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Liberty Ships
Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Although British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. Mass-produced on an unprecedented scale, the Liberty ship came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. The class was developed to meet British orders for transports to replace ships that had been lost. Eighteen American shipyards built 2,710 Liberty ships between 1941 and 1945 (an average of three ships every two days), easily the largest number of ships ever produced to a single design. The Liberty ship was effectively superseded by the Victory ship, a somewhat larger, materially faster, more modern-powered vessel of generally similar design. Over 500 were built between 1943 and 1945. Liberty ship production mirrored (albeit on a much larger scale) the manufacture of " Hog Islander" and similar standardized ship types during Worl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Dollar
The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish dollar, Spanish silver dollar, divided it into 100 cent (currency), cents, and authorized the Mint (facility), minting of coins denominated in dollars and cents. U.S. banknotes are issued in the form of Federal Reserve Notes, popularly called greenbacks due to their predominantly green color. The U.S. dollar was originally defined under a bimetallism, bimetallic standard of (0.7734375 troy ounces) fine silver or, from Coinage Act of 1834, 1834, fine gold, or $20.67 per troy ounce. The Gold Standard Act of 1900 linked the dollar solely to gold. From 1934, its equivalence to gold was revised to $35 per troy ounce. In 1971 all links to gold were repealed. The U.S. dollar became an important intern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ruhr
The Ruhr ( ; , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr Area, sometimes Ruhr District, Ruhr Region, or Ruhr Valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 1,160/km2 and a population of over 5 million (2017), it is the largest urban area in Germany and the third of the European Union. It consists of several large cities bordered by the rivers Ruhr to the south, Rhine to the west, and Lippe to the north. In the southwest it borders the Bergisches Land. It is considered part of the larger Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region of more than 10 million people, which is the third largest in Western Europe, behind only London and Paris. The Ruhr cities are, from west to east: Duisburg, Oberhausen, Bottrop, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Bochum, Herne, Hagen, Dortmund, Hamm and the districts of Wesel, Recklinghausen, Unna and Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis. The most populous cities are Dortmund (with a population of app ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maybach
Maybach (, ) is a German luxury car brand owned by and a part of Mercedes-Benz AG. The original company was founded in 1909 by Wilhelm Maybach and his son Karl Maybach, originally as a subsidiary of ''Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH'', and it was known as ''Luftfahrzeug-Motorenbau GmbH'' until 1999. In 1960, Maybach was acquired by Daimler-Benz. The name returned as a standalone ultra-luxury car brand in 2002, sharing significant components with Mercedes-Benz cars. After slow sales, Maybach ceased to be a standalone brand by 2013, and it became (in 2015) a sub-brand of Mercedes-Benz, which the Mercedes-Benz Group owns. , Daimler produces an ultra-luxury edition of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, the Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV and the Mercedes-Benz GLS-Class under the Mercedes-Maybach name. 1909–1940: Early history Wilhelm Maybach was the technical director of the '' Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft'' (DMG) until he left in 1907. On 23 March 1909, he founded the new company, ''Luftfahrz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diesel Locomotive
A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover (locomotive), power source is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving wheels. The most common are diesel–electric locomotives and diesel–hydraulic. Early internal combustion engine, internal combustion locomotives and railcars used kerosene and gasoline as their fuel. Rudolf Diesel patented his first compression-ignition engine in 1898, and steady improvements to the design of diesel engines reduced their physical size and improved their power-to-weight ratios to a point where one could be mounted in a locomotive. Internal combustion engines only operate efficiently within a limited power band, and while low-power gasoline engines could be coupled to mechanical transmission (mechanics), transmissions, the more powerful diesel engines required the development of new forms of transmiss ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Internal Combustion Engine
