Articles
John B. Stranges
Mr. Chrysler’s Building: Merging Design and Technology In in the Machine Age, pp. 1-19
https://www.jstor.org/stable/43488017
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The Chrysler Building occupies an exalted place in the hierarchy of American architecture as one of the country’s most beautiful expressions of Art Deco design. Completed in 1930, as an era of prosperity slid into economic depression, its powerful granite foundation, missile-like brick tower, stainless steel ornamentation glorifying the automobile, gleaming seven-story stainless steel spire, and intense, motivational murals converge in praise of the possibilities of mind and machine in the new industrial era. Unfortunately, the intent of the builder, Walter Chrysler, and the success of the architect, William Van Alen, have too often been obscured in the literature about the building by the drama of the race for height supremacy between Chrysler and his corporate rivals and the post-World War II romanticised version of the building as an expression of the fantasy life of New York City. This article portrays the Chrysler Building as a technological triumph encased in a facade of mesmerising beauty. Much of the building’s power and originality emanated from Chrysler himself. Chrysler’s self-promotion and his (and Van Alen’s) fascination with ornament diminish beneath the importance of the building as a monument to the time when the automobile was no longer defined as a single technological innovation but as an essential part of a change of the first magnitude in transportation.
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Anika Schleinzer
Rehearsed Technology: The Definition of Technical Toys in the Early Twentieth Century, pp. 20-39
https://www.jstor.org/stable/43488018
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Steam engines, trains, cars and metal construction kits: these artefacts, occasionally accompanied by other means of transportation and different kinds of machines, are generally conceived of as ‘technical toys’. Children’s cookers, jumping jacks, spinning tops and many more are not so defined, although the prevailing scientific definition of ‘technology’, which embraces all ‘useful artificial, objective entities’, would surely include them. So, what distinguishes a technical from an ordinary toy? And what does the revaluation of the technical further imply?
This article first identifies the technical toy and its ‘secret ingredients’ as depicted in popular and scientific literature. It then sorts out what researchers have gathered under the term ‘technical toy’ and reveals the subliminal certainties about the resulting body of artefacts and its iconic potency. Next, the historical roots of this common discourse are traced back to the threshold of the twentieth century. Using the example of toy catalogues, the methods and procedures that were applied to elevate a toy to (or exclude one from) the technical sphere are examined, and the repercussions of the resulting toy definition on the purpose of play, the prospective users and the general meaning of technology are analysed.
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Klaus Staubermann
The Transfer of Shipbuilding Knowledge: Reconstructing HMAS Warrego, Part 1, pp. 40-48
https://www.jstor.org/stable/43488019
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By the end of the nineteenth century Glasgow had become one of the world’s centres of naval and marine engineering. Engineers on the Clyde had managed to establish a culture of scientific engineering, drawing on both theory and experimentation. When in 1909 the newly established Australian Navy commissioned five torpedo-boat destroyers, it was not surprising that shipbuilders from the Clyde successfully tendered for the contract. However, the Australian Navy did not simply want to acquire modern warships; they also wanted to learn how to build them. Therefore, two destroyers were built in Glasgow, one, the HMAS Warrego, was built, taken apart and rebuilt in Sydney, and two more were built in Sydney, using the experience acquired from reconstructing HMAS Warrego.This first part of the paper looks at shipbuilding on the Clyde and tries to understand the Australian Navy’s reasoning behind the rebuilding of HMAS Warrego; a second part, which will be forthcoming, aims to examine the shipbuilding and yard practices and their appropriation in Australia.
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Francesc X. Barca Salom
Heating and Ventilation in Barcelona in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century, pp. 49-69
https://www.jstor.org/stable/43488020
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In the 1860s two studies on heating and ventilation: Consideraciones generales acerca de las aplicaciones de ciertos principios científicos a la teoría y con-
strucción de los aparatos de calefacción by Lucas Echeverría, and Calentamiento y ventilación de edificios by Francisco de P. Rojas, were undertaken in the space of four years. The former paper was delivered to the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts in Barcelona in March 1864 but was never published, whereas the latter was published and awarded a prize by the Royal Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences in Madrid in 1868. Shortly afterwards, Josep Vallhonesta published in Barcelona his Nuevo sistema de ventilación para mantener frescos en el verano los edificios públicos y particulares, a study on ventilation and natural refrigeration. The three studies were undertaken by industrial engineers who were or became teachers at the School of Industrial Engineering of Barcelona. They were also members of the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts in Barcelona.The present paper seeks to analyse these works in their context and to highlight the innovations introduced by the authors from the practical and the theoretical perspective. The works, which are poorly documented, formed part of the European trend of the time and are notable examples of transfer of knowledge diffused by the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures of Paris to other countries.
