42nd Street Shuttle

The 42nd Street Shuttle is a New York City Subway shuttle train service that operates in Manhattan. The shuttle is sometimes referred to as the Grand Central/Times Square Shuttle, since these are the only two stations it serves. The shuttle runs at all times except late nights, with trains running on two tracks underneath 42nd Street between Times Square and Grand Central; for many decades, three tracks had been in service until a major renovation was begun in 2019 reducing it to two tracks. With two stations, it is the shortest regular service in the system by number of stops, running about in 90 seconds. The shuttle is used by over 100,000 passengers every day, and by up to 10,200 passengers per hour during rush hours.
The 42nd Street Shuttle was constructed and operated by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), and is currently part of the A Division of New York City Transit. The shuttle tracks opened in 1904 as part of the city's first subway. The original subway line ran north from City Hall on what is now the IRT Lexington Avenue Line to 42nd Street, from where it turned west to run across 42nd Street. At Broadway, the line turned north, proceeding to 145th Street on what is now the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line. This operation continued until 1918, when construction on the Lexington Avenue Line north of 42nd Street, and on the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line south of 42nd Street was completed. One trunk would run via the new Lexington Avenue Line down Park Avenue, and the other trunk would run via the new Seventh Avenue Line up Broadway. The section in the middle, via 42nd Street, was converted into shuttle operation.
Through the 20th century, various attempts to convert, replace, or extend the shuttle have failed. The proposals have included conveyor-belt systems, as well as reconstruction of connections to the Broadway–Seventh Avenue and Lexington Avenue lines. One of the shuttle's trains was outfitted with automatic train operation on a trial basis in 1962, although the trial ended after a fire in 1964. A major reconstruction of the shuttle is ongoing between 2019 and 2022. The reconstruction would allow trains to be lengthened to six cars while also expanding both shuttle stations' capacity, and would bring the station into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
The shuttle operates at all times except late nights, and each of the shuttle tracks in operation at any given time is independent of the other. In order to distinguish it from the other shuttles in the system, NYCT Rapid Transit Operations internally refers to it as the 0 (zero). Its route bullet is colored on route signs, station signs, and rolling stock with the letter "S" on the official subway map.
History.
Creation and early years.
The subway through which the shuttle runs was opened on October 27, 1904 by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), the first day of subway service in Manhattan. The current shuttle line was part of the first IRT subway line, which ran north to 145th Street via Broadway and south to City Hall via Park Avenue and Lafayette Street. The 42nd Street section of the line connected Broadway at Times Square, on the west, to Park Avenue at Grand Central Terminal, on the east. At the Times Square end of this segment, the line curved sharply to the north under One Times Square, swinging northeast under Seventh Avenue before shifting under Broadway. The platforms at Times Square are located on this curve. Like the rest of the Original Subway, the line was built with a vertical clearance of , and a total width of . The maximum grade of the line is 1.0 percent between Sixth Avenue and Broadway. In 1910, the platforms at the two stations were extended.
In 1913, the IRT, the Brooklyn Rapid Transit, and the city agreed to the Dual System of Rapid Transit to expand the city's transportation. As part of the agreement, the existing IRT subway would be split into two north–south lines and a shuttle along 42nd Street. The section of the line south of 42nd Street would be connected to a newly constructed line stretching from 41st Street and Park Avenue to the Bronx, running via Lexington Avenue, while the section of the line north of 42nd Street would be connected to a newly constructed line heading south under Seventh Avenue. The section along 42nd Street was left as a shuttle to connect the new East Side and West Side Lines.
The new Lexington Avenue route curved off of the old line at 41st Street and ran underneath private property to reach Lexington Avenue at 43rd Street with a new Grand Central station located in the diagonal segment. Since there was 400 feet between the eastern end of the original line's station and the new Lexington Avenue Line station, a new shuttle station was to be built near the Lexington Avenue Line station. The construction of the narrow island platform station required building two new trackways extending east under 42nd Street. The two-track layout was expected to provide ample capacity for the shuttle. On August 1, 1918, the Dual System's "H system" was put into service, with through trains over the IRT Lexington Avenue Line and IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line, and only shuttle trains under 42nd Street. The station was not ready in time, and therefore wooden flooring was temporarily laid over sections of the trackways at Times Square and Grand Central. The shuttle was heavily used, and the crowding conditions were so bad that the shuttle was ordered closed the next day by the Public Service Commission.
The new, unused trackways of the planned station were covered with flooring and turned into a passageway between the Shuttle and Lexington Avenue stations. The shuttle reopened on September 28, 1918, with improved passageways and platforms. Track 2 at the Grand Central station was covered over by a wooden platform. A "New York Times" columnist later said that former southbound express track 2 was still usable for the first few hours of the shuttle's operation, but the wooden platform was placed over that track later the same day to allow shuttles to use former northbound express track 3, due to high demand for the shuttles on the former local tracks, numbered 1 and 4. On the walls of the stations, black bands (at Times Square) and green bands (at Grand Central) were painted to guide passengers to the shuttle platforms. The shuttle was meant to be "temporary," and by 1922, there were proposals for the shuttle to be replaced by a moving sidewalk.
On March 14, 1927, the extension of the IRT Flushing Line from Fifth Avenue to Times Square under 41st Street was completed and opened for operation. The extension was expected to significantly reduce overcrowding on the shuttle, and on its first night of operation, it reduced shuttle ridership by 50%. Crowding was expected to be reduced further as riders became familiar with the extension. In 1921, of the 100,000 daily shuttle riders, 25,000 transferred to the Flushing Line (then called the Queensboro subway). Originally, plans for the Flushing Line called for the use of two of the four tracks between Times Square and Grand Central for the new line, and the other two for shuttle service.
Proposed improvements.
Throughout the history of the shuttle there have been proposals to improve service on the line and to extend the line both to the east and to the west. However, it is not feasible to extend the line in either direction, as the line is at the same level as the tracks of the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line and those of the Lexington Avenue Line. There have been several proposals to replace the line with moving walkways or conveyor belts. In 1923, H.S. Putnam proposed to replace the shuttle with an endless moving platform system. There would have been three platforms with speeds of , and . The fastest platform was to have been installed with seats. Even though the plan was supported by the Chief Engineer of the New York City Rapid Transit Commission, it was not adopted. In 1930, Charles E. Smith, vice president of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, proposed allowing trains from the Broadway–Seventh Avenue and Lexington Avenue Lines to use the shuttle tracks for through service, as well as discontinuing shuttle service. This also was not carried out.
On February 12, 1946, work began to double the width of the passageway connecting the shuttle platforms at Grand Central and the main mezzanine over the Lexington Avenue Line platforms. As part of the work, the wooden passenger walkway, which had an average width of was replaced by a wide passageway with concrete flooring. This walkway had been "temporary" when it was put into place in August 1918. The new -long passageway covered most of the trackways used by downtown trains of the Original Subway prior to 1918. The iron railings along the planked walkway were removed. The project cost $45,800 and was intended to ease congestion. As part of the project, the upper passageway was moved to within fare control to allow passengers to go between the subway mezzanine and the entrance to Grand Central Terminal at the shuttle without paying a fare. This was accomplished by moving the turnstiles at the eastern end of the passageway. In March, members of the Metallic Lathers Union Local 46 sought to halt construction on the project, which was 80 percent complete, as the union objected to having the work done by city employees who made less than union workers. The rebuilt passageway opened on March 18, 1946.
On June 21, 1949, William Reid, the Chairman of the New York City Board of Transportation, announced that his capital budget request for 1950 would include $3.5 million to improve the shuttle for the first time since it was created. As part of the project, double platforms would have been constructed at both ends of the shuttle, the abandoned track 2 would have been removed, and switches would have been installed on track 3 to allow trains to pull into either platform on either track 1 or track 3. In addition, the shuttle would have been extended to the east to shorten transfers to the Lexington Avenue Line. Chairman Reid also stated that he would look for ways to improve service for riders before any funding arrived, noting that a way was needed to get riders to the proper platform before the car doors closed. While there were lights giving the number of the platform for the next train, they did not give passengers enough time to get to the train before their doors closed.
On October 28, 1953, the Transport Workers Union (TWU) asserted that it was impossible for its members to follow the schedule of the shuttle, which called for a train every two minutes during rush hours. Its president, Michael Quill, said that if the New York City Transit Authority took action against train crews skipping scheduled runs, there would be unrest among the TWU's members.
Between 1948 and 1951, the Stephens–Adamson Manufacturing Company and the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company proposed that the shuttle be replaced by a pedestrian conveyor system called "Carveyor". The "Carveyor" would have consisted of a set of wheelless cars running on conveyor belts. They would have run slowly–at speeds of –in stations and would have run more quickly–at speeds of –between stations. 12 cars would move along the conveyor belt, and each car would have held 12 seated and 5 standing passengers. The system was expected to travel between Grand Central and Times Square in 1 minute 15 seconds, and was expected to move 18,000 passengers per hour as opposed to the 12,000 that could be accommodated by the existing shuttle. This proposal was formally presented to the Board of Transportation in March 1951. Even though New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) and the Board of Estimate approved the plan it was not completed due to union opposition and high cost.
