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WHITWORTH, SIR JOSEPH

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 617 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WHITWORTH, See also:SIR See also:JOSEPH , See also:Bart. (1803-1887), See also:English engineer, was See also:born at See also:Stockport, near See also:Manchester, on the 21st of See also:December 1803. On leaving school at the See also:age of fourteen, he was placed with an See also:uncle who was a See also:cotton-spinner, with the view of becoming a partner in the business; but his See also:mechanical tastes were not satisfied with this occupation, and in about four years he gave it up. He then spent some See also:time with various See also:machine manufacturers in the neighbourhood of Manchester, and in 1825 moved to See also:London, where he gained more experience in machine shops, including those of See also:Henry Maudslay. In 1833 he returned to Manchester and started in business as a See also:tool-maker. In 1840 he attended the See also:meeting of the See also:British Association at See also:Glasgow, and read a See also:paper on the preparation and value of true planes, describing the method which he had successfully used for making them when at Maudslay's, and which depended on the principle that if any two of three surfaces exactly See also:fit each other, all three must be true planes. The accuracy of workman-See also:ship thus indicated was far ahead of what was contemplated at the time as possible in mechanical See also:engineering, but Whitworth not only proved that it could be attained in practice, but also showed how it could be measured. He found that if two true planes were arranged parallel to each other, an exceedingly small See also:motion towards or from each other was sufficient to determine whether an See also:object placed between them was held firmly or allowed to drop, and by mounting one of the planes on a screwed See also:shaft provided with a comparatively large See also:wheel bearing a See also:scale on its periphery, he was able to obtain a very exact measurement of the amount, however See also:minute, by which the distance between the planes was altered, by observing through what angular distance the wheel had been turned. In 1841, in a paper read before the Institution of See also:Civil See also:Engineers, he urged the See also:necessity for the See also:adoption of a See also:uniform See also:system of See also:screw threads in See also:place of the various heterogeneous pitches then employed. His system of See also:standard gauges was also widely adopted. The principles of exact measurement and workmanship which he advocated were strictly observed in his own manufactory, with the result that in the See also:Exhibition of 1851 he had a show of machine tools which were far ahead of those of any competitor. It was doubt-less this superiority in machine construction that caused the See also:government three years later to See also:request him to See also:design, and estimate for making, the machinery for producing rifled muskets at the new factory at See also:Enfield.

He did not see his way to agree to the proposition in this See also:

form, but it was ultimately settled that he should undertake the machinery for the barrels only. Finding that there was no established practice to See also:guide him, he began a See also:series of experiments to determine the best principles for the manufacture of See also:rifle barrels and projectiles. He ultimately arrived at a weapon in which the necessary rotation of the projectile was obtained, not by means of grooving, but by making the See also:barrel polygonal in form, with gently rounded angles, the bullets also being polygonal and thus travelling on broad bearing-surf aces along the rotating See also:polygon. The projectile he favoured was 3 to 32 calibres in length, and the See also:bore he fixed on was 0.45 in., which was at first looked upon as too small. It is re-ported that at the trial in 1857 weapons made according to these principles excelled the Enfield weapons in accuracy of See also:fire, penetration and range to a degree " which hardly leaves See also:room for comparison." He also constructed heavy guns on the same lines; these were tried in competition with See also:Armstrong's See also:ordnance in 1864 and 1865, and in their inventor's See also:opinion gave the better results, but they were not adopted by the government. Inconstructing them Whitworth experienced difficulty in getting large See also:steel castings of suitable soundness and ductility, and thus was led about 1870 to devise his compressed steel See also:process, in which the See also:metal is subjected to high pressure while still in the fluid See also:state, and is afterwards forged in See also:hydraulic presses, not by hammers. In 1868 he founded the Whitworth scholarships, setting aside an See also:annual sum of £3000 to be given for " intelligence and proficiency in the theory and practice of See also:mechanics and its cognate sciences," and in the following See also:year he was created a See also:baronet. Ile died at See also:Monte Carlo, whither he had gone for the See also:sake of his See also:health, on the 22nd of See also:January 1887. In addition to handing over £100,000 to the See also:Science and See also:Art See also:Department for the permanent endowment of the See also:thirty Whitworth scholarships, his residuary legatees, in pursuance of what they knew to be his intentions, expended over See also:half a million on charitable and educational See also:objects, mainly in Manchester and the neighbourhood. WHOOPING-COUGH, or HOOPING-COUGH (syn. Pertussis, See also:Chin-cough), a specific infective disease of the See also:respiratory mucous membrane, of microbic origin (see PARASITIC DISEASES), manifesting itself by frequently recurring paroxysms of convulsive coughing accompanied with See also:peculiar sonorous inspirations (or whoops). Although specially a disease of childhood, whooping-cough is by no means limited to that See also:period but may occur at any time of See also:life.