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Sławomir Łotysz
A ‘Lasting Memorial’ to the UNNRA? Implementation of the Penicillin Plant Programme in Poland, 1946–1949, pp. 70-91
https://www.jstor.org/stable/43488021
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In early 1946, the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) initiated a programme to build six penicillin factories, in Czechoslovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia, Ukraine, Belarus and Italy. The continuous availability of this, the first antibiotic, was deemed necessary to combat the plague of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) ravaging war-torn Europe. However, the UNRRA initiative coincided with rising hostility between East and West, and was ultimately obstructed by the United States. The newly-established World Health Organisation (WHO) failed to help, dragging the fledgling organisation into its first major crisis. Eventually, despite all the obstacles, the Polish, Czechoslovakian and Yugoslavian plants were opened and began production, becoming the foundation of a new industry which would reshape the European pharmaceutical market over the next few decades. This article analyses how, via a prolonged battle, the UNRRA’s single largest medical aid programme veered from potential failure to a success.
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Stefan Krebs and Melissa Van Drie
The Art of Stethoscope Use: Diagnostic Listening Practices of Medical Physicians and ‘Auto Doctors’, pp. 92-114
https://www.jstor.org/stable/43488022
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Since the early years of the trade, car mechanics were often referred to as ‘auto-doctors’, a figuration most easily discernible in the field’s advertisements and trade journals. This linking of car repair craft skills to the clinical expertise of medical physicians is often suggested through depictions of this ‘auto-doctor’ using a stethoscope. Beyond being emblematic of a doctor’s vocation, referencing this tool underlines a tradition common to both professions: namely, of training the expert’s senses to detect and analyse problems in cars and human bodies by their sounds.
However, with the advent of more visual forms of diagnosis (e.g., X-rays) in the 1950s and 1960s, medical auscultation’s real potential was more and more frequently put into question. Roughly at the same time, similar shifts from sonic to visual means of diagnosis (e.g., oscilloscopes) occurred in the car mechanics trade. This article explores connections between the two very different fields of medical diagnosis and car repair through an investigation of their ‘sonic skills’ (the listening skills and other skills needed to employ the tools for listening). This comparison is developed first through delineating the bodily, cognitive and socio-technical aspects of diagnostic listening, for which examining different teaching strategies for learning such techniques in both fields are revelatory. We examine each technique’s key dispositions and contexts of enactment, including uses of the stethoscope and other tools, particular listening protocols and bodily postures and ways of sharing and communicating about perceived acoustic information within professional settings. Finally, we explore how listening is equally engaged in the construction of professional identities, including relationships between experts and non-experts.[ /read] Full text:
Pierre Bouillon
A Paradox in Computer Science: French and Romanian Cooperation during the Cold War, pp. 115-124
https://www.jstor.org/stable/43488023
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The French policy of détente, which aimed to bind together Western and Eastern European countries, was linked to the French policies of national independence and of industrialisation in the high-tech field of informatics. Indeed, French political aims towards the East were strengthened by both a diplomatic and economic policy devoted to resisting United States’ hegemony. As a consequence, a partnership in informatics was set up within an Eastern European country, Romania. Paradoxically, the decision to sign bilateral agreements in the field of informatics was undertaken at the very moment Romanian secret services targeted France. Moreover, France loosened the embargo on computers while faced with evidence that the Romanians were trying to use Western know-how to improve their military capabilities. However, that issue was addressed in order to reduce the threat on French security: actually, the French détente was more backed than threatened by that ambiguous partnership in computer science.
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Malcolm R. Hill
Russian Iron and Steel Production from 1800–1860, pp. 125-150
https://www.jstor.org/stable/43488024
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This article is a study of Russian iron production during the first six decades of the nineteenth century, immediately following three previous decades when Russia had been the world’s largest producer of bar iron and just prior to the repeal of serfdom in 1861. The article shows that Russian production of bar iron doubled between 1800 and 1860 through a combination of improvements in previously proven processes and adaptation of other technologies from abroad to suit resource availabilities.
