The English Mechanic and World of Science, commonly referred to as English Mechanic, was a popular-sciencemagazine, published weekly from 1865 to 1926,[1][2] generally consisting of 24 pages. It was aimed at people interested in inventions and gadgets and new discoveries in science, technology, and mathematics. A regular chess column was also included, written by James Pierce.
The magazine was founded as a 1d weekly The English Mechanic subtitled A Record of Mechanical Invention, Scientific and Industrial Progress, Building, Engineering, Manufactures, Arts &c. in 1865, and purchased in its first year of publication by John Passmore Edwards. Ebeneezer J. Kibblewhite was a regular contributor, then became editor.
The publication featured a lively correspondence section, which occupied a quarter of its pages, each week headed by a quote from Montaigne.[3]
I would have everyone write what he knows, and as much as he knows but no more . . . for such a person may have some particular knowledge and experience of the nature of such a river or such a fountain, [but] as to other things knows no more than everybody does . . .
The size and content grew rapidly in size and quality, and as of the issue of 12 January 1866 its price was increased to 2d. and had new, rather elegant, banner art, with its title shortened to English Mechanic, subtitled and Mirror of Science and Art, but pages titled English Mechanic and Mirror of Science.
Some time before 1876 it became English Mechanic subtitled and World of Science, with which is incorporated The Mechanic, Scientific Opinion, and The British & Foreign Mechanic. Pages were titled English Mechanic and World of Science
In the May 1899 issue there was an article by T Hyler-White (1871–1920) on a motor tricycle that could be powered by a 1.75 hp De Dion-Bouton. Following this and starting in January 1900 there appeared a series of 56 further articles entitled "A small car and how to build it", containing the plans for what was probably the UK's first kit car. The design was based on the Benz Velo,[5] and it was suggested that a Benz engine should be used and to keep down costs various secondhand parts should be used, although some new castings were made available with a machining service if required.
Further series of articles appeared with more designs including in 1901 a steam car, in 1902 a steam-3 wheeler, in 1904 a 5 hp twin-cylinder car, in 1909 a single-cylinder engined runabout and finally in 1913 a cyclecar.[6]
It is not known how many cars were built following the plans but at least four survive.[6] They are collectively known today as "English Mechanics" but it is probable that a variety of names was used at the time.
ReferencesEdit
CitationsEdit
^"Introduction". English Mechanic. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
^James Mussell (15 May 2017). Science, Time and Space in the Late Nineteenth-Century Periodical Press. Routledge. ISBN9781351901697. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
^Elliott, I. (September 1987), "The Monck Plaque", Irish Astronomical Journal, 18 (2): 122, Bibcode:1987IrAJ...18..122E
Downie, Neil A. (2006), Exploding Disk Cannons, Slimemobiles, and 32 Other Projects for Saturday Science, JHU Press, ISBN978-0-8018-8506-8
Hole, Steve (2012), A–Z of Kit-Cars: The definitive encyclopaedia of the UK's kit-car industry since 1949, Haynes Publishing, ISBN978-1-84425-677-8
External linksEdit
Commercial scans at the englishmechanic.com website [dead link] Archived at
Scans at the Internet Archive
October 20, 2023
english, mechanic, world, science, commonly, referred, english, mechanic, popular, science, magazine, published, weekly, from, 1865, 1926, generally, consisting, pages, aimed, people, interested, inventions, gadgets, discoveries, science, technology, mathemati. The English Mechanic and World of Science commonly referred to as English Mechanic was a popular science magazine published weekly from 1865 to 1926 1 2 generally consisting of 24 pages It was aimed at people interested in inventions and gadgets and new discoveries in science technology and mathematics A regular chess column was also included written by James Pierce The English Mechanic and World of ScienceCategoriesEngineeringFirst issueMarch 1865Final issueOctober 1926CountryUnited KingdomLanguageEnglishWebsiteHomepageOCLC1567968 Contents 1 History 2 Astronomy 3 Motoring 4 References 4 1 Citations 4 2 Bibliography 5 External linksHistory EditThe magazine was founded as a 1d weekly The English Mechanic subtitled A Record of Mechanical Invention Scientific and Industrial Progress Building Engineering Manufactures Arts amp c in 1865 and purchased in its first year of publication by John Passmore Edwards Ebeneezer J Kibblewhite was a regular contributor then became editor The publication featured a lively correspondence section which occupied a quarter of its pages each week headed by a quote from Montaigne 3 I would have everyone write what he knows and as much as he knows but no more for such a person may have some particular knowledge and experience of the nature of such a river or such a fountain but as to other things knows no more than everybody does The size and content grew rapidly in size and quality and as of the issue of 12 January 1866 its price was increased to 2d and had new rather elegant banner art with its title shortened to English Mechanic subtitled and Mirror of Science and Art but pages titled English Mechanic and Mirror of Science Some time before 1876 it became English Mechanic subtitled and World of Science with which is incorporated The Mechanic Scientific Opinion and The British amp Foreign Mechanic Pages were titled English Mechanic and World of ScienceAstronomy EditThe magazine popularized amateur telescope construction in the UK and later in the United States after the Reverend William Frederick Archdall Ellison s articles on the subject were reprinted in the Scientific American A letter by William H S Monck published in the magazine on 12 July 1890 led to the formation of the British Astronomical Association 4 Motoring Edit nbsp A surviving 1904 English Mechanic carIn the May 1899 issue there was an article by T Hyler White 1871 1920 on a motor tricycle that could be powered by a 1 75 hp De Dion Bouton Following this and starting in January 1900 there appeared a series of 56 further articles entitled A small car and how to build it containing the plans for what was probably the UK s first kit car The design was based on the Benz Velo 5 and it was suggested that a Benz engine should be used and to keep down costs various secondhand parts should be used although some new castings were made available with a machining service if required Further series of articles appeared with more designs including in 1901 a steam car in 1902 a steam 3 wheeler in 1904 a 5 hp twin cylinder car in 1909 a single cylinder engined runabout and finally in 1913 a cyclecar 6 It is not known how many cars were built following the plans but at least four survive 6 They are collectively known today as English Mechanics but it is probable that a variety of names was used at the time References EditCitations Edit Introduction English Mechanic Retrieved 9 October 2015 Downie 2006 p 288 James Mussell 15 May 2017 Science Time and Space in the Late Nineteenth Century Periodical Press Routledge ISBN 9781351901697 Retrieved 19 April 2019 Elliott I September 1987 The Monck Plaque Irish Astronomical Journal 18 2 122 Bibcode 1987IrAJ 18 122E Hole 2012 p 7 a b Georgano N 2000 Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile London HMSO ISBN 1 57958 293 1 Bibliography Edit Downie Neil A 2006 Exploding Disk Cannons Slimemobiles and 32 Other Projects for Saturday Science JHU Press ISBN 978 0 8018 8506 8 Hole Steve 2012 A Z of Kit Cars The definitive encyclopaedia of the UK s kit car industry since 1949 Haynes Publishing ISBN 978 1 84425 677 8External links EditCommercial scans at the englishmechanic com website dead link Archived at English Mechanic Scans at the Internet Archive Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The English Mechanic and World of Science amp oldid 1133861522, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