On April 21, 1953, Board of Transportation Chairman Sidney H. Bingham, announced that the installation of the conveyor would cost $3.8 million and could be completed in 18 months after funding was budgeted for the project. He hoped that the city and Federal Government would each foot 25% of the bill, with the remaining 50% to come from the State. Funding for the project was included in the 1953 and 1954 capital budgets. On October 19, 1954, the single bid for the project was submitted by Passenger Belt Conveyors, which was a subsidiary formed the previous month by Stephens–Adamson Corporation and Goodyear Tire. The project was expected to be completed in 550 days. The cost of the project was expected to increase to $5.5 million to pay for additional structural changes needed for the new system. On November 4, 1954, the $3,881,000 contract for a modified version of the plan was awarded. The "New York Times" lauded the plan, stating that "the Times Square–Grand Central subway shuttle was an atrocity from the beginning and has had no substantial improvement in a third of a century." Bids on the structure to accommodate the conveyor, which was expected to cost $1.1 million, were to be received on December 10, 1954. The contract required the approval of the New York City Board of Estimate, but never received it. In May 1955, it was announced that the project was tabled for discussion for August 25 of that year at the request of City Controller Lawrence Gerosa, who considered the plan to be dangerous. He hoped to convince the Board of Estimate to scrap the project. On September 15, 1955, the Chairman of the New York City Transit Authority, which had taken over operations of the Board of Transportation in June 1953, said that the allocation of funds for the project was questionable. On October 20, 1955, the NYCTA told the Board of Estimate that it was rescinding its request for $4,991,000 to build the conveyor. The plan was canceled due to its high cost.
In 1954, NYCTA created a design concept to reconfiguring the shuttle onto a tangent alignment under 42nd Street. This design was never executed because of the significant impact it would have had on utilities and the street above, and because it would have required a full shutdown of the station.
On August 16, 1954, a project to replace 1,000 incandescent bulbs with of new fluorescent lighting at Grand Central platform was completed. The new lighting fixtures replaced the green and red lines of light bulbs that had indicated the way to and from the shuttle, respectively, and lit up signs directing riders to the shuttle, with additional fixtures to direct riders from the shuttle to be installed in two weeks. In addition to replacing platform lighting, lighting was replaced to the mezzanine. This project, which cost $440,000, was the beginning of a program to improve lighting at old stations across the IRT system.
1960s: Automation test.
Testing and operation.
As part of a demonstration for automation, track 4 was briefly automated from 1962 to 1964. It was the first automated service in the New York City subway system. On January 26, 1959, the Chairman of the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA), Charles Patterson announced that the NYCTA was exploring converting the shuttle to pilot automatic operation. If the pilot were successful, the rest of the system could be converted to automatic operation in phases. The automatic system would make use of existing tracks, platforms and rolling stock with minor modifications. The project would cost $1 million, and Patterson said that automating the shuttle would save $150,000 annually by reducing 25 train operators and conductors. If the whole system were automated, 90% of the 3,100 train operators, and 75% of the conductors and platform conductors could be eliminated.
Starting in December 1959, the fully automatic train, consisting of three cars, was tested on of one of the BMT Sea Beach Line express tracks (E4) between the 18th Avenue and New Utrecht Avenue stations. The train was equipped with a telephone system to keep voice communication with human dispatchers at the two shuttle terminals. At each station there was a cabinet that housed 24 relay systems that made up electronic dispatchers. The relays controlled the train's starting, acceleration, braking, and stopping, as well as the opening and closing of the car doors. The relays were operated by electrical impulses initiated by a punched tape. At full speed, the train ran at , slowing to when coming into the two stations. When entering stations, the train passed through a series of detectors, which caused a series of tripper arms at trackside to go into the open position if the train was going at the speed. If the train was going too quickly, the tripper arms would stay upright and the train's brakes would automatically be set. The equipment was built and installed by the General Railway Signal Company and the Union Switch and Signal division of the Westinghouse Air Brake Company, after several years of research and development. The NYCTA contributed between $20,000 to $30,000 on the project, while the bulk of it, between $250,000 and $300,000, was contributed by the two companies. The automation of the shuttle was opposed by the president of the Transport Workers Union, Michael J. Quill, who pledged to fight the project and called the device "insane". A June 1961 report from the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) mentioned the automatic train was planned to be placed into service that November.
On February 29, 1960, the NYCTA began to test a new tieless roadbed on track 1, which had been installed since the previous Thursday. The experiment was intended to produce a smoother and more comfortable ride for commuters, in addition to lessening the effect of moisture and erosion. It was planned that if the test succeeded, the rest of the tracks in the subway system would be retrofitted in such a manner. The setup included two parallel strips of concrete that would serve as the roadbed. Between them, flat-bottomed steel troughs were installed, cushioned by rubber. Inside the troughs, there were rubber tie plates spaced apart with flaps that encase the rail bottom. The rails were kept in place by lug bolts that were anchored in concrete. The third rail was also mounted on concrete. This differed from the normal roadbeds, which consisted of stone, with wooden ties set into it. The ties, under damp conditions, would rot and the spikes would become loose, resulting in bumpy rides. This test replicated similar roadbeds in Toronto's subway system. In order to construct the new roadbed, track 1 had to be closed. From May 6 to June 5, 1961, track 4 was closed for the installation of the same roadbed as was tested on track 1.
In the afternoon of January 4, 1962, the three-car automated train began service, with a ceremony. The trains carried a stand-by motorman during the six-month trial period. The train had scheduled to begin service on December 15, 1961, but Quill threatened to strike all city- and private-owned transit in the city if the train ran. Under the new contract with the TWU, the NYCTA agreed to put a motorman in the train during the experimental period. While in its experimental period, the automated train was only operating during rush hours. In July, the test was extended for three more months, and in October the test was extended for six additional months. The chairman of the NYCTA, Charles Patterson, was disappointed by the automated shuttle train, doubting that the train could be operated without any transit personnel on board. Initially, the automation of the shuttle was expected to save $150,000 a year in labor costs; however, with one employee still required on the train, there would essentially be no savings. Tape recorded messages warned passengers that the doors of the train were closing. If the test succeeded, it was planned to automate the IRT Flushing Line, the Franklin Avenue Shuttle, the Myrtle Avenue Elevated, the BMT Canarsie Line, and the Culver Shuttle. However, the NYCTA did not have plans to automate the whole system.
Demise.
On April 16, 1964, an automated train derailed on the northernmost track east of Times Square during the morning rush hour, causing a short circuit, and thus, suspending service on all three tracks.
A severe fire at the Grand Central station on April 21, 1964, destroyed the demonstration train and resulted in the subsequent restoration of manual operations. The fire began under a shuttle train on track 3, and it became larger, feeding on the wooden platform. The train on track 1 was saved when the motorman saw smoke, and reversed the train. The basements of nearby buildings were damaged. Tracks 1 and 4 returned to service on April 23, 1964, while track 3 returned to service on June 1, 1964. The reinstallation of track 3 was delayed because of the need to replace 60 beams that were damaged in the fire. Initially, a decision was not made concerning whether or not the automated shuttle train should be reintroduced.
From September 19, 1966 to April 1967, service on the shuttle was limited in order to allow for the reconstruction of parts of the line. The entire project cost $419,000 and included the construction of a new mezzanine at Grand Central and the replacement of the wooden platform at Times Square with a new concrete one of . As part of the project, the tiles damaged by the smoke from the fire were replaced with tiles in the city's colors of blue, white and orange, with black tiles interspersed. In addition, fluorescent lighting, which was 12 times brighter than the old lighting, was installed.
1980s–2000s.
In 1978, the United States Department of Transportation undertook a study to analyze and determine the feasibility of installing an Accelerating Walkway System in an urban environment. The study used the 42nd Street Shuttle as a case study. The two options the study analyzed were a one-directional reversible linear walkway and a bi-directional loop. The study found that the walkways would provide a better level of service during off-peak hours and a similar level of service during peak hours. It was estimated that it would cost between $5.4 million and $13 million to install the system.
On October 3, 1987, ten R62s made their debut on the shuttle, replacing the R17s that previously ran on the shuttle. In June 1992, these were replaced by R62As.
On November 17, 1988, the NYCTA announced plans to drop $343 million of projects from its Capital Program, including $23 million allocated for the reconfiguration of the Shuttle. The shuttle would have been rebuilt with two tracks and the platforms at Times Square would have been moved closer to other subway lines. Work was to begin in 1991, but was deferred so it could be done in conjunction with other rehabilitation work at Times Square, which was delayed.
The shuttle ran at all times until September 10, 1995, when night service was discontinued in order to avoid raising fares, meaning that late-night passengers had to use the train. New York City Transit had been expecting a $160 million surplus in 1995, but due to reductions in state and Federal contributions, it was left with a deficit expected to reach $172 million. The elimination of late night service was part of a larger plan to reduce spending in order to avert a fare increase, which Governor George Pataki and Mayor Rudy Giuliani had pressured the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to avoid. Eliminating night service on the shuttle was done to avoid the need to reduce service on corridors without alternate service. Shuttle service had been running every ten minutes overnight, and was used by 275 passengers per hour.
On February 28, 2005, a shuttle train crashed into the bumper block of track 3 at Grand Central, injuring the train operator and hospitalizing two passengers. The crash caused $100,000 in damage to the 4-car train. The New York State Public Transportation Safety Board's investigation into the collision concluded that the most likely cause of the accident was the train operator falling asleep while operating the train, which led to his overrunning the stop sign and colliding into the bumper block.
Planned capital reconstruction.
Planning.
In 1998, MTA officials announced that the Times Square station would be renovated and that the entire complex would become compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). The project was to be split into two phases, each lasting four years; the renovation of the 42nd Street Shuttle platforms would occur during the second phase of renovations. However, the curved platforms at Times Square made it very difficult to convert to ADA standards, and the shuttle platform renovation project was delayed. Although planning was completed in 2006, the project was delayed due to a lack of funding.
In 2014 and 2015, the MTA commissioned WSP to undertake constructibility and feasibility studies to increase capacity on the shuttle and to make it ADA-accessible. NYCT called for a plan that would include a wider center platform to accommodate two six-car trains to the east of the existing station. WSP developed a plan that allowed the shuttle to be reconstructed without any need to excavate along 42nd Street. The initial study, TO-1, only called for the elimination of 36 columns along platform edges to align with train doors, and for the elimination of 20 columns in the concourse area. This plan would have kept the remaining platform columns, which are located every . NYCT considered using platform screen doors to separate trains from the platforms. NYCT then asked WSP to engage in a study, TO-3, to look into eliminating all platform edge columns while keeping the station open with minimal impacts.
Funding and approval.
