Charles Sylvester
Charles Sylvester | |
|---|---|
 bust in Derby Museum by Francis Chantrey | |
| Born | 1774 |
| Died | 1828 |
| Occupation(s) | Chemist, Inventor |
Charles Sylvester (1774–1828) Chemist and inventor born in Sheffield
Biography
Sylvester was born in 1774 in Sheffield, which was then in Derbyshire. He married, Sarah Dixon, in 1798 three months before the birth of their son John. Sarah went on to have two more boys and three girls, but John was the only boy to become an adult. Sylvester experimented with coating iron and steel with Zinc. The method patented by Sylester and two others involved building a battery from layers of itels that you wanted to plate with layers of zinc and then leaving the construction in seawater.[1]
In 1807 Sylvester moved to Derby where he worked with William Strutt who was building Derby's Royal Infirmary. Sylvester was instrumental in designing a novel heating system for the new hospital. He published his ideas in The Philosophy of Domestic Economy; as exemplified in the mode of Warming, Ventilating, Washing, Drying, & Cooking, . . . in the Derbyshire General Infirmary in 1819. However the book is dedicated to Strutt and Sylvester is careful to assign many of the inventions to Strutt and to note that the heating designs installed by Sylvester in the new Infirmary had already been tried on Strutt and his friends' houses. Sylvester documented the new ways of heating hospitals that were included in the design and the healthier features such as self cleaning and air refreshing toilets.[2] The toilets had a carefully designed door that was designed to change the air for fresh as each user exited. The same door action also washed the basin.[2]
Sylvester described the infirmary's features like it's construction, laundry and novel heating that allowed the patients to breathe fresh heated air whilst old air was channelled up to a glass and iron dome at the centre.[3] Sylvester described the advances that Strutt had made and this was successful in three ways. Sylvester was able to take the new ideas for heating and apply them in numerous other building projects.[2] The Derby Infirmary was seen as a leader in European architecture and architects and visiting Royalty were brought to see its features. Finally Strutt was proposed to become a member of the Royal Society by five distinguished proposers which included Marc Isambard Brunel and James Watt.[3]
Sylvester with Strutt was a member of Erasmus Darwin's Derby Philosophical Society.[4]
Sylvester was commissioned by the Chairman of the Liverpool and M?anchester Railway to advise them on the subject of railroad and he wrote a Report on rail-roads and locomotive engines. Sylvester included a comparison betweek canals and railways. He observed that greater power will deliver more speed on a railroad, but on the canal the power required to increase speend varies by the square of the velocity.[5]
Sylvester's bust was modelled by Chantry and one copy of these is in Derby Museum and Art Gallery.
References
- ^ Zamenzadeh, Dr. [plant-maintenance.com "Some Failure Analysis Case Histories in Galvanized Steel Products"]. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
{{cite journal}}: Check|url=value (help); Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ a b c Sylvester, Charles (1819). The philosophy of domestic economy: as exemplified in the mode of warming ... p.71.
- ^ a b Elliott, Paul (2000). "The Derbyshire General Infirmary and the Derby Philosophers: The Application of Industrial Architecture and Technology to Medical Institutions in Early-Nineteenth-Century England" (PDF). Medical History. 46: 65–92. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
- ^ R.P. Sturges. "The membership of Derby Philosophical Society" (PDF). Midland history. Birminghan University. pp. 215–223. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
- ^ Sylvester, Charles (1825). Report on rail-roads and locomotive engines. p. 39.