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Insull, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Insull, Samuel ĭnˈsəl [key], 1859–1938, American public utilities financier, b. London. He arrived in the United States in 1881 and was employed by Thomas A. Edison as a private secretary. He lat...

forging

(Encyclopedia)forging, shaping metal by heating it and then hammering or rolling it. Forging is the method by which metal was first worked when it came into use about 4000 b.c. in Egypt and Asia. Modern forging is ...

turpentine

(Encyclopedia)turpentine, yellow to brown semifluid oleoresin exuded from the sapwood of pines, firs, and other conifers. It is made up of two principal components, an essential oil and a type of resin that is call...

Woods, Granville Taylor

(Encyclopedia)Woods, Granville Taylor,, 1856–1910, African-American inventor, b. Columbus, Ohio. He worked in a railroad shop as a youth, becoming a machinist and blacksmith. He subsequently worked on trains, fir...

bronze, in metallurgy

(Encyclopedia)bronze, in metallurgy, alloy of copper, tin, zinc, phosphorus, and sometimes small amounts of other elements. Bronzes are harder than brasses. Most are produced by melting the copper and adding the de...

Stanhope, Charles Stanhope, 3d Earl

(Encyclopedia)Stanhope, Charles Stanhope, 3d Earl stănˈəp [key], 1753–1816, British politician and inventor; grandson of the 1st earl. He was a friend of the younger William Pitt and married (1774) Pitt's sist...

camphor

(Encyclopedia)camphor kămˈfər [key], C10H16O, white, crystalline solid ketone with a characteristic pungent odor and taste. It melts at 176℃ and boils at 204℃. The natural variety, Japan camphor, is obtained...

solar energy

(Encyclopedia)solar energy, any form of energy radiated by the sun, including light, radio waves, and X rays, although the term usually refers to the visible light of the sun. Solar energy is needed by green plants...

commerce, in economics

(Encyclopedia)commerce, traffic in goods, usually thought of as trade between states or nations. Engaged in by all peoples from the earliest times, it has been carried on in some areas and by some peoples more than...

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...