Initially, $1 million in funding for a study to develop the requirements for a second program to automate the shuttle was included in the 2015–2019 MTA Capital Program. However, this study was removed from the program in the July 2017 amendment to the Capital Program.
Funding for the renovation of the Times Square shuttle platforms and the reconfiguration of the shuttle was provided as part of the 2015–2019 MTA Capital Program. Improving access to Times Square will cost $28.93 million, while the reconfiguration project will cost $235.41 million. The contract for the construction of the project was originally scheduled to be awarded in June 2018. However, this was delayed by several months because of changes to the project schedule and cost. The construction duration was expected to be extended by three months, and the cost would increase by $25 million, because of additions to the original construction plan. A construction contract was awarded on March 7, 2019, with an estimated completion date of March 2022. The project is expected to take three years to complete. On August 2, 2019, the MTA announced that work on the project would begin on August 16.
Work on the project will be completed in multiple phases, which were originally intended to create minor reductions in service, since only one track at a time would be taken out of service for construction. During the first phase of work, service operated on tracks 1 and 4. The second phase of work began on October 6, 2019, with service being limited to tracks 3 and 4. During this phase, only three of the four cars of the train on track 3 were available for use. On November 8, 2019, the MTA solicited bids for a consultant to manage, oversee, and coordinate work on construction projects taking place in the subway system between Times Square and Grand Central, in order to improve customer communication, minimize inconveniences, and to reduce the length and cost of these projects by bundling work. In January 2020, the MTA announced that it would package work on eight projects along 42nd Street, including the work to renovate the 42nd Street Shuttle, together into the newly branded 42nd Street Connection Project. The new approach was expected to reduce the time needed to complete renovations on the shuttle from 49 months to 36 months, allowed for the reengineering of project scope to reduce cost overruns, and improved the schedule of subway service during work. In February, work began on surveying the area that will be the new connection between the Times Square and Bryant Park stations.
On April 6, 2020, a new phase of work on the project was scheduled to begin, with service then only running on tracks 1 and 3. However, on that date, New York City Transit issued a General Order that called for a complete shutdown of the line until December 31, 2020. Because the shuttle was already temporarily shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, the upgrades were expedited by two months. These upgrades included work laying new trackbed and track, and improvements in drainage and flood mitigation systems. The closure of the shuttle allowed the contractor to fix an unexpected tunnel settlement condition at Times Square, which would have otherwise delayed the project by three to four months.
Despite the General Order, the shuttle reopened on August 10, 2020 to accommodate passengers displaced by unrelated construction on the Lexington Avenue Line, which caused a partial closure of that line. At midnight on November 7, 2020, another phase of work on the project began as track 3 was taken out of passenger service. Shuttle service on track 4 resumed on November 9. As part of this phase of work, track 3 and its infrastructure will be removed to allow for the construction of new platforms. In addition, structural work, and new power and signaling systems will be completed, and work will also begin on the new transfer passageway between the Times Square and Bryant Park stations. As of December 2020, work on the project was 55 percent complete, with the ADA-compliant platforms expected to be completed by September 2021.
Components.
As part of the project, the 42nd Street Shuttle would become ADA-accessible, and the shuttle would be reconfigured from three to two tracks, with the center track, track 3, to be removed. As part of the project, train reliability will be improved with the installation of a new signal system, replacing the existing system, which dates back to the 1930s. The new signaling system will not use communications-based train control (CBTC), but will be CBTC-ready.
The shuttle would be able to run six-car trains, compared to the two three-car trains used for tracks 1 and 4, and the one four-car train currently in use on track 3, increasing capacity by 20 percent, from 100 cars of capacity per hour to 120 per hour. Times Square and Grand Central stations will be reconfigured with wide island platforms, and access improvements will be completed at Times Square. Certain features of the Times Square station would be repaired and restored, and to increase capacity, 122 spaced columns between the trackways and 11 mezzanine columns will be removed. These would be replaced by 45 new spaced columns that are at least two feet away from the platform edges for safety and to provide space for tactile warning strips. These columns will be supported by 45 new foundations. A display case or plaque describing the history of the station will be installed underneath the replicated Knickerbocker lintel.
At Times Square, a new and platform would be built atop the trackways of tracks 2 and 3, the former express tracks of the original subway. The platform will extend to the east, and will be flanked by track 1 on the south and track 4 on the north. Passengers at Times Square will no longer be able to board trains on track 1 from the south, as the track would be cut back a few hundred feet to the east, and as a portion of the area used for boarding will be used for the reconfiguration of the fare control area for the entrance leading to the southeast corner of 42nd Street and Broadway. Passengers will also no longer be able to board trains on track 4 from the north; extending the platform to the east will allow for the abandonment of the platform currently serving trains on track 4, which is on a very sharp curve and has gap fillers to bridge a large gap between the platform and trains. This platform will be used for employee space. The exit to 43rd Street was closed, covered over, and turned into an emergency exit starting on October 19, 2019, allowing the metal bridge over track 4 to access the exit to be removed, which in turn will eliminate the need to remove the bridge every time a train on track 4 needed to be removed from service. As a result of the changes, dwell times will slightly be reduced at Times Square.
As part of the redevelopment of One Times Square, a new entrance with a glass canopy will be built. A new elevator to the building's observation deck will be installed and maintained by Jamestown Developers. The entrance will replace the exit to 43rd Street and will lead to the west side of Broadway between 42nd Street and 43rd Street, as well as a previously closed exit to the northeastern corner of 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue. The space currently used by passengers heading to and from the 43rd Street exit or to and from trains on track 4 will be placed outside of fare control for this new entrance. The portion of the existing station to the west of this new control area will no longer be accessible to passengers. To the west of the end of the platform on track 4, a wall decorated by artwork will be installed, blocking the view of the connection between track 4 and the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line.
A new underpass at the eastern end of the new platform will be constructed. This underpass will pass under track 4 and lead to an existing easement passageway in the basement of the Bank of America Tower. A new fare control area will be constructed at the west end of the passageway, leading to a new entrance on the north side of 42nd Street between Broadway and Sixth Avenue. The passageway would be used for free transfer to the IND Sixth Avenue Line's 42nd Street–Bryant Park station, allowing passengers access to the B, D, F, and M trains. The underpass will be mined below track 4, and trains running on the track will be supported by micropiles and skeletonized track.
At Grand Central, the center track, track 3, will be removed and the two existing platforms will be connected, providing one wide island platform, with an area of . This will become the largest platform in the subway system. The existing northern platform will be extended further west to accommodate six-car trains, using existing employee facility rooms. New consolidated employee facility rooms will be constructed on the existing location of the switch connecting tracks 1 and 3. The P-4 staircase at the western end of the station leading to Madison Avenue from the existing northern platform will be removed and the P-3 staircase leading there from the existing southern platform will be considerably widened.
Track layout.
Of the four shuttle tracks, only two are in use, with the former southbound express track space being used for platform space at each terminal. The former southbound local track is now shuttle track 1. Track 2 no longer exists, but the trackbed of track 2 can be seen inside the tunnel from passing trains on track 1. At the two terminals, the trackway for track 2 was occupied by platforms that provided access to track 3, which was the former northbound express track. There was also a switch between tracks 1 and 3 just west of Grand Central station. The former northbound local track is track 4. Track 2 was removed between the two stations in 1975, and circuit breaker houses have been constructed on the roadbed of track 2. Track 3, the former northbound express track, was taken out of service on November 7, 2020, and will be removed. Prior to the 2020 renovation at the Times Square station, in order to provide a connection between the platform for track 4, the former 43rd Street entrance, and the rest of the station complex, there was a pedestrian bridge over track 4. The pedestrian bridge could be temporarily removed to allow the train on track 4 to leave for maintenance on an as-needed basis.
Track 1 is connected to the IRT Lexington Avenue Line's southbound local track south of Grand Central station. Track 4 connects to the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line's northbound local track north of Times Square station. There is no longer a connection between the tracks; therefore, it is now physically impossible for a train to go from the IRT Lexington Avenue Line through to the IRT Seventh Avenue Line or vice versa by using the shuttle tracks.
Operation.
The shuttle operates at all times except between midnight and 5:50 a.m. weekdays, and between midnight and 6:00 a.m. weekends, when alternate service is provided by the parallel . When in service, each of the shuttle tracks in operation at any given time is independent of the other; e.g., the train on track 1 simply runs back and forth on track 1, and there is no switching involved in reversing at each terminal. To provide for quick turnaround of the shuttle trains, there is a motorman at each end of the train. Depending on which direction the train is traveling the operators swap jobs when the train gets to one end; one acts as the operator in the front and the other acts as conductor in the rear. Trains run on weekdays every 2 to 4 minutes during rush hours every 5 minutes at other times. On weekends, trains run every 5 minutes during daytime hours and every 10 minutes during the early morning and late evening. 10 trains per hour run on each track in each direction. It takes 90 seconds for trains to travel between Times Square and Grand Central, and trains reach a top speed of before they have to decelerate. Prior to the shuttle's renovation project, shuttle service was provided by three-car trains on tracks 1 and 4, and a four-car train on track 3.
It is common for shuttle trains to display advertising that entirely covers the interiors and exteriors of the train, as opposed to other routes, whose stock only displays advertising on placards inside the train. Since 2008, the MTA has tested full-train advertisements on 42nd Street Shuttle rolling stock. While most advertisements are well received, a few advertisements have been controversial. Among the more contentious wraps that were withdrawn are a 2015 ad for the TV show "The Man in the High Castle", which featured a Nazi flag, and an ad for FS1, in which a shuttle train and half of its seats were plastered with negative quotes about the New York Knicks, one of the city's NBA teams.
When the shuttle is closed, the area is sometimes used for movie and TV filming. For instance, some scenes from "The French Connection" were filmed on the 42nd Street Shuttle.


