Arden railway station, Melbourne

Arden railway station is a railway station currently under construction as part of the Metro Tunnel project. It will be served by the Sunbury, Pakenham and Cranbourne lines. It will be built in North Melbourne, below Laurens and Arden Streets, using the cut-and-cover method. Major construction commenced in April 2018.
Location.
Arden Street was chosen as the site for a new railway station to support the expansion of the central city and provide a focus for the development of a new commercial, residential and activity centre in North Melbourne.
The Victorian government has stated that Arden station will support job creation by improving public transport access to inner-west Melbourne, an area which has been earmarked for urban renewal. Fifty-six hectares of land around the proposed Arden station, much of which is owned by the State Government, is earmarked for revitalisation as part of the project. The new suburb is expected to house around 15,000 people and provide 34,000 jobs.
The Arden Station location will also play a key role in supporting the construction of the western section of the Metro Tunnel, as it houses many important facilities such as a concrete batching facility, offices, and storage areas for concrete segments. Tunnel boring machines were launched towards the western tunnel entrance in Kensington from this location in 2019.
Naming.
Following a state government-led naming competition, it was announced that station was to be named North Melbourne upon its completion, with the existing North Melbourne railway station to be renamed West Melbourne. However, after a number of security and logistical concerns relating to renaming the existing North Melbourne station became apparent, the government announced that it had decided to retain the station's working name.
Design.
The station's external design, made out of clay brick, will reflect the on the area's industrial heritage. A café will be included in the station, with areas for outdoor dining. New public gathering space will provide space for locals and passengers to enjoy. As the station may be prone to flooding, drainage at the station has been designed to capture the natural flow of rainwater and distribute it into nearby garden beds.
Arden Precinct.
The Metro Tunnel is set to transform the Arden precinct, with around 6000 square metres of public gathering space likely to be created. As the area is also prone to flooding, the flood-resistant “urban sponge” landscape strategy will be used to absorb stormwater. This will include rain gardens, tree planters and permeable paving. Nearby streets such as Laurens and Barwise Street will be upgraded to be more pedstrian-oriented.


Enfield station (Connecticut)

Enfield station is a proposed CT"rail" Hartford Line station in Enfield, Connecticut. , it is expected to open in late 2023. A previous station at the site was open from 1844 to 1986.
History.
Amtrak.
The Hartford and New Haven Railroad (H&NH) opened from Hartford to Springfield in December 1844. Thompsonville station, located on the east side of the tracks just north of Main Street, opened with the line. It was replaced by a two-story brick station around 1870, with a wooden addition for the Railway Express Agency built later on the north end of the structure.
In 1946, the second story - then rented out as apartments - and the wooden addition were removed. The modified station building was used until 1971, when Penn Central closed it shortly before Amtrak took over passenger service. Thompsonville remained a stop - daily ridership exceeded 40 on the "Connecticut Yankee" in 1974 - but passengers waited on the bare platform. Amtrak bought the line in 1976; after frequent vandalism and a January 26, 1980 fire, they proposed to remove the boarded-up century-old building. Although it was kept for several more years for the possibility of restoration and inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, the station and the adjacent freight house were demolished in early 1983.
In 1980, Amtrak constructed several small shelters at Thompsonville station. It was part of a $12 million effort to improve the line, which included opening the North Haven station and buying twelve Budd SPV-2000 railcars to increase frequencies on the "Connecticut Valley Service". The station was renamed as Enfield starting with the February 1981 schedule. Service to Enfield and North Haven ended on October 28, 1986 due to low ridership; Enfield averaged five daily passengers spread between eight trains. The shelters were subsequently removed, but the crumbling platform is extant.
Hartford Line.
In 2004, the Recommended Action of the New Haven Hartford Springfield Commuter Rail Implementation Study included the construction of a new Enfield station at Main Street. A preliminary design located parking lots on Main Street with a smaller lot east of the tracks.
The station is proposed to be built on Main Street at North River Street in Thompsonville, near the downtown area. Access from I-91 will be possible via CT-220. Plans released in 2013 called for the station to have two 180-foot high-level platforms, each with a 100-foot shelter, connected by an elevated pedestrian bridge. A small parking lot will be built on the west side of the tracks, with a larger lot shared with the Bigelow Commons development on the east side. The station is estimated to cost $6–9.5 million. In February 2017, the state announced an additional $50 million in funds, including money to complete design of Enfield station. Design was to be completed by 2020. Hartford Line service began operation on June 16, 2018.
In April 2019, the town proposed to fund construction of an interim station - a single side platform on the west side of the single track. That proposal would allow service to Enfield to begin while the state searches for funding for full double-tracking and a permanent station. The town set aside $670,000 of the estimated $2.5 million cost in October 2019.
By January 2021, the station was expected to be complete by the end of 2022. , platform construction is expected to begin in October 2022, with the station opening about a year later.


Lancang-Mekong Cooperation

Lancang-Mekong Cooperation is a multilateral format established in 2016 for cooperation between the riparian states of the Lancang River and Mekong River. The Lancang is the part of the Mekong that flows through China. Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand are five downstream countries of the Mekong River.
Water resources.
The central purpose of the format is for China to manage water flow from its hydropower dams with the other riparian states. China has built seven megadams on the Lancang-Mekong and according to the US-based NGO International Rivers 20 are under construction or planned in Yunnan, Tibet and Qinghai.
LMC Special Fund.
A fund was created in 2016 to aid in small and medium-sized projects by the Lancang-Mekong countries.


Morley Harps

The Morley family has been involved in the making, repair, and selling of harps in the United Kingdom since 1817. The harp historian, John Marson, suggests that they are the longest-established dynasty within the harp world.
George Morley and Charles Morley.
George Morley (1790–1852) first married Ann Harker (1817–1837) and married a second time Mary Ann Killick Kent (1846–1895). It was from the second marriage that Joseph George Morley was born.
George Morley registered his harp making, tuning, and repair business at 95 High St, White Chapel, London, in 1817. His brother, Charles Morley (1796–1858), entered into partnership with him in 1820. A single-action pedal harp dated around 1810 in the Henry Ford Museum is believed to be the work of George Morley. In the 1860s, Charles' son Robert (1840–1916) and George's son Joseph George (1847–1921) were both apprenticed to the Paris harp maker, Érard.
Joseph George Morley.
Joseph George Morley (1847–1922) inherited his father's harp business and went on to become Britain's most prominent harp maker. Following the demise of Érard's London operation in 1890, Joseph George took over Érard's London stock and goodwill and established a shop and workshops at 6 Sussex Place, South Kensington, London. In 1893 he acquired the business of Philip Holcombe, the maker of both Dodd and Dizi harps. Joseph George Morley designed and built a 48-string pedal harp called The Morley Orchestral Twentieth Century Harp. It was marketed as "The Largest Pedal Harp in the World". He was also the author of three books on the harp: "Strings, Stringing and Tuning" (unknown date), "Harp History" (1913), and "Harp Playing" (1918).
John Sebastian Morley.
After inheriting the family business from his father, John Sebastian Morley (1897–1988) ran Morleys with his wife, Elizabeth (Betty) Morley, a celebrated harpist and teacher. Morleys became a home away from home for world-famous harpists, who frequently dropped in to do business and exchange news. After the First World War, the demand for new pedal harps had dropped to the point where John Sebastian began to concentrate exclusively on harp repair and the making of small, Irish-style harps. John Sebastian Morley was the founding president of the United Kingdom Harp Association.
John Morley, Clive Morley, and Benjamin Morley.
In 1968, John Sebastian Morley retired and his business became part of Robert Morley and Co Ltd, headed by Robert Morley's descendants, John (b. 1932) and Clive (1936–2015). Demerging in 1987, Clive Morley took his newly established harp business to Filkins, Gloucestershire, trading as Clive Morley Harps. Since 2006, the company has been run by Clive's son, Ben Morley (b. 1970).


Pandan Reservoir MRT station

Pandan Reservoir MRT station is a proposed Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station on the Jurong Region line in Jurong East, Singapore.
It will be the southern terminus of the East Branch of the Jurong Region line. Trains entering service at this station will terminate at Tengah.
History.
On 9 May 2018, LTA announced that Pandan Reservoir station would be part of the proposed Jurong Region line (JRL). The station will be constructed as part of Phase 2, JRL (East), consisting of 7 stations between Tengah and Pandan Reservoir, and is expected to be completed in 2028.
Contract J109 for the design and construction of Pandan Reservoir station and associated viaducts was awarded to Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co. Pte Ltd - Yongnam Engineering and Construction Pte Ltd Joint Venture at a sum of S$320.4 million in July 2020. Construction is expected to start in 2020. Contract J109 also includes the design and construction of the Jurong Town Hall and Toh Guan stations and the associated viaducts.
Initially expected to open in 2027, the restrictions on the construction due to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to delays in the JRL line completion, and the date was pushed to 2028.
Location.
The station complex will be situated next to Jurong Town Hall Road, between the junction with Pandan Gardens, and the junction with Teban Gardens Road. It is located in the Jurong East planning area in the Teban Gardens Subzone, next to Commonwealth Secondary School.
Access to the station will be via 5 exits on each side of the Jurong Town Hall Road.


