Continuously variable transmission

A continuously variable transmission (CVT) is an automatic transmission that can change seamlessly through a continuous range of gear ratios. This contrasts with other transmissions that provide a limited number of gear ratios in fixed steps. The flexibility of a CVT with suitable control may allow the engine to operate at a constant RPM while the vehicle moves at varying speeds.
CVTs are used in automobiles, tractors, motor scooters, snowmobiles, and earthmoving equipment.
The most common type of CVT uses two pulleys connected by a belt or chain, however, several other designs have also been used at times.
Types.
Pulley-based.
The most common type of CVT uses a V-belt which runs between two variable diameter pulleys. The pulleys consist of two cone-shaped halves that move together and apart. The V-belt runs between these two-halves, so the effective diameter of the pulley is dependent on the distance between the two-halves of the pulley. The V-shaped cross section of the belt causes it to ride higher on one pulley and lower on the other, therefore the gear ratio is adjusted by moving the two sheaves of one pulley closer together and the two sheaves of the other pulley farther apart.
As the distance between the pulleys and the length of the belt does not change, both pulleys must be adjusted (one bigger, the other smaller) simultaneously in order to maintain the proper amount of tension on the belt. Simple CVTs combining a centrifugal drive pulley with a spring loaded driven pulley often use belt tension to effect the conforming adjustments in the driven pulley. The V-belt needs to be very stiff in the pulley's axial direction in order to make only short radial movements while sliding in and out of the pulleys.
The pulley-radial thickness of the belt is a compromise between maximum gear ratio and torque. Steel reinforced v-belts are sufficient for low-mass low-torque applications like utility vehicles and snowmobiles but higher mass and torque applications such as automobiles require a chain. Each element of the chain must have conical sides that fit the pulley when the belt is running on the outermost radius. As the chain moves into the pulleys the contact area gets smaller. As the contact area is proportional to the number of elements, chain belts require many very small elements.
A belt-driven design offers approximately 88% efficiency, which, while lower than that of a manual transmission, can be offset by enabling the engine to run at its most efficient RPM regardless of the vehicle's speed. When power is more important than the economy, the ratio of the CVT can be changed to allow the engine to turn at the RPM at which it produces the greatest power.
In a chain-based CVT a film of lubricant is applied to the pulleys. It needs to be thick enough so that the pulley and the chain never touch and it must be thin in order not to waste power when each element dives into the lubrication film. Additionally, the chain elements stabilize about 12 steel bands. Each band is thin enough so that it bends easily. If bending, it has a perfect conical surface on its side. In the stack of bands, each band corresponds to a slightly different drive ratio, and thus they slide over each other and need oil between them. Also, the outer bands slide through the stabilizing chain, while the center band can be used as the chain linkage.
Some CVTs transfer power to the output pulley via tension in the belt (a "pulling" force), while others use "link element" compression where the input pulley "pushes" the belt which in turn pushes the output pulley.
Positively Infinitely Variable (PIV) chain drives are distinct in that the chain positively interlocks with the conical pulleys, this is achieved by having a stack of many small rectangular plates in each chain link that can slide independently from side-to-side, these plates may be quite thin, around a millimetre thick. The conical pulleys have radial grooves, a groove on one side of the pulley is met with a ridge on the other side and so the sliding plates are pushed back and forth to conform to the pattern, effectively forming teeth of the correct pitch when squeezed between the pulleys. Due to the interlocking surfaces, this type of drive can transmit significant torque and so has been widely used in industrial applications, however, the maximum speed is significantly lower than other pulley-based CVTs. The sliding plates will slowly wear over years of usage, therefore the plates are made longer than is needed, allowing for more wear before the chain must be refurbished or replaced. Constant lubrication is required and so the housing is usually partially filled with oil.
Toroidal.
Toroidal CVTs, as used on the 1999 Nissan Cedric (Y34), consist of a series of discs and rollers. The discs can be pictured as two almost conical parts, point to point, with the sides dished such that the two parts could fill the central hole of a torus. One disc is the input, and the other is the output. Between the discs are rollers which vary the ratio and which transfer power from one side to the other. When the roller's axis is perpendicular to the axis of the discs, the effective diameter is the same for the input discs and the output discs, resulting in a 1:1 drive ratio. For other ratios, the rollers are moved along the axis of the discs, resulting in the rollers being in contact with the discs at a point which has a larger or smaller diameter, giving a drive ratio of something other than 1:1.
An advantage of a toroidal CVT is the ability to withstand higher torque loads than a pulley-based CVT. In some toroidal systems, the direction of thrust can be reversed within the CVT, removing the need for an external device to provide a reverse gear.
Ratcheting.
A ratcheting CVT uses a series of one-way clutches or ratchets that rectify and sum only "forward" motion. The on-off characteristics of a typical ratchet means that many of these designs are not continuous in operation (i.e. technically not a CVT), however in practice there are many similarities in operation and a ratcheting CVT is able to produce a zero output speed from any given input speed (as per an Infinitely Variable Transmission). The drive ratio is adjusted by changing linkage geometry within the oscillating elements so that the summed maximum linkage speed is adjusted, even when the average linkage speed remains constant.
Ratcheting CVTs can transfer substantial torque because their static friction actually increases relative to torque throughput, so slippage is impossible in properly designed systems. Efficiency is generally high because most of the dynamic friction is caused by very slight transitional clutch speed changes. The drawback to ratcheting CVTs is the vibration caused by the successive transition in speed required to accelerate the element, which must supplant the previously operating and decelerating, power transmitting element.
The design principle dates back to before the 1930s, with the original design intended to convert rotary motion to oscillating motion and back to rotary motion using roller clutches. This design remains in production as of 2017, for use with low speed electric motors. A prototyped as a bicycle transmission was patented in 1994. The operating principle for a ratcheting CVT design using a scotch yoke mechanism to convert rotary motion to oscillating motion and non-circular gears, to achieve uniform input to output ratio, was patented in 2014.
Hydrostatic/Hydraulic.
Hydrostatic CVTs use a variable displacement pump and a hydraulic motor, therefore the transmission converts hydraulic pressure to the rotation of the output shaft. The name, although misusing the term hydrostatic, differentiates these transmissions which use positive-displacement pumps, from fluid couplings such as torque converters that use rotodynamic pumps to transmit torque.
The advantages of hydrostatic CVTs are:
Compared to gear transmissions, hydrostatic CVTs are generally more expensive, but on machinery that already utilizes hydraulic power transmission, the added complexity and cost is less significant. As with most hydraulic power transmissions, transmitting high torque for extended durations requires cooling of the hydraulic fluid.
Uses of hydrostatic CVTs include forage harvesters, combine harvesters, small wheeled/tracked/skid-steer loaders, crawler tractors, and road rollers. One agricultural example, produced by AGCO Corporation, splits power between hydrostatic and mechanical transfer to the output shaft via a planetary gear in the forward direction of travel (in reverse the power transfer is fully hydrostatic), this reduces the load on the hydrostatic portion of the transmission when in the forward direction by transmitting a significant portion of the torque through more efficient fixed gears.
A variant called the "Integrated Hydrostatic Transaxle" (IHT) uses a single housing for both hydraulic elements and gear-reducing elements and is used in some mini-tractors and ride-on lawn mowers.
The 2008-2010 Honda DN-01 cruiser motorcycle used a hydrostatic CVT, in the form of a variable displacement axial piston pump with a variable-angle swashplate.
The Japanese Type 10 tank uses hydraulic mechanical transmission.
Electrical.
The electric CVT, or the series hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), has three to four main elements. These are the power source, the generator, the electric motor, and a battery pack. The basic principle of the electric CVT is analogous to the hydrostatic CVT in that the power source drives an electric generator while the electric motor is connected to the output shaft; the generator and motor are connected by an electric circuit. Unlike the hydrostatic CVT, the addition of a battery pack can store excess power that would normally be wasted during vehicle operation
It could easily be argued that a generator powering a motor through some kind of electronic speed control would constitute a continuously variable transmission. Electrical transmissions have the advantage of great flexibility in layout, as the generator can be located at any distance or orientation with the motor. Furthermore, any excess power generated can be stored in batteries, and drawn upon when high loads are experienced. However, they are heavy and inefficient. A typical generator or motor is only 75% to 80% efficient, so compounding two results in an efficiency of only 56% to 64%. This limits their use to situations where other types of transmissions cannot be used. On the other hand, this series arrangement is the standard for such heavy vehicles, diesel locomotives and some ships use such drive trains, and more recently, "hybrid" gas-electric cars. The electric CVT serves well in situations where the power source and the load locations prohibit a direct mechanical drive and where accurate transmission of high power is necessary
In addition, there also innovation Electric Variable Transmission(EVT). EVT is a fully electromagnetic continuously variable transmission which provides two additional electrical ports for hybrid functionality. Topologically it can be seen as an electric machine with two concentric rotors. The inner rotor contains three phase windings and slip rings to transfer electric current to these windings. The outer rotor can be a squirrel cage rotor, or can contain permanent magnets depending on the type used. The stator finally is a conventional electric motor stator. Today, very few such devices exist, but one has been developed in the past by Electrical Variable Transmission BV and has recently been adopted in a unique test setup at Ghent University.
Using an EVT results in additional advantages over other hybrid drive trains. The EVT combines several functionalities into a single device, making the system compact. The EVT is expected to have a higher efficiency. There is no need for lubrication, sealing or valves. Except for the slip rings, the system is maintenance free. Since there is no mechanical connection between the engine and the wheels, the EVT provides an inherent overload protection, and can also actively damp vibrations.
Cone.
A cone CVT varies the drive ratio by moving a wheel or belt up and down the axis of conical roller(s). The simplest type of cone CVT, the single-cone version, uses a wheel that moves along the slope of the cone, creating the variation between the narrow and wide diameters of the cone.
Some designs of cone CVTs use two rollers. In 1903, Evans and Knauf applied for a patent on a continuously variable transmission using two parallel conical rollers pointing in opposite directions and connected by belts that could be slid along the cones to vary the transmission ratio. The "Evans Friction Cone"— produced in the 1920s— Is simpler. The two rollers are arranged with a small constant-width gap is between them, so that the position of a leather ring squeezed in that gap determines the transmission ratio.
In a CVT with oscillating cones, the torque is transmitted via friction from a variable number of cones (according to the torque to be transmitted) to a central, barrel-shaped hub. The side surface of the hub is convex with a specific radius of curvature which is smaller than the concavity radius of the cones. In this way, there will be only one (theoretical) contact point between each cone and the hub at any time.
Epicyclic.
In an epicyclic CVT (also called a "planetary CVT"), the gear ratio is shifted by tilting the axes of spheres in a continuous fashion, to provide different contact radii, which in turn drive input and output discs. The system can have multiple "planets" to transfer torque through multiple fluid patches. Production versions include the "Toyota e-CVT" (which debuted on the 1997 Toyota Prius) and the NuVinci CVT.
Other types.
Friction-disk transmissions were used in several tractors and small locomotives built in the early decades of the 20th century. These transmissions consist of an output disk that could be moved across the surface of the input disk upon which it rolled. When the output disk was adjusted to a position equal to its own radius, the resulting drive ratio was 1:1. The drive ratio could be set to infinity (i.e. a stationary output disk) by moving the output disk to the center of the input disk. The output direction could also be reversed, by moving the disk past the center of the input disk. The transmission on early Plymouth locomotives worked this way, while on tractors using friction disks, the range of reverse speeds was typically limited.
A magnetic CVT transmits torque using a non-contact magnetic coupling rather than physical contact. The design uses two rings of permanent magnets with a ring of steel pole pieces between them, in order to create a planetary gearset using magnets. It is claimed to produce a 3 to 5 percent reduction in fuel consumption, compared with a mechanical system.
Infinitely variable transmissions.
Some CVTs can also function as an "infinitely variable transmission" (IVT) which offers an infinite range of low gears (e.g. moving a vehicle forward at an infinitely slow speed). Some IVTs prevent back-driving (where the output shaft can freely rotate, like an automotive transmission in neutral) due to providing high back-driving torque. Other IVT, such as ratcheting types, allow the output shaft to freely rotate. The types of CVTs which are able to function as IVTs include epicyclic, friction-disk, and ratcheting CVTs.
In an epicyclic CVT, the infinitely low drive ratios are produced when the output shaft rotation speed which is equal to the difference between two other speeds within the CVT. In this situation, the CVT is functioning as a regulator of the rotation speed of any one of the three rotators of the planetary gear system. Since two of the rotators are the input and output of the regulator, the CVT can be configured to result in an output speed of zero for any given input speed. The CVT's input speed is always the same as the motor, even when the output speed is zero.
Magnetic.
Concept model CVTs use rings of permanent magnets to form contactless gears.
Origins.
In 1879, Milton Reeves invented a CVT (then called a "variable-speed transmission") for use in sawmilling. In 1879 Reeves began fitting this transmission to his cars, and the Reeves CVT was also used by several other manufacturers.
The 1911 Zenith Gradua 6HP motorcycle used a pulley-based "Gradua" CVT. A year later, the Rudge-Whitworth Multigear was released with a similar but improved CVT. Other early cars to use a CVT were the 1913-1923 David small three-wheeled cyclecars built in Spain, the 1923 Clyno built in the U.K., and the 1926 Constantinesco Saloon built in the U.K.
Applications.
Automobiles.
The first mass-production car to use a CVT was the 1958 DAF 600 small sedan built in the Netherlands. This Variomatic transmission was used in several vehicles built by DAF and Volvo until the 1980s.
The 1987 Ford Fiesta (second generation) and Fiat Uno (first generation) became the first cars to be equipped with steel-belted CVT (as opposed to the less robust rubber-belted DAF design). The "Multitronic transmission" was developed by Ford, Van Doorne, and Fiat, with work on the transmission starting in 1976.
Also in 1987, the "ECVT" was introduced as an optional transmission on the Subaru Justy, Production was limited to 500 units per month as Van Doorne's Transmissie in The Netherlands could only produce this many steel belts for them. In June, supplies increased to 3,000 per month, leading Subaru to make the CVT available in the Subaru Rex Kei car. Subaru has also supplied its CVTs to other manufacturers (such as the 1992 Nissan Micra).
The 1996 Honda Civic (sixth generation) introduced a pulley-based "Multi Matic" CVT which included a torque converter, for low-speed "creep" action).
Use of CVTs then spread in the following years to models including the 1998 Nissan Cube, 1999 Rover 25 and 1999 Audi A6. Marketing terms for CVTs include "Lineartronic" (Subaru), "Xtronic" (Jatco, Nissan, Renault), INVECS-III (Mitsubishi), Multitronic (Volkswagen, Audi), "Autotronic" (Mercedes-Benz) and IVT (Hyundai, Kia).
The 1999 Nissan Cedric (Y34) used a toroidal CVT— unlike the pulley-based designs used by other manufacturers— marketed as the "Nissan Extroid" and which incorporated a torque converter. Nissan then switched from toroidal to pulley-based CVTs in 2003. The version of the CVT used with a V6 engine in the Nissan Altima is claimed to be capable of transmitting higher torque loads than other belt CVTs.
The 2019 Toyota Corolla (E210) is available with a CVT assisted by a physical "launch gear" alongside the CVT pulley. Up to , the transmission uses the launch gear, in order to increase acceleration and reduce the stress on the CVT. Above this speed, the transmission switches over to the CVT pulley.
Several hybrid electric vehicles- such as the Toyota Prius, Nissan Altima and Ford Escape Hybrid- use Electric Variable Transmissions (EVTs) to control the contribution of power from the electric motor and the internal combustion engine. Despite the similar name, these are fundamentally different devices from CVTs (which are powered by a single source).
Racing cars.
In the United States, Formula 500 open-wheeler racing cars have used CVTs since the early 1970s. CVTs were prohibited from Formula One in 1994 (along with several other electronic systems and driver aids) due to concerns over escalating research and development costs and maintaining a specific level of driver involvement with the vehicles.
Small vehicles.
Many small vehicles— such as snowmobiles, golf carts, and motor scooters— use CVTs, typically the rubber belt or variable pulley variety. CVTs in these vehicles often use a rubber belt design with a non-stretching fixed circumference manufactured using various highly durable and flexible materials, due to the mechanical simplicity and ease of use outweighing their comparative inefficiency. Some motor scooters include a centrifugal clutch, to assist when idling or manually reversing the scooter.
The 1974 Rokon RT340 TCR Automatic off-road motorcycle was fitted with a snowmobile CVT. The first ATV equipped with a CVT was the Polaris Industries "Trail Boss" in 1985.
Farm and earthmoving equipment.
Combine harvesters used variable belt drives as early as the 1950s. Many small tractors and self-propelled mowers for home and garden use simple rubber belt CVTs. Hydrostatic CVTs are more common on the larger units. In mowing or harvesting operations, the CVT allows the forward speed of the equipment to be adjusted independently of the engine speed; this allows the operator to slow or accelerate as needed to accommodate variations in the thickness of the crop.
Small to medium-sized agricultural and earthmoving equipment often uses hydrostatic CVTs. Since the engines in these machines are typically run at constant power output (to provide hydraulic power or to power machinery), losses in mechanical efficiency are offset by enhanced operational efficiency. For example, in earthmoving equipment, the forward-reverse shuttle times are reduced. The speed and power output of the CVT is used to control the travel speed of the equipment and sometimes also to steer the equipment. In the latter case, the required speed differential to steer the equipment can be supplied by independent CVTs, allowing the steering to be accomplished without several drawbacks associated with other skid steer methods (such as braking losses or loss of tractive effort).
The 1965 "Wheel Horse 875" and "1075" garden tractors were the first such vehicles to be fitted with a hydrostatic CVT. The design used a variable-displacement swash-plate pump and fixed-displacement gear-type hydraulic motor combined into a single compact package. Reverse ratios were achieved by reversing the flow of the pump through over-centering of the swashplate. Acceleration was limited and smoothed through the use of pressure accumulator and relief valves located between the pump and motor, to prevent the sudden changes in speed possible with direct hydraulic coupling. Subsequent versions included fixed swash plate motors and ball pumps.
The 1996 "Fendt Vario 926" was the first ever heavy-duty tractor to be equipped with a IVT transmission. It is not the same thing as a hydostatic CVT. Over 100,000 tractors have been produced with this transmission.
Power generating systems.
CVTs have been used in aircraft electrical power generating systems since the 1950s.
CVTs with flywheels are used as a speed governor between an engine (e.g. a wind turbine) and the electric generator. When the engine is producing sufficient power, the generator is connected directly to the CVT which serves to regulate the engine's speed. When the power output is too low, the generator is disconnected and the energy is stored in the flywheel. It is only when the speed of the flywheel is sufficient that the kinetic energy is converted into electricity, intermittently, at the speed required by the generator.
Other uses.
Some drill presses and milling machines contain a simple belt-drive CVT system to control the speed of the chuck, including the Jet models J-A5816 and J-A5818. In this system, the effective diameter of the output shaft pulleys are adjustable due to their conical shape. The pulley on the motor is usually fixed in diameter (or sometimes with discreet steps to allow a selection of speed ranges). The operator adjusts the speed of the drill by using a hand-wheel that controls the width of the gap between the pulley halves. A tensioner pulley is implemented in the belt transmission to take up or release the slack in the belt as the speed is altered.
Winches and hoists are also an application of CVTs, especially for those adapting the transmission ratio to the resistant torque.
Bicycles with CVT gearing have had limited commercial success, with one example providing a range of gearing equivalent to an eight-speed shifter. The bicycle short gearing assisted when cycling uphill, however, the CVT was noted to significantly increase the weight of the bicycle.


