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Harry Grindell Matthews
Harry Grindell Matthews (17 March 1880 – 11 September 1941) was an English inventor who claimed to have invented a death ray in the 1920s. Early life and inventions Harry Grindell Matthews was born on 17 March 1880 in Winterbourne, Gloucestershire. Matthews studied at the Society of Merchant Venturers, Merchant Venturers' School in Bristol and became an electronic engineer. During the Second Boer War, Matthews served in the South African Constabulary and was twice wounded. In 1911, Matthews claimed that he had invented an Aerophone device, a radiotelephone, and transmitted messages between a ground station and an aeroplane from a distance of . His experiments attracted government attention, and on 4 July 1912, Matthews visited Buckingham Palace. However, when the British Admiralty requested a demonstration of the Aerophone, Matthews demanded that no experts be present at the scene. When four observers dismantled part of the apparatus before the demonstration began and took ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Winterbourne, Gloucestershire
Winterbourne is a large village and civil parish in the South Gloucestershire district, in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, England, lying just beyond the North Fringe of Bristol, north fringe of Bristol.OS Explorer Map, Bristol and Bath, Keynsham & Marshfield. Scale: 1:25 000.Publisher: Ordnance Survey B4 edition (2013). The parish of Winterbourne is centred on the village and includes the neighbouring communities of Winterbourne Down, South Gloucestershire, Winterbourne Down, Whiteshill, Hambrook, Frenchay and Watley's End. To the north-east is the village of Frampton Cotterell and to the west lies the town of Bradley Stoke. The parish had a population of 10,250 at the 2021 census. History Winterbourne was recorded in the Domesday Book as ''Wintreborne'', meaning 'Winter Stream'. The village is believed to have derived its name from the nearby Bradley Brook, as much of medieval Winterbourne was originally built up around St Michael's Church, which stands near the r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Remote Control
A remote control, also known colloquially as a remote or clicker, is an consumer electronics, electronic device used to operate another device from a distance, usually wirelessly. In consumer electronics, a remote control can be used to operate devices such as a television set, DVD player or other digital home media appliance. A remote control can allow operation of devices that are out of convenient reach for direct operation of controls. They function best when used from a short distance. This is primarily a convenience feature for the user. In some cases, remote controls allow a person to operate a device that they otherwise would not be able to reach, as when a garage door opener is triggered from outside. Early television remote controls (1956–1977) used ultrasonics, ultrasonic tones. Present-day remote controls are commonly consumer IR, consumer infrared devices which send digitally-coded pulses of infrared radiation. They control functions such as power, volume, chan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gunpowder
Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium nitrate (saltpeter). The sulfur and charcoal act as fuels while the saltpeter is an oxidizer. Gunpowder has been widely used as a propellant in firearms, artillery, rocketry, and pyrotechnics, including use as a blasting agent for explosives in quarrying, mining, building Pipeline transport, pipelines, tunnels, and road#Construction, roads. Gunpowder is classified as a Explosive#Low, low explosive because of its relatively slow decomposition rate, low ignition temperature and consequently low brisance, brisance (breaking/shattering). Low explosives deflagration, deflagrate (i.e., burn at subsonic speeds), whereas high explosives detonation, detonate, producing a supersonic shockwave. Ignition of gunpowder packed behind a projectile generates ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of the longest-running newspapers in the United States, the ''Times'' serves as one of the country's Newspaper of record, newspapers of record. , ''The New York Times'' had 9.13 million total and 8.83 million online subscribers, both by significant margins the List of newspapers in the United States, highest numbers for any newspaper in the United States; the total also included 296,330 print subscribers, making the ''Times'' the second-largest newspaper by print circulation in the United States, following ''The Wall Street Journal'', also based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' is published by the New York Times Company; since 1896, the company has been chaired by the Ochs-Sulzberger family, whose current chairman and the paper's publ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edwin R
The name Edwin means "wealth-friend". It comes from (wealth, good fortune) and (friend). Thus the Old English form is Ēadwine, a name widely attested in early medieval England. Edwina is the feminine form of the name. Notable people and characters with the name include: Historical figures * Edwin of Northumbria (died 632 or 633), King of Northumbria and Christian saint * Edwin (son of Edward the Elder) (died 933) * Eadwine of Sussex (died 982), Ealdorman of Sussex * Eadwine of Abingdon (died 990), Abbot of Abingdon * Edwin, Earl of Mercia (died 1071), brother-in-law of Harold Godwinson (Harold II) * Edwin Sandys (bishop) (1519–1588), Archbishop of York Modern era * E. W. Abeygunasekera, Sri Lankan Sinhala politician * Edwin Abbott Abbott (1838–1926), English schoolmaster, theologian, and Anglican priest * Edwin Ariyadasa (1922–2021), Sri Lankan Sinhala journalist * Edwin Arrieta Arteaga (died 2023), Colombian murder victim * Edwin Austin Abbey (1852–1911) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ignition Magneto