Forest City (Johor)

Forest City Johor is an integrated residential development located on the slopes of Gelang Patah, Johor Bahru District, Johor, Malaysia on 1,370 hectares. Announced in 2006 as a twenty-year project, the project was pitched under China's Belt and Road Initiative. Opened by then-Prime Minister of Malaysia Najib Razak and approved by the Sultan of Johor, Sultan Ibrahim Ismail. Forest City in Johor is in partnership with Esplanade Danga 88, an affiliate of the Johor People's Infrastructure Group (KPRJ), through a joint venture, Country Garden Holding Ltd (CGPV), with CGPV hold 60 percent of the meanwhile KPRJ holds 40 percent shareholding.
Forest City is under the management of the Iskandar Puteri City Council and the Iskandar Regional Development Authority.
Controversy.
Environmental Impact.
Despite being marketed as a "an energy-efficient, ecologically sensitive, land-conserving, low-polluting offshore city", the development has had significant negative environmental impact, with irreversible damage due to reclamation of ecologically sensitive coastal wetlands.
The area within which Forest City lies is protected as an Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) Rank 1 area, where no development is allowed except for low-impact nature tourism, research and education. Chief to this designation are two areas of international ecological significance, the Tanjung Kupang intertidal seagrass meadow, the largest of its kind in Malaysia, and the Pulai River Mangrove Forest Reserve, designated as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention.
Reclamation began in January 2014 without the legally required Detailed Environmental Impact Assessment (DEIA). Residents from Kampung Tanjung Kupang, a traditional fishing village, complained of reduced catches and other issues to the local and Johor State authorities to no avail.
Malaysia had also not informed Singapore as required under their 2005 International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea-mediated agreement on reclamation works and other treaties. Singapore subsequently sent a diplomatic note in May 2014 to the Malaysian Federal government requesting clarification on issues including: potential changes in water current speeds and the subsequent impact on navigational safety; possible erosion that might affect shoreline and Second Link infrastructure; and changes in water quality and morphology that might affect the coastal and marine environment and local fish farms. Following this and an accompanying outcry by international environmental watchdogs, the Environment Ministry sent a request for the DEIA to City Gardens on 6 June 2014, and issued a stop-work order on 17th June 2014, although it was reported that work continued despite the stop-work order.
The DEIA was issued in January 2015, confirming that the regulations had been side-stepped and contained 81 directives, including a reduction in size from 1,600 hectares to less than 405 hectares. It acknowledged that the seagrass ecosystem had been split into two and "will be heavily impacted by the proposed development" despite these measures. Country Garden subsequently announced that it was downsizing the project by a third and dividing it into four islands, although there was subsequent evidence that some of these measures were not implemented, including photographs where silt curtains were absent and of buffer zones that were less than 100m (as opposed to the agreed 300m). Concerns also remained about the permanent impact on the seagrass, water hydrology, and loss of traditional fishing grounds, which these measures will not fully alleviate.
Other environmental concerns include claims that sand from local hills was being used at the project site and fears of stress on local water sources and sewage discharge.
Safety Considerations.
Cracks began to appear in the Show Gallery, hotel buildings and roads soon after construction. There were claims that the speed of the land reclamation did not allow time for the soil to settle and stabilize, with a building consultant opining that the land was sinking, and would likely continue to do so.
Malaysian Politics.
There were multiple allegations of corruption at various levels and multiple stages of the project.
While Country Garden employed some locals, most of Forest City’s workforce comprised low-wage labourers from South Asia or white-collar workers from China.
In 2018, Mahathir Mohamed, campaigning on a platform which included criticism of Chinese investment and corruption, defeated the incumbent Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak who had originally approved the project, and issued a "ban" on foreigners buying property. This was subsequently re-structured as changes to the long term visa program in order to mitigate objections and potential legal challenges raised by the developer.
International Politics.
The project was targeted at upper-middle-class Chinese citizens looking to park wealth abroad, offering relatively affordable seafront properties compared to expensive coastal city like Shanghai. However, initial strong sales from mainland China collapsed after Chinese leader Xi Jinping implemented currency controls, included a $50,000 annual cap on how much buyers could spend outside the country.
Progress.
The project was described by "Foreign Policy" as a "massive boondoggle". By the end of 2019, only 15,000 units had been sold, compared to a target of 700,000, and as few as 500 people actually lived in the development.
Following the 2018 change in Malaysian government and subsequent political uncertainty, the worsening geopolitical environment between Malaysia and China, and suspension of the Malaysia My Second Home long term visa scheme, some Chinese nationals (who formed the majority of buyers) decided to leave the development and sold their units at steep losses, further adding to the supply overhang.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic led to increasing economic uncertainty and travel restrictions, severely affecting sales which dropped by more than 90% after March 2020. Following implementation of Malaysia's Movement Control Order, some residents returned to their home country. Covid-19 restrictions on travel between Malaysia and Singapore presented difficulties for the remaining residents, especially those working in or with children schooling in Singapore. Some tenants also suspended operations or pulled out, citing restrictions due to the Movement Control Order or commercial non-viability.
Location.
Forest City is located in Tanjung Kupang Village next to Tanjung Pelepas Port, within the Iskandar Malaysia Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in southern Johor. The City comprises four human-made islands.
Forest City was originally a mangrove swamp populated by locals who worked as farmers and fishers in Kampung Tanjung Kupang.