Epiphone

Epiphone is an American musical instrument brand that traces its roots to a musical instrument manufacturing business founded in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos in Smyrna, Ottoman Empire and moved to New York City in 1908. After taking over his father's business, Epaminondas Stathopoulos named the company "Epiphone" as a combination of his own nickname "Epi" and the suffix "-phone" (from Greek "phon-", "voice") in 1928, the same year it began making guitars. In 1957, Epiphone, Inc. was purchased by Gibson, its main rival in the archtop guitar market at the time. Gibson relocated Epiphone's manufacturing operation from its original Queens, New York factory to Gibson's Kalamazoo, Michigan factory. Over time, as Gibson moved its own manufacturing operations to other facilities, Epiphone followed suit; Gibson has also subcontracted the construction of Epiphone products to various facilities in the US and internationally. Today, Epiphone is still used as a brand for the Gibson company, both for budget models of other Gibson-branded products and for several Epiphone-exclusive models. Aside from guitars, Epiphone has also made double basses, banjos, and other string instruments, as well as amplifiers.
History.
Epiphone began in 1873, in Smyrna, Ottoman Empire (now İzmir, Turkey), where Greek founder Anastasios Stathopoulos made his own fiddles and lutes (oud, laouto). Stathopoulos moved to the United States in 1903 and continued to make his original instruments, as well as mandolins, from a factory at 35-37 36th Street in Long Island City, Queens, New York. Anastasios died in 1915, and his son, Epaminondas ("Epi"), took over. After two years, the company became known as The House of Stathopoulo. Just after the end of World War I, the company started to make banjos. The company produced its recording line of banjos in 1924 and, four years later, took on the name of the Epiphone Banjo Company. It produced its first guitars in 1928. After Epi died in 1943, control of the company went to his brothers, Orphie and Frixo. In 1951, a four-month-long strike precipitated a relocation of Epiphone from New York City to Philadelphia. In 1957 the company was acquired by Gibson. Since then, the brand has been used for a number of different guitars, some manufactured by Gibson itself in its own factories, and some manufactured by other companies such as Matsumoku under contract to Gibson and marketed under the Epiphone brand.
Guitars.
Historically, Epiphone branded guitars have fallen broadly into three categories. Firstly, Epiphone is used as a "budget brand" for Gibson, producing identically-named but lower-priced versions of popular Gibson models, such as the Epiphone Les Paul, which serves as a budget model comparable to the Gibson Les Paul. Secondly, Epiphone has also been used to brand models under alternate names, but are otherwise similar to more expensive Gibson-branded guitars, for example the Epiphone G-400 is functionally equivalent to the Gibson SG, and the Epiphone Dot is essentially a budget version of the Gibson ES-335. Occasionally, the Epiphone version of the guitar is historically better known, for example the Epiphone Casino, functionally identical to the Gibson ES-330, is better known due to its close association with artists such as The Beatles. Thirdly are models which are exclusive to the Epiphone brand without equivalent models produced under the Gibson brand, such as the Epiphone Coronet.
As of January, 2021, Epiphone was marketing guitars under several lines including several categorized on their website as "inspired by Gibson" for models that serve as the budget Gibson version. Historically, hundreds of different models have borne the Epiphone brand, and many are available in the used guitar market.
Amplifiers.
Epiphone began producing amplifiers in 1935 with the Electar Hawaiian Lap Steel Guitar Outfit. This outfit was an amplifier, case and lap steel guitar stand all rolled into one unit and was supplied by a suitcase manufacturer of the time. Electar "Century" and "Zephyr" amplifier models followed.
Gibson produced Epiphone amplifiers in the 1960s. These were copies or variations of Gibson and Fender amplifiers. They used a tube design, and some had reverb and tremolo. Gibson decided to launch a new line of Epiphone tube amplifiers in 2005 with models including the "So Cal," "Blues Custom," "Epiphone Valve Junior" and the solid state "Triggerman" range. The "Valve Hot Rod" and "Valve Senior" followed in 2009. The Valve Hot Rod is a 5 watt amp like the Valve Junior, but has a gain and reverb control. The Valve Senior offers 20 watts of power, with a full equalizer, gain, volume, reverb, and presence control.
As of 2012, Epiphone has ceased production of their line of amplifiers with the exception of the Player and Performance Pack practice amplifiers, available only in Epiphone's starter packages. These Amplifiers were under the Epiphone Electar brand. In 2014 the 1939 Electar "Century" 18-watt valve amplifier was reissued in an updated 75th anniversary Limited Edition.
Manufacturing.
United States.
Epiphone instruments made between 1957 and 1970 were made beside the Gibson factory at 224 Parsons (Gibson located at 225 Parsons) St and on Elenor St; Kalamazoo, MI 49007.
Solid body guitars with flat tops and backs were made at the Elenor Street plants (both Gibson and Epiphone) in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Some of these Epiphone instruments were effectively identical to the relevant Gibson versions, perhaps made with same timber, materials and components as the contemporary equivalent Gibson guitars. Epiphone also continued its production of world class archtop guitars using the same patterns and molds from Epi's New York era.
Some specific examples of Gibson-era Epiphone instruments from this period includes the Epiphone Sheraton (co-developed with the Gibson ES-335 & sharing its semi-hollow body, but with, Epiphone's pre-Gibson "Frequensator" tailpiece and "New York" mini-humbucker pickups, and significantly fancier inlays) and Sheraton II (replacing the Frequensator with Gibson's "stop-bar" tailpiece), the Epiphone Casino (similar to the Gibson ES-330), the Epiphone Caballero (similar to the Gibson LG-0), the Epiphone Cortez (similar to the Gibson LG-2), the Epiphone Frontier (similar to the Gibson Hummingbird), the Epiphone Olympic Special (similar to the Gibson Melody Maker), the Epiphone Sorrento (similar to the Gibson ES-125TC, except for a few cosmetic changes), and the Epiphone Texan (similar to the Gibson J-45, apart from a change in scale-length). The other Kalamazoo-made Epiphones had technical or cosmetic relationship with the similar Gibson version.
Several Epiphone guitars have been produced in the United States after 1971. The Epiphone Spirit and Special were produced in the early 1980s in Kalamazoo. In 1993, three historic Epiphone acoustic guitars, the Texan, Frontier, and Excellente, were produced by Gibson Acoustic in Montana. The Paul McCartney Texan was produced in 2005, and in 2009, the Epiphone Historic Collection was created, beginning with the 1962 Wilshire, built by Gibson Custom. Several other models, such as the Sheraton and John Lennon Casinos, were built in Japan and assembled and finished by Gibson USA.
Japan.
In the early 1970s, Matsumoku began to manufacture Epiphone instruments in Japan with the production and distribution being managed by Aria, in cooperation with Gibson. At this time, Epiphone ceased production of all of its traditional designs and began manufacturing markedly less expensive guitars, many of which had less traditional bolt-on style necks and unspecified wood types. Some of these guitars had similar body shapes to traditional Epiphone and Gibson designs but had different names while other models retained certain model designations, such as the FT (Flat Top) guitars. Construction of these guitars differed greatly from past Epiphone models. For the first several years of production in Japan, Epiphone guitars were actually rebranded designs already produced by the Matsumoku Company.
By 1975, the Japanese market started seeing some of the more familiar designs and names being reintroduced. These guitars were of higher quality than that of the previous years of production in Japan and included models such as the Wilshire, Emperor, Riviera and Newport bass. These models were available to the Japanese market only. By 1976 new designs of higher quality were being introduced for export but did not include the current Japanese market models. Notable new designs from this era were the Monticello (Scroll Guitar), the Presentation (PR) and Nova series flat tops and the Genesis solid body guitar. By 1980, most Japanese-only designs were available for worldwide distribution. One in particular, the ES930J, was made at the famed Terada factory and was a superior instrument. The Matsumoku-made archtops, such as the Emperor, Riviera, Sheraton and Casino, were available into the mid-1980s.
Korea.
From the 1980s, Epiphones were manufactured mainly in South Korea and Japan by contractors licensed by Gibson. One of these contractors was Samick, which also built instruments under license for other brands and in its own name. The brand was primarily used to issue less expensive versions of classic Gibson models.<
These guitars were constructed using different woods (generally only distantly related to true Mahogany), were fastened with epoxies rather than wood-glues. Gibson and Epiphone guitars all use Titebond resin glue, which is simple carpenters' wood glue, and were finished in hard, quick-to-apply polyester resin rather than the traditional nitro-cellulose lacquer used by Gibson Epiphone guitars assembled or made in the US use lacquer finishes unless it's a san lacquer (SL for short), but those made outside of the US use a poly urethane finish because of pollution requirements. These particular budget considerations, along with others such as plastic nuts and cheaper hardware and pickups, allow for a more affordable instrument.
Since 1996 the Epiphones were built by the Peerless Guitars Co. Ltd., established in 1970 in Busan, South Korea.
There is a controversial epiphone guitar using "LU" serial number. It is said these guitars were made in Indonesia under license from Unsung Korea.
China.
In 2004, Gibson opened a factory in Qingdao, China, which manufactures Epiphone guitars. With few exceptions, Epiphones are now built only in the Qingdao factory.
In 2004 Epiphone introduced a series of acoustic guitars named Masterbilt after a line of guitars of the 1930s, which are built in the same factory.
Imperial Series and Elitist.
During the early 1990s Epiphone released a series called the Imperial Series. These were remakes of the classic Epiphone archtops of the 1930s and '40s. Each instrument was handmade in the FujiGen factory in Japan. This short-lived series was discontinued in 1993, after only 42 Emperors were made. Several other models, including De Luxe, Broadway and Triumph models, were also produced in varying quantities.
Production was moved back to Nashville and Bozeman for a similar limited run of instruments (250 each of Sheratons, Rivieras, Frontiers, Excellentes and Texans). These guitars were the "Nashville USA Collection" (archtops) and the "Anniversary Series" (acoustics). Contrary to popular information, this line was related to, but not part of the 1994 Gibson Centennial Series commemorating 100 years of the Gibson Guitar Corporation. The Nashville and Anniversary Collections were intended as reintroductions of original, USA built Epiphone models.
In 2002, Epiphone began producing a range of higher quality instruments under the "Elite Series" moniker which were built by Terada and FujiGen in Japan. After legal action by Ovation the name was changed to Elitist in 2003. As of 2008, all of the Elitist models have been discontinued with the exception of the Elitist Casino and the Dwight Trash Casino. The Epiphone Elitist guitars included features such as higher grade woods, bone nuts, hand-rubbed finishes, "Made in the USA" pickups and USA strings. Japanese domestic market Elitists used the Gibson Dove-wing headstock as opposed to the "tombstone" headstock used on exports.
Serial numbers and factory codes.
Current Epiphone serial numbers give the following information:
Korea
China
Japan
Czech Republic
Indonesia
Example: SI09034853 SI = Samick Indonesia, 09 = 2009, 03 = March, 4853 = manufacturing number.
YYMMFF12345


