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centrifuge

(Encyclopedia)centrifuge sĕnˈtrəfyo͞oj [key], device using centrifugal force to separate two or more substances of different density, e.g., two liquids or a liquid and a solid. The centrifuge consists of a fixe...

control systems

(Encyclopedia)control systems, combinations of components (electrical, mechanical, thermal, or hydraulic) that act together to maintain actual system performance close to a desired set of performance specifications...

Fulton, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Fulton, Robert, 1765–1815, American inventor, engineer, and painter, b. near Lancaster, Pa. He was a man remarkable for his many talents and his mechanical genius. An expert gunsmith at the time of ...

Stephenson, George

(Encyclopedia)Stephenson, George, 1781–1848, British engineer, noted as a locomotive builder. He learned to read and write in night school at the age of 18, while working in a colliery. He constructed (1814) a tr...

skywriting

(Encyclopedia)skywriting, advertising medium in which aircraft spell out trade names and sales slogans in the sky by means of the controlled emission of thick smoke. The technique was first developed (1922) by J. C...

Whitehead, Gustave Albin

(Encyclopedia)Whitehead, Gustave Albin, 1874–1927, German inventor and airplane pioneer, b. Gustav Albin Weisskopf. He immigrated to the United States in 1893 and later Americanized his name, but never became a c...

steamship

(Encyclopedia)steamship, watercraft propelled by a steam engine or a steam turbine. Despite such innovations as turbo-electric drive, which converts steam energy into rotational power for turning the propeller...

speedometer

(Encyclopedia)speedometer, instrument that indicates speed. A cable from an automotive speedometer is attached to the rear of the transmission of an automobile; the cable turns at a rate proportional to the speed o...

Beach, Moses Yale

(Encyclopedia)Beach, Moses Yale, 1800–1868, American journalist, b. Wallingford, Conn. As a young man he invented a rag-cutting machine and a gunpowder engine. In 1838 he bought the New York Sun from his brother-...

torque

(Encyclopedia)torque, in physics, that which tends to change the rate of rotation of a body; also called the moment of force. The torque produced by rotating parts of an electric motor or internal-combustion engine...