Power, Speed, and Form: Engineers and the Making of the Twentieth Century

319 Pages·2006·8.41 MB·English

by  David P. Billington

Power, Speed, and Form
Power, Speed, and Form
Engineers and the Making of the Twentieth Century
DAVID P. BILLINGTON AND DAVID P. BILLINGTON JR.
P U P
RINCETON NIVERSITY RESS
PRINCETON & OXFORD
Copyright © 2006 by Princeton University Press Published by Princeton University Press, 41
William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 3 Market Place, Woodstock, Oxfordshire
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All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Billington, David P.
Power, speed, and form : engineers and the making of the twentieth century /
David P. Billington and David P. Billington Jr.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-691-10292-4 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-691-10292-9 (hardcover : alk.
paper) 1. Engineering—United States—History. 2. Engineers—United States.
I. Billington, David P., 1953– . II. Title.
TA23.B48 2006
620.00973—dc22
2005037085
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available This book has been composed in
Electra, Myriad and Coronet Printed on acid-free paper. ∞
pup.princeton.edu
Printed in the United States of America 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
TO PHYLLIS, GERDA AND JONATHAN, JANE AND NELSON
who bring the past into the present
Contents
List of Sidebars ix
List of Figures xi
Preface xv
Acknowledgments xxi
CHAPTER ONE The World’s Fairs of 1876 and 1939 1
CHAPTER TWO Edison, Westinghouse, and Electric Power 13
CHAPTER THREE Bell and the Telephone 35
CHAPTER FOUR Burton, Houdry, and the Refining of Oil 57
CHAPTER FIVE Ford, Sloan, and the Automobile 79
CHAPTER SIX The Wright Brothers and the Airplane 103
CHAPTER SEVEN Radio: From Hertz to Armstrong 129
CHAPTER EIGHT Ammann and the George Washington Bridge 155
CHAPTER NINE Eastwood, Tedesko, and Reinforced Concrete 176
CHAPTER TEN Streamlining: Chrysler and Douglas 199
APPENDIX The Edison Dynamo and the Parallel Circuit 220
Notes 223
Index 257
List of Sidebars
2.1. Electricity and Magnetism 15
2.2. Generating Electricity 16
2.3. Series and Parallel Circuits 20
2.4. High Resistance and Low Cost 21
2.5. The Edison Dynamo 24
2.6. Transformers and Alternating Current 29
3.1. Electromagnetism and Telegraphy 39
3.2. Bell’s Harmonic Telegraph 41
3.3. Signals and Sound 44
3.4. Telephone: Bell and Gray 49
4.1. Petroleum Distillation 60
4.2. Petroleum and Chemical Reactions 68
4.3. Thermal Pressure Cracking 70
4.4. Catalytic Cracking 77
5.1. The Internal-Combustion Engine 81
5.2. The Model T: Ignition and Fuel 90
5.3. The Model T: Engine and Power 91
5.4. The Model T: Traction 93
5.5. The Model T: Speed 94
6.1. Balancing Forces in Steady Level Flight 105
6.2. The Wright Wind Tunnel Tests 115
6.3. The 1903 Wright Flyer: Design 119
6.4. The 1903 Wright Flyer: Performance 122
7.1. Hertz and Radio Waves 130
7.2. The Radio Frequency Spectrum 133
7.3. Modulation: Amplitude and Frequency 137
7.4. Reception and Tuning 139
7.5. Electronics: Diode and Triode 142
7.6. Armstrong and Radio 144
8.1. Horizontal and Vertical Reactions 157
8.2. Railroad versus Automobile 159
8.3. Ammann’s Traffic Load Estimate 166
8.4. George Washington Bridge: Steel and Safety 167
8.5. The Deflection Theory 168
9.1. Three Types of Dam Design 180
9.2. Hume Lake Dam 183
9.3. The Hershey Arena: Horizontal Forces 191
9.4. The Hershey Arena: Stresses 192
10.1. Streamlining 200
10.2. The Chrysler Airflow 204
10.3. The Douglas DC-3 214
10.4. The Wright Flyer and the Douglas DC-3 215