History of Technology Volume 12: Volume 12, 1990

Description

The technical problems confronting different societies and periods, and the measures taken to solve them form the concern of this annual collection of essays. Volumes contain technical articles ranging widely in subject, time and region, as well as general papers on the history of technology. In addition to dealing with the history of technical discovery and change, History of Technology also explores the relations of technology to other aspects of life — social, cultural and economic — and shows how technological development has shaped, and been shaped by, the society in which it occurred. Cover Half-title Title Copyright Contents Editorial The Contributors Notes for Contributors Swedish Iron and Sheffield Steel The Use Of Swedish Iron Hull Iron Merchants And Sheffield Steel Note References Intellectual Dependency and the Sources of Invention: Britain and the Australian Technological System in the Nineteenth Century Introduction—Commanding Themes The Australian Context The Australian Inventors Summary And Conclusions Acknowledgement References Rational and Irrational Reconstruction: The London Sundial-Calendar and the Early History of Geared Mechanisms Introduction Evidence From The Original Fragments The Form Of The Instrument: Minimal Reconstruction A 'Minimal Reconstruction' Of The Lost Wheelwork Mechanical Arrangement And Details The Manufacture Of Toothed Wheels Practical Reconstruction Al-Biruni's 'Box Of The Moon' Reconsidered Beyond The Minimal Reconstruction Conclusions Acknowledgements References Some Roman and Byzantine Portable Sundials and the London Sundial-Calendar Other Dials Of The Same Type How The Dials Worked Dials With Inscriptions In Latin The Dials With Inscriptions In Greek Why A Sundial-Calendar? From Sun To Stars Appendix: The Rockford Dial Acknowledgements References Modern Construction Technology in Low-income Housing Policy: The Case of Industrialized Building and the Manifold Links between Technology and Society in an Established Industry Introduction Theory, Rhetoric And Links To Society Technical Advice And Initiation Of Policy Implementation: Quantitative Analysis, Effect Of Social Factors, And Comparison Between Rhetoric And Reality Present Status Of The Theory Conclusions Summary Acknowledgement Footnotes and References Book Review Contents of Former Volumes