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

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151 results in Cambridge Library Collection - Technology

Page 1 of 8

A Collection of the Laws Which Form the Constitution of the Bedford Level Corporation
  • Samuel Wells
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    20 November 2014
  • Much of eastern England is below sea level, resulting in wide swathes of marshland that are easily flooded. In the seventeenth century, the Bedford Level Corporation was set up by Francis Russell, fourth earl of Bedford, in order to manage the drainage of the Great Level of the Fens, which became known as the Bedford Level and is the largest region of fenland in eastern England. Between 1828 and 1830, Samuel Wells, the corporation's registrar, published his well-documented history of the Bedford Level and the attempts made at various points to clear it of water using a variety of methods, from earthworks raised by the Romans to the strategies of Sir Cornelius Vermuyden and the eventual introduction of steam-powered technology. Volume 2, published in 1828, contains the necessary documents and appendices for the proper understanding of Volume 1, which appeared two years later.

The History of the Drainage of the Great Level of the Fens, Called Bedford Level
  • With the Constitution and Laws of the Bedford Level Corporation
  • Samuel Wells
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    20 November 2014
  • Much of eastern England is below sea level, resulting in wide swathes of marshland that are easily flooded. In the seventeenth century, the Bedford Level Corporation was set up by Francis Russell, fourth earl of Bedford, in order to manage the drainage of the Great Level of the Fens, which became known as the Bedford Level and is the largest region of fenland in eastern England. Between 1828 and 1830, Samuel Wells, the corporation's registrar, published his well-documented history of the Bedford Level and the attempts made at various points to clear it of water using a variety of methods, from earthworks raised by the Romans to the strategies of Sir Cornelius Vermuyden and the eventual introduction of steam-powered technology. Volume 1, published in 1830, contains a historical account of the area and of the commission set up to address the perennial problem of flooding.

A Treatise on Roads
  • Wherein the Principles on Which Roads Should Be Made Are Explained and Illustrated, by the Plans, Specifications, and Contracts Made Use of by Thomas Telford, Esq., on the Holyhead Road
  • Henry Parnell
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    25 September 2014
  • The politician Sir Henry Parnell (1776–1842) was instrumental in drafting legislation to improve the important road linking London with Holyhead in Anglesey, a major port for communication with Dublin. He was aided by the pioneering civil engineer Thomas Telford, and in 1833 Parnell published the first edition of this thorough work on road construction and maintenance. Reissued here is the second edition of 1838. Drawing on his experiences with Telford, who called the work 'the most valuable Treatise which has appeared in England' on the subject, Parnell outlines not only the rules governing the planning of a new road, but also addresses the practical aspects of building and repairing roads, noting the various tools and materials needed. Parnell, later Baron Congleton, also highlights the connection between road construction and national development, and includes a number of appendices relating to contemporary legislation on the subject of roads.

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

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

Underground Life
  • Or, Mines and Miners
  • Louis Simonin
  • Edited and translated by H. W. Bristow
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    28 August 2014
  • Born in Marseilles, Louis Simonin (1830–86) became a leading mining engineer of his age. He travelled widely on government and private commissions, particularly around the United States, where he was held in very high esteem. His posthumous renown rests primarily on this substantial work on mining, first published in 1867. The book is divided into three parts, dealing with coal mining, metal mining, and the mining of precious stones. It covers metallurgy and mineralogy, the history of mining, and techniques, methods and equipment. Bringing the struggles of miners to life, and enhanced by numerous illustrations by some of the leading engravers of the day, the book is regarded as having inspired and informed Émile Zola, whose great novel Germinal (1885) depicts coal miners' lives during a strike. Simonin's work reached a wide readership in his native France, and this English translation appeared in 1869.