Colin Ross (pipemaker)

Colin Ross (13 January 1934 – 27 May 2019) was an English folk musician who played fiddle and Northumbrian smallpipes. He was a noted maker of Northumbrian smallpipes, border pipes and Scottish smallpipes, and one of the inventors of the modern Scottish smallpipes.
Ross played both Northumbrian smallpipes and fiddle in the English folk music band the High Level Ranters, which was formed in 1964 and specialised in the music of Northumberland and the Scottish Borders, playing a major role in the revival of Northumbrian music from the 1960s. In 1977, each of the Ranters was given the chance to produce a solo album; rather than do this alone, Ross collaborated with various other musicians to produce "Cut and Dry Dolly", an album of early Northumbrian music, simple dance tunes from the late 18th century William Vickers manuscript together with long variation sets, particularly from the Peacock tunebook from the beginning of the 19th century. This was very influential in reviving interest in this early strand of Northumbrian music.
Early life and music.
Ross was born in 1934 in Donkin Terace, North Shields, and was brought up there by his parents John Ross and Agnes Charlton, learning to play the violin as a teenager. He took a sculpture degree at Kings College Durham (now Newcastle University) from 1952–56. At this time he met the Kingsmen Rapper side (becoming their musician after trying the dance) as well as the Northumbrian pipers Forster Charlton and Colin Caisley, falling in love with the Northumbrian smallpipes.
In 1958 he was a founder member of the Bridge Folk Club, Newcastle, originally called Newcastle Folksong and Ballad, and there met his future wife, folk singer Ray Fisher. In the same year he got his first set of pipes from Willie Hamilton in Glasgow via Forster Charlton. He made his first set of pipes in 1961 while he was a lecturer at Newcastle Polytechnic (now Northumbria University), copying his own set. He won several pipemaking competitions through the 1960s, and was elected vice-chairman of the Northumbrian Pipers' Society in 1964.
Pipemaking.
In the late 1970s, he was the Curator of the Black Gate Museum, Newcastle, which then housed the Cocks collection of historic bagpipes. In the early 1980s, several pipemakers, including Ross, Hamish Moore and others were working to create sets of smallpipes which had similar reeds and cylindrical bore to the Northumbrian smallpipes, but with an open end to the chanter, and with the scale and 'covered' fingering of a Great Highland bagpipe. The result was an instrument which allowed Great Highland pipers to play pipes with fingering identical to the Great Pipes, but at a volume which would not overpower other instruments, and in keys (typically A or D) more compatible with other instruments, such as the fiddle.
Colin Ross sold such an instrument, in D, in Edinburgh in 1982. These instruments are now referred to as Scottish smallpipes; they are similar to, though having significant differences from, surviving historical examples. In particular, the modern instruments are larger, and hence lower pitched.
He had become a full-time pipemaker from 1978, and also taught a pipemaking class at Killingworth from about this time. One major achievement of his as a pipemaker was to standardise hole spacings and reeds, so that his pipes are reliably in tune with one another. When he started piping, it had been notoriously hard for pipers to play together; hole spacings and reeds were not standardised, so different instruments might commonly have pitches differing by up to a semitone. Now there is a de facto pitch standard, and ensemble playing is common.
Leadership and awards.
Ross served as the Chairman of the Northumbrian Pipers' Society from 1968 to 1980, and again from 1992, stepping down in 2010. During both tenures, the Society published a substantial body of music, notably in 1970 a new expanded edition of the Society's first tunebook, and in 1980 the facsimile edition of Peacock's tunebook, an important historical source. More recently in 1997 he co-edited with Julia Say, a book of the tunes of Billy Pigg, researched by Adrian Schofield.
In 2008 he was awarded the Gold Badge of the English Folk Dance and Song Society. This is awarded to 'Those who have made unique or outstanding contributions to the art or science of folk dance, music or song; or those who have rendered distinguished service to the aims of the Society through their exceptional contribution.' It is the highest award the Society confers.
In May 2010, the Northumbrian Pipers' Society celebrated his long and distinguished contribution to piping and to the Society with a concert in his honour at the King's Hall, Newcastle University. Fittingly, most of the performers were playing pipes made by Colin Ross himself.
Death.
Ross died on 27 May 2019.


Yvonne Koolmatrie

Yvonne Koolmatrie (born 1944) is an Australian artist and weaver of the Ngarrindjeri people, working in South Australia.
Early life.
Koolmatrie was born in Wudinna, Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. Her father was a Kokatha man, Joseph Roberts, and her mother Margaret was a Ngarrindjeri / Ramindjeri woman from the Coorong. Koolmatrie grew up in Meningie and the Coorong region, later moving to the Riverland town, Berri.
Career.
Koolmatrie learned her craft in the early 1980s from elder and weaver, Dorothy Kartinyeri. Their coiled bundle technique uses local spiny-headed sedge (Cyperus gymnocaulos), known to the artist as "bilbili" and river rushes, and Koolmatrie is credited with saving the traditional Ngarrindjeri craft. Koolmatrie is defiant in using her practice to dismantle the colonial myth that Ngarrindjeri culture and weaving practices are extinct. Her work stands as a testimony that the practice is alive and continuing. Her weavings include eel traps, turtles, mats, bowls and models of biplanes.She was excited by the potential offered by woven sedge grass and this was seen, by Stephen Gilchrist as having "freed her imagination to breathe life into the fantastic woven articulations that are now her trademark". Koolmatrie work is influenced by Janet Watson's woven works monoplane (1942) and bi-plane (1942) in the South Australia Museum, Watson is an Australian indigenous woman who learn't weaving from her family.
Her works are included in many major galleries including the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka, Japan; South Australian Museum; National Museum of Australia; Art Gallery of Western Australia; National Gallery of Victoria; and National Gallery of Australia.
In 1997, she was selected to represent Australia at the 47th Venice Biennale with Judy Watson and Emily Kame Kngwarreye. In 2016 she was awarded the Red Ochre Award, peer-assessed recognition.
In 2017, Koolmatrie was represented in the third national Indigenous Art Triennial, Defying Empire, four of her woven works were included. River Dreaming (2012) was previously acquired by the National Gallery of Australia in 2016.
Honours and recognition.
Australia Council for the Arts.
The Australia Council for the Arts arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. Since 1993, it has awarded a Red Ochre Award. It it presented to an outstanding Indigenous Australian (Aboriginal Australian or Torres Strait Islander) artist for lifetime achievement.