Park Avenue Viaduct

The Park Avenue Viaduct, also known as the Pershing Square Viaduct, is a roadway in Manhattan in New York City. It carries vehicular traffic on Park Avenue from 40th to 46th Streets around Grand Central Terminal and the MetLife Building, then through the Helmsley Building. All three buildings lie across the north–south line of the avenue. The viaduct itself is composed of two sections: a steel viaduct with two roadways from 40th to 42nd Streets, and a pair of roadways between 42nd and 46th Streets. The street-level service roads of Park Avenue, which flank the viaduct between 40th and 42nd Streets, are called Pershing Square.
The viaduct was first proposed by New York Central Railroad president William J. Wilgus in 1900 as part of the construction of Grand Central Terminal. Construction on the viaduct's western leg began in 1917, after the terminal had opened, and was complete in 1919. The western leg initially carried two-way traffic, so the eastern leg was completed for northbound traffic in 1928, and the western leg was reconfigured to carry southbound traffic only. An information booth was established in 1939 beneath the viaduct, and the city renovated the viaduct in the early 1990s.
The Park Avenue Viaduct was designated a New York City landmark in 1980 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
Description.
The viaduct is used by automobile traffic between 40th Street to the south and 46th Street to the north. It is composed of two sections: the steel viaduct between 40th and 42nd Streets, and the pair of roadways between 42nd and 46th Streets. Immediately to the south of 40th Street is the portal of the Park Avenue Tunnel, which carries northbound traffic from 33rd Street directly onto the viaduct. The posted weight limit for the viaduct is , and commercial traffic is prohibited. Pedestrian and bicycle traffic is generally also prohibited, except during "Summer Streets", when Park Avenue is closed to vehicular traffic on selected summer weekends.
Route.
Southern section.
From the south, traffic from Park Avenue, 40th Street, or the Park Avenue Tunnel enters the steel viaduct. The viaduct rises to a T-intersection just north of 42nd Street, over the street-level entrance to Grand Central Terminal below. This segment of the viaduct is long and consists of a granite approach ramp with stone balustrades, as well as three steel arches, which are separated by granite piers with foliate friezes. The central arch has been infilled to create a restaurant space. The arches were included because of "aesthetic considerations", but are actually cantilever beams, because true arches would have required excessively large abutments. The girders over each pier are each long by deep, weighing each. They were made in New Jersey and shipped from Delaware to New York, then pulled by 52 horses from the East River.
The deck of the viaduct, above the steel arches, contains railings with plain and foliate panels, as well as lampposts atop each granite pier. The deck is wide. The arches of the Pershing Square Viaduct are based on the Pont Alexandre III in Paris, and contain plaques with the words "Pershing Square" at their centers.
Northern section.
At the T-intersection north of 42nd Street, the viaduct splits into two legs. A statue of Cornelius Vanderbilt, longtime owner of New York Central, is at the T-intersection. The legs of the viaduct surround the terminal building and the MetLife Building to the north before passing through a pair of portals under the Helmsley Building between 45th and 46th Streets. Northbound traffic uses the eastern leg, which runs above a private road called Depew Place, while southbound traffic uses the western leg, which runs above the eastern sidewalk of Vanderbilt Avenue. Both roadways pass above 45th Street without intersection. The roadways then take sharp S-curves into the Helmsley Building, where they descend into triple-story arches that exit onto 46th Street.
The western leg is wide; the eastern leg is wide between 42nd and 44th Streets, widening to north of 44th Street. The roadway above 42nd Street, which connects the two legs, is wide. The portion of the viaduct immediately surrounding the terminal's building has a masonry balustrade with an additional metal guardrail. There is a cast-iron eagle atop the balustrade where the western leg curves onto the connecting roadway above 42nd Street. A sidewalk, accessible from the Grand Hyatt hotel, runs along the section of the viaduct that is parallel to 42nd Street.
Pershing Square.
The street-level service roads of Park Avenue between 40th and 42nd Streets are called Pershing Square. The service roads between 41st and 42nd Streets are open only to bicycles and pedestrians. The square is named after General John J. Pershing. Consequently, the southern portion of the viaduct between 40th and 42nd Streets is also known as the Pershing Square Viaduct.
History.
The New York Central Railroad built the Grand Central Depot in 1869 as the southern terminus of the Park Avenue main line. The depot was located along the axis of Fourth Avenue (later Park Avenue), splitting the avenue into two parts: a section south of 42nd Street and another north of 45th Street. The southern section of Park Avenue was a quiet road running through the upscale enclave of Murray Hill, while the northern section contained an open cut (later covered over), which carried the Park Avenue main line. Further, the northern end of the Park Avenue Tunnel rose to ground level between 40th and 42nd Streets, splitting 41st Street into two sections at Park Avenue. Depew Place ran along the eastern side of the depot, while Vanderbilt Avenue ran along the western side.
Early plans.
The Park Avenue Viaduct was first proposed by New York Central president William J. Wilgus in 1900, when he suggested replacing Grand Central Depot with Grand Central Terminal. During a design competition for the terminal in 1903, Reed and Stem proposed vehicular viaducts around the terminal building. New York Central ultimately selected Reed and Stem, as well as Warren and Wetmore, to construct Grand Central Terminal. The two architectural firms had a tense relationship. Over Wilgus's objections, Warren and Wetmore modified Reed and Stem's plan, eliminating a proposed 12-story tower and vehicular viaducts. The elevated viaducts were restored, as were several of Reed and Stem's other design elements, as part of an agreement between the two firms in 1909. The railroad also bought Depew Place, over which the eastern leg of the viaduct would run. Two years later, the New York City Board of Estimate approved New York Central's plans for a viaduct carrying Park Avenue over 42nd Street.
The present plans for the Park Avenue Viaduct were devised in 1912 by Warren and Wetmore. The terminal's construction already provided for roadways to either side of the terminal building, in preparation for the viaduct's eventual completion. The terminal was opened in 1913, but the viaduct could not be built yet because the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, one of the operators of the city's subway system, had not even decided whether to build the Grand Central–42nd Street station under the viaduct's site. The IRT ultimately decided to build the station diagonally under 42nd Street, connecting its new Lexington Avenue Line to the north with the existing subway under Park Avenue to the south, and by mid-1917, subway construction had progressed to the extent that work on the viaduct could commence. Bidding for the viaduct's construction was opened in August 1917. At that time, Fifth Avenue and Madison Avenue (which ran parallel to Park Avenue) were heavily congested, and the viaduct was expected to alleviate some of that traffic.
Construction.
Construction on the viaduct began in November 1917. However, further progress was hindered due to the difficulty in securing ornamental steel during World War I. Work resumed in July 1918 when an order for the necessary steel was placed, and builders began erecting the masonry foundation and wall. The viaduct opened on April 16, 1919; the project had cost $768,032, including related infrastructure projects, such as the opening of 41st Street and the relocation of both of the Park Avenue Tunnel's portals. When it opened, only automobiles and taxicabs used the Park Avenue Viaduct. The original viaduct took two-way traffic from Park Avenue at 40th Street and carried it around the west side of Grand Central Terminal, terminating at the T-intersection of 45th Street and Vanderbilt Avenue. An elevated service driveway ran to the east of the terminal, above Depew Place; it was used by baggage and mail vans, and provided parking space and an entrance to the Commodore Hotel. The driveway served the Grand Central post office at 450 Lexington Avenue, as well as a since-demolished baggage building north of the terminal.
Shortly after the viaduct's opening, the area at the bottom of the viaduct was renamed Pershing Square in 1919 to honor World War I General John J. Pershing. The lot immediately to the east had been occupied by Grand Union Hotel, which was condemned via eminent domain in 1914 and subsequently demolished. That space was proposed for use as an open plaza with a three-story memorial called "Victory Hall". In July 1920, a realty consortium headed by investor Henry Mandel bought the site. Mandel gave the Bowery Savings Bank the eastern portion of the site, which would be developed into an office building at 110 East 42nd Street, completed in 1923. The western portion of the site became the Pershing Square Building, also completed in 1923. The "Pershing Square" name subsequently applied to the service roads of the Park Avenue Viaduct between 40th and 42nd Streets.
Expansion.
Soon after the viaduct's opening, traffic at 45th Street and Vanderbilt Avenue started to accumulate, causing gridlock at that intersection, since thirteen lanes of traffic converged there. By 1920, business associations were advocating for the eastern leg of the viaduct to be opened to public use. The city started negotiating with New York Central to open the eastern leg of the viaduct, although the railroad was holding out unless it was granted property on Park Avenue. The city proposed building a ramp from the viaduct that would descend to ground level at 46th Street, while keeping Park Avenue open to traffic between 45th and 46th Streets; however, New York Central's proposal would altogether close off that block of Park Avenue. The Manhattan borough president, Julius Miller, proposed giving New York Central the right to erect a building over Park Avenue, in exchange for the railroad giving Depew Place back to the city so that the eastern leg of the viaduct could be built. By November 1922, Miller and the New York Central reached an agreement to submit a proposal for the viaduct to city authorities, and the Board of Estimate approved the proposal in January 1923.
New York Central had made a revised agreement by the city by 1924, which gave the railroad the right to erect a building over Park Avenue. As part of the project, the section of Park Avenue between 45th and 46th Streets would be closed, the eastern leg of the viaduct would be completed, and traffic would be carried around both sides of the terminal and through the New York Central Building before being deposited at Park Avenue and 46th Street. The plans also called for a roadway running above 45th Street's southern sidewalk, connecting the two directions of traffic, as well as the extension of Vanderbilt Avenue north to 47th Street and the widening of Park Avenue. Initial plans called for the viaduct to run across 46th Street so that viaduct traffic did not interfere with traffic on 45th and 46th Streets. This was later changed to allow the viaduct's roadways to descend to street level between 45th and 46th Streets. The roadways were placed on S-curves supported by stanchions that did not touch the New York Central Building's frame.
In April 1924, the revised plan was sent to the Board of Estimate, which approved the project. Work could start upon the approval of Charles L. Craig, the city controller. However, Craig initially refused to certify the plan, stating that the city had paid much more for Depew Place than the land was worth. After more than a year of re-negotiations, Craig finally certified the plan in December 1925. The next year, work on the New York Central Building's foundations commenced, and the block of Park Avenue between 45th and 46th Streets was closed. The eastern leg along Depew Place was opened in February 1928, and northbound traffic was diverted there. Construction was complete by September of that year, with the completion of the western leg, which had been extended to Park Avenue and 46th Street with an overpass over 45th Street. In November 1928, the Vanderbilt statue was installed at the T-intersection above 42nd Street.
Later history.
The space under the viaduct between 41st and 42nd Streets was originally used as a trolley barn. In 1938, the city announced that it would build a tourist information center within that space in advance of the 1939 New York World's Fair. The city subsequently built a steel and glass-brick structure under the center arch of the viaduct. The structure, located at 90 East 42nd Street, opened in December 1939 and was initially used to provide tourist information. During World War II, the space was used by United Service Organizations, and after the war, became an outpost of the New York Convention and Visitors Bureau. By 1960, leaks from the viaduct had damaged the information center. That year, a reconstruction project for the viaduct was announced, which involved repairing trusses as well as installing drainage and a nonskid deck.
The former tourist-information center had become an unemployment office by the 1980s. The viaduct had also become dilapidated, with potholes, leaks, and rusted steel supports, so the city government undertook the first major renovations in the viaduct's history. The southbound roadway was closed in July 1984, reopening that November. The northbound roadway was then closed from May 1985 to September 1985. The viaduct's original lamps were removed in a 1986 repaving project. An $8 million restoration of the viaduct was announced three years later. As part of the renovation, the Grand Central Partnership would turn the space between 41st and 42nd Streets into a restaurant. The original lamps were also restored in 1992.
In 1995, the city and the Grand Central Partnership unveiled plans to restore the space under the viaduct at a cost of $2 million, then lease it as a restaurant. The Pershing Square Cafe signed a lease at the space in 1997. The owner of the renovated space, Michael O'Keeffe, placed so much attention to the renovation of the space that the project's costs increased to $5 million, and the cafe's opening date was pushed back by several months.
Critical reception and landmark designations.
When the Park Avenue Viaduct opened, it was praised as a solution to the traffic congestion around Grand Central Terminal. In 1922, the "New-York Tribune" called it one of several works of "engineering magic". Christopher Gray, architecture critic at "The New York Times", wrote that "the completion of the viaduct suddenly changed Park Avenue from an inconvenient local street to the most modern highway in New York." The building's design in relation to Grand Central Terminal was also lauded. "Architecture" magazine said that the design "has produced a beautiful and satisfying work of truly monumental character."
The Park Avenue Viaduct was designated a New York City landmark in 1980. In its report, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission wrote that the viaduct "is an integral part of the complex circulation system of Grand Central Terminal". The viaduct was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, technically as a "boundary increase" to the Grand Central Terminal's listing, but carrying a separate reference number. Both designations apply only to the section of the viaduct between 40th and 42nd Streets.
References.
Informational notes
Citations
Sources


