Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Siemens, Sir William

(Encyclopedia)Siemens, Sir William, 1823–83, English electrical engineer, b. Germany; brother of Ernst Werner von Siemens. Originally his name was Carl Wilhelm Siemens. After visiting England to introduce an elec...

disk plow

(Encyclopedia)disk plow or disk, farm implement employing a row or rows of concave circular steel disks that cut and pitch the soil in a way somewhat similar to a moldboard plow. It can be used in many situations w...

Alton

(Encyclopedia)Alton ôlˈtən [key], city, Madison co., SW Ill., on bluffs of the Mississippi River 5 mi (8.1 km) above its confluence with the Missouri; inc. 1837. Alton is a shipping ...

truss

(Encyclopedia)CE5 A. King post truss B. Queen, with princess posts truss, in architecture and engineering, a supporting structure or framework composed of beams, girders, or rods commonly of steel or wood lying...

turn and bank indicator

(Encyclopedia)turn and bank indicator, aircraft instrument containing one indicator to show turning, or rotation about the vertical axis, and another to show banking, or rotation about the longitudinal axis. The tw...

Port Harcourt

(Encyclopedia)Port Harcourt härˈkərt, –kôrt [key], city (1991 est. pop. 362,000), SE Nigeria, a deepwater port on the Bonny River in the Niger delta. It is an industrial and commercial center where steel and ...

galvanizing

(Encyclopedia)galvanizing, process of coating a metal, usually iron or steel, with a protective covering of zinc. Galvanized iron is prepared either by dipping iron, from which rust has been removed by the action o...

Gateshead

(Encyclopedia)Gateshead gātsˈhĕd [key], metropolitan borough, NE England, on the Tyne River opposite ...

Aosta

(Encyclopedia)Aosta äôˈstä [key], city, capital of Valle d'Aosta region and of Aosta prov., NW Italy, near the junction of the Great and Little St. Bernard roads. Aosta is an indust...

Jhansi

(Encyclopedia)Jhansi jänˈsē [key], city (1991 pop. 368,564), Uttar Pradesh state, N central India. A road and rail junction, agricultural market, and small industrial center, it has iron and steel mills and rail...

Browse by Subject