Railway coupling

A coupling (or a coupler) is a mechanism used to connect rolling stock in a train. The design of the coupler is standard, and is almost as important as the track gauge, since flexibility and convenience are maximised if all rolling stock can be coupled together.
The equipment that connects the couplings to the rolling stock is known as the draft gear or draw gear.
Nomenclature.
Compatible and similar couplings or couplers are frequently referred to using widely differing make, brand, regional or nicknames, which can make describing standard or typical designs confusing. Dimensions and ratings noted in these articles are usually of nominal or typical components and systems, though standards and practices also vary widely with railway, region, and era.
Buffers and chain.
The basic type of coupling on railways following the British tradition is the buffer and chain coupling. A large chain of three links connects hooks on the adjoining wagons. These couplings followed earlier tramway practice but were made more regular. Buffers on the frame of the wagon absorbed impact loads, as the train over-ran a slowing locomotive.
The simple chain could not be tensioned and this slack coupling allowed a lot of back-and-forth movement and banging between vehicles, and jarring when starting trains. While acceptable for mineral wagons, this coupling gave an uncomfortable ride for passenger coaches, and so the chain was improved by replacing the centre link with a turnbuckle that draws the vehicles together, giving the "screw coupling".
A simplified version of this, quicker to attach and detach, still used three links but with the centre link given a T-shaped slot. This could be turned lengthwise to lengthen it, allowing coupling, then turned vertically to the shorter slot position, holding the wagons more tightly together.
Higher speeds associated with fully-fitted freight made the screw-tensioned form a necessity.
The earliest 'dumb buffers' were fixed extensions of the wooden wagon frames, but later spring buffers were introduced. The first of these were stiff cushions of leather-covered horsehair, later steel springs and then hydraulic damping.
This coupling is still widespread.
Link and pin.
The link-and-pin coupling was the original style of coupling used on North American railways. After most railroads converted to semi-automatic Janney couplers, the link-and-pin survived on forest railways. While simple in principle, the system suffered from a lack of standardisation regarding size and height of the links, and the size and height of the pockets.
The link-and-pin coupler consisted of a tube-like body that received an oblong link. During coupling, a rail worker had to stand between the cars as they came together and guide the link into the coupler pocket. Once the cars were joined, the employee inserted a pin into a hole a few inches from the end of the tube to hold the link in place. This procedure was exceptionally dangerous and many brakemen lost fingers or entire hands when they did not get them out of the way of the coupler pockets in time. Many more were killed as a result of being crushed between cars or dragged under cars that were coupled too quickly. Brakemen were issued with heavy clubs that could be used to hold the link in position, but many brakemen would not use the club, and risked injury.
The link-and-pin coupler proved unsatisfactory because:
An episode of the 1958 television series "Casey Jones" was devoted to the problems of link-and-pin couplings.
In Britain link-and-pin couplers were common on narrow gauge industrial and military railways, and eventually evolved into a form that could be reliably coupled when the train was stationary. Some preserved railways still use stock featuring a variety of link-and-pin couplers.
Albert coupler.
To avoid the safety issues, Karl Albert, then director at the Krefeld Tramway, developed the Albert coupler during 1921, a key and slot coupler with two pins. Cars to be coupled were pushed together, both couplings moving to the same side. One pin was inserted, then the cars were pulled to straighten the coupling and the other pin inserted. This operation required less exact shunting. Due to the single-piece design, only minimal slack was possible. The system became quite popular with tram systems and narrow gauge lines.
During the 1960s most cities replaced them with automatic couplers. But even in modern cars, Albert couplers get installed as emergency couplers for towing a faulty car.
Miller Hook and Platform.
The link and pin was replaced in North American passenger car usage during the latter part of the 19th century by the assemblage known as the Miller Platform, which included a new coupler called the Miller Hook. The Miller Platform (and hook coupler) was used for several decades before being replaced by the Janney coupler.
Norwegian.
Norwegian (or meat chopper) couplings consist of a central buffer with a mechanical hook that drops into a slot in the central buffer. There may also be a U-shaped securing latch on the opposite buffer which is fastened over the top of the hook to secure it. The Norwegian is found only on narrow gauge railways of , or less, such as the Isle of Man Railway, Western Australian Government Railways, Tanzania, the Ffestiniog Railway and the Welsh Highland Railway where low speeds and reduced train loads allow a simpler system. The Norwegian coupler allows sharper curves than the buffer-and-chain, which is an advantage on those railways.
On railway lines where rolling stock always points the same way, the mechanical hook may be provided only on one end of each wagon. Similarly, the hand brake handles may also be on one side of the wagons only.
Norwegian couplings are not particularly strong, and may be supplemented by auxiliary chains.
Not all Norwegian couplings are compatible with one another as they vary in height, width, and may or may not be limited to one hook at a time.
Lloyd coupler.
The Lloyd coupler is similar to the Norwegian coupler.
Radial couplers.
Two versions of radial coupler were used in South Africa. One, the Johnston coupler, commonly known as a bell link-and-pin coupler, was introduced in 1873 and is similar in operation to and compatible with link-and-pin couplers, but bell-shaped with a circular coupler face. The other, the bell-and-hook coupler, was introduced in 1902 and is similar to the Norwegian coupler, but also with a circular coupler face and with a coupler pocket which is open at the top of the coupler face to accommodate the drawhook.
Johnston coupler.
The Johnston coupler, commonly known as a bell link-and-pin coupler from its bell shape, was first introduced in the Cape of Good Hope in 1873, following the establishment of the Cape Government Railways (CGR) in 1872 and the decision by the Cape government to expand the railways into the interior and to convert the existing tracks from to Cape gauge. All new Cape gauge locomotives and rolling stock acquired from 1873 were equipped with these or similar couplers, beginning with the CGR 0-4-0ST of 1873, a construction locomotive named "Little Bess".
The Natal Government Railways (NGR), established in the Colony of Natal in 1875, followed suit and all locomotives and rolling stock acquired by that railway were equipped with Johnston couplers, beginning with the NGR Class K 2-6-0T in 1877.
Likewise, in 1889, when the first locomotives were obtained by the newly established Netherlands-South African Railway Company in the "Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek", they were fitted with Johnston couplers.
Unlike the narrow gauge railways of the CGR, those of the NGR also made use of Johnston couplers. The first of these narrow gauge lines came into operation in 1906, when the first NGR Class N 4-6-2T locomotives entered service on the Weenen branch out of Estcourt.
Coupling and uncoupling were done manually, which posed a high risk of serious injury or death to crew members, who had to go between moving vehicles to guide the link into the coupler pocket during coupling. Johnston couplers gradually began to be replaced on the South African Railways from 1927, but not on narrow gauge rolling stock. All new Cape gauge locomotives and rolling stock acquired from that year were equipped with AAR knuckle couplers. Conversion of all older rolling stock was to take several years and both coupler types could still be seen on some vehicles into the late 1950s. During the transition period, knuckle couplers on many locomotives had a horizontal gap and a vertical hole in the knuckle itself to accommodate, respectively, a link and a pin, to enable it to couple to vehicles which were still equipped with the older Johnston couplers.
Bell-and-hook coupler.
The bell-and-hook coupling system was first introduced in the Cape of Good Hope in 1902, when two CGR Type A 2-6-4T locomotives were acquired as construction engines on the new narrow gauge Avontuur Railway which was being constructed out of Port Elizabeth through the Langkloof. In South Africa, these couplers were used on only the narrow gauge lines in the Cape of Good Hope.
The coupler is similar to the Norwegian coupler. It is a radial coupler with a coupler pocket which is open at the top of the coupling face. Instead of a link and pins, it makes use of a drawhook which, upon coupling, slides over the drawhook pin in the coupler of the next vehicle in the train. To prevent the drawhook of the mating coupler from accidental uncoupling, the coupler bell is equipped with a drawhook guard, commonly known as a bridle, above the coupler pocket.
Usual practice was to have a drawhook fitted to only one of the mating couplers and train crews therefore carried spare drawhooks and drawhook pins on the locomotive. While automatic coupling is possible, this rarely happens and manual assistance is required during coupling. Uncoupling is done manually by lifting the drawhook by hand to release it. The coupler could be adapted to be compatible with the Johnston coupler by replacing the drawhook with a U-shaped adapter link, which was attached using the same drawhook pin.
Bell-and-hook couplers began to be replaced on the Avontuur Railway upon the introduction of Class 91-000 diesel-electric locomotives on the narrow gauge system in 1973. All new narrow gauge rolling stock acquired for that line from that year were equipped with Willison couplers. Older rolling stock were not converted and an adapter was used to enable coupling between the two types. The drawhook on the bell-and-hook coupler would be replaced with the adapter, which was attached using the same drawhook pin.
Automatic Couplers.
There are a number of automatic train couplings, most of which are mutually incompatible.
/Janney /MCB /ARA /AAR /APTA Couplers.
The Janney coupler, later the Master Car Builders Association (MCB) coupler, now the Association of American Railroads (AAR) coupler, is also commonly known as a "buckeye", "knuckle", or "Alliance" coupler. The AAR/APTA TypeE, TypeF, and TypeH couplers are all compatible Janney couplers, but used for different rail cars (general freight, tank cars, rotary hoppers, passenger, etc.).
The knuckle coupler or Janney coupler was invented by Eli H. Janney, who received a patent in 1873 (). It is also known as a "buckeye coupler", notably in the United Kingdom, where some rolling stock (mostly for passenger trains) is fitted with it. Janney was a dry goods clerk and former Confederate Army officer from Alexandria, Virginia, who used his lunch hours to whittle from wood an alternative to the link and pin coupler. The term "buckeye" comes from the nickname of the US state of Ohio, the "Buckeye State" and the Ohio Brass Company which originally marketed the coupling.
In 1893, satisfied that an automatic coupler could meet the demands of commercial railroad operations and, at the same time, be manipulated safely, the United States Congress passed the Safety Appliance Act. Its success in promoting switchyard safety was stunning. Between 1877 and 1887, approximately 38% of all railworker accidents involved coupling. That percentage fell as the railroads began to replace link and pin couplers with automatic couplers. By 1902, only two years after the SAA's effective date, coupling accidents constituted only 4% of all employee accidents. Coupler-related accidents dropped from nearly 11,000 in 1892 to just over 2,000 in 1902, even though the number of railroad employees steadily increased during that decade.
When the Janney coupler was chosen to be the North American standard, there were 8,000 patented alternatives to choose from. The only significant disadvantage of using the Janney design is that sometimes the drawheads need to be manually aligned. Many AAR coupler designs exist to accommodate requirements of various car designs, but all are required to have certain dimensions in common which allow for one design to couple to any other.
The Janney coupler is used in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan, India, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Chile, Brazil, Portugal, China and elsewhere.
Henricot Coupler.
The Henricot coupler is a variation on the Janney coupler, introduced by Belgian engineer and entrepreneur Émile Henricot of Court-Saint-Étienne. It is used on certain EMUs of the National Railway Company of Belgium, including the Class 75 ().
Willison/SA3 Coupler.
The Russian SA3 coupler works according to the same principles as the AAR coupler but the two types are incompatible. It was introduced in the Soviet Union in 1932 based on a British patent and has since been used on the whole network, including Mongolia. Finnish locomotives have Unilink couplers that can couple to UIC couplers used in Finnish stock and SA3 couplers used in Russian stock.
It is also used on the networks of Iran and on Malmbanan in Sweden for ore trains. Some gauge cane tramway vehicles in Queensland have been fitted with miniature Willison couplers. It was introduced on the narrow gauge Avontuur Railway of the South African Railways in 1973.
There are many variations and brand names for these couplers.
Unicoupler/Intermat.
Unicoupler has been developed by Knorr from Germany in the 1970s and is widely used in Iran in freight cars.
This type of coupler is compatible with SA-3 and Willison couplers. The Unicoupler is also known as AK69e.
The Unicoupler was the West-European development, it was developed in parallel with a compatible East-European counterpart, the Intermat coupler.
C-AKv.
The C-AKv coupler (also called Transpact) is a newer compact Willison coupler developed by Faiveley Transport. It is mechanical fully compatible to the SA3 coupler and the Unicoupler and if additional buffers are mounted it can be coupled with the conventional European screw coupling as well.
Unilink coupler.
The unilink coupler is a coupler compatible with SA3 and screw coupling, which is used e.g. in Finland.
Multi-function couplers.
Multi-function couplers (MFCs) are "fully automatic" couplers that make all connections between the rail vehicles (mechanical, air brake, and electrical) without human intervention, in contrast to autocouplers which just handle the mechanical aspects. The majority of trains fitted with these types of couplers are multiple units, especially those used in mass transit operations.
There are a few designs of fully automatic couplers in use worldwide, including the Scharfenberg coupler, various knuckle hybrids such as the Tightlock (used in the UK), the Wedgelock coupling, Dellner couplings (similar to Scharfenberg couplers in appearance), BSI coupling (Bergische Stahl Industrie, now Faiveley Transport) and the Schaku-Tomlinson Tightlock coupling.
There are a number of other automatic train couplings similar to the Scharfenberg coupler, but not necessarily compatible with it. Older US transit operators continue to use these non-Janney electro-pneumatic coupler designs and have used them for decades.
Westinghouse H2C.
The Westinghouse H2C coupler, whose predecessor the H2A was first used on the BMT Standards and later the R1 through R9 classes, is currently used on the R32, R42, R62, R62A, R68, and R68A class subway cars of the New York City Subway. The A ends of the cars typically have the Westinghouse coupler and the B ends use either a semi-permanent drawbar, or a Westinghouse coupler.
WABCO N-Type.
The WABCO N-Type coupler was first developed for the prototype Pittsburgh Skybus system with the initial model N-1 as applied only to the three Skybus cars. The updated model N-2 with a larger gathering range was first applied to the new "Airporter" rapid transit cars on the Cleveland Rapid Transit line. The model N-2 used lightweight draft gear slung below the center sill, to allow for the wide swings required to go around sharp curves. This made the N-2 unsuitable for main line railroad use so an updated version N-2-A was developed for that market. The first of these were fitted in 1968 to the UAC TurboTrain with 228 electrical contacts and the Budd Metropolitan EMU with 138 contacts. Starting in the 1970s the N-2-A was fitted to the entire SEPTA Silverliner family of MU's, the NJT Arrow series of MU's and the Metro-North Railroad/Long Island Rail Road M series of MU railcars. The N-2 was also used by the PATCO Speedline, but was replaced due to issues with the electrical contacts. Later WABCO would create a new model N-3 for the BART system with a gathering range which required a rectangular funnel.
The WABCO N-type is sometimes referred to as the pin and cup coupler or spear coupler.
Tomlinson.
The Tomlinson coupler was developed by the Ohio Brass Company for mass transit applications, but eventually found use in some mainline railroad vehicles as well. It consists of two squared metal hooks that engage with each other in a larger rectangular frame with air line connections above and below. Since the coupler's development the manufacturing arm of Ohio Brass was purchased by WABCO which now manufacturers the line along with the N-type. The Tomlinson coupler is the most widely used fully automatic heavy rail coupling in North America having been adopted by the Washington Metro, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, PATCO Speedline, SEPTA Broad Street Subway, Los Angeles Metro Rail, Baltimore Metro, Miami Metro, MARTA Rail and the New York City Subway for its R44/R46 fleet and all modern classes starting with the R142. For applications outside of rapid transit the coupler had to be significantly enlarged to meet the increased strength requirements first appearing in this capacity on the Budd Metroliner and later on the Illinois Central Highliner fleet. Its relative lack of strength is one reason the N-Type has been more successful in the mainline railroad arena.
Outside the United States, the Tomlinson coupler is used on Tokyo Metro's Ginza and Marunouchi Lines and on the heavy capacity Taipei Metro lines.
Scharfenberg coupler.
The Scharfenberg coupler ( or ) is probably the most commonly used type of fully automatic coupling. Designed in 1903 by Karl Scharfenberg in Königsberg, Germany (today Kaliningrad, Russia), it has gradually spread from transit trains to regular passenger service trains, although outside Europe its use is generally restricted to mass transit systems. The Schaku coupler is superior in many ways to the AAR (Janney/Knuckle) coupler because it makes the electrical and also the pneumatic connections and disconnections automatic. However, there is no standard for the placement of these electro-pneumatic connections. Some rail companies have them placed on the sides while others have them placed above the mechanical portion of the Schaku coupler.
Small air cylinders, acting on the rotating heads of the coupler, ensure the Schaku coupler engagement, making it unnecessary to use shock to get a good coupling. Joining portions of a passenger train can be done at very low speed (less than in the final approach), so that the passengers are not jostled about. Rail equipment manufacturers such as Bombardier offer the Schaku coupler as an option on their mass transit systems and their passenger cars and locomotives. In North America all the trains of the Montreal Metro are equipped with it, as are new light rail systems in Denver, Baltimore and New Jersey. It is also used on light rail vehicles in Portland, Minneapolis, the Vancouver Skytrain, and Line 3 Scarborough in Toronto. It also equips all the dedicated rolling stock used for the shuttle services in the Channel Tunnel.
Dellner coupler.
The Swedish-made Dellner coupling, is a proprietary version of the Scharfenberg coupler, connecting vehicle, pneumatics and electronics at the same time. The patented energy absorption D-BOX technology allows coupling at speeds of up to with no structural damage, and up to with deformation but with the vehicles remaining on track. The patented D-REX system provides Ethernet high speed data connection at speeds of 100 Mbit/s.
Ward coupler.
Ward coupler
Wedgelock coupler.
The Wedgelock is the standard coupler on London Underground trains.
The origin of the Wedgelock principle is unclear however there are a number of variants many of which were once produced by The now defunct AEC company in Southall, London. Wedgelock intellectual property was acquired in 1979 by Radenton - later (in 1994) to become Radenton Scharfenberg before both the UK and parent company in Salzgitter were to become part of the Turbo division within Voith. Voith Turbo in Greenford is the designated centre for Wedgelock activity within the Voith group. William Cook Rail are also an OEM for the wedgelock coupling system.
Basic design and coupling principle: The older coupler design has a body consisting of two horizontal steel plates separated by shaped blocks to create two pockets - the one on the right (drivers’ perspective) has a vertical pin to anchor a shaped hook protruding forward of a front plate bolted to the body. The second void in the left of the body contains a cylindrical pin with a large flat to create a ‘D-shaped’ cross section. The hook is free to swing left and right through an arc of about 5 degrees and can engage with the D-pin in an opposing coupler. During coupling - once opposing front plates are in contact, a pneumatic actuator within the left hand void drives a (partially) wedge-shaped block behind the outer edge of the opposing hook to engage it with the host D-pin. The sloping ‘wedge‘ geometry occupies central horizontal third of the block and contacts a similar horizontal sloping groove in the opposing hook merely to engage it with the D-pin, the upper and lower thirds of the wedge have pockets machined to create faces parallel to the longitudinal axis of the coupler; as the wedge is caged by body structure it is these faces which prevent sideways movement of the opposing hook and therefore prevent uncoupling. A relatively lightweight spring is enough to maintain the wedge position in the event of a loss of compressed air to the deploy side of the actuator (also known as the wedge-engine). Uncoupling is achieved by air directed to the retract side of the wedge engines on both couplers to retract the wedges and free the hooks; uncoupling is completed by simply moving the vehicles apart. In the event of a loss of ‘retract’ air the wedges can be moved manually to allow uncoupling.
Schwab coupler.
The , made by Schwab Verkehrstechnik AG, Schaffhausen, is used on Stadler Kiss and SZU Be 510. It has been offered in four versions:
Shibata coupler.
The Shibata (or Shibata-type) coupler is a variation of the Scharfenberg coupler which was developed by Japanese Government Railways (JGR) engineer Mamoru Shibata in the 1930s for electric trains. It is the standard coupler type for all passenger trains in Japan as well as on commuter and subway trains in South Korea.
Shinkansen (bullet train) rolling stock utilize a variation of the Shibata coupler developed by Sumitomo Metal Industries in the 1960s which uses rotary tight-lock pins, and which coincidentally bears a closer resemblance to the Scharfenberg coupler rather than the Shibata coupler.
Dual couplings and match wagons.

Sometimes a wagon with one coupling system needs to be coupled to wagons with another coupling type This may be needed when taking metro rolling stock from its manufacturer to the city where it is to be used. There are two solutions:
Only some kinds of couplings coexist on the end of a wagon at the same time, because amongst other reasons they need to be at the same height. For example, in the Australian state of Victoria, engines had the AAR coupler, with buffers, and the chain mounted on a lug cast into the AAR coupler.
A match wagon or match truck (also known as a "barrier vehicle" / wagon in Britain and "transition car" in North America) has different kinds of couplings at each end. If a pair of match wagons is used, a rake of wagons using coupling A can be inserted into a train otherwise using coupling B.
A coupling adaptor or compromise coupler might couple to an AAR coupling on a wagon, and present, for example, a meatchopper coupler or rapid transit coupler to the next wagon. Such an adaptor might weigh .
An adapter piece allows a Janney coupler mate with an SA3 coupler
Sets of carriages.
Automatic couplers like the Janney are safer in a collision because they help prevent the carriages telescoping. British Rail therefore decided to adopt a Janney variant for its passenger carriages, with the coupler able to swing out of the way for coupling to engines with the traditional buffer and chain system.
In New South Wales, sets of carriages were permanently coupled with a fixed bar, since the carriages were disconnected only at the workshops. Freight cars are sometimes coupled in pairs or triplets, using bar couplings in between.
Articulated sets of carriages or wagons share the intermediate bogies, and have no need for couplings in the intermediate positions.
Brake couplings.
Couplings are needed for any continuous braking systems.
Electronically controlled brakes.
Electronically controlled pneumatic brakes (ECP) need a method of connecting electrically adjacent wagons, both for power and for command signals, and this can be done by plugs and sockets, or by very short range radio signals.
Draw gear.
A draw gear (also known as a draft gear) is the assembly behind the coupling at each end of the wagon to take care of the compression and tension forces between the wagons of trains. Early draw gears were made of wood, which was gradually replaced by steel.
Janney couplers have the draft gear in a centersill to absorb the pushing and pulling forces (slack action).
There is also a draw gear behind tightlock couplers, SA3 couplers, C-AKv couplers, Scharfenberg couplers, and other multi-function couplers.
In the case of buffers and chain couplers, the draw gear behind the hooks, if any, will absorb the tension, while the side buffers will absorb the compression.
Some couplers may not have a draw gear.
Model railway couplers.
On model railroads couplers vary according to scale, and have evolved over many years. Early model trains were coupled using various hook-and-loop arrangements, which were frequently asymmetrical, requiring all cars to be pointing in the same direction. In the larger scales, working scale or near-scale models of Janney couplers were quite common, but proved impractical in HO and smaller scales.
For many years, the "X2F" or "Horn-Hook" coupler was quite common in HO scale, as it could be produced as a single piece of moulded plastic. Similarly, for many years, a "lift-hook" coupler known as the "Rapido" and developed by Arnold, a German manufacturer of N-scale model trains, was commonly used in that scale.
The chief competitor of both these couplers, more popular among serious modellers, was the Magne-Matic, a magnetically released knuckle coupler developed by Keith and Dale Edwards, and manufactured by Kadee, a company they started. While they closely resemble miniature Janney couplers, they are somewhat different mechanically, with the knuckle pivoting from the center of the coupler head, rather than from the side. A steel pin, designed to resemble an air brake hose, allows the couplers to be released magnetically; the design of the coupler head prevents this from happening unless the train is stopped or reversed with a mated pair of couplers directly over an uncoupling magnet. An earlier, mechanically tripped version of the design had a straight pin extending down from the knuckle itself, which engaged a diamond-shaped mechanical "ramp" between the rails, which had to be raised above rail height when uncoupling was desired.
Once the Kadee patents ran out, a number of other manufacturers began to manufacture similar (and compatible) magnetic knuckle couplers.
Recently, an exact-scale HO model of the AAR coupler has been designed and manufactured by Frank Sergent. This design uses a tiny stainless steel ball to lock the knuckle closed. Uncoupling is achieved by holding a magnetic wand over the coupler pair to draw the balls out of the locking pockets.
In O scale, an exact-scale working miniature version of the "Alliance" coupler was manufactured from the 1980s by GAGO models in Australia. Since 2002 it has been marketed by the Waratah Model Railway Company. European modellers tend to use scale hook and chain couplings.
In British 00 scale (similar to H0 scale) models the 'tension lock' coupler developed by Tri-ang is standard. This is similar in operation to the meatchopper type of coupling. Remote uncoupling is possible by using a sprung ramp between the rails. The design of the hooks is such that the couplings will not uncouple when under tension (instead depressing the ramp). When the train is pushed over the ramp, it will lift the coupling hooks as the train passes over. By halting the train over the ramp, it is split at this point. While it works well, it is often seen as ugly and obtrusive (although smaller designs are available, these are not always fully compatible with other models) and many British modellers prefer to retrofit either Kadee types or working hook and chain couplings.
A recent development is an interchangeable coupling which plugs into a standardised socket, known as NEM 362 and which can be easily unplugged as required. This allows the modeller to easily standardise on whatever coupling is desired, without individual manufacturers needing to change their coupling type.
In 7 mm scale, scale working Norwegian couplings are now being manufactured by Zamzoodled in the UK.
A comparison of coupler types was published in "An introduction to Couplers".
Accidents.
Different kinds of coupling have different accident rates.
External links.
[[Category:Locomotive parts]]
[[Category:Couplers]]


Jacob Eury

Jacob Eury (born 6 April 1765 in Mirecourtdied 7 October 1848) was a French luthier and bow maker.
He was apprenticed in Mirecourt with his father as a violin maker, and later became an archetier / bow maker.
According to the Paris census, he was noted having been in Paris as of 1792, where he certainly had some association with François Tourte. Throughout his life he moved many times and seems to have struggled financially. His work however never seems lacking. Top experts (such as E. Vatelot, Bernard Millant, J.F. Raffin, Paul Childs), agree that Eury's work is often compared to that of Tourte.
"Among Niccolò Paganini's bows were a Jacob Eury (Tourte model), Nicholas Duchaine c.1765, F. Tourte (later belonged to Partello collection), N. Lupot (Tourte model), a steel bow by J.B. Vuillaume which he endorsed and used often. His favorite bow was a Neapolitan bow (maker unknown, and a Tourte like model) made to his very strict specifications, which was broken in several places when it fell off the back of his coach on tour (as he was travelling in England towards Newcastle). Paganini had taken it to Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume for repairs as they were good friends. He went on to use this bow extensively." - Gennady Filimonov


Christiaan Brunings

Christiaan Brunings (Mannheim-Neckarau, 3 November 1736 – The Hague, 16 May 1805) was a Dutch hydraulic engineer.
Early life.
Brunings was the son of a preacher in Mannheim-Neckarau in Germany. After high school he attended the University of Heidelberg. He had to break off his studies for lack of money and found work in the vinegar works of his brother in the Netherlands. Here he met Jan Noppen (1706-1764), superintendent of the "Hoogheemraadschap van Rijnland" (Rijnland Water Board). He was Brunings' mentor and taught him music, mathematics, physics, astronomy and engineering. After the death of Noppen, Brunings succeeded him on 25 May 1765 in his function.
Work.
In 1769 Brunings became Inspector General of the Government Rivers, giving more attention to water management of the upper rivers. In 1798 he was appointed head of the "Bureau voor den Waterstaat" (Office of Public Works), the forerunner of the "Rijkswaterstaat". Brunings spent more than thirty years as head of Dutch public works, from 1800 as Inspector-General of the Public Works of the Batavian Republic; from 1803 as Director of the country's river and sea works.
Brunings played an important role in the negotiations between Frederick the Great, King in Prussia, and the provinces of Holland and Gelderland on the distribution of water from the Rhine in the Waal, Lower Rhine and IJssel. After 22 years of negotiations a treaty was signed in 1771 on the Rhine water distribution, which meant a first step in international water management consulting business. He was also involved in improving the dikes along the Rhine to help prevent damaging floods.
Brunings is also known for the invention of an instrument for measuring water flow. In 1789 he published a detailed practical treatise on river flow including an account of his and other water-flow meters. In his house, "Zwanenburg", in Halfweg he conducted meteorological observations, following a tradition established by Noppen.
Legacy.
The significance of Brunings for the development of Dutch water management is clear from his tomb in Sint-Bavokerk in Haarlem, "Nederlands Raad en Beschermer tegen de Woede der Zee en der Stormen" ("Dutch counsel and protector against the anger of the sea and storms"), a statement of his disciple and successor, Frederik Willem Conrad, who published the first biography of him in 1827.
In 1900 a new steam icebreaker for the "Rijkswaterstaat" was named after him. The SS "Christian Brunings" has since 1968 been part of the collection of museum ships belonging to the "Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum" in Amsterdam.


Joseph Thornton (contractor)

Joseph Thornton (1804 - 9 May 1889) was a railway contractor in England in the mid-nineteenth century. He was in business building railway lines for the many railway companies in Victorian Britain and was a director of a number of companies connected to his profession. He lived at Beaver Hall in Southgate near London with his large family and servants but left an estate of only £545.
Early life and family.
Joseph Thornton was born in 1804 in Snaith, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. He married Amelia with whom he had at least six children.
Career.
Thornton was in business building railway lines for the many railway companies in Victorian Britain. He was also a director of companies such as the Water-Works Company for Madrid (1852), the Ambergate, Nottingham, Boston and Eastern Junction Railway (1856) and the Mercantile Credit Association (Limited) (1864).
He and his family lived at Beaver Hall, Southgate, from at least 1858. The 1861 census shows him there with his wife Amelia and six children (one visiting with her husband), a governess, lady's maid, nurse, cook, butler, footman, and four other maids. In 1871, he was shown as widowed and living in Kensington but the family still had four servants.
Later life.
By 1881, Thornton was retired and lodging with the Newman family at Kensington Park Road, London. He died there, at number 98, on 9 May 1889. Probate was granted to his son, Frederic William Thornton, a mechanical engineer of 100 Palace Chambers, Bridge Street, in the City of Westminster. He left an estate of £545.


Twin and earth

Twin and earth (often written "T&E" and sometimes "T and E") cable is a colloquial name in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and other countries for a type of flat sheathed fixed mains electricity cable, containing two insulated current-carrying conductors and an Earth connector. In Australia and New Zealand this type of cable is referred to as 'Flat TPS' (Thermo-plastic sheathed), as well as "Twin and Earth" or "Twin with Earth".
Construction.
These cables comprise two individually insulated current carrying conductors and a Circuit Protective Conductor (CPC = PE = Earth). , but it is not intended to be used where it is subject to regular movement or sunlight, because the sheathing is affected by ultraviolet radiation.
Uses.
It is commonly used for fixed wiring in domestic and commercial premises.
Limitations.
Twin and Earth cable is not designed to withstand significant mechanical abuse. It should not be installed in areas where it could be subject to abrasion or blows without additional mechanical protection. It must be installed so that it is physically supported at regular intervals. It is not suitable for overhead catenary use.
Twin and Earth cable is normally made with PVC sheathing and insulation, which has an almost indefinite life in the right conditions. However UV light will cause it to fail, so Twin and Earth is not suitable for use outdoors.
It has a temperature rating of 70 °C, including the temperature rise from resistive heating in the cable.
PVC gives off hazardous smoke when burned. National standards for electrical wiring prohibit PVC cables in locations where this is a particular risk, such as fire escape routes.
A particularly insidious risk with PVC cable occurs when it comes into contact with expanded polystyrene insulation, either in rigid panels or as loose beads.
Some Twin and Earth cable manufactured in the late 1960s and early 1970s had a deficiency in its manufacture which over time results in the production of a green conductive slime.
Regional variations.
United Kingdom.
In the UK the CPC is uninsulated (bare) and of reduced diameter compared to the main cores. Green and yellow sleeving, which is sold separately, is required to be used to cover the exposed ends. There is an overall sheath of grey PVC (BS 6004), or white for low smoke compound (BS 7211), although prior to 2005 white sheathing was also available in PVC.
Core and sheathing colours may be throughout the thickness of the material, or only on the surface. The latter means that any damage such as accidental knife cuts are readily visible.
Republic of Ireland.
In the Republic of Ireland the situation is different.
From 2013, Irish wiring rules require a CPC with a cross-section equal to that of the main conductors and insulated in green and yellow inside the full length of the cable, from the new standard IS 201-4:2013.
 The older bare and reduced diameter CPC cables are no longer permitted for new wiring in the Republic of Ireland.
UK wiring regulations however do not at present (BS 7671:2018) recognise Twin and Earth or Flat TPS with a full sized and insulated (G/Y) earth conductor as a permitted cable type, which may be awkward for contractors who work cross-border.
Versions of flat cable are also available in smaller conductor sizes containing three current-carrying conductors in addition to the circuit protective (earth) conductor. These configurations are commonly used for applications such as switched light circuits, battery-backed emergency lighting which requires a switched and unswitched supply, extractor fans with a run-on timer which require a switched and unswitched supply, mains-powered interlinked smoke alarms, and central heating thermostats.
Australia and New Zealand.
In Australia and New Zealand flat 'TPS' (Thermo-plastic sheathed) "Twin and Earth" cable manufactured prior to 1966 permitted the use of an uninsulated CPC stranded core, requiring the exposed ends of this conductor to be sleeved with Green insulating tubing. . (Before the advent of PVC, this tubing was varnished cambric.) Since 1966 it has been required that the CPC be insulated with Green insulation and since 1980 the colour of this insulation has been Green/Yellow.
In Australia and New Zealand Single conductor and Twin conductor TPS cables also exist.
These are required because it is not permitted in Australia and New Zealand for the Neutral conductor in a "Twin and Earth" cable to be "re-purposed" as a "Switched Line" conductor, as is permitted the UK and in North America.
"Three Conductor plus Earth" TPS cables also exist, having uses in multiway switching.
The conductor in a "Single TPS" cable usually has Red insulation and the conductors in a "Twin TPS" cable usually have Red and White insulation - with the White usually used as a "Switched Line" conductor.
1 mm² TPS cables have solid current carrying conductors.
1.5 mm² to 2.5 mm² TPS cables are available with both solid and stranded current carrying conductors but the solid conductors are not usually used since they are more difficult to work with.
TPS cables greater than 2.5 mm² have stranded conductors.
The CPC conductor is always stranded.
Standard UK metric twin and earth cable sizes.
1/1 mm² and 1.5/1 mm² have solid conductors and CPC
2.5/1.5mm² has a solid CPC and may have solid or stranded conductors
4/1.5 mm² and 6/2.5 mm² have stranded conductors and a solid CPC
10/4 mm² and 16/6 mm² have stranded conductors and CPC


Servoamplifier


Gajam Govardhana

Gajam Govardhana is an Indian master weaver, known for his work in Ikkat dyeing in the Telia Rumal tradition, and for his handloom creations. In 2011 the government of India honoured him with the fourth-highest civilian award, Padma Shri.
Biography.
Govardhana was born 1 September 1949 in the small village of Putapakka in the Nalgonda district of the south Indian state of Telangana, part of the former Andhra Pradesh. He heads the Padmashali family, which keeps the Telia Rumal tradition alive, and employs 500 weavers in the state. He runs "Murali Sari Emporium", a favoured shopping place for celebrities such as Sonia Gandhi, Shabana Azmi and Sheila Dikshit.
Govardhana has written several articles and publications and received many awards, including a UNESCO Award of Excellence (2002), National Master Weaver Award (2006), Cheongju International Craft Biennale award, and the Shilpa Guru Award (2007). The Government of India recognised his services to the art of weaving when he was included in the 2011 Republic Day honours.


Mangala Samaraweera

Mangala Pinsiri Samaraweera (, ; ; born 21 April 1956), better known as Mangala Samaraweera, is a Sri Lankan politician. He is a former Minister of Finance from 2017 to 2019, Minister of Foreign Affairs, for two terms from 2005 to 2007 and 2015 to 2017. He created a stir in Sri Lankan politics when he was sacked as a minister by President Mahinda Rajapakse in 2007, after which he formed a new political party called the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (Mahajana) Wing, which later merged with the United National Party in 2010.
Early life and education.
Born to Mahanama Samaraweera and Khema Padmawathi Samaraweera née Amaraweera, his father was a cabinet Minister of Local Government, Housing, Communications, Posts and Telecommunications in Sirimavo Bandaranaike's government and his mother served as a member of the Matara Urban Council. Educated at Royal College, Colombo and at Walthamforest College, London, he gained a BA in Clothing Design and Technology from St. Martin's School of Art in London, he served as a design consultant to the National Design Center of Sri Lanka and served as a visiting lecturer in the Institute of Aesthetic Studies, University of Kelaniya.
Political career.
Samaraweera entered politics from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party as its chief organiser in Matara in 1983, thereafter becoming the party's Assistant Secretary and Coordinating Secretary of the Mother’s Front.
He first entered the Parliament of Sri Lanka as a representative of the Matara District in 1989, and he was appointed as Minister of Post and Telecommunications in the cabinet of President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga in 1994. He also served as the Minister of Urban Development, Construction and Public Utilities in the same Cabinet after a reshuffle and was later given the Deputy Minister of Finance portfolio.
Following the election defeat of his party in 2001, he was made the Chief Opposition Whip and the Treasurer of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. In 2004 he became the Minister of Ports, Aviation and Media in the new cabinet of President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga.
In June 2005, after conflicts with Kumaratunga, he dropped the Media Ministry, but remained Cabinet Minister of Ports and Aviation. He became the campaign manager for Presidential candidate and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse. When Rajapakse won and took office in November 2005, he surprised many by appointing Samaraweera to the additional post of Foreign Minister instead of Prime Minister; Samaraweera maintained his other posts.
In late January 2007, Samaraweera was replaced as Foreign Minister, but remained as Minister of Ports and Aviation. On 9 February 2007, he was sacked from the cabinet together with ministers Anura Bandaranaike and Sripathi Sooriyarachchi after falling out with the president. He then went on to create a new political party, the SLFP (Mahajana) wing.
In October 2013, the Matara Magistrate's Court issued a Court order to arrest him and 10 others for their alleged involvement in obstructing a peaceful protest march in Matara by UNP activists, to oust its leader Ranil Wickramasinghe.
On 12 January 2015 Samaraweera was again appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs under newly elected President Maithripala Sirisena.
After the 2019 Presidential election, Samaraweera joined the newly form Samagi Jana Balawegaya which was launched in 2020 and led by opposition leader Sajith Premadasa. He resigned from the position of Finance minister as of 17 November 2019 even hours prior to release of the general election results.
In June 2020, he announced that he would not contest at the upcoming 2020 parliamentary election which is scheduled to be held on 5 August 2020 and urged the public to not vote for his preferential number and revealed that it will be impossible to remove his name from nomination list. On 9 June 2020, he also announced that he will step back and quit parliamentary politics.
Controversies.
In 2019, while being the finance minister he was accused of spreading hate speech and racist comments about Buddhism and monks urged immediate action against him for his comments about Buddhism.
He also criticised honorable Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith in 2018 for Cardinal's comments on human rights and in 2019 Mangala blamed Cardinal for visiting a Buddhist monk who was fasting.
He was accused of using Sri Lanka Transport Board buses to transport and locate voters for the 2019 Presidential election during his tenure as finance minister.
Personal life.
He is openly homosexual. In November 2018, after homophobic comments made by President Maithripala Sirisena, he wrote on Twitter that “I would rather be a butterfly than a leech Mr. President!!!”


Emil Janel

Emil Janel (21 September 1897 – May 1981) was a Swedish-born, American artist. A still life painter, he is mainly known for his caricatures in the Scandinavian flat-plane style of woodcarving, and is considered by many to be one of the best of this genre.
Biography.
Emil Gottfred Janel was born in the village of Hansjö near Orsa in Dalarna County, Sweden. In 1923, Janel moved to Canada, then to Seattle. After some encouragement by a local store keeper, he eventually settled in San Francisco with his wife and began study at what is now the San Francisco Art Institute. During the 1930s, he spent considerable time at Russian River, where he produced carvings of a local species of Alder wood. It is said that he preferred that particular medium because of the similarity to flesh tones, and that he kept his carvings in a bucket of water to keep them wet while working on them. He used very thin aniline dyes on the non-flesh portions of his carvings. Emil is said to have referred to his style as "exaggerated realism".
External links.


Adopt-A-Minefield

Adopt-A-Minefield is a United Kingdom-based charity which raises awareness about landmines and their associated problems, and raises funds to clear minefields and help survivors of landmine accidents. It has raised over $17 million (approximately £9.5 million) since it was established in the 1990s, enabling it to clear minefields in 126 villages in Afghanistan, Angola, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cambodia, Croatia, Iraq, Laos, Mozambique and Vietnam.
No More Landmines was a partner organization. However, according to current records of the UK Charity Commission, The No More Landmines Trust Number 1110770 which has the working name of Adopt-A-Minefield was registered with them on 8 August 2008 and was removed on 20 January 2015 and marked as Ceased to Exist. There is no active website for either named organisation although there is information on line of many organisations that remove mines.
In 2006 Heather Mills, the ex-wife of Sir Paul McCartney, pledged to give a "large majority" of her £24.3 million divorce payment to the Adopt-A-Minefield organization.
Adopt-A-Minefield was established by UNA Trust, a body associated with the United Nations Association UK. Mills and McCartney are its patrons. Other supporters include Twiggy and David Knopfler.
Gala fund-raising events were produced from 2001 to 2005 at hotels in Century City and Beverly Hills, California, with a diverse array of guest speakers in the landmine activist community from all around the world. The evenings concluded with dynamic performances by Sir Paul McCartney and his band, special musical guests, and was hosted by comedian and "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno. McCartney performed with guests Paul Simon (2001), Brian Wilson (2002), James Taylor (2003), Neil Young (2004), and Tony Bennett (2005). Some events also took place in Europe that featured performances of Paul with Yusuf Islam and Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees.
'Night of A Thousand Dinners' consisted of a variety of popular fund-raising events around the world including dinners in private homes and restaurants in New York City and London and a live music event in a local nightclub in Indianapolis, Indiana that featured a speaker from the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement at the State Department in Washington, D.C., and a performance by a music artist who had once played in a band with guitarist Jimi Hendrix.


Leg mechanism

A leg mechanism (walking mechanism) is a mechanical system designed to provide a propulsive force by intermittent frictional contact with the ground. This is in contrast with wheels or continuous tracks which are intended to maintain continuous frictional contact with the ground. Mechanical legs are linkages that can have one or more actuators, and can perform simple planar or complex motion. Compared to a wheel, a leg mechanism is potentially better fitted to uneven terrain, as it can step over obstacles.
An early design for a leg mechanism called the "Plantigrade Machine" by Pafnuty Chebyshev was shown at the Exposition Universelle (1878). The original engravings for this leg mechanism are available. The design of the leg mechanism for the Ohio State Adaptive Suspension Vehicle (ASV) is presented in the 1988 book "Machines that Walk". In 1996, W-B. Shieh presented a design methodology for leg mechanisms.
The artwork of Theo Jansen, see Jansen's linkage, has been particularly inspiring for the design of leg mechanisms, as well as the Klann patent, which is the basis for the leg mechanism of the Mondo Spider.
Design goals.
Another design goal can be, that stride height and length etc. can be controlled by the operator. This can relatively easily be achieved with a hydraulic leg mechanism, but is not practicable with a crank-based leg mechanism.
The optimization has to be done for the whole vehicle – ideally the force/torque variation during a rotation should cancel each other out.
History.
Richard Lovell Edgeworth tried in 1770 to construct a machine he called a "Wooden Horse", but was not successful.
Patents.
Patents for leg mechanism designs range from rotating cranks to four-bar and six-bar linkages. See for example the following patents:
Complex mechanism.
Shown above are only planar mechanisms, but there are also more complex mechanisms:


Mine Action Agency (Azerbaijan)

Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) is a mine action agency and executive body under State Commission for Reconstruction and Rehabilitation of War-Affected Areas of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The agency is accountable for implementing all necessary procedures corresponding to Azerbaijan Mine Action Program in order to decontaminate mines within the territory of Azerbaijan. Donors of the agency are government of Azerbaijan ($2,400, 000) and UNDP ($160,000).
History.
ANAMA was founded on the basis of the Presidential Decree No.854 dated July 18, 1998. The Agency is considered as a joint project of the Government of Azerbaijan and UNDP according to a bilateral agreement which was signed on April 2, 1999.  Since the establishment of the Agency more than 40 thousand hectares of the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan have been cleared according to the statistics of 2017. 796,754 unexploded mines and ordnance were found and eliminated.
Objectives.
ANAMA within its authority tries to create such environment that the citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan could no longer suffer from landmines and explosive devices. In order to achieve this aim, the Agency attempt to increase its demining capacity. Therefore, it is improving its Information Technology capacity to promote the research-development process related to mine action activities in Azerbaijan. Additionally, the head office pursues the certain policies that tend to reduce the number of fatal accidents and injuries occurred due to explosions of mine, to restore and reconstruct the infrastructure and to ensure food safety. It is expected that as a result of these measures the IDPs (internally displaced persons as a consequences of NK conflict) could return to their homeland again. Mine Risk Education Program that suggested by ANAMA is one of the Agency's strategic objectives that determines rules and regulations in order to increase awareness about the possible dangers that can occur as a result of explosion of mine among the local population who lives under threat of the mentioned dangerous situation. The education program of the Agency is implemented in more than 25 regions and especially the areas close to front lines.
Structure.
The structure of ANAMA comprises headquarters in Baku city, the local branches that are located in Horadiz settlement, Fizuli and Goygol districts and additionally, four operational centers located in Terter, Agjabedi, Agstafa and Baku.
International cooperations.
ANAMA has been collaborating with several international organizations such as International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance (ITF), Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining. The Agency also cooperating with the relevant state organizations of Croatia and Slovenia (Slovenian International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victim Assistance). On January 25, 2013, ANAMA signed another agreement with International Organization for Migration. Additionally, the Agency cooperating with UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) since 1999.


