding". When she was five years old, she started sketching; a family member gave her a paint set and she began to paint in watercolours. She never formally studied art or painting, but became a sought-after artist of landscapes, flowers and herbs.
Brenkley was also a wood carver and produced domestic items such as tables, fire screens, umbrella stands, bookends, paperknives, breadboards, decorated boxes and eggcups. These were created with a pocketknife and paintbrush. Brenkley admired Māori culture and many of her items feature artistic elements of Māori style, such as using pāua shell for the eyes of carved figures.
A piece of her wood carving work was displayed in the women's section of the New Zealand Centennial Exhibition in 1939.
Personal life.
When she was 18, she married sawmiller Thomas Brenkley. The couple lived most of their lives on their dairy farm in the Norsewood-Ormondville area and raised 10 children.
Legacy.
In 1999, the Hawke's Bay Cultural Trust staged a solo exhibition of Brenkley's work, entitled "Jane Brenkley: a path through the bush".


China-CEE Investment Cooperation Fund

The China-Central and Eastern Europe Investment Cooperation Fund (China-CEE Fund) is the investment component of the 17+1 framework, a diplomatic initiative to enhance cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries, a region in China's Belt and Road Initiative. The initial China-CEE Fund was established in 2013. Building on the success of the first fund, a second one was created in 2017.
The Sino-CEEF Holding is another investment cooperation fund created out of the same framework. While the China-CEE Fund is supported by the Export Import Bank of China, a policy bank, the Sino-CEEF Fund is backed by seed money from ICBC, a Chinese commercial bank.
Fundraising.
The first stage of the China-CEE Fund was announced in 2012 with a scale of US$500 million by then Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao as part of "Twelve Measures for Promoting Friendly Cooperation with Central and Eastern European Countries".
The groundwork was laid in November 2017 for Fund II during the China-CEE Summit in Budapest. Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang announced additional funding for the second phase of the fund. Other investors joined and contributed to Fund II and in April 2018 the total raised was US$800 million. The investors were Export Import Bank of China, Magyar Eximbank, Silk Road Fund and CEE Equity Partners. Fund II's investor adviser is CEE Equity Partners.


Keelesdale station

Keelesdale is an underground light rail transit (LRT) station under construction on Line 5 Eglinton, a new line that is part of the Toronto subway system. It will be located in the Silverthorn neighbourhood at the intersection of Keele Street and Eglinton Avenue, and is scheduled to open in 2022. Nearby destinations include the York Civic Centre, Keelesdale Park and Chris Tonks Arena, York Memorial Collegiate, George Harvey Collegiate Institute, the Humber River Regional Hospital's Keele campus, and the Silverthorn neighbourhood.
During the planning stages for Line 5 Eglinton, the station was given the working name "Keele", which is identical to the pre-existing Keele station on Line 2 Bloor–Danforth. On November 23, 2015, a report to the TTC Board recommended giving a unique name to each station in the subway system (including Line 5 Eglinton). Thus, the LRT station was renamed "Keelesdale". (Silverthorn was also considered.)
The primary entrance and an off-street bus loop will be located at the northeast corner of Eglinton Avenue and Trethewey Drive replacing former EMS Station 19 and a car wash. A secondary entrance will be on the northwest corner of Eglinton Avenue and Trethewey Drive adjacent to York Memorial Collegiate. A third entrance will be at the southeast corner of Eglinton Avenue and Keele Street on the site of a former Coffee Time. All three entrances will have a station plaza with a landscaped public space. The station will have four bus bays plus on-street connections for TTC buses. There will be outdoor parking for 60 bicycles.
Surface connections.
The following routes would serve this station according to the report presented at the board meeting on February 25, 2016: