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EDWARD LYON BERTHON (1813-1899)

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 812 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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EDWARD See also:LYON See also:BERTHON (1813-1899)  , See also:English inventor, was See also:born in See also:London, on the 20th of See also:February 1813, the son of an See also:army contractor and descendant of an old Huguenot See also:family . He studied for the medical profession in See also:Liverpool and a.t See also:Dublin, but after his See also:marriage in 1834 he gave up his intention of becoming a See also:doctor, and travelled for about six years on the See also:continent . Keenly interested from boyhood in See also:mechanical See also:science, the made experiments in the application of the See also:screw propeller for boats . But his See also:model, with a two-bladed propeller, was only ridiculed when it was placed before the See also:British See also:admiralty . See also:Berthon therefore did not See also:complete the patent and the See also:idea was See also:left for See also:Francis See also:Smith to bring out more successfully in 1838 . In 1841 he entered Magdalene See also:College, See also:Cambridge, in See also:order to study for the See also:Church . There he produced what is usually known as " Berthon's See also:log," in which the suction produced by the See also:water streaming past the end of a See also:pipe projected below a See also:ship is registered on a See also:mercury See also:column above . In 1845 he was ordained, and after holding a curacy at See also:Lymington was given a living at See also:Fareham . Here he was able to carry on experiments with his log, which was tested on the See also:Southampton to See also:Jersey steamboats; but the British admiralty gave him no encouragement, and it remained uncompleted . He next designed some See also:instruments to indicate the See also:trim and See also:rolling of boats at See also:sea; but the idea for which he is chiefly remembered was that of the "Berthon Folding See also:Boat " in 1849 . This invention was again adversely reported on by the admiralty . Berthon resigned his living at Fareham, and subsequently accepted the living of See also:Romsey .

In 1873, encouraged by See also:

Samuel See also:Plimsoll, he again applied himself to perfecting his collapsible boat . Success was at last achieved, and in less than a See also:year he had received orders from the admiralty for boats to the amount of £15,000 . Some were taken by See also:Sir See also:George See also:Nares to the See also:Arctic, others were sent to See also:General See also:Gordon at See also:Khartum, and others again were taken to the See also:Zambezi by F . C . See also:Selous . Berthon died on the 27th of See also:October 1899 .

End of Article: EDWARD LYON BERTHON (1813-1899)
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