James Thomas Lynn

James Thomas Lynn (February 27, 1927December 6, 2010) was an American cabinet officer and government official. He served as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 1973 until 1975 and as the director of the Office of Management and Budget from 1975 until 1977.
Early life.
Lynn was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on February 27, 1927, to Frederick Robert Lynn and Dorthea Estelle Lynn (née Petersen). In 1948, he graduated summa cum laude from Western Reserve University (now known as Case Western Reserve University), and in 1951 graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. At Harvard Law School Lynn was the case editor of the "Harvard Law Review".
Career.
He worked for Jones, Day, Cockley and Reavis, Cleveland's biggest law firm, became a partner in 1960 and was there until 1969, when he was named general counsel for the Department of Commerce. In 1971, he became Under Secretary of Commerce.
President Nixon appointed Lynn to serve as the U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from February 2, 1973 until February 5, 1975. President Gerald R. Ford appointed him to director of the Office of Management and Budget from February 10, 1975 until January 20, 1977.
Later life.
Lynn joined the board of Aetna in the 1970s and served as its president and chairman in the 1980s. From 1978 to 1983, Lynn was head of the Federal City Council, a group of business, civic, education, and other leaders interested in economic development in Washington, D.C.
Lynn was also general counsel for the Republican National Committee in 1979 and the president of the James S. Brady Presidential Foundation in the early 1980s. In the 1990s, Lynn served on the Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy as well as on the boards of Pfizer and TRW.
Lynn was also co-chair of the Business Roundtable, was selected for the President's Commission to Study Capital Budgeting and most recently served on the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Lynn was an honorary trustee of the Brookings Institution.
Personal life.
Lynn married the former Joan Miller on June 5, 1954. They had two daughters and one son: Marjorie Wilson, J. Peter Lynn and Sarah Hechler.
He died of a massive stroke at his home in Bethesda, Maryland, on December 6, 2010.


Spring (device)

A spring is an elastic object that stores mechanical energy. Springs are typically made of spring steel. There are many spring designs. In everyday use, the term often refers to coil springs.
When a conventional spring, without stiffness variability features, is compressed or stretched from its resting position, it exerts an opposing force approximately proportional to its change in length (this approximation breaks down for larger deflections). The "rate" or "spring constant" of a spring is the change in the force it exerts, divided by the change in deflection of the spring. That is, it is the gradient of the force versus deflection curve. An extension or compression spring's rate is expressed in units of force divided by distance, for example or N/m or lbf/in. A torsion spring is a spring that works by twisting; when it is twisted about its axis by an angle, it produces a torque proportional to the angle. A torsion spring's rate is in units of torque divided by angle, such as N·m/rad or ft·lbf/degree. The inverse of spring rate is compliance, that is: if a spring has a rate of 10 N/mm, it has a compliance of 0.1 mm/N. The stiffness (or rate) of springs in parallel is additive, as is the compliance of springs in series.
Springs are made from a variety of elastic materials, the most common being spring steel. Small springs can be wound from pre-hardened stock, while larger ones are made from annealed steel and hardened after fabrication. Some non-ferrous metals are also used including phosphor bronze and titanium for parts requiring corrosion resistance and beryllium copper for springs carrying electrical current (because of its low electrical resistance).
History.
Simple non-coiled springs were used throughout human history, e.g. the bow (and arrow). In the Bronze Age more sophisticated spring devices were used, as shown by the spread of tweezers in many cultures. Ctesibius of Alexandria developed a method for making bronze with spring-like characteristics by producing an alloy of bronze with an increased proportion of tin, and then hardening it by hammering after it was cast.
Coiled springs appeared early in the 15th century, in door locks. The first spring powered-clocks appeared in that century and evolved into the first large watches by the 16th century.
In 1676 British physicist Robert Hooke postulated Hooke's law, which states that the force a spring exerts is proportional to its extension.
Types.
Springs can be classified depending on how the load force is applied to them:
They can also be classified based on their shape:
The most common types of spring are:
Other types include:
Physics.
Hooke's law.
As long as not stretched or compressed beyond their elastic limit, most springs obey Hooke's law, which states that the force with which the spring pushes back is linearly proportional to the distance from its equilibrium length:
where
Coil springs and other common springs typically obey Hooke's law. There are useful springs that don't: springs based on beam bending can for example produce forces that vary nonlinearly with displacement.
If made with constant pitch (wire thickness), conical springs have a variable rate. However, a conical spring can be made to have a constant rate by creating the spring with a variable pitch. A larger pitch in the larger-diameter coils and a smaller pitch in the smaller-diameter coils forces the spring to collapse or extend all the coils at the same rate when deformed.
Simple harmonic motion.
Since force is equal to mass, "m", times acceleration, "a", the force equation for a spring obeying Hooke's law looks like:
The mass of the spring is small in comparison to the mass of the attached mass and is ignored. Since acceleration is simply the second derivative of x with respect to time,
This is a second order linear differential equation for the displacement formula_4 as a function of time. Rearranging:
the solution of which is the sum of a sine and cosine:
formula_7 and formula_8 are arbitrary constants that may be found by considering the initial displacement and velocity of the mass. The graph of this function with formula_9 (zero initial position with some positive initial velocity) is displayed in the image on the right.
Energy Dynamics.
In simple harmonic motion of a spring-mass system, energy will fluctuate between kinetic energy and potential energy, but the total energy of the system remains the same. A spring that obeys Hooke's Law with spring constant "k" will have a total system energy "E" of:
formula_10
Here, A is the amplitude of the wave-like motion that is produced by the oscillating behavior of the spring.
The potential energy "U" of such a system can be determined through the spring constant "k" and the attached mass "m":
formula_11
The kinetic energy "K" of an object in simple harmonic motion can be found using the mass of the attached object "m" and the velocity at which the object oscillates "v":
formula_12
Since there is no energy loss in such a system, energy is always conserved and thus:
formula_13
Frequency & Period.
The angular frequency ω of an object in simple harmonic motion, given in radians per second, is found using the spring constant "k" and the mass of the oscillating object "m"":"
formula_14
The period "T", the amount of time for the spring-mass system to complete one full cycle, of such harmonic motion is given by:
formula_15
The frequency "f", the number of oscillations per unit time, of something in simple harmonic motion is found by taking the inverse of the period:
formula_16
Theory.
In classical physics, a spring can be seen as a device that stores potential energy, specifically elastic potential energy, by straining the bonds between the atoms of an elastic material.
Hooke's law of elasticity states that the extension of an elastic rod (its distended length minus its relaxed length) is linearly proportional to its tension, the force used to stretch it. Similarly, the contraction (negative extension) is proportional to the compression (negative tension).
This law actually holds only approximately, and only when the deformation (extension or contraction) is small compared to the rod's overall length. For deformations beyond the elastic limit, atomic bonds get broken or rearranged, and a spring may snap, buckle, or permanently deform. Many materials have no clearly defined elastic limit, and Hooke's law can not be meaningfully applied to these materials. Moreover, for the superelastic materials, the linear relationship between force and displacement is appropriate only in the low-strain region.
Hooke's law is a mathematical consequence of the fact that the potential energy of the rod is a minimum when it has its relaxed length. Any smooth function of one variable approximates a quadratic function when examined near enough to its minimum point as can be seen by examining the Taylor series. Therefore, the force—which is the derivative of energy with respect to displacement—approximates a linear function.
Force of fully compressed spring
where
Zero-length springs.
"Zero-length spring" is a term for a specially designed coil spring that would exert zero force if it had zero length; if there were no constraint due to the finite wire diameter of such a helical spring, it would have zero length in the unstretched condition. That is, in a line graph of the spring's force versus its length, the line passes through the origin. Obviously a coil spring cannot contract to zero length, because at some point the coils touch each other and the spring can't shorten any more.
Zero length springs are made by manufacturing a coil spring with built-in tension (A twist is introduced into the wire as it is coiled during manufacture. This works because a coiled spring "unwinds" as it stretches.), so if it "could" contract further, the equilibrium point of the spring, the point at which its restoring force is zero, occurs at a length of zero. In practice, zero length springs are made by combining a "negative length" spring, made with even more tension so its equilibrium point would be at a "negative" length, with a piece of inelastic material of the proper length so the zero force point would occur at zero length.
A zero length spring can be attached to a mass on a hinged boom in such a way that the force on the mass is almost exactly balanced by the vertical component of the force from the spring, whatever the position of the boom. This creates a horizontal "pendulum" with very long oscillation period. Long-period pendulums enable seismometers to sense the slowest waves from earthquakes. The LaCoste suspension with zero-length springs is also used in gravimeters because it is very sensitive to changes in gravity. Springs for closing doors are often made to have roughly zero length, so that they exert force even when the door is almost closed, so they can hold it closed firmly.