Cable gland

A cable gland (more often known in the U.S. as a cord grip, cable strain relief, cable connector or cable fitting) is a device designed to attach and secure the end of an electrical cable to the equipment. A cable gland provides strain-relief and connects by a means suitable for the type and description of cable for which it is designed—including provision for making electrical connection to the armour or braid and lead or aluminium sheath of the cable, if any. Cable glands may also be used for sealing cables passing through bulkheads or gland plates. Cable glands are mostly used for cables with diameters between 1 mm and 75 mm.
Cable glands are commonly defined as mechanical cable entry devices. They are used throughout a number of industries in conjunction with cable and wiring used in electrical instrumentation and automation systems. Cable glands may be used on all types of electrical power, control, instrumentation, data and telecommunications cables. They are used as a sealing and termination device to ensure that the characteristics of the enclosure which the cable enters can be maintained adequately. Cable glands are made of various plastics, and steel, brass or aluminum for industrial usage. Glands intended to resist dripping water or water pressure will include synthetic rubber or other types of elastomer seals. Certain types of cable glands may also serve to prevent entry of flammable gas into equipment enclosures, for electrical equipment in hazardous areas.
Although cable glands are often called "connectors", a technical distinction can be made in the terminology, which differentiates them from quick-disconnect, conducting electrical connectors.
For routing pre-terminated cables (cables with connectors), split cable glands can be used. These cable glands consist of three parts (two gland halves and a split sealing grommet) which are screwed with a hexagonal locknut (like normal cable glands). Thus, pre-assembled cables can be routed without removing the plugs. Split cable glands can reach an ingress protection of up to IP66/IP68 and NEMA 4X.
Alternatively, split cable entry systems can be used (normally consisting of a hard frame and several sealing grommets) to route a large number of pre-terminated cables through one wall cut-out.
There are at least three types of thread standards used:


Tungsten Graphics Shader Infrastructure


Mosul Grand Mosque

The Mosul Grand Mosque () is an incomplete Sunni Islamic mosque located in Mosul, Iraq. It is the largest mosque in Mosul and was previously called Saddam Mosque in honour of the Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein.
The mosque is situated in the Taqafah district bordering the Tigris river near the Nineveh archeological site. Its construction started during the Saddam Hussein regime, but works were interrupted because of the political instability in the country and it remains incomplete to this day.
Nineveh Governorate municipality announced in 18 February 2019 that construction was resumed, albeit damages caused by ISIS, with a 50 million dollar grant from the United Arab Emirates. Completion date was not set.


Half-elliptic spring


Hugues Cosnier

Hugues Cosnier () was a French engineer who conceived of the Briare Canal who was born in Tours, 1573, and died in 1629. in Paris
He proposed to Henri IV the idea of building a canal from the Loire River to the River Seine. It would go from Briare to Montargis and then continue to the Seine via the Loing River. Cosnier began the canal in March 1604. He abandoned the project in 1610 with the death of Henri IV. In 1620, he was invited to continue his work on the canal. His death prevented him continuing the effort. Guillaume Boutheroue completed the canal between 1638 and 1642.
Also in 1603, he received a grant to establish silkworm breeding, sericulture, in Poitou. The endeavor failed.
In 1618, his idea of encircling Paris with canals was accepted, but was never constructed.


Garden Wall

The Garden Wall is a steep alpine area within Glacier National Park well known during the summer months to be heavily covered in dozens of species of flowering plants and shrubs. Located along the west side of the Continental divide and extending northward from Logan Pass, the Garden Wall can be traversed via the popular Highline Trail and for a distance of over to the Granite Park Chalet. The Going-to-the-Sun Road also passes through portions of the Garden Wall northwest of Logan Pass. The Weeping Wall is a short stretch of the Going-to-the-Sun Road where water cascades over the Garden Wall to the roadway below. The Garden Wall is an arête or rock spine that separates the Many Glacier region of the park from Lake McDonald valley.


Erik Jonsson Helland

Erik Jonsson Helland (1816–1868) was a Norwegian Hardanger fiddle maker.
Erik Jonsson Helland was the eldest son of the Hardanger fiddle maker Jon Eriksson Helland from Bø in Telemark, Norway. Around 1830, he began to specialize in making Hardanger fiddles and to experiment in his father's workshop with new models in order to obtain a more powerful tone without losing the softness of the instrument. This led to a broader instrument, with a fuller outline and a lower vault, which is now the more common style. In the 1850s, he gained national attention and in 1861 was awarded a national scholarship to study with the violin makers, Enger & Son in Copenhagen.


Albrecht Erb

Albrecht Erb (1628–1714) was a notable Austrian clockmaker, active in Vienna, and a member of that city's council.
Erb worked primarily for Austria's court and municipalities, but he also received numerous orders from abroad, and was particularly known for his astronomical clocks. One of his principal works is owned by the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.


George Robert Stephenson

George Robert Stephenson (20 October 1819 – 26 October 1905) was a British civil engineer.
Life.
Stephenson was born to Robert Stephenson Senior (brother of the famed George Stephenson) in Newcastle upon Tyne. In a family of civil engineers, his father was engineer of Pendleton Colliery and Nantlle Railway, while his uncle George Stephenson and cousin Robert Stephenson were prolific railway engineers. He was educated at King William's College, Isle of Man. It was with Robert that he collaborated most, working together on the South Eastern Railway. Upon Robert's death in 1859 he took over his locomotive works and several collieries.
In the 1860s, Stephenson travelled to New Zealand to supervise the survey and arrangements for the construction of a railway from Christchurch, through Mount Pleasant to Lyttelton Harbour. The Lyttelton rail tunnel is still in use today as the country's oldest operational rail tunnel. Stephenson enjoyed a long association with the country, for which he designed several other works in the mid-nineteenth century.
He is perhaps most famous for his close relationship with the Institution of Civil Engineers. He became a member in 1853 and was elected to the council in 1859. The expansion of the Institution's premises in 1868 was made possible by his donation of land to the rear of his offices at 24 Great George Street. He served as president of the Institution between December 1875 and December 1877.
He married Jane Brown in 1846 and had six children. After Jane died in 1884 he soon remarried to Sarah Harrison who died in 1893.
He died at his home in Cheltenham on 26 October 1905.


David Teniers III

David Teniers III, also referred to as David Teniers junior (baptized 10 July 1638 – 2 October 1685) was a Flemish painter and tapestry designer who was mainly active in Antwerp, Madrid and Brussels. He is known for his portraits, religious compositions and genre scenes.
Life.
David Teniers III was born in Antwerp where he was baptized on 10 July in the St. James' Church. He was a scion of two very prominent artist families from Antwerp: his father was the painter David Teniers the Younger and his mother was Anna Brueghel, the daughter of Jan Brueghel the Elder and grand-daughter of Pieter Bruegel the Elder. His grandfather was the painter David Teniers the Elder. His father had close links with Peter Paul Rubens as is demonstrated by the fact that Rubens' second wife Helena Fourment was David III's god-mother.
When his father was called to the court in Brussels around 1650 to become court painter to Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, the family Teniers moved from Antwerp to Brussels. Originally destined for an ecclesiastical career David III showed such an aptitude for drawing and painting as a collaborator of his father that he chose to become a painter. David III's mother died on 11 May 1656 and his father remarried on 21 October of the same year to Isabella de Fren, the 32-year-old daughter of Andries de Fren, secretary of the Council of Brabant.
His father sent him to Madrid in 1661 with a letter of recommendation from Luis de Benavides Carrillo, Marquis of Caracena, then governor of the Southern Netherlands. He left on 26 April 1661. He was active in Spain as a designer of cartoons for tapestries and as a portrait painter. He remained at the court of Philip IV of Spain until 1663. The Spanish king bestowed upon him the honorary title of gentleman of the artillery of His Majesty.
Upon his return to Flanders he married Ana María Bonnaerens on 4 August 1671 in Dendermonde. His wife was from a wealthy bourgeois family from Dendermonde. The couple had six children of whom the eldest, David Teniers IV (1672–1731), appears to have been yet another painter in the dynasty. David Teniers III kept a record of his household's incomings and outgoings, which has been preserved and carries the title "Handtboeck daer in staedt gespecificeert alle goederen ende gronden van erven, renten ende obligatiën, competerende aen d' Heer david teniers ende myne Huysvrouw, J. Anna Maria Bonnarens, die getrouwt zyn den 4. Augustus, 1671" (Manual in which are specified all assets and funds inheritances, annuities and obligations belonging to Mr. David Teniers and his housewife Anne-Marie Bonnarens, who married
on 4 August 1671). It contains information about the household of the artist, which has been helpful in establishing some of the facts of his life.
He initially stayed at his father's country estate and collaborated with his father on various projects. He seems to have been unhappy with his share in the payments received for some of their collaborative works. After settling in Brussels in 1675, he entered the local Guild of Saint Luke. He received Flemish as well as Spanish pupils including Frans Jochin, Lodewyk van der Vinne, Cascarillo and Jan van Diest.
He died in Brussels on 2 October 1685.
Work.
David Teniers III painted portraits, genre scenes and religious compositions. He is stylistically close to the elegance of Anthony van Dyck or Gonzales Coques but remained thematically closer to the genre scenes painted by his father and grandfather.
David Teniers III was also sought after as a designer of tapestries. His main contribution here is the cartoons for genre scenes executed in the family tradition for tapestries, which were woven in the workshops of Brussels and Lille.
The Museo del Prado holds a series of works that have been attributed to him as well as several signed copies realized in 1673 after sketches of Rubens for a series of tapestries destined for the Monastery of the Convent of Las Descalzas Reales in Madrid.


Olowe of Ise

Olowe of Ise (born circa 1873, died circa 1938) is considered by Western art historians and collectors to be one of the most important 20th century artists of the Yoruba people of what is today Nigeria, Africa. He was a wood sculptor and master innovator in the African style of design known as "oju-ona".
Olowe, originally Olowere, was born in Efon-Alaiye, a town known as a major cultural centre in Yorubaland, but he lived most of his life in the city of Ise. He was initially employed as a messenger at the court of King Arinjale, the Oba of Ise. It is a matter of dispute whether his artistic career began as an apprenticeship or arose purely from his own natural talent. His fame as a sculptor appears to have begun at Ise under the patronage of Arinjale before spreading throughout eastern Yorubaland. Olowe was summoned to Ilesa, Ikere, Akure, Idanre, Ogbagi and other towns located within a 60-mile radius (96.75 kilometers) to create elaborate household (such as doors and veranda posts), personal and ritual objects for wealthy families.
Olowe's celebrated status as an artist was recorded by his contemporaries in Yoruba oral praise poetry known as "oriki". For instance, this example sung by one of his wives was recorded in 1988.
International fame.
In 1924, Olowe's art was exhibited overseas for the first time when a door and lintel ensemble from the royal palace at Ikere was selected for the Nigerian Pavilion at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley, London. This work of art was subsequently acquired by the British Museum.
External links and references.
Note that Olowe's sculptures were originally painted, but the paint has typically since worn down.


Ovation Guitar Company

The Ovation Guitar Company is a manufacturer of string instruments. Ovation primarily manufactures steel-string acoustic guitars (both 6 and 12-string versions) and nylon-string guitars, often with pickups for electric amplification. In 2015, it became a subsidiary of Drum Workshop after being acquired from KMCMusicorp.
The company's Ovation and Adamas guitars are known for their round backs, which gives them a recognizable shape. The latter are also well known for the use of carbon fiber tops (instead of the typically wood tops for acoustic guitars).
Apart from guitars, the company currently produces acoustic basses, mandolins and ukuleles.
History.
Founder Charles Kaman (1919–2011) developed the first prototypes of the Ovation guitar in 1965–1966. Kaman, an amateur guitarist from an early age, worked on helicopter design as an aerodynamacist at United. Eventually, he founded a helicopter design company, Kaman Aircraft, in 1945.
The Kaman Corporation soon diversified, branching into nuclear weapons testing, commercial helicopter flight, development and testing of chemicals, and helicopter bearings production. In the early 1960s, however, financial problems from the failure of their commercial flight division forced them to expand into new markets, such as entertainment and leisure. Charles Kaman, still an avid guitar player, became interested in making guitars.
From 1966 to 2007, Ovation guitars, and later on Adamas guitars, were a brand of KMCMusicorp, which itself was a subsidiary of Kaman Aircraft.
In 2008, KMCMusicorp (and with that the Ovation brand) was sold to the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. In 2014, Fender announced that they were closing the Ovation guitar factory in New Hartford, Connecticut, leaving all production of Ovation guitars overseas. Before that announcement, Fender established a U.S. production of various acoustic guitars in the New Hartford factory. Alongside Ovation and Adamas guitars, which were produced there for decades, Fender started a U.S. production of other Fender-owned brands in that factory, as is known, Guild (Guild Guitar Company) and Fender.
Shortly after closing the New Hartford factory it was announced that the Ovation brand had been sold to the company Drum Workshop, alongside a few other previously Fender-owned brands. The announcement was made on January 7, 2015. In addition to the Ovation brand, Drum Workshop also bought the New Hartford factory and reinstated the previously ceased U.S. production of Ovation and Adamas guitars, basses, ukuleles and mandolins.
Research and development of first models.
Charles Kaman put a team of employees to work to invent a new guitar in 1964. For the project, Kaman chose a small team of aerospace engineers and technicians, several of whom were woodworking hobbyists as well. One of these was Charles McDonough, who created the Ovation Adamas model. Kaman founded Ovation Instruments, and in 1965 its engineers and luthiers (guitar makers) worked to improve acoustic guitars by changing their conventional materials. The R&D team spent months building and testing prototype instruments. Their first prototype had a conventional "dreadnought" body, with parallel front and back perpendicular to the sides. The innovation was the use of a thinner, synthetic back, because of its foreseen acoustic properties. Unfortunately, the seam joining the sides to the thin back was prone to breakage. To avoid the problem of a structurally unstable seam, the engineers proposed a synthetic back with a parabolic shape. By mid-1966, according to Ovation, they realized that the parabolic shape produced a desirable tone with greater volume than the conventional dreadnought.
Once the engineers had settled on a parabolic shape, they turned their attention to developing a substance that could be molded into this bowl-like shape. Using their knowledge of high-tech aerospace composites, they developed Lyrachord, a patented material comprising interwoven layers of glass filament and bonding resin.
The first successful design, built by luthier Gerry Gardner, went into production soon after the company was established.
The first Ovation guitar made its debut in November 1966. Its Lyrachord body gave the instrument, according to the company, unprecedented projection and ringing sustain. Compared to modern Ovation Guitars, the initial instruments had a shiny bowl that was used again, for example, in the Balladeer 40th anniversary re-issue.
Initial marketing.
The introduction and promotion of the first Ovation was closely associated with two performing artists, the blues-performer Josh White and the country-music singer Glen Campbell.
Josh White.
In 1966-1967, the Ovation Guitar Company produced a signature guitar for Josh White, which was the first signature guitar made for an African American. White was the first official Ovation endorser.
Upon completion, the first Ovation Guitar was called the "Josh White Model," which White played at the Hotel America (Hartford, Connecticut), 14 November 1966; at the same show, the Balladeers played Balladeer models. The show was witnessed by "300 representatives of the press and the music industry"
Glen Campbell, 1968.
The Ovation Roundback Balladeer first caught national attention in 1968 when Glen Campbell hosted a variety show he called "The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour" on CBS, and in the following year, 1969, he became one of Ovation's first endorsers.
Design innovations.
Ovation guitar design reflects its founder's engineering training and development of Kaman helicopters. Ovation guitars replace the instrument's conventional back and sides with composite synthetic bowls. Kaman felt there were structural weaknesses in the orthogonal joining of the sides, and that a composite material could provide a smooth body. Ovation claims the parabolic bowls dramatically reduce feedback, allowing greater amplification. Improved synthetics techniques from helicopter engineering control vibrations in the bowl. Ovation developed a thin neck, striving for the feel of an electric guitar's neck, but with additional strength from layers of mahogany and maple reinforced by a steel rod in an aluminum channel. The composite materials and thin necks reduced weight.
For its soundboards, Ovation uses Sitka spruce, a wood that Kaman engineers used in helicopter blades. In the 1970s, Ovation developed thinner soundboards with carbon-based composites laminating a thin layer of birch in its Adamas model. The Adamas model dispersed the sound-hole of the traditional soundboard among 22 small sound holes in the upper chamber of the guitar, which Ovation says yields greater volume and further reduces feedback during amplification (pioneered in the Adamas model in 1977). Although the area of the multiple sound holes is equal to the area of a single-soundhole, the altered position allows a new style of guitar bracing (e.g. Adamas Bracing). The design strengthens the soundboard, reducing the traditional design's bracing and hence weight. In the 1980s, Ovation introduced shallow-bowl guitars to appeal to electric guitarists.
In 1977-1978, Gypsy, an Ovation performing and recording artist, designed the first stereo pre-amplifier for the Adamas 12 string and used it on his album "Ladies Love Outlaws." At the same time, Ovation provided small doors that blocked the sound holes from the inside in order to dampen feedback in the presence of loud stage monitors. Gypsy had also requested the addition of a round hatch in the back of the body of pre-Adamas guitars to facilitate changing the on-board battery, a feature that was then adopted for all the "round holes." Before this time, the strings on the round-hole guitars had to be removed to do this. On-board electronics let guitarists move about the stage rather than stay in front of a microphone. On-board electronic tuning, availability, uniformity, and frugal costs facilitated performances by guitar ensembles like Robert Fripp's Guitar Craft students. Ovation has also produced solid-body electric guitars and active basses.
Ovations reached the height of their popularity in the 1980s, where they were often seen during live performances by touring artists, such as Rush's Alex Lifeson or Paul Simon in "The Concert in Central Park". Ovation guitars' synthetic bowl-shaped back and early use (1971) of pre-amplifiers, onboard equalization and piezo pickups were particularly attractive to live acoustic musicians who constantly battled feedback problems from the high volumes needed in live venues.
Ergonomics.
When he became one of Ovation Guitars' first endorsers, Glen Campbell suggested reducing the weight of the guitar, which he had discovered caused back strain. After that, Ovation reduced the weight of several models and pioneered "super-shallow" guitar bodies.
While it was produced, Ovation's super-shallow 1867 Legend was the recommended guitar in Robert Fripp's Guitar Craft. wrote that the acoustic 1867 Legend has "a gently rounded super-shallow body design that may be about as close to the shape and depth of an electric guitar as is possible without an intolerable loss of tone quality. Fripp liked the way the Ovation 1867 fitted against his body, which made it possible for him to assume the right-arm picking position he had developed using electric guitars over the years; on deeper-bodied guitars, the Frippian arm position is impossible without uncomfortable contortions."
Model Overview.
The Ovation Guitar Company produces guitars under the names Ovation and Adamas.
Ovation guitars have been also produced in China, South Korea and Indonesia. Import models generally have a wooden top. Recently, Ovation significantly reduced U.S production. From 2010 on, better models—Legend, Elite, Custom Legend, Custom Elite—were made both in the U.S. and in Korea. Before that, these models were U.S. made. In recent years, many U.S. made are identifiable by "LX" in the product name (e.g., Legend 2077LX), whereas Korean versions have "AX" in the model name (e.g., Legend 2077AX). Ovation does not use this convention on all models (e.g., Ovation 1617ALE). Currently, Ovation produces only a few U.S. made models, mostly signature and limited edition models (e.g., Custom Legend 1769-ADII Al DiMeola). Production of the standard model range of Ovation guitars in the U.S. has been ceased under the ownership of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, but is about to be reinstated by the new owner Drum Workshop.
The Adamas name mainly stands for guitars with a carbon fiber top, although there are exceptions (one is the Adamas 2081WT - WT stands for woodtop). Until the closure of the New Hartford, Connecticut factory in June 2014, all Adamas models were produced in the U.S. LX does not only stand for U.S. made. Originally LX indicated an Ovation guitar that included new features not available on previous models.
Back in 2007 Ovation explained on its website that new features included the new OP-Preamp, an advanced neck system (lightweight dual-action truss rod, carbon fiber stabilizers), a patented pickup (made of 6 elements), inlaid epaulets, scalloped bracing, and a new hard composite Lyrachord GS body. Back then, there was no AX model line. The first AX models appeared on the Ovation-website in 2010. Based on the website's history, the LX features were introduced in 2004.
Upper-level guitars: Balladeer, Legend and Elite.
There are mainly two lines:
The first Ovation guitar model was a Balladeer (later known as Standard Balladeer)
Entry-level guitars: Applause and Celebrity.
Ovation has two lines of entry-level guitars.
Applause, the lowest cost line, with mainly laminated tops, is imported from China. Celebrity models are imported from China or Korea, and range from entry-to-medium-level laminated-top models, to high-end, solid-top models with much ornamentation.
Electric guitars: Semi-hollow and solid bodies.
In 1967–1968, Ovation introduced its Electric Storm Series of semi-hollow archtop guitars and basses. The pickups for these instruments were manufactured by Schaller based in Germany. Production stopped in 1969.
In 1972, Ovation introduced one of the first production solid-body electric-guitars with active electronics, the Ovation Breadwinner. The model did not become popular, however, and production of the Breadwinner and the Ovation Deacon ceased in 1980. Ovation made several other solid-body models up until the mid 1980s. Since that time, the company has focused mainly on acoustic and acoustic-electric guitars.
Other instruments: acoustic bass guitars, ukuleles, mandolins.
Apart from guitars, Ovation has manufactured other string instruments such as acoustic bass guitars, ukuleles, and mandolins.
Performers using or endorsing Ovations.
Ovation guitars have been used and endorsed by many professional musicians, including:
References.
Comprehensive history
Model