Sketch of the Civil Engineering of North America
  • Comprising Remarks on the Harbours, River and Lake Navigation, Lighthouses, Steam-Navigation, Water-Works, Canals, Roads, Railways, Bridges, and Other Works in that Country
  • David Stevenson
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    28 August 2014
  • A distinguished civil engineer, David Stevenson (1815–86) continued his father's work of designing and building lighthouses around the coast of his native Scotland. His three-month tour of the United States and Canada in 1837 resulted in this highly detailed and unprecedented survey, first published in 1838. Stevenson covers a large number of engineering works, ranging from lighthouses and canals through to roads, bridges and railways. Notably, Stevenson's praise for North America's faster and sleeker steam vessels led British shipbuilders to emulate the models he describes and illustrates in this text. The work remains a historically valuable assessment of the continent's infrastructure at a time of great industrial expansion. Stevenson's The Principles and Practice of Canal and River Engineering, 2nd edition (1872) and his Life of Robert Stevenson (1878), a biography of his father, are also reissued in this series.

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

The Commercial Dictionary of Trade Products, Manufacturing and Technical Terms
  • With a Definition of the Moneys, Weights, and Measures, of All Countries, Reduced to the British Standard
  • Peter Lund Simmonds
  • Published online:
    18 December 2014
    Print publication:
    21 August 2014
  • An industrious journalist and editor of periodicals, Peter Lund Simmonds (1814–97) wrote across a range of subjects, including natural history and applied science. An active member of the Royal Society of Arts, he first published this dictionary in 1858. Reissued here in its revised and enlarged edition of 1867, it contains more than 22,000 entries. The curious can discover within that a calcar is a furnace in a glassworks, or that the best kind of Cuban tobacco is known as calidad. Readers will also learn that the hautboy can be either eaten or played, being the name for both a wild strawberry and a form of oboe. Testifying to the proliferation of manufactured goods in the nineteenth century, and the contemporary desire to diffuse 'sound and useful knowledge among the masses', this work will appeal to readers interested in the history and lexicon of trade and technology.

Harbours and Docks
  • Their Physical Features, History, Construction, Equipment and Maintenance with Statistics as to their Commercial Development
  • Leveson Francis Vernon-Harcourt
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    21 August 2014
  • Professor of civil engineering at University College London, Leveson Francis Vernon-Harcourt (1839–1907) drew on considerable practical experience, having worked most notably on London's East and West India docks. The present work was first published in two volumes in 1885. This reissue combines in one volume the text and the plates, including plans and maps of important examples. The topics discussed include natural and artificial harbours; the impact of waves, tides and currents; and general principles of construction. Furthering Vernon-Harcourt's aim to educate readers on both the theory and practice of hydraulic engineering, the work features case studies on specific projects (including their origins and condition at that time), shedding much light on the history and operation of infrastructure that proved essential for the development of modern trade. Of related interest, Thomas Stevenson's The Design and Construction of Harbours (second edition, 1874) is also reissued in this series.

The Life of Thomas Telford, Civil Engineer
  • With an Introductory History of Roads and Travelling in Great Britain
  • Samuel Smiles
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    17 July 2014
  • This biography of the civil engineer Thomas Telford (1757–1834) was published in 1867 by Samuel Smiles (1812–1904), the author of Self-Help and of other biographies of engineers and innovators. Smiles had already written about Telford's life and achievements in Volume 2 of his Lives of the Engineers (which is also reissued in this series), but in returning to the topic he adds to this new edition an introductory section (taken from Volume 1 of Lives of the Engineers) on the history of roads in Britain, from prehistoric trackways, via the Romans, to the modern road-building system pioneered by John Metcalf (the extraordinary 'Blind Jack of Knaresborough') and Telford himself. This illustrated work gives engaging accounts from earlier writers of the perils of road travel, and also deals in detail with Telford's own career as a builder of roads, bridges and canals.

