The Le Rossignol family home. However, it was probable that during much
of this time he lived at 7 St John’s Road, Harrow (Chap. 1).
6. Emily of course must have worried about her family left in Germany.
Chapter 18 shows that they were still in contact with one-another at the time
she died in 1975.
7. The Drachenflieger (‘flying dragon’) was an iconic canvas covered experimental aircraft developed in Austria-Hungary in 1901. Although taxi-ing
trials were successful, this first heavier-than-air flying machine was woefully
underpowered by its automobile engine. It crashed and was wrecked. Wells
seemed to ignore this little difficulty! Nowadays, the German word
‘Drachenflieger’ refers to a hang-glider.
8. There was much debate at the time regarding the susceptibility of airships to
explosion. In the new (Dutch) Boerner airship, reported in The Times on 30
March 1922, the hydrogen gasbag was surrounded by nitrogen used as a
diluent and asphixiant.
9. Coward H. F., Limits of Flammability of Gases and Vapors, Washington D.C.,
Universities of North Texas Digital Library at http://digital.library.unt.edu/
ark:/67531/metadc12662/. See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_
safety and http://hq.msdsonline.com.
10. When helium is added to hydrogen, it dissipates some of the heat of combustion so that more hydrogen is needed to sustain the reaction—a ‘dilution’
effect. However, in the patent, Robert provided no mathematical or scientific
justification for his permitted ‘non-explosive’ proportions of hydrogen.
Robert’s patent however seems to be the first time this (now) common
suggestion was recorded—at least in the UK.
11. Robert Clayton and Joan Algar, The GEC Research Laboratories, 1919–1984,
IEE History of Technology, Series 10, Peter Peregrinus Ltd., in association
with the Science Museum London (1989). ISBN-0 86341 146 0, https://doi.
org/10.1049/pbht010e. This title was later acquired by the Institution of
Engineering and Technology, (30 June 1989). I am entirely indebted to these
authors for my understanding of the GEC laboratories and Robert’s early
work there.
12. The General Electric Company of England, not to be confused with GEC of
New York. Much of what appears in Sect. 15.3 of this chapter is from
Clayton and Algar, op. cit. (note 11), pp. 1–3 and http://gracesguide.co.uk/
Osram.
13. The DGA/Osram of course was at Friedrichshain, Berlin, where Robert had
been working since September 1909, (Chap. 9).
14. Thermionic ‘valves’ were invented at the beginning of the 20th century.
These powerful electronic components formed the driving force behind the
development of all aspects of electronic engineering and were used widely up
until the 1960s when they were eclipsed by transistors and integrated circuits.
They could be used for example as a binary device, i.e. an ‘on-off’ switch
356
D. Sheppard
of this time he lived at 7 St John’s Road, Harrow (Chap. 1).
6. Emily of course must have worried about her family left in Germany.
Chapter 18 shows that they were still in contact with one-another at the time
she died in 1975.
7. The Drachenflieger (‘flying dragon’) was an iconic canvas covered experimental aircraft developed in Austria-Hungary in 1901. Although taxi-ing
trials were successful, this first heavier-than-air flying machine was woefully
underpowered by its automobile engine. It crashed and was wrecked. Wells
seemed to ignore this little difficulty! Nowadays, the German word
‘Drachenflieger’ refers to a hang-glider.
8. There was much debate at the time regarding the susceptibility of airships to
explosion. In the new (Dutch) Boerner airship, reported in The Times on 30
March 1922, the hydrogen gasbag was surrounded by nitrogen used as a
diluent and asphixiant.
9. Coward H. F., Limits of Flammability of Gases and Vapors, Washington D.C.,
Universities of North Texas Digital Library at http://digital.library.unt.edu/
ark:/67531/metadc12662/. See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_
safety and http://hq.msdsonline.com.
10. When helium is added to hydrogen, it dissipates some of the heat of combustion so that more hydrogen is needed to sustain the reaction—a ‘dilution’
effect. However, in the patent, Robert provided no mathematical or scientific
justification for his permitted ‘non-explosive’ proportions of hydrogen.
Robert’s patent however seems to be the first time this (now) common
suggestion was recorded—at least in the UK.
11. Robert Clayton and Joan Algar, The GEC Research Laboratories, 1919–1984,
IEE History of Technology, Series 10, Peter Peregrinus Ltd., in association
with the Science Museum London (1989). ISBN-0 86341 146 0, https://doi.
org/10.1049/pbht010e. This title was later acquired by the Institution of
Engineering and Technology, (30 June 1989). I am entirely indebted to these
authors for my understanding of the GEC laboratories and Robert’s early
work there.
12. The General Electric Company of England, not to be confused with GEC of
New York. Much of what appears in Sect. 15.3 of this chapter is from
Clayton and Algar, op. cit. (note 11), pp. 1–3 and http://gracesguide.co.uk/
Osram.
13. The DGA/Osram of course was at Friedrichshain, Berlin, where Robert had
been working since September 1909, (Chap. 9).
14. Thermionic ‘valves’ were invented at the beginning of the 20th century.
These powerful electronic components formed the driving force behind the
development of all aspects of electronic engineering and were used widely up
until the 1960s when they were eclipsed by transistors and integrated circuits.
They could be used for example as a binary device, i.e. an ‘on-off’ switch
356
D. Sheppard