Although Russian fineries had manufactured high quality products throughout the previous century, it became important for ironmasters to reduce fuel costs in order to remain competitive, particularly in conditions of reduced access to previous export markets after 1800. The Urals region continued as the country’s major iron producer, but Uralian coal was unsuitable for use in both smelting and fining. Thus, it became necessary for Russian ironmasters to reduce charcoal consumption or remove the need for coaling. The article surveys the prime examples of innovations to achieve those aims: the more charcoal-efficient Franche-Comtois (kontuazskii or malokrichnyi) fining process and the ‘puddling’ method adapted to use firewood.
In order to meet the growing demand for pig iron in both fineries and puddling furnaces from 1800 to 1860, the capacity of blast furnaces increased significantly in spite of the friability of charcoal compared to coke, although improvements in fuel utilisation during smelting were fairly modest. Uralian ironmasters also preferred the continued use of abundant water resources for power rather than widespread adoption of steam engines. [ /read] Full text:
Kranzberg Lecture
Alex Herlea
The History of Technology and European Unity, pp. 151-165
https://www.jstor.org/stable/43488025
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Journal Review
Maria Elvira Callapez and Vanessa Silva
‘Beyond the Academy – Histories of Gender and Knowledge’, pp. 166-172
https://www.jstor.org/stable/43488026
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Book Reviews
Full text of all book reviews (pp. 173-207) listed below:
Erik van der Vleuten
Network Neutrality: Switzerland’s Role in the Genesis of the Telegraph Union, 1855–1875 by Gabriele Balbi, Simone Fari, Giuseppe Richeri and Spartaco Calvo (pp. 173-174)
Hanna Vikström
Scarcity and Frontiers: How Economies Have Developed through Natural Resource Exploitation by Edward Barbier (pp. 175-177)
Sonja Neumann
Nazi Soundscapes: Sound, Technology and Urban Space in Germany, 1933–1945 by Carolyn Birdsall (pp. 177-178)
Alexios Zavras
In Search of Certainty: The Science of our Information Infrastructure by Mark Burgess (pp. 178-180)
Kai Jakobs
Standards: Recipes for Reality by Lawrence Busch (pp. 180-181)
Antoni Roca-Rosell
Engineers and the Making of the Franco Regime by Lino Camprubí (pp. 182-185)
Anthony N. Stranges
Energy Capitals: Local Impact, Global Influence by Joseph Pratt, Martin Melosi, Kathleen Brosnan (pp. 185-187)
Rudi Volti
American Railroads: Decline and Renaissance in the Twentieth Century by Robert E. Gallamore, John R. Meyer (pp. 188-189)
Artemis Yagou
Bicycle Design: An Illustrated History by Tony Hadland, Hans-Erhard Lessing (pp. 189-191)
Hans-Joachim Braun
The Psychophysical Ear: Musical Experiments, Experimental Sounds, 1840–1910 by Alexandra Hui (pp. 191-193)
Michael Schuering
The Disaster Experts: Mastering Risk in Modern America by Scott Gabriel Knowles (pp. 193-194)
Bart Tritsmans
Greening Berlin: The Co-Production of Science, Politics, and Urban Nature by Jens Lachmund (pp. 194-195)
Kathryn Nathenson
Cold War Kitchen: Americanization, Technology, and European Users by Ruth Oldenziel, Karin Zachmann (pp. 196-197)
Erland Mårald
A Gap in the Grid: Attempts to Introduce Natural Gas in Sweden 1967–1991 by Anna Åberg (pp. 197-200)
Penny Sparke
Aluminum Dreams: The Making of Light Modernity by Mimi Shelter (pp. 200-201)
Jan Kunnas
The Nuclear Age in Popular Media: A Transnational History, 1945–1965 by Dick Van Lente (pp. 201-203)
John Z. Langrish
Paul Lauterbur and the Invention of MRI by M. Joan Dawson; Imperial Technoscience: Transnational Histories of MRI in the United States, Britain, and India by Amit Prasad (pp. 203-205)
Michael Geselowitz
Electrifying Europe: The Power of Europe in the Construction of Electricity Networks. (Foundation for the History of Technology, Technology and European History Series) by Vincent Lagendijk, Ruth Oldenziel, Johan Schot (pp. 206-207)
