- Sir William Congreve, 2nd Baronet
Sir William Congreve, 2nd Baronet (
May 20 1772 –May 16 ,1828 ), was an Englishinventor androcket artillery pioneer distinguished for his development and deployment ofCongreve rocket s. He was son of Lt. General Sir William Congreve, 1st Baronet, the Comptroller of the Royal Laboratories at theRoyal Arsenal , raised inKent ,England , educated atSinglewell School and educated in law atTrinity College, Cambridge . Congreve died inToulouse, France .Congreve Rockets
Congreve was inspired to work on
iron -casedgunpowder rockets for use by the British military, by their use against British troops inIndia byTipu Sultan during theAnglo-Mysore Wars . He first demonstrated solid fuel rockets at the Royal Arsenal in 1805. He considered his work sufficiently advanced to engage in twoRoyal Navy attacks on the French fleet at Boulogne, France, one that year and one the next. Parliament authorized Congreve to form two rocket companies for the army in 1809. Congreve subsequently commanded one of these at theBattle of Leipzig in 1813.Congreve rockets were used for the remainder of the
Napoleonic Wars , as well as theWar of 1812 -- the "rockets' red glare" in the American national anthem describes their firing atFort McHenry during the latter conflict. They remained in the arsenal of the United Kingdom until the 1850s. Congreve was awarded the honorary rank ofLieutenant colonel in 1811 and was often referred to as "Colonel Congreve."Other inventions
Besides his rockets, Congreve was a prolific (if indifferently successful)
inventor for the remainder of his life. Congreve invented agun -recoil mount ing, atime -fuze, a rocketparachute attachment, ahydropneumatic canal lock andsluice (1813), aperpetual motion machine , a process ofcolour printing (1821) which was widely used inGermany , a new form ofsteam engine , and a method of consumingsmoke (which was applied at the Royal Laboratory). He also took outpatent s for a clock in which time was measured by aball rolling along a zig-zag track on anincline d plane; for protectingbuilding s againstfire ; inlaying and combiningmetal s; unforgeablebank note paper ; a method of killingwhale s by means of rockets; improvements in the manufacture ofgunpowder ; stereotypeplate s;firework s; andgas meter s. Congreve was named as comptroller of the Royal Laboratory at Woolwich from 1814 until his death. (Congreve's fatherSir William Congreve had also held the same post.)Congreve's unsuccessful perpetual motion scheme involved an endless band which should raise more water by its
capillary action on one side than on the other. He used capillary action of fluids that would disobey the law of never rising above their own level, so to produce a continual ascent and overflow. The device had an inclined plane overpulley s. At the top and bottom, there travelled an endless band ofsponge , a bed, and, over this, again an endless band of heavyweight s jointed together. The whole stood over the surface of stillwater . The capillary action raised the water, whereas the same thing could not happen in the part, since the weights would squeeze the water out. Hence, it was heavier than the other; but as "we know that if it were the same weight, there would be equilibrium, if the heavy chain be alsouniform ". Therefore the extra weight of it would cause the chain to move round in the direction of the arrow, and this would go on, supposedly, continually.Publications
In 1804 Congreve published "A concise account of the origin and progress of the rocket system". Publication of "A Concise Account of the Origin and Progress of the Rocket System" by William Congreve was in 1807. [Stephen Leslie (1887) "Dictionary of National Biography", Vol.XII, p.9, Macmillan & Co., New York [http://books.google.com/books?id=YTcJAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA9&lpg=PA9&dq=a+concise+account+of+the+origin+and+progress+of+the+rocket+system&source=web&ots=Ckd6Dx5VJL&sig=cf_2GUuMbboUCnwJfE2hHuXCD3o Congreve, Sir William,] ] In 1814 Congreve published "The details of the rocket system". In 1827 "The Congreve Rocket System" was published in London. His other publications were: "An Elementary Treatise on the Mounting of Naval Ordnance" (1812); "A Description of the Hydropneumatical Lock" (1815); "A New Principle of Steam-Engine" (1819); "Resumption of Cash Payments" (1819) and "Systems of Currency" (1819).
References
*
1911 Encyclopedia , " [http://2.1911encyclopedia.org/C/CO/CONGREVE_SIR_WILLIAM.htm Sir William Congreve] ".
*Frank H. Winter "The First Golden Age of Rocketry" (Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1990), 322p., illus. ISBN 0-87474-987-5External links
* [http://napoleonistyka.atspace.com/British_artillery.htm Royal Artillery of the Napoleonic Wars]
ee also
Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills
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