Frederick William Lanchester, now residing at Dyott End, Oxford Road,
Moseley, Birmingham, England, was born 23 October 1868, at Lewisham. His
father was Henry Jones Lanchester, architect.
He studied at the Royal College of Science, South Kensington, England, 1886
to 1889, but did not graduate. There was no third year engineering at the
college. Lanchester took mining but abandoned the course, read for engineering
in South Kensington Library and attended engineering lectures and workshop
tuition at the Finsbury Technical College in the evenings. In recognition
of his great contributions to engineering science and aerodynamics, the
University of Birmingham conferred on him in 1920 the honorary degree of
Doctor of Laws.
Dr. Lanchester is a Fellow of the Royal Society, a member of the Institution
of Civil Engineers, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, and the Institution
of Automobile Engineers, an Associate of the National Academy and the Institution
of Naval Architects, and an Honory Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.
He was a member of the (British) Advisory Committee for Aeronautics from
1909 to 1920. He was President of the Institution of Automobile Engineers
1910-11 and President of the Junior Institution of Engineers 1916-17 and
1917-18.
On 27 May 1926, the Royal Aeronautical Society of Great Britain bestowed
upon him its gold medal which had previously been awarded to only five persons,
Orville and Wilbur Wright in May, 1909; Octave Chanute in July, 1910; Professor
George Hartley Bryan and Mr. Edward Teshmaker Busk in May, 1915. On the
occasion of receiving the medal Dr. Lanchester also read the Wilbur Wright
Memorial Lecture for 1926 on the subject "Sustentation in Flight."
Among his valuable contributions to the literature of aeronautics are the
following books and papers:
Paper to Brimingham Natural History and Philosophical Society, on the theory
of flight, 1894.
Theory of Stability (Patent 3608), 1897.
Aerial Flight, a two-volume treatise with the subtitles,
Aerodynamics, 1907,
Aerodonetics, 1908. (Translated into German by Professor C. Runge, of Gottingen;
published by Teubner, Leipzig. Translated into French by Commandant C. Benoit;
published by Gauthier Villars, Paris.)
Aircraft in Warfare, 1914.
Flying Machine from an engineering standpoint, 1914.
(James Forrest lecture of the Institution of Civil Engineering Congress,
San Francisco, 1915. (Revised and corrected as an appendix to the Reprint
edition of the James Forrest Lecture.)
A Contribution to the Theory of Propulsion and the Screw Propeller. (Read
at the Spring Meeting of the 56th Session of the Institution of Naval Architects,
25 March 1915.)
TheAerofoil in the Light of Theory and Experiment. Paper before the Institution
of Automoblie Engineers, 1916.
The Screw Propeller. Paper read before the Institutiuon of Automobile Enginers,
1916.
The Wilbur Wright Memorial Lecture before the Royal Aeronautical Society,
October 1926.
Lanchester was one of the original members of the Aeronautical Research
Committee under the Chairmanship of Lord Rayleigh. He contributed many papers
to the Committee.
Lanchester was the foremost person to propound the now famous theory of
flight based on the Vortex theory, so brilliantly followed up by Prandtl
and others. He first put forward this theory in a paper read before the
Birmingham Natural History and Philosophical Society on 19th June, 1894.
In a second paper in 1897, in his two books published in 1907 and 1908,
and his paper read before the Institution of Automobile Engineers in 1916,
he further developed this doctrine.
In a lecture delivered in 1915, Lanchester said: "The author's theory
of sustentation in flight is based on the more general theory of vortex
motion. The author believes he can claim priority as far as the discovery
of the vortex or cyclic system surrounding the aerofoil is concerned, this
having been the basis of a paper read before the Birmingham Natural History
and Philosophical Society in 1894, and a further paper submitted by him
to the Physical Society of London in 1897. The theory in question, with
the results of a considerable number of other investigations, eventually
received full publication in the year 1907 in the treatise 'Aerial Flight'."
That is Lanchester's great achievement, the Vortex theory, and upon it his
fame chiefly rests.
The work presented in "Aerial Flight" which is new and original
includes many things besides the cyclic theory: for example, the equation
of the free flight paths (preasaging the looping of the loop amongst other
things) and giving at once the relation between the stress under normal
conditions and undulating or looping flight paths given inVolume 2 and plotted
from the equations. Also the theory of longitudinal stability founded thereon,
was all new. The theory of stability as presented is now recognized as a
special case of Bryan's more general work, but it is the real kernel of
the subject and the special case of great importance.
Dr. Lanchester believes the different forms of stability and their inter-relation
was stated for the first time in Volume II, and some of the implications
of this work have scarcely yet been recognized; for example, the use of
distributed vertical surface (as exemplified in the two tandem fins used
in all his model gliders) as rendering a "flat spin" impossible.