An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal combustion engine, the expansion of the high-temperature and high-pressure gases produced by combustion applies direct force to some component of the engine. The force is typically applied to pistons (reciprocating engine, piston engine), turbine blades (gas turbine), a Wankel engine, rotor (Wankel engine), or a propulsive nozzle, nozzle (jet engine). This force moves the component over a distance. This process transforms chemical energy into kinetic energy which is used to propel, move or power whatever the engine is attached to. The first commercially successful internal combustion engines were invented in the mid-19th century. The first modern internal combustion engine, the Otto engine, was designed in 1876 by the German engineer Nicolaus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Geographic
''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine months after the establishment of the society, but is now a popular magazine. In 1905, it began including pictures, a style for which it became well known. Its first color photos appeared in the 1910s. During the Cold War, the magazine committed itself to present a balanced view of the physical and human geography of countries beyond the Iron Curtain. Later, the magazine became outspoken on environmental issues. Until 2015, the magazine was completely owned and managed by the National Geographic Society. Since 2015, controlling interest has been held by National Geographic Partners. Topics of features generally concern geography, history, nature, science, and world culture. The magazine is well known for its distinctive appearance: a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kriegslokomotive
''Kriegslokomotiven'' (, singular: ''Kriegslokomotive'') or ''Kriegsloks'' were locomotives produced in large numbers during the Second World War under Nazi Germany. Their construction was tailored to the economic circumstances of wartime Germany along with conquered and occupied territories across Europe, taking account of the shortage of materials, the transportation of goods in support of military logistics, ease of maintenance under difficult conditions, resistance to extreme weather, limited life and the need for rapid, cheap mass production. In order to meet these requirements, economic drawbacks such as relatively high fuel consumption had to be accepted. Forced labour was used in the construction of some of the locomotives; German locomotive building firms employed prisoners from concentration camps and foreign, mostly Polish workers. Construction The war locomotives (or ''Kriegslokomotiven'') were kept technically as simple as possible and the use of scarce materials ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Compound Steam Engine
A compound steam engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages. A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure (HP) cylinder, then having given up heat and losing pressure, it exhausts directly into one or more larger-volume low-pressure (LP) cylinders. Multiple-expansion engines employ additional cylinders, of progressively lower pressure, to extract further energy from the steam. Invented in 1781, this technique was first employed on a Cornish beam engine in 1804. Around 1850, compound engines were first introduced into Lancashire textile mills. Compound systems There are many compound systems and configurations, but there are two basic types, according to how HP and LP piston strokes are phased and hence whether the HP exhaust is able to pass directly from HP to LP ( Woolf compounds) or whether pressure fluctuation necessitates an intermediate "buffer" space in the form of a steam c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ocean Ship
The Ocean ships were a class of sixty cargo ships built in the United States by Todd Shipyards Corporation during the Second World War for the British Ministry of War Transport under contracts let by the British Purchasing Commission. Eighteen were lost to enemy action and eight to accidents; survivors were sold postwar into merchant service. To expedite production, the type was based on an existing design, later adapted to become the Liberty ship. Yards constructed to build the Oceans went immediately into production of Liberty hulls. Before and during construction the ships are occasionally mentioned as "British Victory" or victory ships as distinct from the United States variant known as the Liberty ship. Contract and yards On 19 December 1940 John D. Reilly, president of Todd Shipyards Corporation, announced that contracts totaling US$100,000,000 had been signed between two Todd affiliates and the British Purchasing Commission for the construction of sixty cargo ships wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steam Turbine
A steam turbine or steam turbine engine is a machine or heat engine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work utilising a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884. It revolutionized marine propulsion and navigation to a significant extent. Fabrication of a modern steam turbine involves advanced metalwork to form high-grade steel alloys into precision parts using technologies that first became available in the 20th century; continued advances in durability and efficiency of steam turbines remains central to the energy economics of the 21st century. The largest steam turbine ever built is the 1,770 MW Arabelle steam turbine built by Arabelle Solutions (previously GE Steam Power), two units of which will be installed at Hinkley Point C Nuclear Power Station, England. The steam turbine is a form of heat engine that derives much of its improvement in thermodynamic efficiency from the u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