Dwell mechanism

A dwell mechanism (either a linkage or cam-follower type) is an intermittent motion mechanism that alternates forward and return motion with holding position(s).
Single vs. double dwell.
Single dwell cam mechanisms.
In a single dwell cam mechanism, there are three motion functions that follow each other and then repeat: a dwell, a rise, and a return function. It is sometimes desired to use a rise function such that its acceleration does not become zero at its end. To maintain continuity of acceleration, the return function should begin with a non-zero acceleration that matches the end of the rise function. There are a number of functions that can provide these motion requirements. A double-harmonic function is a common example used for single dwell.
Double dwell cam mechanisms.
A typical arrangement of a double dwell Cam mechanism will contain the sections rise-dwell-fall-dwell and will be a piecewise function. The position of the follower remains stationary during the dwells causing velocity, acceleration, and jerk to equal zero.
Dwell with linkage mechanisms.
Linkage mechanisms can only provide approximate single dwell, and require a minimum of six links. A four-bar linkage mechanism must be picked first to provide the appropriate coupler curve with a circular region (or approximate circular region). A two-link dyad is then added to provide the output link with the desired dwell motion.
The concept for linkage dwell mechanisms is that a node located at the center of the circular arc segment of a coupler curve will remain relatively stationary. Therefore, actual dwell time will depend on the length of the approximate circular arc in the coupler curve. Initial designs may need optimization to improve the dwell characteristics.
Mechanisms have also been developed based on buckling beams and arcs.
Applications.
Cam-follower dwell mechanisms are used in pairs in sewing machines to operate the four motion feed dogs, with one cam moving the dog up and down, and the other cam moving the dog forwards and backwards. The cams in this application are usually phased 90 degrees apart allowing a pause in the up/down movement of the dog while it is being moved forwards/backwards. A separate adjustable sliding block or link is used to control the amount of forwards/backwards movement of the dog.
Industrial applications include loading and unloading parts, or transporting a part to a machine and holding it in place for a manufacturing process.
Other applications include assembly lines, packaging machinery, machine tools, etc.


Defu MRT station

Defu MRT station is a future underground Mass Rapid Transit station on the Cross Island MRT line in Hougang planning area, Singapore. It will be located at Tampines Road at the junction of Defu Avenue 2 and will serve the industries near Tampines Road and Defu Industrial Park.
History.
On 25 January 2019, LTA announced that Tampines North station would be part of the proposed Cross Island line (CRL). The station will be constructed as part of Phase 1, consisting of 12 stations between Aviation Park and Bright Hill, and is expected to be completed in 2030.

Initially expected to open in 2029, the restrictions on the construction due to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to delays in the CRL line completion, and the date was pushed to 2030.


