Frederick W. Lanchester

Frederick W. Lanchester

Frederick William Lanchester (born October 23, 1868 in Lewisham , † March 8, 1946 in Birmingham ) was a researcher, engineer and entrepreneur active in many fields. He made significant contributions to automotive engineering, aviation, and military tactics .

biography

His father was an architect, his mother a teacher, and Lanchester was the fourth of eight children. He studied engineering, but without obtaining a formal degree. In 1888 he took up a position in a patent office and later moved to the Forward Gas Engine Company of Saltley. Here he published his first patents, for example for the control of gas turbines.

From 1893 Lanchester devoted himself to the development of the automobile , a vehicle presented in 1898 was awarded the gold medal at the automobile exhibition in Richmond. This vehicle was later called the Gold Metal Phaeton . In 1899 Lanchester founded the Lanchester Engine Company together with his brother . The company went bankrupt in 1904 and was re-established as The Lanchester Motor Company that same year . This company was taken over in 1931 by rival Birmingham Small Arms Company under the Daimler Motor Company brand .

During the First World War , Lanchester dealt with theoretical considerations on battle management and tried to describe the course of the battle mathematically. His deliberations led to the law named after him ( Lanchester's Law ). Based on the firepower and number of units, statements about the losses on both sides can be derived for special battles, such as artillery duels.

His marriage to Dorothea Cooper in 1919 remained childless. When Lanchester Laboratories was founded in 1925, Lanchester devoted itself entirely to research and its marketing. The latter proved difficult during the economic depression years. With poor health, Lanchester had to withdraw from his business in 1934 and died impoverished on March 8, 1946. In 1945 he was still awarded the James Watt Medal .

Services

Lanchester is one of the major pioneers in British automotive technology. Among other things, he developed or was the first to use: steel-spoke wheels, oil pressure plain bearings, four-wheel drive , piston rings , intake manifold injection , disc brakes , turbochargers . In addition, since 1892 Lanchester has been concerned with considerations about motorized aviation . A paper submitted to the Physical Society of London in 1897 was far ahead of its time and was rejected. In 1907 he published the first realistic description of the lift forces on the aircraft and developed a forerunner of the winglet . But here too he was denied recognition until after his death. Lancester's Law was also confirmed in the submarine warfare of World War II . It can also be used for computer games , marketing and virology, among others . The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences awards the Frederick W. Lanchester Prize annually . In addition, Lanchester Bay in Antarctica bears his name.

Works

• Aerodynamics, constituting the first volume of a complete work on aerial flight . Constable and Company Limited, London 1907. German edition: Aerodynamik. A complete work about flying . BG Teubner, Leipzig and Berlin 1909.
• Aircraft in Warfare - The Dawn of the Fourth Arm . Constable and Company Limited, London 1916.

See also

• Lanchester Compensation

Individual evidence

1. ↑ www.lanchester.com ( Memento of the original from September 1, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. As of March 5, 2008
2. ^ Greg Brown: Lanchester's Square Law Modeling the Battle of the Atlantic (2001) ( Memento of October 4, 2006 in the Internet Archive )