Design, Technology and Communication in the British Empire, 1830–1914 PDF
Preview Design, Technology and Communication in the British Empire, 1830–1914
Design, Technology and Communication in the British – Empire, 1830 1914 AnnieTindley(cid:129)AndrewWodehouse Design, Technology and Communication in the British – Empire, 1830 1914 AnnieTindley AndrewWodehouse SchoolofHistory,Classics& DepartmentofDesign,Manufacture Archaelogy,NewcastleUniversity andEngineeringManagement, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UniversityofStrathclyde UnitedKingdom Glasgow,UnitedKingdom ISBN978-1-137-59797-7 ISBN978-1-137-59798-4(eBook) DOI10.1057/978-1-137-59798-4 LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2016956243 ©TheEditor(s)(ifapplicable)andTheAuthor(s)2016 Theauthor(s)has/haveassertedtheirright(s)tobeidentifiedastheauthor(s)ofthisworkin accordancewiththeCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988. This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher,whetherthewholeorpartofthematerialisconcerned,specificallytherightsof translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilarmethodology nowknownorhereafterdeveloped. Theuseofgeneraldescriptivenames,registerednames,trademarks,servicemarks,etc.inthis publicationdoesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesare exemptfromtherelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. Thepublisher,theauthorsandtheeditorsaresafetoassumethattheadviceandinformation in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publishernortheauthorsortheeditorsgiveawarranty,expressorimplied,withrespectto thematerialcontainedhereinorforanyerrorsoromissionsthatmayhavebeenmade. Coverillustration:PatternadaptedfromanIndiancottonprintproducedinthe19thcentury Printedonacid-freepaper ThisPalgravePivotimprintispublishedbySpringerNature TheregisteredcompanyisMacmillanPublishersLtd. Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:TheCampus,4CrinanStreet,London,N19XW, UnitedKingdom For Colin For Lorna,Ruby and Archie A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS TheauthorswouldliketogratefullyacknowledgetheAHRCforfunding theresearchthatledtothisbook,undergrantreferenceAH/L010550/1, ‘DesignandinnovationintheBritishEmpire:ahistoricalconsiderationof the innovation ecosystem’. As part of that grant, we were able to work with Dr. Carolyn Anderson and Dr. Ben Thomas, whose excellent and insightfulwork asresearch assistantshelped usimmeasurably. We would also like to thank the following archives and libraries: Birmingham City Library; British Library, London; Mitchell Library, Glasgow; Museum of English Rural Life, Reading; National Library of Scotland,Edinburgh;NationalRailwayMuseumArchives,York;Teesside Archives, Middlesbrough;andUniversity of GlasgowArchive Service. vii C ONTENTS 1 Introduction:Designingthe Empire 1 2 AcquiringMarkets– TheOpportunities of Empire 15 3 DefiningSpecifications –The Requirements ofEmpire 41 4 ConceptualDevelopment –The EmbodiedEmpire 63 5 RealisingProduction–The Tools of Empire 87 6 Conclusion: AnEmpireConnected? 107 SelectBibliography 115 Index 125 ix L F IST OF IGURES Fig.2.1 ReproductionfromtheWolseleyJubileeCatalogueof1927 21 Fig.2.2 TheSutherlandsteamplough,withthe3rddukeatthehelm 24 Fig.3.1 EngineNo.7fortheDarjeelingHimalayanrailway,with technicalspecifications 45 Fig.3.2 BridgeacrosstheNilefromtheislandofRodahtoGhizeh, designedbySirWilliamArrolandCo.,1909 49 Fig.4.1 Exampleofengineer’snotebookdetailingpistonarrangement 67 Fig.4.2 Elementofsteamenginewithstrawfeedingmechanismby Ransomes,Sims&JefferiesLtd 69 Fig.4.3 ChenabroadsteamerbuiltbyRansomes,SimsandJefferies Ltd 73 Fig.5.1 RivetingmachineandcagefortheForthRailBridgebySir WilliamArrol&Co 91 Fig.5.2 Eleven-rollersugarcanemillbyA.