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Air-Rail Link
The Air-Rail Link is a people mover linking Birmingham Airport with Birmingham International railway station and the National Exhibition Centre in England. The current system, originally known as SkyRail, replaced the earlier Birmingham Maglev system in 2003. The current system is a fully automated cable-hauled system. It takes passengers between the high-level railway station concourse and the airport terminal buildings, covering a distance of . It is free to use, and handles three million passengers per year. At off-peak times, the system operates on demand using call buttons. The Air-Rail Link was constructed between 2001 and 2003 using the Cable Liner technology from Doppelmayr Cable Car; it was the firm's first airport system. The Birmingham Maglev, opened in 1984, was the first commercial Maglev transport system in the world. Constructed during the early 1980s by a consortium under contract from West Midlands County Council, the system was fully automated and used an eleva ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birmingham Airport
Birmingham Airport , formerly ''Birmingham International Airport'', is an international airport located east-southeast of Birmingham city centre, west-northwest of Coventry slightly north of Bickenhill village, in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, England. Officially opened as ''Elmdon Airport'' on 8 July 1939, the airport was requisitioned by the Air Ministry during the Second World War and used by both the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Royal Navy as ''RAF Elmdon''. It was largely used for flight training and wartime production purposes. On 8 July 1946, the aerodrome was reopened to civilian operations. Birmingham Airport currently holds a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence (Number P451) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction. Passenger throughput in 2017 was over 12.9 million, making Birmingham the seventh busiest airport in the UK. The airport offers international flights to destinations in Europe, the Middle East, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Linear Induction
A linear induction motor (LIM) is an alternating current (AC), asynchronous linear motor that works by the same general principles as other induction motors but is typically designed to directly produce motion in a straight line. Characteristically, linear induction motors have a finite primary or secondary length, which generates end-effects, whereas a conventional induction motor is arranged in an endless loop. Despite their name, not all linear induction motors produce linear motion; some linear induction motors are employed for generating rotations of large diameters where the use of a continuous primary would be very expensive. As with rotary motors, linear motors frequently run on a three-phase power supply and can support very high speeds. However, there are end-effects that reduce the motor's force, and it is often not possible to fit a gearbox to trade off force and speed. Linear induction motors are thus frequently less energy efficient than normal rotary motors for an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Scientist
''New Scientist'' is a popular science magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organisation publishes a monthly Dutch-language edition. First published on 22 November 1956, ''New Scientist'' has been available in online form since 1996. Sold in retail outlets (paper edition) and on subscription (paper and/or online), the magazine covers news, features, reviews and commentary on science, technology and their implications. ''New Scientist'' also publishes speculative articles, ranging from the technical to the philosophical. ''New Scientist'' was acquired by Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) in March 2021. History Ownership The magazine was founded in 1956 by Tom Margerison, Max Raison and Nicholas Harrison as ''The New Scientist'', with Issue 1 on 22 November 1956, priced at one shilling (). An article in the magazi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hansard
''Hansard'' is the transcripts of parliamentary debates in Britain and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard (1776–1833), a London printer and publisher, who was the first official printer to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, Parliament at Westminster. Origins Though the history of the ''Hansard'' began in the British Parliament, each of Britain's colonies developed a separate and distinctive history. Before 1771, the British Parliament had long been a highly secretive body. The official record of the actions of the House was publicly available but there was no record of the debates. The publication of remarks made in the House became a breach of parliamentary privilege, punishable by the two Houses of Parliament (UK), Houses of Parliament. As the populace became interested in parliamentary debates, more independent newspapers began publishing unofficial accounts of them. The many penalties implemented by the governmen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fiberglass
Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is a common type of fibre-reinforced plastic, fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth. The plastic Matrix (composite), matrix may be a thermoset polymer matrix—most often based on thermosetting polymers such as epoxy, polyester resin, or vinyl ester resin—or a thermoplastic. Cheaper and more flexible than Carbon-fiber-reinforced polymers, carbon fiber, it is stronger than many metals by weight, non-magnetic, non-conductive, transparent to electromagnetic radiation, can be molded into complex shapes, and is chemically inert under many circumstances. Applications include aircraft, boats, automobiles, bath tubs and enclosures, swimming pools, hot tubs, septic tanks, water tanks, roofing, pipes, cladding, orthopedic casts, surfboards, and external door skins ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Speedometer
A speedometer or speed meter is a gauge (instrument), gauge that measures and displays the instantaneous speed of a vehicle. Now universally fitted to motor vehicles, they started to be available as options in the early 20th century, and as standard equipment from about 1910 onwards. Other vehicles may use devices analogous to the speedometer with different means of sensing speed, eg. boats use a pit log, while aircraft use an airspeed indicator. Charles Babbage is credited with creating an early type of a speedometer, which was usually fitted to locomotives. The electric speedometer was invented by the Croats, Croat Josip Belušić in 1888 and was originally called a velocimeter. History The speedometer was originally patented by Josip Belušić (Giuseppe Bellussich) in 1888. He presented his invention at the Exposition Universelle (1889), 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris. His invention had a pointer and a magnet, using eddy current, electricity to work. German inven ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Washwood Heath
