LANCHESTER, Frederick (1868 - 1946)

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English polymath and engineer who made important contributions to automotive engineering, aerodynamics and co-invented the field of operations research.

When he completed his education in 1888, he took a job as a Patent Office draughtsman for £3 a week. About this time he took out a patent for an isometrograph, a draughtsman’s instrument for hatching, shading and other geometrical design work. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1922, and in 1926 the Royal Aeronautical Society awarded him a fellowship and a gold medal. In 1925 Lanchester founded a company called Lanchester Laboratories Ltd. This was to carry out industrial research and development work. Although he developed an improved radio and gramophone speaker, he was unable to market it successfully because of the recession. He carried on, overworking, until in 1934 his health failed and the firm was forced to close. He was finally diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and was reportedly much grieved that this, along with cataracts in both eyes, prevented him from "doing any official job" during the Second World War. He was also a pioneer British motor car builder, a hobby he eventually turned into a successful car company, and is considered one of the "big three" English car engineers, the others being Harry Ricardo and Henry Royce. He was awarded gold medals by the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1941 and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1945.

diversa grafia:
LANCHESTER, Frederick

Curriculum vitae

* 23.10.1868	Lewisham, London	nato
1888	Angleterre England	Deputy production director to Forward Gas Engine Co. of Saltley.
1889	Angleterre England	Patent application for a regulator to balls to prevent the runaway of the engines (installed on a live engine).
1890	Angleterre England	Patent application for an automatic starter for the gas engines.
1890	Angleterre England	Patent application for a balls accelerometer to record the acceleration and braking of vehicles on road and rail. Later he sold the rights of his invention for Crossley Gas Engine Co. for a tidy sum.
1899		Design of a new 10 HP twin-cylinder engine.
1899	Angleterre England	Collaboration with his brothers to form the Lanchester Engine Company, to deliver "general public" cars.
1899	Birmingham	Take-over of Armourer Works factory on Montgomery Street.
1905		Manufacture of a 20 HP four-cylinder engin
1905		Patent application for the engine that was to produce all transmissions of Lanchester for 25 years.
1906		Patent application for motor and vibration noise limiter.
1906		Patent application for motor and vibration noise limiter.
1906		Manufacture of a six-cylinder engine of 28 HP crankshaft torsional damper and a plunger for balancing, he patented both.
1907		Publication of his ideas in a book in two volumes entitled Aerial Flight recognised in Germany by engineer Ludwig Prandt.
1907	Angleterre England	Permanently imposed the use of the wheel for the direction and the use of the accelerator pedal. First to use removable wheels, bearings lubricated with oil, steel valves, pistons and connecting rods hollow segmentation.
1909		Design of a hybrid engine for double-decker buses.
1909		Technical Advisor for the Daimler Motor Company
1910	Angleterre England	He also joined the service of the Birmingham Small Arms.
1921		- First manufacturer to export left-hand drive cars. - First to use tinted glass windshield.
1928	SouthPort Rallie	Inauguration of a Lanchester motor with 4 cylinders mounted in a straight line of 440 cm3 always with camshaft in head.
1931 - 1956	Coventry	Acquisition of the company by B.S.A., owner of the Daimler Motor Company since 1909. The Lanchester will be assembled in the Daimler factory next to the other models from the Daimler brand.
† 08.03.1946	Birmingham	morto

Collections

		Industrializzazione, dal 1850 al 1920
		Razionalizzazione, dal 1920 al 1950

Immagini

Permanent links

DMG-Lib		https://www.dmg-lib.org/dmglib/handler?biogr=24206004
Europeana		http://www.europeana.eu/portal/record/2020801/dmglib_handler_biogr_24206004.html

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LANCHESTER, Frederick (1868 - 1946)