DirectX Intermediate Language


James Abernethy

James Abernethy FRSE (12 June 1814 – 8 March 1896) was a Scottish civil engineer.
Biography.
Abernethy was born in Aberdeen to George Abernethy, an engineer, and Isabella Johnston. In 1823, the family moved to South Wales, where his father managed the Dowlais Ironworks, and in 1826 moved to Southwark in London, because his father obtained a job as a foundry manager. While there, he watched the construction of London Bridge. In 1827, he was sent with his brothers to Cotherstone Boarding School in the North Riding of Yorkshire, but was removed by his uncle, Revd. John Abernethy, two years later, when he discovered the awful conditions at the school. His uncle took him to London and then to Haddington, East Lothian where he spent two years at the Grammar School. He then went to work under his father, who was working on the construction of the Eastern Dock, which was part of the London Docks complex.
His next move with his father was in 1832 to Herne Bay, where a timber pier was being constructed. However, he sailed to Sweden in 1833, to lay out new roads for a manganese mine near Jönköping which a friend had bought. He spent much of his spare time sketching the architecture and scenery of the area, until he was recalled to England in 1835 by his father, to assist on the Start Point lighthouse project in Devon. This appears to be the last time he worked with his father, as he moved to Goole in 1836, to work with George Leather on the construction of the steamship dock and lock which connected the Aire and Calder Navigation to the Humber. Despite nearly drowning when a cofferdam collapsed, he devoted most of the rest of his career to marine engineering. He worked on improvements to the Aire and Calder between Wakefield and Methley until 1838, and then became the resident engineer for the North Midland Railway, working under George Stephenson. However, he resigned after 18 months, to become the engineer for the Aberdeen Harbour Trust.
Marine engineering.
Aberdeen had a tidal harbour at the time Abernethy arrived, and he spent a year dredging and building embankments to improve the access channel. In the following year, a competition was held for the design of an enclosed dock, and his design was selected. An Act of Parliament was obtained to implement the design, but Abernethy first had to convince an independent assessor in London of its soundness. The meeting was inconclusive, but the chairman of the Harbour Trustees was satisfied, and tenders were sought for construction. The lowest tenderer was given the contract, but could not complete it, and Abernethy took over after a year, using direct labour to finish the work. When it was built, the entrance lock was the largest in Britain, measuring , with a navigable depth of at high water.
The Preliminary Enquiries Act was passed to ensure that major new schemes were competently assessed before being implemented, and Abernethy worked as one of its Surveying Officers for eight years until 1852. During this time he held public enquiries into schemes for improvements to the River Clyde, the River Tyne and the River Ribble, and for the construction of docks at Belfast, Birkenhead, Glasgow, Liverpool and Newcastle upon Tyne. In addition to obtaining skills in the conduct of such meetings, he met with the leading engineers of the time, and learned the best practices for marine engineering. He acted as a consultant to the Swansea Harbour Trustees from 1847, and became their Engineer-in-chief in 1849, but continued to live in Aberdeen until 1851, when he moved to Birkenhead, where he held the same post as well.
He produced plans for Birkenhead Docks, as he was not convinced that the rival plans, produced by James Rendel, were practicable. Both plans were assessed by Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort and Robert Stephenson, who found in favour of Rendel. Following a takeover by Liverpool Corporation in 1855, Rendel's plans were implemented, but the sluices failed soon after the docks were completed in 1864. A new Act of Parliament obtained in 1866 authorised the rebuilding of the docks to Abernethy's plans. Throughout this period he was active with other schemes as well, including a shipyard for Messrs. Laird on the River Mersey. He produced plans for improvements to the Irish Bann Navigation in 1851, and for the Dean Forest, Monmouth, Usk and Pontypool Railway in the following two years.
Consulting engineer.
He set up an office in London in 1853, and acted as consulting engineer for a large number of schemes, while still maintaining his regular oversight of the docks at Cardiff, Fraserburgh, Newport and Swansea. He expanded his work to include overseas projects in 1862, although a number of his recommendations were not implemented, and the scheme that was eventually built at Alexandria harbour was rather less satisfactory than his own design. Major harbour schemes included those at Silloth, Portpatrick, Falmouth, Port Natal in South Africa, Watchet, Boston and the Alexandra Dock at Kingston upon Hull. He also worked on the Swansea and Neath Railway between 1862 and 1863, the Turin and Savona Railway in Italy, which was long and included a tunnel, and the Hayling Island Railway. Between 1862 and 1867, he was responsible for the Grand Canal Cavour, a irrigation canal, which entailed him visiting Italy every four months. He used the opportunity this presented to visit Venice several times. In 1883, he reported on the three rival schemes for the Manchester Ship Canal, finding in favour of the one by Sir Edward Leader Williams. He acted as consulting engineer, visiting the site every month between 1885 and 1893, while Williams was Engineer-in-chief. His last major scheme overseas was the reclamation of Lake Aboukir in Egypt, between 1888 and 1889, although his regular dock work in Britain continued until his death, and work on the Bute Dock at Cardiff was still in progress when he died. It was completed later that year.
Positions held.
He became a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1844, and was its president between December 1880 and December 1881. Although he only presented a single paper to it, he contributed to the discussions on a wide range of subjects, He was also made a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were David Stevenson, Fleeming Jenkin, Sir John Hawkshaw and Michael Scott.
He sat on two Royal Commissions. The first considered Metropolitan Sewage Discharge, and was held in 1882, while the second was held in 1889, and looked at Irish Public Works.
Family.
He married Ann Neill in 1838, and they had seven children, four sons and three daughters. Three of the sons worked with their father, and he formed a partnership with two of them, James and George, in 1893. He died at Broadstairs in Kent on 8 March 1896, his first son James taking over the engineering practice and his second son John compiling his biography in 1897.
Abernethy's cousin, also called James Abernethy (1809-1879), was an iron founder based in Aberdeen, who was responsible for the production of a number of bridges in Scotland. He also had a son called James, and the business continued until the middle of the twentieth century.
References.
Biography.


Alfred Sandover

Alfred Sandover M.B.E. (24 November 1866 – 4 May 1958), was a British-Australian hardware merchant and philanthropist born in Plymouth, England, the youngest of five children. Graduating from North Adelaide Grammar School in 1881, he came to Perth, Western Australia, in 1884, arriving in Fremantle when the temperature was 41 °C (106 °F) and vowing to stay not a day over his contract. In 1921, Sandover donated the medal bearing his name as the West Australian Football League's annual award recognising the league's fairest and best player of the regular season.
Personal life.
Sandover was the youngest of five children of William Sandover and his wife Mary Billing, née Bates. William was a hotelier and later a politician in South Australia. While on a visit to England, Alfred was born on 24 November 1866. The family returned to Adelaide, on the "City of Adelaide", arriving on 12 October 1867. Educated at North Adelaide Grammar School, in 1881 Sandover attained first-class honours in the senior public examination.
His older brother, William Sandover, Jnr., (c. 1856 – c. 22 May 1921) had moved to Western Australia around 1880 and opened a chemist's shop and hardware store, and called on Alfred to help him run the business, W. Sandover & Co. Alfred arrived in Fremantle in 1884, and initially found the dust, the glare, and temperature of 41 °C (106 °F), unbearable; he determined to return as soon as his contract term elapsed, yet Sandover eventually decided to remain in Western Australia for the rest of his life.
The company prospered: gold was discovered at Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie, and the 1890s saw a huge demand for machinery and all kinds of hardware which W. Sandover & Co. was able to supply.
On 11 July 1895, Alfred Sandover married Rose Allen at St. Georges Church in Malvern, Victoria, and in 1896 they bought an property in Claremont, which they named "Knutsford". In 1921, Sandover provided for the Western Australian Football league the medal for the fairest and best footballer during the regular season. The medal is awarded annually in the week before the grand final with a descendant of Sandover present for the presentation. Sandover was awarded a Member of the Order of the British Empire (M.B.E.) in 1951. He retired in 1957 at the age of 90 and died at home on 4 May 1958.


James Geddes (engineer)

James Geddes (July 22, 1763 - August 19, 1838) was born in Carlisle in the Province of Pennsylvania and was a prominent engineer, surveyor, New York State legislator and U.S. Congressman who was instrumental in the planning of the Erie Canal and other canals in the United States. He was also at the forefront of development of the salt industry at Onondaga Lake near Syracuse, New York beginning in 1794.
Biography.
The son of a Scottish farmer, Geddes eventually settled in 1794 at the head of Onondaga Lake in what was to become Onondaga County, New York, where he investigated the brine springs and set up a salt works at Geddesburgh, now Solvay. He acquired lands from the State of New York which had been formerly owned by the Onondaga tribe and became an adopted member of the Onondagas in resolution of a salt-making dispute, being given the name Don-da-dah-gwah.
Geddes first surveyed and laid out the village of Geddes with approximately twenty lots on either side of West Genesee Street in 1807.
An early supporter of a proposed canal to the Great Lakes, Geddes was appointed by the state Surveyor General to explore possible routes for such a canal. Based in part on Geddes' recommendations, the Legislature established a canal commission in 1810 . Geddes was one of five engineers chosen in 1816 to supervise the construction of the Erie Canal. He also was appointed chief engineer of the Ohio and Erie Canal.
He served as a judge and was elected to the 18th Congress in 1818 as a Federalist.
His son, George Geddes, was a New York State legislator. His grandson, also called James Geddes, was a civil engineer and agriculturist.
Geddes died at Salina, New York on August 19, 1838, in the part of it which would later become known as the Town of Geddes, named for him.


Alexander W. Swanitz

Alexander W. Swanitz (April 1851 - December 22, 1915) was an American civil engineer who participated in the construction of a number of railroads in various parts of the country.
Personal life.
Born in Richland County, Illinois in 1851, he was the son of Dr. G. and Ida (von Stephan) Swanltz. He received his education at Carl August College, in Eisenach, Germany, and Ecole Technique, in Paris, France. He married Mary Henning in 1875; they had one son, Henry.
Career.
Swanitz served as Assistant. U. S. Engineer (1870-2); Lieutenant-Colonel of Engineers in the Egyptian Army (1873); and Superintent of public schools, in Hickman, Kentucky (1874-5). He was a city engineer in Shreveport, Louisiana (1876) construction engineer for the International–Great Northern Railroad in Texas (1877–81); construction engineer for Chicago and North Western Transportation Company in Iowa and South Dakota (1881-7); chief engineer and manager of the Chicago & Calumet Terminal (1888-9); chief engineer of Charleston East Shore Railroad Terminals (1889–91); consulting engineer on Wall Street in New York City (1891-5); chief engineer and manager of the New Orleans Terminals (1895-8) and Sticknoy Clearing Yard in Chicago (1899-1901). He became the chief engineer of the Alaska Central Railway in Seward, Alaska in 1901. In 1905, he was appointed engineer in charge of the Valdez-Yukon Railroad. He died at Alameda, California in 1915.


