Beauchamp Tower | |
|---|---|
| Born | 13 January 1845 |
| Died | 31 December 1904 |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Engineer |
| Engineering career | |
| Significant advance | Hydrodynamiclubrication |
Beauchamp Tower (13 January 1845 – 31 December 1904) was anEnglishinventor and railwayengineer who is chiefly known for his discovery of full-film orhydrodynamiclubrication.[1]
Beauchamp Tower was born the son of Robert Beauchamp Tower, rector of Moreton, Essex and educated atUppingham School,Rutland. He decided at the age of 16 that he wanted to become an engineer and received early training at the Armstrong Works atElswick, where he stayed for a few months as a draughtsman after completing his four-yearapprenticeship.
Beauchamp Tower held several patents regarding an apparatus for maintaining a constant plane in a floating vessel.[2][3] The apparatus is based on the gyroscopic principle.One of the possible applications of this patent was steadying guns on shipboard.[4] In 1977, he was named byDuncan Dowson as one of the 23 "Men of Tribology".[5][6]
Tower's work on lubrication influenced many other engineers, includingOsborne Reynolds, who acknowledged Tower in his 1886 paper on lubrication and the viscosity of olive oil.[7]Lord Kelvin credited Tower with the idea of a chain and pulleys as part of hisTide-predicting machine.[8]