An ignition magneto (also called a high-tension magneto) is an older type of ignition system used in spark-ignition engines (such as petrol engines). It uses a magneto and a transformer to make pulses of high voltage for the spark plugs. The older term "high-tension" means "high-voltage". Design A simple magneto (an electrical generator using permanent magnets) is able to produce relatively low voltage electricity, however it is unable to produce the high voltages required by a spark plug as used in most modern engines (aside from diesel engines). An ''ignition magneto'' also includes an electrical transformer, which converts the electricity to a higher voltage (with the trade-off being a corresponding reduction in the output electric current, current). As the points begin to open, point spacing is initially such that the voltage across the primary coil would arc across the points. A capacitor is placed across the points which absorbs the energy stored in the leakage inductanc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sound-on-film
Sound-on-film is a class of sound film processes where the sound accompanying a picture is recorded on photographic film, usually, but not always, the same strip of film carrying the picture. Sound-on-film processes can either record an Analog signal, analog sound track or Digital data, digital sound track, and may record the signal either optical sound, optically or magnetism, magnetically. Earlier technologies were sound-on-disc, meaning the film's soundtrack would be on a separate phonograph record. History Sound on film can be dated back to the early 1880s, when Charles E. Fritts filed a patent claiming the idea. In 1923 a patent was filed by E. E. Ries, for a variable density soundtrack recording, which was submitted to the SMPE (now Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, SMPTE), which used the mercury vapor lamp as a modulating device to create a variable-density soundtrack. Later, Theodore Case, Case Laboratories and Lee De Forest#Phonofilm sound-on-film pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phonofilm
Phonofilm is an optical sound-on-film system developed by inventors Lee de Forest and Theodore Case in the early 1920s. In 1919 and 1920, de Forest, inventor of the audion tube, filed his first patents on a sound-on-film process, DeForest Phonofilm, which recorded sound directly onto film as parallel lines. These parallel lines photographically recorded electrical waveforms from a microphone, which were translated back into sound waves when the movie was projected. The Phonofilm system, which recorded synchronized sound directly onto film, was used to record vaudeville acts, musical numbers, political speeches, and opera singers. The quality of Phonofilm was poor at first and while it improved somewhat in later years, it was never able to match the fidelity of sound-on-disc systems such as Vitaphone, or later sound-on-film systems such as RCA Photophone or Fox Movietone. The films of de Forest were short films made primarily as demonstrations to try to interest major studios i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Photokinema
''Photo-Kinema'' (some sources say ''Phono-Kinema'') was a sound-on-disc system for motion pictures invented by Orlando Kellum. 1921 introduction The system was first used for a small number of short films, mostly made in 1921. These films presented subjects such as actor Frederick Warde reading an original poem "A Sunset Reverie", labor leader Samuel Gompers speaking on labor issues, Judge Ben Lindsey on the need for a separate juvenile court system, Irvin S. Cobb reading from his works, and a lecture by James J. Davis, Secretary of Labor in the Harding administration. Kellum also filmed musical numbers, including a performance of the song "De Ducks" by African American musicians F. E. Miller and Aubrey Lyles who wrote the book for the musical '' Shuffle Along'' (1921), and ''The Famous Van Eps Trio in a Bit of Jazz'' (1921), featuring Fred Van Eps, father of musician George Van Eps. A filmed performance by Sir Harry Lauder made in Phono-Kinema is preserved at the U ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William K
William is a masculine given name of Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era. It is sometimes abbreviated "Wm." Shortened familiar versions in English include Will or Wil, Wills, Willy, Willie, Bill, Billie, and Billy. A common Irish form is Liam. Scottish diminutives include Wull, Willie or Wullie (as in Oor Wullie). Female forms include Willa, Willemina, Wilma and Wilhelmina. Etymology William is related to the German given name ''Wilhelm''. Both ultimately descend from Proto-Germanic ''*Wiljahelmaz'', with a direct cognate also in the Old Norse name ''Vilhjalmr'' and a West Germanic borrowing into Medieval Latin ''Willelmus''. The Proto-Germanic name is a compound of *''wiljô'' "will, wish, desire" and *''helmaz'' "helm, helmet".Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford Un ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ernest Shackleton
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Born in Kilkea, County Kildare, Ireland, Shackleton and his Anglo-Irish family moved to Sydenham, London, Sydenham in suburban south London when he was ten. Shackleton's first experience of the polar regions was as third officer on Captain Robert Falcon Scott's Discovery Expedition, ''Discovery'' Expedition of 1901–1904, from which he was sent home early on health grounds, after he and his companions Scott and Edward Adrian Wilson set a new southern record by marching to latitude 82°S. During the Nimrod Expedition, ''Nimrod'' Expedition of 1907–1909, he and three companions established a new record Farthest South latitude of 88°23′ S, only 97 geographical miles (112 statute miles or 180 kilometres) fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
