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Savery, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Savery, Thomas, c.1650–1715, English engineer. He became a military engineer, rising to the rank of captain by 1702. He spent his free time performing experiments in mechanics, inventing such device...

Cartwright, Edmund

(Encyclopedia)Cartwright, Edmund, 1743–1823, English inventor and clergyman. He was the inventor of an imperfect power loom that, when finally patented (1785), became the parent of the modern loom. It was the fir...

grinding

(Encyclopedia)grinding, process by which surface material is removed from an object, usually metal, by the abrasive action of a rotating wheel or a moving belt that contains abrasive grains. A grinding wheel can be...

efficiency

(Encyclopedia)efficiency. 1 In business and industry, see industrial management; productivity. 2 In physics, seemachine; work. ...

combing

(Encyclopedia)combing, process that follows carding in the preparation of fibers for spinning, lays the fibers parallel, and removes noils (short fibers). The modern combing machine is a specialized carding machine...

Hyatt, John Wesley

(Encyclopedia)Hyatt, John Wesley, 1837–1920, American inventor, b. Starkey, N.Y. He is known especially for his development of celluloid; with his brothers, he began its manufacture in 1872. He also invented the ...

typewriter

(Encyclopedia)typewriter, instrument for producing by manual operation characters similar to those of printing. Corresponding to each key on the instrument's keyboard is a steel type. Activated through a series of ...

Marly-le-Roi

(Encyclopedia)Marly-le-Roi märlēˈ-lə-rwä [key], town (1990 pop. 16,775), Yvelines dept., N France, on the Seine River near Versailles. Nearby is the hamlet of Marly-la-Machine, where in 1682 a huge hydraulic e...

Bramah, Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Bramah, Joseph brămˈə, bräˈ– [key], 1748–1814, English inventor. In 1784 he took out his first patent on a safety lock, and in 1795 he patented his hydraulic press, known as the Bramah press ...

calculator

(Encyclopedia)calculator or calculating machine, device for performing numerical computations; it may be mechanical, electromechanical, or electronic. The electronic computer is also a calculator but performs other...