Keith Elphinstone
Sir George Keith Buller Elphinstone KBE (born May 11, 1865 in Edinburgh , † July 6, 1941 ) was an electrical and mechanical engineer.
Life
His parents were Captain Edward Charles Buller Elphinstone (of the 92nd Highlanders) and Elizabeth Harriet Clerk, the daughter of Sir George Clerk of Penicuik.
He attended Charterhouse School and in 1884 completed a year-long apprenticeship with Woodhouse and Rawson electrical engineers in London before joining the Elphinstone-Vincent Electro Dynamo Machine Company at 79½ Gracechurch Street (his brother or uncle). In May 1886 he became a student member of the Society of Telegraph Engineers and Electricians . Between 1887 and 1891 he made two further trainings at the new London Electric Company (the former Grosvenor Gallery ) and with Professor Alexander Kennedy at University College, followed by an internship at the Brush Electrical Engineering Company in Leicester .
In 1891 he took over from Richard Theiler the company MW Theiler & Sons , and as this 1893 Elliott Brothers merged, he became a partner. Over the next two decades he developed various electrical and mechanical instruments for road traffic, railroad and aviation. In April 1896 he became a member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers .
He is best known for his development work in the field of marine fire monitoring systems. He built the Anschütz gyro compass under license. He was involved in the shooting computer of Prince Louis von Battenberg and then, in 1902, that of Captain John S. Dumaresq . These early analog computers quickly became obsolete and were replaced by Dreyer Fire Control Tables in 1911 .
He stayed with Elliott Brothers until 1931 and was chairman of the company for several years.
In 1920 he was knighted as Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire .
On April 25, 1899 he had married Katherine Amy (1868 / 9-1925), a daughter of Colonel Alfred James Wake RA of Blackheath , with whom he had a daughter. On February 16, 1926 he married Isobel Penrose (* 1876/7), a daughter of Sir Theodore Fry, First Baronet.
Individual evidence
- ^ HG Peterkin: Elphinstone, Sir (George) Keith Buller (1865-1941). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004 (rev. John K. Bradley, not accessed).
- ^ Bill Smith: Armstrong Siddeley Motors: The Cars, the Company and the People in Definitive Detail , p. 168 Google Books
- ↑ Knights and Dames: DOO – FOW at Leigh Rayment's Peerage
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Elphinstone, Keith |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Elphinstone, George Keith Buller |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Scottish electrical and mechanical engineer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 11, 1865 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Edinburgh |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 6, 1941 |