&W.Smith&Co., Glasgow 95 Fig.5.3 Productionrecordsforacast-ironrollerproducedbySmith Mirrlees 96 xi CHAPTER1 Introduction: Designing the Empire Abstract This introduction outlines our key concern with the role of design in facilitating communication and applying industrial technology to culturally diverse imperial locations between c. 1830 and 1914. It surveys the relevant imperial contexts and presents a literature review encompassing the key themes in designand engineering, imperialhistory and business history. It also describes the research framework and ques- tions addressed in the book, consisting of four stages of design commu- nication: identification, specification, conceptualisation and production. To illustrate the workings of the framework we outline six primary case study industrial technologies: railways, steam ploughs, sheep shears, bridges,sugar production androadsteamers. Keywords Designprocess(cid:1)Researchframework(cid:1)Industrialtechnology(cid:1) Inter-imperial communication(cid:1) Colonial knowledge The locomotive was a symbol of design that reached the most remote cornersoftheBritishEmpire:anengineeringmarvelofascaleandcomplex- itystaggeringtothoseunfamiliarwithsuchmachines.Heavingthroughthe colonialbush,itcouldinduce‘stampedesofthenatives,’withablowofits whistle, and served as a reminder of Britain’s power as much as solving logisticalissues.1Successfulandsustainableadaptationoftechnology,how- ever,meantadeepunderstandingofcolonialconditionswascrucial.What ©TheAuthor(s)2016 1 A.Tindley,A.Wodehouse,Design,TechnologyandCommunication intheBritishEmpire,1830–1914, DOI10.1057/978-1-137-59798-4_1 2 DESIGN,TECHNOLOGYANDCOMMUNICATIONINTHEBRITISHEMPIRE... commercialfactors influenced thechosenroute?How wasthe lineplotted andtheenginespecifiedtocopewiththelocalenvironment?Whocollabo- ratedtomanufactureandassemblethelocomotiveitself?Andwhatrelation- shipsformedintheinstallationandoperationofthisnewmodeoftransport? Thestoriesbehindnotjustlocomotivesbutmanyoftheiconictechnologies oftheindustrialrevolutionareboundupintheprocessoftheirrealisation– theirdesigninthebroadestsenseoftheword. Infocusingontheintenselycollaborativenatureofdesign,weexamine the multifarious links formed in supporting the industrialisation of Britain’s empire and uncover the motivations, dynamics and legacies of thoseworkingwithinitsstructures.Therehasbeenbroadhistoricaldebate onthenatureofimperiallinkages,withnetworks,bridgeheads,nodesand webs among the proposed structures and definitions put forward. The long-standing discussion around, firstly, the diffusion, and latterly, the transfer of technology, has contributed a great deal to this wider debate and has built a postcolonial historiographical position that decentres Europe and emphasises instead the circularity of imperial connections. Design, Technology and Communication seeks to add to this debate by focusingnotonthetechnologiesthemselves,butontheirexploitationand thewaythedesignprocessactedasaconduitforcommunicationbetween, acrossand withinBritain andtheempire. Our central research question interrogates the role of design in com- municating and applying industrial technologies to culturally diverse imperial locations between c. 1830 and the First World War. Rather than examining the impacts of the technologies – particularly revolution- arytechnologiesandtheirmultipleincarnations,suchassteampower–we focus on incremental and adaptive design developments, which account forthemajorityofinnovativeactivityinthisperiod.Throughtheprocesses of identification, specification and application to and for new environ- ments,wearguethatdesignactedasaconduitforintra-imperialcommu- nication in the long nineteenth century, that is, as a form of communication within and across the different internal British contexts and the myriad, expanding imperial contexts. We examine not only the adaptation of industrial technologies for specific purposes but also the practical communication and links that emerged as necessities of their realisation.2 Design, Technology and Communication utilises detailed archival case studies to explore the mechanics of collaboration and poses two fundamental questions: what was the nature of design in the British Empire with regard to location, stakeholders, motivation and format?
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