Chapter IX of Volume II deals with the problem of soaring flight in a fuller
and more comprehensive manner than had been previously attempted and everything
in that chapter stands today. For example, the Soarability of air
under cumulus clouds, i. e., the latter as an indicator of up-currents,
was dealt with, a subject that has only quite recently come into prominence
and been "rediscovered" in connection with human gliding. The
distinction between the up-current and dyamic soaring is clearly defined
and fully discussed. The fundamental theory of least resistance, and longest
duration (time) of flight is expounded in Volume I, also the importance
of skin friction is demonstrated and the reasons for Langley's failure to
recognize this are pointed out.
The medalist more recently expressed himself in the following paragraphs
taken from a letter dated 6th June 1931 to the Secretary of The Daniel Guggenheim
Medal Fund, Incorporated:
"If I were to say what I think to be the salient feature of my carreer,
I think it would be to point to the fact that my work has been almost wholly
individual. My scientific and technical work has never been backed
by funds from external sources to any material extent, or been assisted
by the holding of a position such as would give me command of any material
resources. All research work that I have done was paid for out of my own
pocket.
"So far as aeronautical science is concerned, I cannot say that I experienced
anything but discouragement; in the early days my theoretical work (backed
by a certain amount of experimental verification), mainly concerning the
vortex theory of sustentation and the screw propeller, was refused by two
leading scientific societies in this country, and I was seriously warned
that my profession as an engineer would suffer if I dabbled in a subject
that was merely a dream of madmen! When I published my two volumes in 1907
and 1908 they were well received on the whole, but this was mainly due to
the success of the brothers Wright, and the general interest aroused on
the subject."
As a youth Frederick Lanchester was especially interested in engineering,
and his memory cannot recall the beginning of that interest. His elders
used to tell him that when he was four years old he had fully made his mind
what he was going to be.
From 1889 to 1892 he was designer and assistant works manager of the Forward
Gas Engine Company, specializing in internal combustion engines. From 1892
to 1895 he was engaged in development work on high speed motors and experimental
work in aerodynamics. Experimental work and development of petrol engines,
motor launches and the Lanchester car occupied his energies from 1894 to
1899. The Lanchester Motor Company, Limited, was formed in 1899; he was
general manager and chief engineer from that year until 1904. He was consulting
engineer to that company from 1904 to 1914, and consulting engineer and
technical adviser to Daimler Company, Limited, and Birmingham Small Arms
Company, Limited, 1909 to 1929. He was consultant from 1928 to 1930 to William
Beardmore & Sons, Limited (Diesel Engine Works). From 1909 to 1920 he
was a member of the British Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.
Lanchester made numerous successful inventions relating to the internal
combustion engine, including the gas engine starter (adopted by Messrs.
Crossley Brothers, Limited), 1890; the balanced reciprocating engine, 1895,
the surface carbureter, 1895, the torsional crankshaft damper, 1910, the
harmonic balancer, 1911, and a process for manufactur of piston rings, 1909.
Dr. Lanchester is also well known for his work in other fields; his invention
of the pendulum accelerometer, which dates from 1889, opened up a new method
of measuring and recording tractive and brake effort. His work on the design
and production of worm gears and his worm gear dynamometer are widely known.
Dr. Lanchester is now (1931) absorbed in the subject of musical reproduction
at the Lanchester Laboratories, Ltd., Spring Road, Tyseley, Birmingham.
He first directed his attention to problems of musical reception and reproduction
in the year 1927. The year 1928 saw perfected the acoustictube moving coil
speaker is the "diffractaphone" aperture (Patent G B Number 317,339),
a characteristic of which is constant acoustical impedance which is a counterpart
to constant electrical impedance. Associated with this speaker is the "diffractaphone"
aperture (Patent G B Number 325, 339). This invention is directed to insure
the more perfect distribution of tones of different pitch in a concert hall
or in the open.
Dr. Lanchester married Dorothea, daugther of the Reverend Thomas Cooper,
of Field Broughton, near Grange over Sands, Westmoreland, in 1919. They
have no children. His eldest brother, Henry Vaughan Lanchester, following
his father's profession, is one of the eminent arhitects of England.
The Daniel Guggenheim Gold Medal was presented to Dr. Lanchester on 16 September
1931, in London, on the occasion of the reading of the Wilbur Wright Memorial
Lecture before the Royal Aeronautical Society by Mr. Glenn L. Martin, President
of The Glenn L. Martin Company, Baltimore, U.S.A. In the presentation for
this year, on behalf of the Board of Award. Mr. Griffith Brewer, of London,
the member representing England on the Board of Award, delivered the medal
and the accompanying certifcate of award to the medalist.
This article is reproduced with permission of the Daniel and Florence Guggenheim
Foundation
950 Third Avenue 30th Floor
New York. NY 10022
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