History of Technology Volume 8: Volume 8, 1983

Description

Technical standards have received increasing attention in recent years from historians of science and technology, management theorists and economists. Often, inquiry focuses on the emergence of stability, technical closure and culturally uniform modernity. Yet current literature also emphasizes the durability of localism, heterogeneity and user choice. This collection investigates the apparent tension between these trends using case studies from across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The History of Technology addresses tensions between material standards and process standards, explores the distinction between specifying standards and achieving convergence towards them, and examines some of the discontents generated by the reach of standards into ‘everyday life’. Cover Half-title Title Copyright Contents Preface A New Approach to the History of Structural Engineering Introduction The Conventional Approach to History—Theory and Practice The New Approach to History—the Design Procedure The Historical Development of Engineering Design Conclusion Notes The National Association of German-American Technologists and Technology Transfer between Germany and the United States, 1884-1930 I II III Notes Edison in the Mountains: the Magnetic Ore Separation Venture, 1879-1900 Acknowledgements Notes Samuel Brown: His Influence on the Design of Suspension Bridges Introduction The Prototype Brown's Patent for Suspension Bridges Dryburgh Abbey Bridge Brown's Specification for Bar-Link Chains Deflections and Wind-Induced Oscillations Deck Construction Tower Design and Anchorage Theoretical Considerations The Strength of Iron Load Tests Contractural Procedures Epilogue Appendix Notes The Large Roman Water Mill at Barbegal (France) Introduction Excavation and Interpretation of the Site The Mill Aqueduct: New Estimates of Discharge and Flour Production The Mill and the Water Distribution Arrangements Notes The Use of Gunpowder in Mining: A Document of 1627 Text Translation Caspar Weindl Notes Fermentation Theory and Practice: the Beginnings of Pure Yeast Cultivation and English Brewing, 1883-1913 Brewing Operations; Top Yeasts and Bottom Yeasts Carlsberg Laboratory Brewing Seasons Hansen's Achievement: Pure Yeast Culture Scientific Ramifications of Hansen's Work Outside Brewing: W. Johannsen and E. Fischer Hansen's System and English Brewing: Early Trials Hansen's System and English Brewing: Early Objections Hansen's System and English Brewing: the Economic Dimension Conclusion Notes Education and Technology in the Industrial Revolution Notes The Contributors Contents of Former Volumes