Willoughby Smith

Willoughby Smith ( born April 6, 1828 in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, † July 17, 1891 in Eastbourne, Sussex ) was an English electrical engineer. He is considered the discoverer of the element selenium Photokonduktanz.

Life

From 1848 he worked at the London Gutta Percha Company in the development of electrical insulating materials for submarine cables, in particular on the properties of gutta-percha. In 1849 he oversaw the production and the following year the first experimental installation of a 30- mile long submarine cable between Dover and Calais. He works closely with Charles Wheatstone together and then played a key role in improving the insulation.

In 1854, he moved the first submarine cables in the Mediterranean between La Spezia and Corsica, Corsica and Sardinia, and later between Sardinia and Cona in Algeria. In 1859 he worked with the technician Chatterton at the designated pursuant to this " Chatterton - Ausgußmasse " for cable (British Patent 2809 ). In 1865 he was on board the Great Eastern and assisted in laying the cable between Ireland and Newfoundland.

Smith developed a device for continuous monitoring of submarine cables. To this end, he sought a high-resistance material, which should not be a non-conductor, however. In 1873 he chose this ingot of selenium. The Superintendent of the Valentia Cable Station Joseph May commented later changes their conductivity, which they attributed to changes in the exposure of selenium. Smith published their observation that has been noted by Lieutenant Harry Napier Draper and Richard J. Moss and investigated.

He was appointed Senior Partner at Elliott Brothers. Around 1885 he also took first attempts to wireless telegraphy. To a telegraphic connection between the lighthouse at Fastnet and the coast, where a cable could not be moved because of the danger of the sea, produce, Willoughby Smith served the following order: From the lighthouse, two bare wires were on the rocks in the opposite direction stretched, which were connected to two plates recessed into the sea.

His sons were William Oliver Smith (1855-1943) and Statham Willoughby Smith ( 1860-1946 ).

Publications

  • Induction; 1882
  • The Rise And Extension Of Submarine Telegraphy; 1891
  • The Society of telegraph engineers and electricians of; 1911
SS Great Eastern Elliott Brothers (computer company)
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