Francis Watkins and the Dollond Telescope Patent ControversyRoutledge, 15 d’abr. 2016 - 424 pàgines Francis Watkins was an eminent figure in his field of mathematical and optical instrument making in mid-eighteenth century London. Working from original documents, Brian Gee has uncovered the life and times of an optical instrument maker, who - at first glance - was not among the most prominent in his field. In fact, because Francis Watkins came from a landed background, the diversification of his assets enabled him to weather particular business storms - discussed in this book - where colleagues without such an economic cushion, were pushed into bankruptcy or forced to emigrate. He played an important role in one of the most significant legal cases to touch this profession, namely the patenting of the achromatic lens in telescopes. The book explains Watkins's origins, and how and why he was drawn into partnership with the famous Dollond firm, who at that point were Huguenot incomers. The patent for the achromatic telescope has never been satisfactorily explained in the literature, and the author has gone back to the original legal documents, never before consulted. He teases out the problems, lays out the evidence, and comes to some interesting new conclusions, showing the Dollonds as hard-headed and ruthless businessmen, ultimately extremely successful. The latter part of the book accounts for the successors of Francis Watkins, and their decline after over a century of successful business in central London. |
Des de l'interior del llibre
Resultats 1 - 5 de 93.
Pàgina xiii
... later life to discover, when tracing his ancestry, that many of his forebears had been clergymen, including a bishop commemorated in York Minster. Like many wartime working-class children his prospects were transformed by the 1944 ...
... later life to discover, when tracing his ancestry, that many of his forebears had been clergymen, including a bishop commemorated in York Minster. Like many wartime working-class children his prospects were transformed by the 1944 ...
Pàgina xiv
... later headmaster, John Kemp (1929–2009). While teaching at Hackney Downs, though under what stimulus is unclear, he embarked upon a part-time MSc course in the history and philosophy of science at University College London and gained ...
... later headmaster, John Kemp (1929–2009). While teaching at Hackney Downs, though under what stimulus is unclear, he embarked upon a part-time MSc course in the history and philosophy of science at University College London and gained ...
Pàgina xviii
... later. Subsequently, on 21 April his Marjon colleagues and friends held a memorial service for him at the Chaplaincy Centre of University College Plymouth. His scholarship will be sorely missed. We must all be grateful for his ...
... later. Subsequently, on 21 April his Marjon colleagues and friends held a memorial service for him at the Chaplaincy Centre of University College Plymouth. His scholarship will be sorely missed. We must all be grateful for his ...
Pàgina xxv
... later when the microscope makers Watson & Co. instructed their leading employees to associate with professional users of scientific instruments, recognising that such men might be able to advise and suggest modifications or new designs ...
... later when the microscope makers Watson & Co. instructed their leading employees to associate with professional users of scientific instruments, recognising that such men might be able to advise and suggest modifications or new designs ...
Pàgina xxvi
... later stages of Watkins & Hill shows the part played by the firm in the expansion of education, both at school and university level, and in the Great Exhibition of 1851. The subsequent decline led to the takeover by Elliott & Sons, a ...
... later stages of Watkins & Hill shows the part played by the firm in the expansion of education, both at school and university level, and in the Great Exhibition of 1851. The subsequent decline led to the takeover by Elliott & Sons, a ...
Continguts
1 | |
2 The Optical Community in Eighteenthcentury London | 25 |
3 At the Sign of Sir Isaac Newtons Head | 35 |
From Newtons Error to Halls Solution | 73 |
5 The Rise of John Dollond and his Patent | 101 |
6 Peter Dollond and his Conflict with Watkins Smith | 145 |
7 Peter Dollond and his Further Disputes with Opticians | 175 |
8 New Conflicts within the Spectaclemakers Company | 205 |
9 The Unexpected Longevity of Chester Moor Hall | 231 |
10 One Hundred Years at Charing Cross | 253 |
11 After Watkins Hill | 293 |
Appendices | 315 |
Bibliography | 343 |
Index | 375 |
Altres edicions - Mostra-ho tot
Francis Watkins and the Dollond Telescope Patent Controversy Mr Brian Gee Previsualització limitada - 2014 |
Francis Watkins and the Dollond Telescope Patent Controversy Brian Gee,edited by Anita McConnell Previsualització limitada - 2016 |
Francis Watkins and the Dollond Telescope Patent Controversy Mr Brian Gee Previsualització limitada - 2014 |
Frases i termes més freqüents
achromatic lens achromatic telescope Addison Smith apparatus appears apprentice apprenticeship Archives Astronomical Attorney Author’s italics Ayscough Bass became bill of complaint catalogues century Chancery Chapter Charing Cross Chester Moor Hall chromatic aberration City claim colours Company Company’s compound object glass concave correct crown glass Daily Advertiser Defendant different refrangibility dispersion Dollond his Executors Dollond patent Edward Scarlett electric machine Elliott Brothers engine Euler experimental experiments father flint glass Francis Watkins George Griffin Hall’s Henry Pyefinch History of Science improved Institution instrument trade invention inventor James Champneys Jesse Ramsden John Dollond King’s Bench Klingenstierna later lenses Letters Patent Martin Maskelyne master mathematical microscope Millburn Museum opticians Oxford paper partnership person Peter Dollond petition prism refracting telescope Rochon Royal Society Scarlett sold Spectaclemakers Spectacles spherical Spitalfields Street University Veritas Watkins & Hill Watkins and Smith Watkins’s Westminster William Eastland