Английский язык. Жесткова М.В - 53 стр.

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53
first successful transatlantic cable. During the Crimean War, he designed a complete prefabricated
hospital building that was shipped in parts to the Crimea and a floating armored barge that was used
in warfare. Isambard Brunel died on Sept. 15, 1859, in London.
Notes:
1
civil engineer – инженер строитель
2
tunneling shield – туннельный щит
3
resident-engineer – прораб
4
paddle vessel – колёсное судно
GEORGE WESTINGHOUSE (1846 – 1914)
“If I understand you, young man, you propose to stop a railroad train with wind. I have no time
to listen to such nonsense.” Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, the powerful railroad owner, thus
dismissed George Westinghouse and his new air brake. But within a few years the old hand brakes
on trains were replaced with air brakes, launching Westinghouse into a notable career as inventor
and industrialist.
Westinghouse was born on Oct. 6, 1846, in Central Bridge, N.Y. (the USA). The son of a
manufacturer of farm implements, he explored the world of machines at an early age. After serving
in both the Union Army and the Navy in the Civil War, Westinghouse received in 1865 his first
patent—for a rotary steam engine. In that same year he invented a device for replacing derailed
1
freight cars on their tracks. Railroad problems fascinated Westinghouse. Among his other
inventions was a device called a frog that allowed wheels on one rail of a track to cross an
intersecting rail. He bought various patents on railroad switches
2
and signals and combined them
with his own developments into an efficient switching system. The air brake, his greatest invention,
was patented in 1869, the same year he organized the Westinghouse Air Brake Company. With
various design improvements, the air brake became widely accepted, and the Railroad Safety
Appliance Act of 1893 made them compulsory on trains in the United States.
Westinghouse was chiefly responsible for the adoption of alternating current (AC)
3
systems for
electric power transmission in the United States, which up to the 1880s had used direct current
(DC)
4
systems. Importing an AC system from Europe, Westinghouse purchased the patents of
Nikola Tesla’s AC motor and hired him to improve and modify the motor for use in the power
system. Once the new system was ready, advocates of DC power set out to discredit AC power.
Public acceptance of AC power came soon after Westinghouse dramatically proved its advantages
at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago (1893). Using incandescent lighting, the
fairground was set aglow with light. With buildings set like jewels against the evening sky, the
display marked the start of large-scale outdoor lighting and of illuminated advertising signs.
Most of the Westinghouse factories were located in Pittsburgh and associated companies were
established throughout the world. Westinghouse lost most of his control over his industrial empire
during the financial panic of 1907. He died in New York City on March 12, 1914.
Notes:
1
to derail – сходить с рельсов
2
switch – стрелочный перевод
3
alternating current – переменный ток
4
direct current – постоянный ток
CASEY JONES (1864 – 1900)
Casey Jones was the great American locomotive engineer hero who would not save
1
his own life
but died doing his duty. Casey worked as an engineer of the American train the Cannon-ball which
ran between Tennessee and Mississippi on Illinois Central Railroad. He was a skilful engine-driver
and always brought the train in on time. Casey was skilful with the whistle too – the locomotive
whistle. He had a special way of blowing it: beginning very softly, rising to a shriek, and dying
away. It would
2
made people’s hair stand on end
3
as the train passed by in the night. “There Casey is
going,” they said.
On the night of April 29, 1900 when Casey had just finished his own run and brought the

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