70th Aero Squadron


Grasshopper escapement

The grasshopper escapement is a low-friction escapement for pendulum clocks invented by British clockmaker John Harrison around 1722. An escapement, part of every mechanical clock, is the mechanism that gives the clock's pendulum periodic pushes to keep it swinging, and each swing releases the clock's gears to move forward by a fixed amount, thus moving the hands forward at a steady rate. The grasshopper escapement was used in a few regulator clocks built during Harrison's time, and a few others over the years, but has never seen wide use. The term "grasshopper" in this connection, apparently from the kicking action of the pallets, first appears in the "Horological Journal" in the late 19th century.
History.
John Harrison used the grasshopper escapement in his regulator clocks, and also for the first three of his marine timekeepers, H1 - H3. Determining longitudinal position was a major problem in marine navigation; Newton argued that astronomical positioning could be used, but an easier theoretical possibility was to use accurate knowledge of the time at a specific base location. The difference in time between local time, which was easy to measure, and the time at base gives the difference in longitude between the base and the ship, since 24 hours of time is equivalent to 360 degrees of longitude. A large prize was offered for a solution to the problem and Harrison devoted his life to devising and building highly accurate timekeepers. Precision and friction were the main problems. Two advantages of the grasshopper escapement are the repeatability of its operation and that it does not need lubrication. The repeatability of its operation is inherent in its design. One pallet is released only by the engagement of the other; the impulse given to the pendulum is thus completely regular in its timing. Lubricants available to Harrison were poor, messy and short-lived. This meant that conventional clocks had to be stopped frequently for cleaning and oiling. Using his clean and absolutely stable grasshopper escapement Harrison began a series of long-term investigations into the performance of clocks, leading to his invention of the gridiron pendulum which counteracted the effects of expansion and contraction with changing temperature. The performance of his improved clocks in turn gave him an accurate, convenient standard against which to test his marine timekeepers.
Operation.
Harrison developed the grasshopper escapement from a conventional anchor escapement which he built for a turret clock to go in the stable block at Brocklesby Park in Lincolnshire. This proved to be unreliable, needing repeated attention by which Harrison was inconvenienced, so around 1722 he modified the escapement by putting a hinge in the middle of each arm of the anchor. The hinged pallets both pointed the same way, opposing the rotation of the escape wheel. As the escape wheel pushes the pallet, the hinge moves away from the escape wheel. The pallet pivots about its contact point with the wheel as it pushes the anchor. At the same time, the other pallet is approaching the wheel. When it contacts the wheel, it pushes it backwards slightly and contact between the wheel and the first pallet is broken. Both the pallets are slightly tail-heavy so that they naturally tend to move away from the wheel. The first pallet therefore moves out of the path of the escape wheel and the job of impulsing the pendulum passes to the second pallet.
The first pallet comes to rest against a stop which holds it in the correct position so that when the pendulum is reaching the end of its travel, pushed by the second pallet, the first pallet swings down into the path of the wheel again. It makes contact with the wheel and, driven by the momentum of the pendulum, pushes the wheel backwards slightly. This releases the second pallet, which retires gracefully to its stop, having transferred the task of impulsing the pendulum to the first pallet again. The small movement of the pallet on its hinge involves far less friction than the sliding contact in a conventional escapement; it needs no lubrication and there is so little wear that Harrison was able to make his pallets from wood. One of the original pallets at Brocklesby Park was still working when the clock was renovated in 2005 while the other was only replaced following an accident in 1880. Harrison later modified the layout of the escapement by having one pallet pull rather than push, putting a little hook at the end of the pivoted arm to contact the teeth of the escape wheel. He also put both hinge axes together on a common pin.
When the pallet is pushing the escape wheel backwards it is also being driven hard against its stop. To prevent wear, or damage, the stops are designed to give way. Each stop is hinged about the same axis as its pallet. The pallets are tail-heavy but the stops are nose-heavy, tending to fall towards the wheel. The stops are sufficiently nose-heavy that the combination of pallet plus stop also tends to fall towards the wheel but this is prevented by a fixed pin on the anchor. This means that the pin holds the stop which holds the pallet in just the right place to engage cleanly with the escape wheel. When the pallet meets the wheel, it pushes the wheel backwards and as it does it lifts the stop off its pin. When the wheel then pushes the pallet, the stop comes back down onto its pin and parts company with its pallet. Each stop is also lifted off its pin once in each cycle by the momentum of the arriving pallet.
Limitations.
The tendency of the pallets to move out of the way of the wheel has some serious consequences. The first is that any time that the drive to the escape wheel is interrupted the pallets lose contact and when the drive is restored, the escape wheel may not be restrained and may accelerate rapidly and uncontrollably. To prevent this happening while the clock was being wound, Harrison invented one of his longest-lasting mechanisms, a maintaining power which is still widely used in clocks and watches. In its usual construction this consists of a ratchet wheel sandwiched between, and co-axial with, the first (and slowest-turning) driving gear of the movement and the barrel that the weight (or spring) is attached to. When the clock is wound, the barrel goes backwards and a ratchet on the maintaining wheel slips over teeth cut on the barrel. The first gear is still driven forward however because there is a spring between the maintaining wheel and the first gear which pushes against it. As it does so it tries to push the maintaining wheel backwards. This is prevented from happening by a ratchet fixed to the frame of the clock which engages with teeth cut round the edge of the maintaining wheel. Once the clock is fully wound, pressure on the key is released and the barrel drives the maintaining wheel and the first gear in the normal way. It also rewinds the maintaining spring ready for the next time the clock is wound. During normal operation the ratchet that stops the maintaining wheel from going backwards simply slips over the teeth of the maintaining wheel.
The second consequence of the pallets' tendency to move out of the way of the wheel is that when the clock runs down and stops both pallets return to their stops. Unless the ends of one or both pallets are long enough to sit into the gap between the teeth of the escape wheel then the wheel will run free as soon as the clock is wound. The same problem can arise if the hinges for the stops get dirty and stick in their raised position.
In common with other less accurate escapements, the grasshopper pushes the pendulum back and forth throughout its cycle; it is never allowed to swing freely. This disturbs the pendulum's natural motion as a harmonic oscillator. Around the same time as Harrison invented the grasshopper, George Graham introduced the deadbeat escapement, invented by Richard Towneley in 1675, which allowed the pendulum to swing virtually undisturbed during most of its cycle. This accurate escapement became the standard in precision regulator clocks.
Because of these various idiosyncrasies, the grasshopper escapement was never used widely. Harrison used it in his prototype marine chronometers, H1 - H3, and Justin and Benjamin Vulliamy made a small number of regulators using Harrison's design, but it remains today what it was in Harrison's time: a brilliant, unique curiosity.
John Taylor's "Corpus Clock".
A unique public clock built as a tribute to John Harrison's grasshopper escapement, the Corpus Clock, was unveiled at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University, in Cambridge, England on 19 September 2008. Industrialist John Taylor spent £1 million building the mechanical clock. Feeling that Harrison's escapement was not well enough known, the clock's grasshopper escapement is exposed on the top of the clock, built in the form of a demonic grasshopper called the "Chronophage" or "time eater", which rhythmically opens and closes its jaws, representing time being devoured.
The clock, 1.5 metres in diameter, has many other notable features. It has no hands, but rather uses three concentric pairs of stacked annular disks—one pair each for hours, minutes and seconds—slotted and lensed to allow the selective escape of light from an enclosed, continuously lit set of light emitting diodes. The arrangement of slots in each disk, along with the rotation of the foremost disk of each pair, creates a Vernier effect, producing the illusion of lights rotating at various speeds about three concentric circumferences on the clock's face.
The pendulum speeds up, slows down, and sometimes stops, but returns to the correct time every five minutes. Taylor designed the clock to remind himself of his own mortality.
Parmigiani "Senfine".
A grasshopper-type escapement is used in an entirely new mechanism intended for wristwatches. This new type of mechanical regulator uses flexible structures both in the escapement and the oscillator. A silicon wheel oscillates about 86,400 times an hour, approximately three times faster than in conventional wristwatches. The initial development was done at the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM) with Pierre Genequand, a Swiss physicist, as lead inventor. By eliminating friction as much as possible, such a watch can run for more than a month after rewinding, an exceptional power-reserve. The prototype of such a new calibre (movement) has been exhibited by Parmigiani Fleurier.
Burgess Clock B.
A grasshopper escapement is an essential part of a sculptural clock by Martin Burgess, known as Burgess Clock B. One of a pair based on the technology of the late regulator clock by John Harrison, it was completed by Charles Frodsham & Company at the request of its owner, Donald Saff. After successful testing there it was transferred to the Royal Observatory, Greenwich for a detailed assessment of its long-term performance. This was overseen by the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers and the National Physical Laboratory, whose representatives attached tamper-proof seals to the case of the clock. Although the clock is electrically-wound, thus preventing any disturbance whatever of the clock during the assessment, it is otherwise entirely mechanical. At the end of a period of one hundred days, the maximum error had not exceeded five-eighths of a second - no allowance for a steady drift of time (rate) having had to be applied. As a result, on the 18th of April 2015, the Guinness World Records organisation presented a World Record certificate to Martin Burgess for having made the most accurate purely mechanical clock working in free air. The clock remains at the ROG; in 2017 it was moved to the gallery containing the Harrison marine timekeepers where its performance continues to be monitored.