Geerd Hendel

Geerd Niels Hendel (14 January 1903 – 30 March 1998) was a naval architect and native of Germany. He found success in the United States becoming a prominent yacht designer who had a hand in an America's Cup victory in 1937.
Life and career.
Born in Hamburg, Hendel apprenticed for two years at Deutsche Werft shipyard in Hamburg before attending the Higher Technical Institute at Bremen where he specialized in naval architecture. Following graduation in 1925, he spent over two years in the design office of Nobiskrug shipyard in Rendsburg in Northern Germany.
Hendel came to the USA in November 1928 with a visa and worked in New York City in the office of Theodore Wells, naval architect.
In 1935, Hendel became chief draftsman for the legendary naval architect Starling Burgess, who at the time was living in Wiscasset, Maine, and working on various projects for the Bath Iron Works, in Bath, Maine.
In 1936, Harold Stirling Vanderbilt engaged the Bath Iron Works to build the America’s Cup Defender "Ranger", the greatest of all J-class yachts. Geerd Hendel worked with Starling Burgess and a young Olin Stephens on putting together the working drawings (see Olin Stephens’s book, "All This and Sailing Too"). From his work on "Ranger’s" aluminum masts, Hendel became one of the early advocates of the use of aluminum in yacht building. That summer, Hendel became a US citizen.
In 1938, Hendel designed the 21-foot fin keel sloop known as the Boothbay Harbor One Design, the culmination of almost a decade’s work of designing, building, and then testing his ideas for fast racing sloops. Geerd Hendel and Starling Burgess actively raced the Hendel Racing Sloop during the years leading up to World War II.
In 1939, Hendel designed "Whistler", one of the first aluminum alloy vessels ever built in the United States. It was an experimental yacht for Alcoa, built at Rice Brothers in East Boothbay, Maine. The following year he worked for Sparkman & Stephens for a short time.
Post World War II, Hendel established his own independent design firm in 1945 in Camden, Maine. He gained fame as a naval architect both in the United States and Europe for his many innovative designs of luxury yachts, fishing vessels, tugboats, launches, and sailboats. He spent well over 60 years behind the drawing board and the last 30 managing his own firm. His accomplishments were documented over the years in numerous trade magazines and books on boat building.
Most of Hendel’s drawings and work are located in the Hendel Collection at the Maine Maritime Museum, 243 Washington St., Bath, ME 04530 USA.


Ira Hudson

Ira Hudson (1873 - 1949) was an American boat builder and prolific decoy and shorebird carver from Chincoteague, Virginia. He created over 20,000 decoys during his lifetime, full sized and miniatures.
Hudson's carvings were primarily of local waterfowl, using no patterns so each carving had a unique design. The decoys were carved out of available materials including ship masts and telephone poles. By the early 1900s people had begun collecting decoys for decorative purposes and Hudson was one of the first carvers to add details such as feet and wings to his carvings in response.
Hudson has been called a "legendary name" in decoy carving. His decoys, which sold for $4 for a dozen during his lifetime, sell at auction for tens of thousands of dollars.
The "Hudson style" of decoy usually includes a flowing bill shape and a full flowing or "fat football" shaped body, though he experimented with many styles. He used feather and scratch painting, and carved both rounded and flat-bottomed decoys.
Personal life.
Hudson lived in Chincoteague with his wife Eva where they raised nine children, three of whom became commercially successful decoy carvers of their own. His grandson's L. Bob Hudson and Ira C. Hudson are also carvers.


Tillicum station

Tillicum station is a planned commuter rail station in Lakewood, Washington, US. It is scheduled to open in 2036 as an extension of the Sounder South Line from Lakewood station via the Point Defiance Bypass. The station would be located in the Tillicum neighborhood, near the intersection of Interstate 5 and Berkeley Street Southwest, adjacent to Joint Base Lewis–McChord.


Oxford station (Ohio)

Oxford is a proposed Amtrak station in Oxford, Ohio that will be served by the "Cardinal". The stop was first proposed in 2009, but an Amtrak study for such a stop determined that ridership would not be high enough to justify a stop in Oxford. However, in 2014, it was noted that nearby Miami University had a student population of around 16,000, prompting Amtrak to look again at adding an Oxford stop. In the winter of 2016–2017, it was announced that $700,000 funding for the station has been provided by the City of Oxford and Miami University, each contributing $350,000.
Amtrak is ready to move forward with adding the stop once it is constructed. The platform will be a Category 4 platform, an unmanned kiosk. As of March 2021, negotiations with the contractors are continuing. The platform is to be built near the intersection of Main and Chestnut Streets in Oxford.


Dreffa

Dreffa makes Swiss watches. The name is a trademark owned by TGX Holdings.
History.
In 1874 Armand Dreyffus established Dreffa in Genève, Switzerland as Montres Dreffa, SA. Montres meaning watches in French and Dreffa which was derived from his name DREyFFus A. In 1924, Dreyffus sought to expand the market outside of Switzerland and the name was changed to Dreffa Watch Co, SA.
In 1946 Montres Dreffa, SA registered the name Dreffa Watch in the USA and started selling its luxury watches in the USA under the Dreffa name. The logo was changed to include the word Genève. However, In 1975 during the quartz crisis Montres Dreffa, SA suffered along with hundreds of other Swiss watch companies and reduced production of its fine watches as the market for mechanical watches declined in favor of quartz movements. The factory was based at 30 Rue du Stand, Genève
In 1985 Jacques Maguin acquired the Dreffa brand and updated the logo to include a D with clock-hands inside at 10:10.
Collections.
Watches include the triple-date moonphase chronograph, diamond- and jewel-embedded feminine watches, Dreffa Swiss 200 meter professional diver's ATM Watch, Dreffa Genève Swiss gold-plated classic men's watch, Dreffa 17-jewel 10-karat gold-plated bezel ladies' wristwatch and VTG 1950's Dreffa Genève YGF.
Present Day.
In 2014 TGX Holdings acquired the Dreffa brand trademark. Yehuda Fulda, Chairman of the Board of TGX Holdings, brought in Mark Haus to oversee operations. Besides manufacturing in Genève watches will be manufactured in Glashütte as well.


Belt and Road Construction Leadership Group

The Belt and Road construction leadership group () (also called Leading Group for Promoting the Belt and Road Initiative) is the State Council review and coordination body established by the State Council of the People's Republic of China to promote the construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. State Council leader Han Zheng is the core and the China National Development and Reform Commission is the main body. This promotion plan connects many continents and oceans and has officially started.
History.
In September and October 2013, Xi Jinping, during his visit to Central Asia and Southeast Asian countries, proposed the "Silk Road Economic Belts" and the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road" initiatives. The eighth meeting of the CPC Central Committee Financial and Economic Leading Group, held in November 2014, proposed to accelerate the construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, and to plan the top-level design for the "Belt and Road" project.
On February 1, 2015, the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and vice premier of the State Council Zhang Gaoli began to promote the "one belt and one road" construction work conference in Beijing.
Constituent personnel.
The original members of the Leading Group were:
The personnel in 2018 were:
Office.
The leading group for promoting the initiative set up an office located in the National Development and Reform Commission. The commission was to undertake the daily work of the leading group.


Pillow block bearing

A pillow block bearing (or plummer block) is a pedestal used to provide support for a rotating shaft with the help of compatible bearings & various accessories. The assembly consists of a mounting block which houses a bearing. The block is mounted to a foundation and a shaft is inserted allowing the inner part of the bearing / shaft to rotate. The inside of the bearing is typically larger than the shaft to ensure a tight fit. Set screws, locking collars, or set collars are commonly used to secure the shaft. Housing material for a pillow block is typically made of cast iron or cast steel.
Selection.
A pillow block usually refers to a housing with an included anti-friction bearing, wherein the mounted shaft is in a parallel plane to the mounting surface, and perpendicular to the center line of the mounting holes, as contrasted with various types of flange blocks or flange units. A pillow block may contain a bearing with one of several types of rolling elements, including ball, cylindrical roller, spherical roller, tapered roller, or metallic or synthetic bushing. The type of rolling element defines the type of pillow block. These differ from "plummer blocks" which are bearing housings supplied without any bearings and are usually meant for higher load ratings and a separately installed bearing. Plummer block bearings are designed for more corrosive environments.
The fundamental application of both types is the same, which is to mount a bearing safely enabling its outer ring to be stationary while allowing rotation of the inner ring. The housing is bolted to a foundation through the holes in the base. Bearing housings may be either split type or solid type. Split type housings are usually two-piece housings where the cap and base may be detached, while solid are single-piece housings. Various sealing arrangements may be provided to prevent dust and other contaminants from entering the housing. Thus the housing provides a clean environment for the environmentally sensitive bearing to rotate free from contaminants while also retaining lubrication, either oil or grease, hence increasing its performance and duty cycle.
Bearing housings are usually made of grey cast iron. However, various grades of metals can be used to manufacture the same, including ductile iron, steel, stainless steel, and various types of thermoplastics and polyethylene-based plastics. The bearing element may be manufactured from 52100 chromium steel alloy (the most common), stainless steel, plastic, or bushing materials such as SAE660 cast bronze, or SAE841 oil impregnated sintered bronze, or synthetic materials.
ISO 113 specifies internationally accepted dimensions for plummer blocks.