Description des expériences de la machine aérostatique de MM. de Montgolfier
  • Et de celles auxquelles cette découverte a donné lieu
  • Barthélemy Faujas de St-Fond
  • Published online:
    18 December 2014
    Print publication:
    17 July 2014
  • The French geologist and traveller Barthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond (1741–1819) was a strong supporter of the aerostatic experiments of the Montgolfier brothers, seeking to publicise their pioneering endeavours in this 1783 work. Exploiting the principle that hot air is lighter than cold, the Montgolfiers developed and demonstrated their hot air balloons to great acclaim. In this collection of reports, Faujas presents the details of each experiment, describing the balloons as well as potential improvements. Where possible, he specifies the position of witnesses, precise timings and viewing angles. A number of finely engraved plates enhance the work, giving readers a flavour of the spectacle that impressed contemporary observers. Faujas published a second volume, containing additional accounts and illustrations, in 1784. His Minéralogie des volcans (1784) and Essai de géologie (1803–9) are also reissued in this series.

The International Exhibition of 1862
  • The Illustrated Catalogue of the Industrial Department
  • Volume 3, Colonial and Foreign Divisions
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    17 April 2014
  • Replete with detailed engravings, this four-volume catalogue was published to accompany the International Exhibition of 1862. Held in South Kensington from May to November, the exhibition showcased the progress made in a diverse range of crafts, trades and industries since the Great Exhibition of 1851. Over 6 million visitors came to view the wares of more than 28,000 exhibitors from Britain, her empire and beyond. Featuring explanatory notes and covering such fields as mining, engineering, textiles, printing and photography, this remains an instructive resource for social and economic historians. The exhibition's Illustrated Record, its Popular Guide and the industrial department's one-volume Official Catalogue have all been reissued in this series. Volume 3, given over to the Colonial Division and the Foreign Division, includes copious examples of manufactured and agricultural goods from India, occupying nearly 300 pages. Also featured are 91 exhibitors of Jamaican rum.

The International Exhibition of 1862
  • The Illustrated Catalogue of the Industrial Department
  • Volume 4, Foreign Division
  • Published online:
    18 December 2014
    Print publication:
    17 April 2014
  • Replete with detailed engravings, this four-volume catalogue was published to accompany the International Exhibition of 1862. Held in South Kensington from May to November, the exhibition showcased the progress made in a diverse range of crafts, trades and industries since the Great Exhibition of 1851. Over 6 million visitors came to view the wares of more than 28,000 exhibitors from Britain, her empire and beyond. Featuring explanatory notes and covering such fields as mining, engineering, textiles, printing and photography, this remains an instructive resource for social and economic historians. The exhibition's Illustrated Record, its Popular Guide and the industrial department's one-volume Official Catalogue have all been reissued in this series. Volume 4 continues to catalogue the Foreign Division. Notable is the appearance of early exhibits from Steinway & Sons in the brief section for the United States. In contrast, Austrian and German exhibits occupy more than 400 pages.

The International Exhibition of 1862
  • The Illustrated Catalogue of the Industrial Department
  • Volume 2, British Division 2
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    17 April 2014
  • Replete with detailed engravings, this four-volume catalogue was published to accompany the International Exhibition of 1862. Held in South Kensington from May to November, the exhibition showcased the progress made in a diverse range of crafts, trades and industries since the Great Exhibition of 1851. Over 6 million visitors came to view the wares of more than 28,000 exhibitors from Britain, her empire and beyond. Featuring explanatory notes and covering such fields as mining, engineering, textiles, printing and photography, this remains an instructive resource for social and economic historians. The exhibition's Illustrated Record, its Popular Guide and the industrial department's one-volume Official Catalogue have all been reissued in this series. Volume 2 continues with further illustrated examples of British design and innovation, featuring exhibits that one might find not only at the Victorian factory, workshop or farm, but also in the home.

The International Exhibition of 1862
  • The Illustrated Catalogue of the Industrial Department
  • Volume 1, British Division 1
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    17 April 2014
  • Replete with detailed engravings, this four-volume catalogue was published to accompany the International Exhibition of 1862. Held in South Kensington from May to November, the exhibition showcased the progress made in a diverse range of crafts, trades and industries since the Great Exhibition of 1851. Over 6 million visitors came to view the wares of more than 28,000 exhibitors from Britain, her empire and beyond. Featuring explanatory notes and covering such fields as mining, engineering, textiles, printing and photography, this remains an instructive resource for social and economic historians. The exhibition's Illustrated Record, its Popular Guide and the industrial department's one-volume Official Catalogue have all been reissued in this series. Including a floor plan of the main buildings, Volume 1 begins with a concise history of the exhibition written by John Hollingshead (1827–1904). It then catalogues and illustrates impressive examples of British manufacturing.