It is one of the most dangerous diseases of See also:

infancy, the yearly See also:death-See also:rate in See also:England and See also:Wales for each of the five years 1904-1908 being greater than that from See also:scarlet See also:fever and typhoid added together. The See also:majority of these deaths were in infants under one year, 97% in See also:children under 5 years (Tatham). It is more See also:common in See also:female than in male children. There is a distinct period of See also:incubation variously estimated at from two to ten days. Three stages of the disease are recognized, viz. (1) the catarrhal See also:stage, (2) the spasmodic or paroxysmal stage, (3) the stage of decline. The first stage is characterized by the See also:ordinary phenomena of a See also:catarrh, with See also:sneezing, watering of the eyes, irritation of the See also:throat, feverishness and cough, but in See also:general there is nothing in the symptoms to indicate that they are to develop into whooping-cough, but the presence of an See also:ulcer on the fraenum linguae is said to he diagnostic. The catarrhal stage usually lasts from ten to fourteen days. The second stage is marked by the See also:abatement of the catarrhal symptoms, but at the same time by increase in the cough, which now occurs in irregular paroxysms both by See also:day and by See also:night. Each See also:paroxysm consists in a series of violent and rapid expiratory coughs, succeeded by a loud sonorous or crowing See also:inspiration—the " whoop" During the coughing efforts the See also:air is driven with See also:great force out of the lungs, and as none can enter the See also:chest the symptoms of impending See also:asphyxia appear. The patient grows deep-red or livid in the See also:face, the eyes appear as if they would burst from their sockets, and suffocation seems imminent till See also:relief is brought by the " whoop " --the louder and more vigorous the better. Occasionally See also:blood bursts from the See also:nose, mouth and ears, or is extravasated into the conjunctiva of the eyes.

A single fit rarely lasts beyond from half to three-quarters of a minute, but after the " whoop " another recurs, and of these a number may come and go for several minutes. The paroxysm ends by the coughing or vomiting up of a viscid tenacious secretion, and usually after this the patient seems comparatively well, or, it may be, somewhat wearied and fretful. The frequency of the paroxysms varies according to the severity of the See also:

case, being in some instances only to the extent of one or two in the whole day, while in others there may be several in the course of a single See also:hour. Slight causes serve to bring on the fits of coughing, such as the acts of swallowing, talking, laughing, crying, &c., or they may occur without any apparent exciting cause. In general children come to recognize an impending attack by a feeling of tickling in the throat, and they cling with dread to their mothers or nurses, or take hold of some object near them for support during the paroxysm; but although exhausted by the severe fit of coughing they soon resume their See also:play, apparently little the worse. The attacks are on the whole most severe at night. This stage of the disease usually continues for thirty to fifty days, but it may be shorter or longer. It is during this time that complications are See also:apt to arise which may become a source of danger greater even than the malady itself. The See also:chief of these are inflammatory affections of the bronchi and lungs and See also:convulsions, any of which may prove fatal. When, however, the disease progresses favourably, the third or terminal stage is announced by the less frequent paroxysms of the cough, which generally loses in great measure its " whooping " See also:character. The patient's See also:condition altogether undergoes See also:amendment, and the symptoms disappear in from one to three See also:weeks. It is to be observed, however, that for a See also:long period afterwards in any See also:simple catarrh from which the patient suffers the cough often assumes a spasmodic character, which may suggest the erroneous notion that a relapse of the whooping-cough has occurred.

In severe cases it occasionally happens that the disease leaves behind it such structural changes in the lungs (See also:

emphysema, &c.), as See also:entail permanent shortness of breathing or a liability to attacks of See also:asthma. Further, whooping-cough is well known to he one of those diseases of See also:early life which are apt to give rise to a weakened and vulnerable state of the general health, or to See also:call into activity any inherited morbid tendency, such as that towards See also:consumption. As regards the treatment in mild cases, little is necessary beyond keeping the patient warm and carefully attending to the general health. The remedies applicable in the case of catarrh or the milder forms of See also:bronchitis are of service here, while See also:gentle See also:counter-irritation to the chest by stimulating liniments may be employed all through the attack. In mild See also:weather the patient may be in the open air. An abdominal binder shculd be worn night and day in See also:order to prevent the occurrence of See also:hernia. Systematic disinfection of the sputum by means of a See also:solution of corrosive sublimate or by burning should be practised in order to check the spread of infection. In the more severe forms efforts have to be employed to modify the severity of the paroxysms. Numerous remedies are recommended, the chief of which are the bromides of ammonium or See also:potassium, See also:chloral, codeine, &c. These can only be safely administered under medical See also:advice, and with due regard to the symptoms in individual cases. During convalescence, where the cough still continues to be troublesome, a See also:change of air will often effect its removal.

End of Article: WHITWORTH, SIR JOSEPH

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