Washwood Heath is a ward in Birmingham, within the formal district of Hodge Hill, roughly two miles north-east of Birmingham city centre, England. Washwood Heath covers the areas of Birmingham that lie between Nechells, Bordesley Green, Stechford and Hodge Hill. Geography Saltley on the south-western side and Ward End on the north-eastern side of Washwood Heath are the two areas that cover the entire ward, though some parts near Nechells and Hodge Hill do not come under either of these and are simply headed under "Washwood Heath". One of the area's major employers was the railway works owned by Metropolitan-Cammell (later Alstom), but it closed in 2005. In the 2020s, Washwood Heath railway depot is to be constructed as part of the High Speed 2 project - to service and maintain the high speed trains. Demographics According to the 2001 Population Census, there were 27,822 people living in the ward with a population density of 5,335 people per km2 compared with 3,649 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Laing Group
John Laing Group is a British investor, developer and operator of privately financed, public sector infrastructure projects such as roads, railways, hospitals and schools through public-private partnership (PPP) and private finance initiative (PFI) arrangements. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index prior to its acquisition by KKR. The company has its origins in 1848, when James Laing and his wife Ann Graham embarked on a home construction venture in Cumberland before relocating to Carlisle. James' son, John Laing, took over the company and pursued larger contracts in the region. By 1920, John William Laing had taken charge and continued to expand the business; it became a limited company in 1920 and established its headquarters at Mill Hill, London two years later. Its activities during and after World War II, particularly in the reconstruction efforts, increased the company's prominence. In January 1953, John Laing & Sons was li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metro-Cammell
Metro-Cammell, formally the Metropolitan Cammell Carriage and Wagon Company (MCCW), was an English manufacturer of railway carriages, locomotives and railway wagons, based in Saltley, and subsequently Washwood Heath, in Birmingham. The company was purchased by GEC Alsthom in May 1989; the Washwood Heath factory closed in 2005 and was demolished in early 2019. The company designed and built rolling stock for the railways in the United Kingdom and overseas, including the Mass Transit Railway of Hong Kong, Kowloon–Canton Railway (now East Rail line), the Channel Tunnel, and the Tyne and Wear Metro, and locomotives for Malaysia's Keretapi Tanah Melayu. Diesel and electric locomotives were manufactured for South African Railways, Nyasaland Railways, Malawi, Nigeria, Trans-Zambezi Railway and Pakistan. DMUs were supplied to Jamaica Railway Corporation and the National Railways of Mexico. The vast majority of London Underground rolling stock manufactured in the mid-20t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brush Electrical Machines
Brush Electrical Machines is a manufacturer of electrical generators typically for gas turbine and steam turbine driven applications. The main office is based at Loughborough in Leicestershire, UK. History Charles Francis Brush, born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1849, founded the Brush Electric Light Company, which stayed in business in the U.S. until 1889 when it was sold to the Thomson-Houston Company making Brush a wealthy man. In 1880, the Anglo-American Brush Electric Light Corporation was established in Lambeth, London. Its formation was to exploit the invention of Brush's first electric dynamo in 1876. As the business grew, due to the demand for new electrical apparatus, larger premises were sought, and in 1889 the corporation moved 100 miles north into the newly acquired Falcon Engine and Car Works at Loughborough under the new name, Brush Electrical Engineering Company Limited. In 1914, the company began manufacturing Ljungstrom steam turbines under licence. Over the ne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Balfour Beatty
Balfour Beatty plc () is an international infrastructure group based in the United Kingdom with capabilities in construction services, support services and infrastructure investments. A constituent of the FTSE 250 Index, the company is active across the UK, US and Hong Kong. In terms of turnover, Balfour Beatty was ranked in 2021 as the biggest construction contractor in the United Kingdom. It was formed on 12 January 1909 by the engineer George Balfour (Conservative politician), George Balfour and the accountant Andrew Beatty. Initially working on tramways, the company soon expanded into power and general contracting; the First World War saw it construct several army bases and various other works to support the British war effort. During the 1920s and 1930s, Balfour Beatty reoriented away from bus and tramway operations towards more lucrative heavy civil engineering, particularly the development of Britain's National Grid (Great Britain), National Grid and various power station ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
General Electric Company
The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and Arms industry, defence electronics, communications, and engineering. It was originally founded in 1886 as G. Binswanger and Company as an electrical goods wholesaler based in London. It quickly adopted a then-unorthodox business model of supplying electrical components over the counter. In 1889, the business was incorporated as the General Electric Company Ltd, and became a public limited company 11 years later. During the 1890s and 1900s, the company heavily invested into electric lighting, a sector that proved to be immensely profitable in the long term. The GEC was heavily impacted by the outbreak of the First World War, supplying various goods to the military, and thus becoming a major player in the electrical industry. In 1921, a new purpose-built company headquarters (Magnet House) was opened in Kingsway, London; two years later, GEC's industrial research laboratories at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