Submarine Telegraphs
  • Their History, Construction, and Working
  • Charles Bright
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    20 March 2014
  • An accomplished telegraph engineer in his own right, Sir Charles Bright (1863–1937) was the son of Sir Charles Tilston Bright (1832–88), who had achieved greatness in laying the first transatlantic cable in 1858. The younger Bright worked alongside his father for a time, continued his research, and became an authority on the subject. Examining the history, construction and working of submarine telegraphs, this 1898 treatise traces both technical and commercial developments, looking also at the labour involved. Bright addresses the laying of cables across the globe, giving accounts of projects in India, South America and beyond. Illuminating the many commercial uses for submarine cables, Bright provides an informed survey of the early standardisation of telegraphy systems. Replete with detailed illustrations and technical drawings, this work remains an indispensable resource on the history of telecommunications and electrical engineering.

Personal Narrative of the Origin and Progress of the Caoutchouc or India-Rubber Manufacture in England
  • Thomas Hancock
  • Published online:
    05 December 2014
    Print publication:
    13 February 2014
  • Over the course of three decades, the English businessman and inventor Thomas Hancock (1786–1865) took out sixteen patents relating to the potential applications of natural rubber. Hancock's fascination with this material, the properties of which had not been fully appreciated in England, drove him to experiment extensively with manufacturing methods. This led to the development of the mechanical process of 'mastication' and the chemical process of vulcanization, the end product of which was used by Macintosh to create waterproof garments. This illustrated account of Hancock's discoveries and methods was first published in 1857. It covers the origin of his interest in natural rubber and his subsequent experiments and patents. Also included are details about the plants from which natural rubber is extracted. The result is an informed chronicle of the commercial exploitation of a versatile and lucrative resource.

Papers, Literary, Scientific, Etc.
  • Volume 2
  • Fleeming Jenkin
  • Edited by Sidney Colvin, J. A. Ewing
  • Introduction by Robert Louis Stevenson
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    02 January 2014
  • An electrical engineer, university teacher and wide-ranging writer, Fleeming Jenkin (1833–85) filed thirty-five British patents in the course of his career. Edited by Sidney Colvin (1845–1927) and J. A. Ewing (1855–1935) and first published in 1887, this two-volume work brings together a selection of Jenkin's varied and engaging papers. The collection ranges from notes on his voyages as a marine telegraph engineer, to a critical review of Darwin's On the Origin of Species, essays on literature, and thoughts on technical education. A memoir written by Robert Louis Stevenson, his former student, provides biographical context and attests to Jenkin's many interests and talents across the arts and sciences. Volume 2 includes Jenkin's papers on political economy, scientific education, and applied science, notably marine telegraphy. Abstracts of his scientific papers, along with a list of his patents, form an appendix to the volume.

Life and Labours of Thomas Brassey
  • 1805–1870
  • Arthur Helps
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    02 January 2014
  • An important figure in British business history, the civil engineering contractor Thomas Brassey (1805–70) stood at the forefront of railway construction across the globe in the nineteenth century. He was also instrumental in the development of the Victoria Dock and part of London's sewer system. Originally published in 1872 and reissued here in its 1888 seventh edition, this first biography of Brassey was written by his personal friend, the public servant and author Sir Arthur Helps (1813–75). It describes Brassey's many remarkable achievements as a prolific contractor working in Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas. A brilliant businessman, representing the best of British skill, leadership and organisation, Brassey employed tens of thousands of men around the world at the peak of his career. Having collaborated with prominent engineers such as Joseph Locke and Robert Stephenson, he secured for himself a long-lasting reputation for integrity and dedication.

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