Constant Girard

Constant Girard (La Chaux-de-Fonds,1825 – La Chaux-de-Fonds, 1903) was a Swiss watchmaker from the 19th century, who marked his time by his developments in the escapement systems, in particular that of the tourbillon. His most famous watch, the Tourbillon with three gold bridges, is still fabricated today in modern versions by the Swiss watch manufacturer, Girard-Perregaux.
His life.
Constant Girard began his career apprenticed to the watchmaker of La Sagne, in the mountains of Neuchâtel, Switzerland. In 1845, he joined forces with watchmaker C. Robert. Around 1852, he practiced his profession under the name of “Girard & Cie,” at the side of his older brother Numa.
In 1854, he married Marie Perregaux (1831-1912), who came from a family of watchmakers, and the two founded in 1856 the watch manufacturing company in La Chaux-de-Fonds that still carries their combined family names: Girard-Perregaux, which is still in existence today. His business developed rapidly, all the way to America and Japan.
Constant Girard-Perregaux was equally active in the social, political, and economic life of La Chaux-de-Fonds. He died in 1903.
The Tourbillon with three gold bridges.
Constant Girard devoted many long years to studying and designing diverse systems of escapements and in particular that of the tourbillon. Invented at the very beginning of the 19th century, the tourbillon counteracted the differing effects of gravity on a watch held in the vertical versus horizontal position, thanks to a mobile cage that carries the settling organ.
Constant Girard redesigned the three bridges, part of the watch movement, into the form of arrows parallel to one another. With a patented design in 1884, his Tourbillon with three gold bridges was awarded a gold medal at the Universal Exposition of Paris in 1889.
Other accomplishments.
Constant Girard was equally interested in the measure of time and he illustrated this in his chronometers watches. Girard-Perregaux were rewarded by several gold medals or diplomas from expositions in Europe and in America for his efforts. Some of its creations are presented at the Girard-Perregaux Museum situated in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland.
Constant Girard also produced the first ever major commercial production of a wristwatch, made for German naval officers and ordered by German Kaiser Wilhelm I for his German naval officers. Two-thousand such watches were ordered and produced, which represents the first important commercialization of wristwatches.


Antoine Jacson

Antoine Jacson ( – 6 December 1803) was a Canadian soldier and wood carver. Jacson worked as a master wood carver in Quebec, contributing friezes, rosettes and other decorative elements to churches throughout the province, including the Notre-Dame Basilica in Quebec City.


Long Valley Dam


Davis Mell

Davis Mell (also David or Davy; 15 November 1604 – 27 April 1662) was an English clockmaker and violinist.
He was born at Wilton, Wiltshire near Salisbury the son of a servant of William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke. He was primarily a clockmaker, and was, until the middle of the seventeenth century, accounted the first violinist in England in point of skill. He may be said to occupy the position of the earliest English violinist of note. Anthony Wood says that Mell was "one of the musick to King Charles I," and "had a sweet stroke."
According to the same authority, Mell visited Oxford in March 1657–8, when "Peter Pett, Will Bull, Ken Digby, and others of Allsoules did give him a very handsome entertainment in the Taverne, called 'The Salutation,' in St. Marie's Parish. The company did look upon Mr. Mell to have a prodigious hand on the violin, and they thought that no person, as all in London did, could goe beyond him. But when Tho Baltzar, an Outlander, came to Oxon in the next yeare, they had other thoughts of Mr. Mell, who tho he played farr sweeter than Baltzar, yet Baltzar's hand was more quick." Elsewhere Wood describes Mell as "a well-bred gentleman, and not given to excessive drinking as Baltzar was." Wood seems to have entertained him at Oxford in August 1658.
Mell was conjointly with George Hudson the first "Master of the Music," or leader of Charles II's "four and twenty fiddlers," a band of twenty-four performers on the violin, tenor, and bass, instituted by the king in 1660 in imitation of Louis XIV's Les Vingt-quatre Violons du Roi. He was succeeded in 1661 by Baltzar.
Some of Mell's compositions for the instrument are to be found in Christopher Simpson's "Division Viol" (1659). In John Aubrey's "Miscellanies" is an account of a child of Davis Mell, who was cured of a crooked back by the touch of a dead hand.


Hans Homberger

Hans Ernst Homberger (31 October 1908 - 26 January 1986) was a Swiss rower who competed with two of his brothers. He won two medals at the 1935 European Rowing Championships and a further two medals at the 1936 Summer Olympics. Born into a family of industrialists, he took over the International Watch Company when his father died in 1955. He led the company until he sold it to VDO in 1978.
Family.
Homberger was born in 1908 in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Two of his younger brothers, Rudolf Homberger (born 1910) and Alex Homberger (born 1912), were also competitive rowers. Their father was Ernst Homberger who headed the Georg Fischer company since 1902, and who later became the head of the International Watch Company.
Rowing career.
At the 1935 European Rowing Championships in Berlin, Homberger won gold with the coxless four; his brother Alexander was part of the crew. At the same event, all three brothers competed with the men's eight and came second.
In 1936 he was a crew member of the Swiss boat which won the silver medal in the coxed four event. As part of the Swiss boat in the coxless four competition he won the bronze medal. He also participated in the eight event where the Swiss boat finished sixth. Whilst the Swiss had been the favourites for the men's eight event, four of them had already competed in the coxed four and coxless four events that day (including both Hans and Alex Homberger) and they were exhausted when the final for the eight was raced.
Professional career.
When his father died in 1955, Homberger took over as managing director of the International Watch Company. He led the company until 1978 when it was sold to VDO.
Homberger died in 1986.


Geetam Tiwari

Prof. Geetam Tiwari is currently the TRIPP Chair Professor at the Department of Civil Engineering of the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi, India.
She teaches transportation planning, traffic engineering, and transport economics and finance, transport safety, and non-motorised transportation to undergraduate and graduate students.
Education and biography.
Tiwari finished her Bachelor of Architecture from the then University of Rourkee, Rourkee (currently Indian Institute of Technology Rourkee) in 1980 and worked for a year as Assistant Architect at the Uttar Pradesh State Construction Corporation, in Lucknow. She later attended the School of Urban Planning and Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago, where she earned a Masters in Transport Planning and Policy and later a Ph.D. in Public Policy Analysis (Transport Planning). After serving as visiting faculty in the School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi, and as a consultant, she joined IIT Delhi in 1990 as a Senior Scientific Officer in the Applied Systems Research Programme, which would later be named the Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Program (TRIPP).
Professional career.
Tiwari was appointed an honorary doctor by Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden in 2012, for her research on transport. She and her research group have contributed to knowledge on urban traffic patterns of various vehicles, public health effects in the urban environment, and the relationship between the municipal infrastructure and traffic safety. Their research led to the introduction of Bus Rapid Transit Systems in Delhi and guidelines for the design of highways and streets in urban environments. These have resulted in improved accessibility and traffic safety, as well as fewer emissions of greenhouse gases and less pollution in general.
In addition to her teaching and research, Tiwari is one of the directors of Innovative Transport Solutions (iTrans) and is a member of working groups on Urban Transport for the twelfth Five-Year Plan of India and the National Transport Development Policy Committee (NTDPC).
Tiwari has written, edited, and contributed to various books in the field of urban transportation systems, road safety, and injury prevention. These include "The Way Forward: Transportation Planning And Road Safety", "Injury Prevention and Control" "Urban transport for growing cities: high capacity bus system", and "Road Traffic Injury Prevention: Training Manual". Tiwari has authored and co-authored numerous international peer-reviewed journal articles.


Grand Designs Australia

Grand Designs Australia is an Australian spin-off of the British TV series "Grand Designs". The show documents people who attempt to build a custom-designed house and the challenges they face. It is aired on The LifeStyle Channel and is hosted by the architect Peter Maddison.
Format.
The Australian edition follows its British lead and, generally, begins with Maddison meeting the individuals constructing a "unique" build; this is followed by a CAD (Computer Aided Design, produced by Our Vision) of the layout of the build. As the build progresses, Maddison visits the site to interview the build clients and will, occasionally, interview other persons relevant to the project such as architects and site managers. Finally, Maddison visits the site, at a planned end of the build and interviews the project clients on life in their new house (if completed) and the challenges they encountered in pursuing the project.
Episodes and spin-offs.
A two-part spin-off series titled Grand Designs Australia Revisited premiered on 15 April 2013. The series featured the Surry Hills Small House and the Clovelly Modular episodes.
Broadcast.
The series has aired on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom.
Exhibition.
Grand Designs Australia Live launched in Sydney in October 2011 and again in Melbourne in September 2012.


Charles Matcham

Charles Matcham (15 January 1862 – 22 September 1911) was an English civil engineer and businessman who spent most of his life in America. He founded numerous businesses, mostly within the cement-making industry, in areas including Phillipsburg, in New Jersey, and Allentown, and Portland in Pennsylvania. He was the younger brother of the English theatre architect Frank Matcham.
Life and career.
Charles Arthur Matcham was born on 15 January 1862 in Torquay, Devonshire. He was the third son of Charles Matcham (1826–1888), a brewer, and his wife, Elizabeth Lancaster (1830–1905). Charles Jr. was educated at schools in Hambledon in Hampshire, and then Brighton, East Sussex.
Matcham entered the engineering industry in 1875 in London where he received an honours mention for his mechanical drawing and designs at the National Art Training School in South Kensington. From 1877–80 he worked as a mechanical draftsman in London. In 1879 he joined the newly-formed American Bell Telephone Company and built telephone exchanges in Europe, including Antwerp, Brussels, and Charleroi. He also worked in St. Petersburg and Riga, where he introduced the newly-invented telephone and installed the Alexander II of Russia's system, personally.
In 1881, Matcham travelled to Chicago, America, where he started work with the Chicago Telephone Company for which he built exchanges. Three years later he joined the Pennsylvania Telephone Company and became the Chief Engineer and Superintendent of the business. In 1890, along with his brother-in-law, he founded a cement plant in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, called the Whittaker Cement Company. He stayed with the business until 1897 when he was sold to the Alpha Portland Cement Company, of which he was the manager. That year he established the Lehigh Portland Cement Company, with which he remained for 10 years before joining the Allentown Cement Company as general manager. he was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, American Institute of Mining Engineers, American Society for Testing Materials, and the National Geographic Society. Through his work within the civil engineering industry, he invented a cement stone pulveriser, for which he owned the patent.
Illness and death.
Matcham retired in 1910 after failing health. He died of a chest infection on 22 September 1911 at the age of 49.
Personal life.
Matcham married Margaret Ormrod in 1888 and they had three children; a son, Charles, and daughters Dorothy and Catherine. He was the younger brother of the theatre architect Frank Matcham, and Sydney, who was noted for founding the first travel agency in Allentown, Pennsylvania, called the Matcham Travel Bureau.
Notes and references.
Notes
References


Land mines in North Africa

This article discusses the problem represented by land mines in North Africa, the consequent suffering of its peoples, and how the countries in the region deal with this problem.
History.
On 10 June 1940, during World War II, Italy declared war on Great Britain and France. This declaration included the Italian colonies and colonists already located in Africa. The Italians initially attacked Egypt, and the British, allied to the Egyptians by the 1936 treaty, counterattacked and occupied Cyrenaica. The Italians asked for help from their German allies; as a result, the Germans entered the North African theatre of war. The war continued with no decisive victory until the German-Italian forces were defeated at the Second Battle of Alamein in late 1942. German-Italian forces withdrew from Egypt and Libya to Tunisia, and the Americans arrived in North Africa on 8 November 1942 during Operation Torch to assist the British. American and British forces defeated their opponents on 12 May 1943, ending the North African campaign.
During the war, each side used land-mines to impede the enemy's progress. While it is unknown how many mines were used throughout North Africa, it is known from the memoirs of Erwin Rommel that some 80,000 mines were laid at the Buerat-Line in Libya.
Many of the mines are still operational and pose a risk to local populations. The responsibility for removing them has been left to the governments of North African nations.
Egypt.
One of the United Nations's missions estimated there are 19.7 million mines in the western desert of Egypt. Great efforts have been made in extracting mines. In a 1997 interview with Major-General Ibrahim Abdul-Fattah, chief of military engineers in the Egyptian armed forces. He stated that 8,301 Egyptian persons (civilian and military) were affected by land mines by 1997. Of them, 7,611 were wounded and 690 were killed.
In order to remove the mines, Italian and German old battlefield maps (the German records are more complete) are used in combination with satellite maps to pinpoint dangerous areas. The old maps are not enough because, according to the scientist Ayman Shabana, "many mines have moved due to floods, climate changes or the movement of sand dunes over half a century."
Libya.
The White Book, issued by the Libyan government in 1981, shows that for every year from 1939 (before the war) to 1975, Libyans were killed by the explosion of left-over military munitions (including mines), except for the years 1969–70. 1945 had the deadliest record of 130 people killed. Most mine fields are located in the coastal area, the most populated zone of the country.
Libya also has a bad heritage of land mines from the Libyan-Egyptian war in 1977. During the Libyan civil war in 2011, Muammar al Qadafi's regime laid land mines to check the advance of the rebel forces.
In the 1990s, about one dozen explosives removal teams worked in the former battle fields in Libya to defuse land mines and duds. Since the European countries did not feel responsible for the removal of these explosives, the Libyan government had to pay for this dangerous work.
Tunisia.
"On March 17 [1943] General George S. Patton captured Gafsa. On April 8 he joined up with the 8th Army, whilst on his left, the French XIX Corps moved towards the Eastern Dorsale. But neither of them were able to intercept the Italian army as it retreated north towards Enfidaville via Sfax and Sousse. This was because of the vast numbers of land-mines that Italian and German sappers laid, one of which killed Major-General Edouard Welvert, commanding the "Constantine" Motorised Division, as they were entering Kairouan".
Today, the Tunisian Army is extracting between 200–300 mines every year.
Western Sahara.
Morocco has constructed a 2,700 km (1,700 mi) long berm (sand wall) cutting through the length of Western Sahara. Minefields and watchtowers serve to separate the Moroccan-controlled zone from the sparsely populated Free Zone. Several thousand people have been killed or injured as a result of stepping on land mines, as have numerous Sahrawi livestock (goats and camels).
Diplomatic efforts.
Although these three countries suffer from the same problem, they have never unified their diplomatic engagements with the formerly belligerent countries, Italy, Germany, and Great Britain. This weakened their positions in demanding the extraction of the mines, and compensation for war damages. Libya and Egypt work apart. Tunisia signed the Ottawa Treaty in December 1997, calling for banning the use of mines in warfare, but this signing will not save its people from the danger of mines.


Eric Shinseki

Eric Ken Shinseki (; born November 28, 1942) is a retired United States Army general who served as the seventh United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs (2009–2014). His final United States Army post was as the 34th Chief of Staff of the Army (1999–2003). Shinseki is a veteran of two tours of combat in the Vietnam War, in which he was awarded three Bronze Star Medals for valor and two Purple Hearts. He was the first Asian-American four-star general, and the first Asian-American Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
Early life and education.
Shinseki was born in Lihue, Kauai, in the then Territory of Hawaii, to an American family of Japanese ancestry. His grandparents emigrated from Hiroshima to Hawaii in 1901. He grew up in a sugarcane plantation community on Kaua'i and graduated from Kaua'i High and Intermediate School in 1960. While attending Kaua'i he was active in the Boy Scouts and served as class president. As a boy, Shinseki learned that three of his uncles had served in the 442nd Infantry Regiment, a unit of Japanese Americans that became one of the most decorated fighting units in United States history. Motivated by his uncles' example, he attended the United States Military Academy and graduated in 1965 with a Bachelor of Science degree and a commission as a second lieutenant. He earned a Master of Arts degree in English Literature from Duke University in 1974. He was also educated at the Armor Officer Advanced Course, the United States Army Command and General Staff College, and the National War College of National Defense University.
Military service.
Shinseki served in a variety of command and staff assignments in the Continental United States and overseas, including two combat tours with the 9th and 25th Infantry Divisions in the Republic of Vietnam as an artillery forward observer and as commander of Troop A, 3rd Squadron, 5th Cavalry Regiment during the Vietnam War. During one of those tours while serving as a forward artillery observer, he stepped on a land mine, which blew the front off one of his feet; after spending almost a year recovering from his injuries, he returned to active duty in 1971.
Shinseki has served at Schofield Barracks, Hawai'i, with Headquarters, United States Army Hawaii, and Fort Shafter with Headquarters, United States Army Pacific. He has taught at the U.S. Military Academy's Department of English. During duty with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment at Fort Bliss, Texas, he served as the regimental adjutant and as the executive officer of its 1st Squadron.
Shinseki's ten-plus years of service in Europe included assignments as Commander, 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry, 3rd Infantry Division (Schweinfurt); Commander, 2nd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division (Kitzingen); Assistant Chief of Staff, G3, 3rd Infantry Division (Operations, Plans and Training) (Würzburg); and Assistant Division Commander for Maneuver, 3rd Infantry Division (Schweinfurt). The 3rd Division was organized at that time as a heavy mechanized division. He also served as Assistant Chief of Staff, G3 (Operations, Plans, and Training), VII Corps (Stuttgart). Shinseki served as Deputy Chief of Staff for Support, Allied Land Forces Southern Europe (Verona), an element of the Allied Forces Southern Europe.
From March 1994 to July 1995, Shinseki commanded the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas. In July 1996, he was promoted to lieutenant general and became Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans, United States Army. In June 1997, Shinseki was appointed to the rank of general before assuming duties as Commanding General, Seventh United States Army; Commander, Allied Land Forces Central Europe; and Commander, NATO Stabilization Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Shinseki became the Army's 28th Vice Chief of Staff on November 24, 1998, then became its 34th Chief of Staff on June 22, 1999. Shinseki retired on June 11, 2003 at the end of his four-year term. His Farewell Memo contained some of his ideas regarding the future of the military. At that time, General Shinseki retired from the Army after 38 years of military service.
, Shinseki was the highest-ranked Asian American in the history of the United States. Additionally, as of 2004, he is the highest-ranked Japanese American to have served in the United States Armed Forces.
Army Chief of Staff.
During his tenure as Army Chief of Staff, Shinseki initiated an innovative but controversial plan to make the army more strategically deployable and mobile in urban terrain by creating Stryker Interim-Force Brigade Combat Teams. He conceived a long term strategic plan for the army dubbed "Objective Force", which included a program he designed, Future Combat Systems. One other controversial plan that Shinseki implemented was the wearing of the black beret for all army personnel. Prior to Shinseki implementing this policy, only the United States Army Rangers could wear the black beret. When the black beret was given to all soldiers and officers, the Rangers moved to the tan beret.
Shinseki publicly clashed with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld during the planning of the war in Iraq over how many troops the United States would need to keep in Iraq for the postwar occupation of that country. As Army Chief of Staff, Shinseki testified to the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services on February 25, 2003, that "something in the order of several hundred thousand soldiers" would probably be required for postwar Iraq. This was an estimate far higher than the figure being proposed by Secretary Rumsfeld in his invasion plan, and it was rejected in strong language by both Rumsfeld and his Deputy Secretary of Defense, Paul Wolfowitz, who was another chief planner of the invasion and occupation. From then on, Shinseki's influence on the Joint Chiefs of Staff reportedly waned. Critics of the Bush Administration alleged that Shinseki was forced into early retirement as Army Chief of Staff because of his comments on troop levels; however, his retirement was announced nearly a year before those comments.
When the insurgency took hold in postwar Iraq, Shinseki's comments and their public rejection by the civilian leadership were often cited by those who felt the Bush administration deployed too few troops to Iraq. On November 15, 2006, in testimony before Congress, CENTCOM Commander General John Abizaid said that Shinseki had been correct that more troops were needed.
Post-military career.
Shinseki has served as a director for several corporations: Honeywell International and Ducommun, military contractors; Grove Farm Corporation; First Hawaiian Bank; and Guardian Life Insurance Company of America. He is a member of the Advisory Boards at the Center for Public Leadership, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and to the U.S. Comptroller General. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Atlantic Council of the United States, and the Association of the United States Army.
United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs (2009–2014).
On December 7, 2008, then-President-elect Barack Obama announced at a press conference in Chicago that he would nominate Shinseki to become the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Shinseki was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate on January 20, 2009, and sworn in the next day.
Veterans Health Administration scandal.
In May 2014, Shinseki was embroiled in a scandal involving the Veterans Health Administration, which is a component of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. Questions involving substandard timely care and false records covering up related timelines had come to light, involving treatment of veterans in a number of veterans hospitals. On May 30, 2014, President Obama announced that he had accepted Shinseki's resignation as Secretary. Shinseki said he could not explain the lack of integrity among some leaders in veterans healthcare facilities: "That breach of integrity is irresponsible, it is indefensible, and unacceptable to me." He said he could not defend what happened because it was indefensible, but he could take responsibility for it and he would. Shinseki's resignation meant that 2014 was the first time since 2000 that there had not been an Asian American in the Cabinet of the United States.
In an interview with retired General Peter W. Chiarelli, journalist Robert Siegel described the situation as "a case of a very, very good man who's run up against some pretty terrible problems in his job," to which Chiarelli responded, "I don't look up to any man more than I look up to Eric Shinseki."
Family.
Shinseki is married to his high school sweetheart, Patricia; they are the parents of two children, Lori and Ken. He also has seven grandchildren.
Awards, decorations, and badges.
Shinseki was awarded the following medals, ribbons, badges, and tabs:


Edward B. Ellington

Edward Bayzand Ellington (2 August 1845 – 10 November 1914) was a British hydraulic engineer who pioneered the development of urban-scale hydraulic power distribution systems.
Ellington was managing director of the Hydraulic Engineering Co of Chester and one of the founders of the London Hydraulic Power Company. He invented the hydraulic balance lift (US: elevator) and the automatic injector fire hydrant.
Early life.
The second son of a warehouseman, Ellington was born in Camberwell, and studied at Denmark Hill Grammar School before being articled to the Greenwich-based maritime engineering firm of John Penn in 1862.
In 1869, he left Penn's company and London and entered into partnership with Bryan Johnson of Chester; Johnson and Ellington specialised in hydraulic machinery. In 1871, they established the Wharves and Warehouses Steam Power and Hydraulic Pressure Company. In 1875, the partnership converted to a limited company, the Hydraulic Engineering Co.
Hydraulic power.
Two years later, in 1877, Ellington was engineer to the Hull Hydraulic Power Co., the first company to demonstrate the practicability of large-scale urban hydraulic power networks, in Kingston upon Hull.
In London in 1882, he was consulting engineer to the General Hydraulic Power Company of Southwark (incorporated 29 June), and, in 1884, helped form its subsidiary, the London Hydraulic Power Company, which merged the Wharves and Warehouses Steam Power and Hydraulic Pressure Company and the General Hydraulic Power Company. This was followed by similar UK companies in Liverpool (Liverpool Hydraulic Power Company, 1889), Manchester (Manchester Hydraulic Power, 1894) and Glasgow (1895), plus Australian schemes in Melbourne (1889) and Sydney (1891). The emergence of electrical power during the 20th century meant hydraulic networks were gradually superseded; the Hull company was wound up in 1947 while the final London pumping station ceased operation in 1977.
Late in his life Ellington was elected President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. He died at his London home (73 Addison Road, Kensington) on 10 November 1914.
Family.
Ellington married Marion Florence Leonard, and they had at least one child, a son, Edward Ellington (born in Kensington in 1877), who became a senior figure in the Royal Air Force.


Transpeninsular Line

The Transpeninsular Line (at approximately 38°27′ N) is a surveyed line, the eastern half of which forms the north–south border between Delaware and Maryland. The border turns roughly north from the midpoint of the line towards the Twelve-Mile Circle, which forms much of the remainder of the Delaware land border.
Overview.
In 1751, a line was surveyed straight across the Delmarva Peninsula beginning at what at least some early Swedish settlers called "Cape Hinlopen", which was to be the southern boundary of Delaware. This place is better known as Fenwick Island. Twenty-four miles north is another cape named Cape Henlopen near Lewes, Delaware. Various spellings of "henlopen" mean "entering in" or "approaching," although one authority insists it means "runaway cape." The confusion of the placement of Cape Henlopen was the crux of a long-standing dispute between the Penns (Delaware) and the Calverts (Maryland), the latter claiming the Lewes' cape should have been the start of the boundary line. A map commissioned by Charles Calvert in 1732 which showed Cape Henlopen at Fenwick Island was used to decide the matter, although the map commissioned by Calvert was based on a 1651 map by Nicholas Visscher owned by William Penn. Calvert had accepted Penn's map which depicted Cape Henlopen at approximately 38°27′ N. Calvert discovered the mistake only after he had submitted the map he had commissioned to the English court deciding the case. Calvert failed in his later attempts to have the court reject his own map. If the actual Cape Henlopen near Lewes had been used as the start of the line, Delaware would be about one thousand square miles smaller, losing over a third of its current area. In 1751 a line was surveyed from the Court-designated point on the coast to the Chesapeake Bay (Penn's Cape Henlopen), and in turn was used by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon (of Mason–Dixon line fame) in 1763 when they were engaged to survey the north-south border between Maryland and Delaware).
The Transpeninsular Line splits several Delmarva communities, separating them between the two states. The best known are Delmar, Delaware, and Delmar, Maryland, which derive their name from the two states' names.
A Transpeninsular Line marker can be found near the Fenwick Island Lighthouse, at the northern boundary of Ocean City, Maryland, located on 146th Street. The midpoint Transpeninsular Line marker can be found on the north side of Route 54 about halfway between Delmar and Mardela Springs, Maryland. This marker is also the southern endpoint of the Mason–Dixon Line.


William Bennet (engineer)

William Bennet (or Bennett) was an English civil engineer, noted for his work on canals. Nothing is known of his early life or family history, but details of his work from about 1790 until 1826 are documented. His major projects were for the Dorset and Somerset Canal and the Somersetshire Coal Canal.
Early career.
It is thought that Bennet originated in Lancashire, as his first recorded projects concerned surveying of an extension to the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal from Bolton to join the Leeds Liverpool Canal, then being proposed, and surveying of the Bury and Sladen Canal, to create a link to the Rochdale Canal. The surveys were completed in 1792, after which he surveyed a canal from Accrington to Bury, which although it obtained an Act of Parliament in 1794 to authorise its construction, was never built. During this period he met Robert Whitworth, who employed him for a time, and was influential in his move to projects in the South West.
Major Projects.
Whitworth had been approached by the Dorset and Somerset Canal Committee, with a view to him surveying that scheme, but felt that he was too busy with other work, and so recommended Bennet as a suitable alternative in 1793. Bennet was at the time busy with plans for the Ivelchester and Langport Navigation, and so did not complete the Dorset and Somerset plans until mid-1795. The committee rejected the final part of his route, which would have joined the Kennet and Avon Canal at Dundas Aqueduct, but accepted a revised route to Widbrook on 13 August 1795.
Bennet estimated the cost at £146,008, and presented evidence on the engineering aspects of the project, which enabled the Committee to obtain an Act of Parliament in 1796. The scheme involved "caisson" locks, on which Robert Weldon held a patent, and although construction of the canal began in September 1796, Bennet deferred any work on the locks until the outcome of trials on the neighbouring Somersetshire Coal Canal were known. Since November 1795, Bennet had also been the engineer for that scheme.
It was estimated that the use of caisson locks could save the Somersetshire Canal Company around £10,000, but the trials were not successful. Bennet was consulted when the brickwork forming the lock walls started to bulge, but Benjamin Outram was approached in February 1800, and he recommended replacing the locks with an inclined plane. Bennet assessed Outram's proposal, and three other proposals for balance locks, by James Fussell, Norton and Whitmore. Although he wanted to proceed with a lock scheme, the decision to build an inclined plane was made in June 1800, but that was not a success. The Company obtained a new Act or Parliament in 1802 to authorise its replacement by a flight of conventional locks, but by 1806 it became evident that Bennet had underestimated the cost by a third, and he was dismissed.
On the Dorset and Somerset Canal, Bennet had to decide what to do when the lock trials showed the flaws in Weldon's caisson locks. He recommended locks based on a patent by James Fussell, and although the first trial was a success, the scheme ran out of money in 1802, and was never completed.
Later life.
Very little is known of his subsequent career. He was involved with an inclined plane from Bathampton Quarries to the Kennet and Avon Canal in 1808, and he worked with Robert Anstice advising on the River Axe drainage scheme, also in 1808. Between 1821 and 1825, he was resident in Eccles Green, Lancashire, and produced a report jointly with Thomas Tredgold in 1825, on using the route of the abortive Dorset and Somerset Canal for a railway.


Shoe tack