An interesting article from a copy of the Illustrated London News of October 1856 that I recently acquired – on a mobile elevating platform that would have been used to peer over the walls of a city being besieged by an army.

However, I am still somewhat at a loss as to why the besiegers were unable to put up a ladder that was just below line-of-sight and climb up that to peer over the walls of the city.

Anyhow, as with many inventions, the initial motivation was military with civilian uses a later potential benefit, and although we see mechanical lifting platforms used in some situations, the enthusiasm that the invention would effectively render the humble ladder redundant proved hopelessly optimistic.

THE PATENT ELEVATOR AND OBSERVATORY

Illustrated London News, October 11, 1856

During the siege of Sebastopol a good deal of natural anxiety was felt to obtain a view of the interior of the enemy’s works, and several plans to this effect were suggested, none of which were feasible. Two or three months before the town yielded to the Allied armies, Mr. Stocqueler, the military writer, conceived that a machine constructed upon the principle of the “lazy tongs,” with a vertical action, might be made available for carrying a person up a considerable height, and at a safe distance, so as to afford a perfect view of the interior of the fortifications.

He communicated his idea to Mr. W.B. Saunders; and the father of that gentleman, Mr. W. Saunders, formerly of Jersey, a remarkably ingenious person, hit upon expedient of applying the “lazy tongs” principle in the manner shown in the accompanying engraving. It will be observed that a series of tiers of expanding laths, each lath six feet in length, worked by a wheel acting on a spindle, rises from the three sides of a triangular base, carrying up an individual, secured by a circular railing, to a height of fifty or even one hundred feet, according to the dimensions of the base.

A model of the machine having been shown to Lord Panmure, that nobleman, after taking the opinion of scientific officers, encouraged Messrs. Stocqueler and Saunders to construct a machine properly reserving his undertaking to become a purchaser on behalf of the Government until the promise of the model should be realised in the elevator itself.

No time was lost by the projectors in commencing the construction of the machine. Several difficulties and obstacles presented themselves, but they were all surmounted by the energy of Mr. Saunders and the skill of Mr. Burley, the engineer – not, however, until Sebastopol had fallen. In the mean, while Messrs. Stocqueler and Saunders patented their invention in England, France, Belgium, &c.; and it is now offered to the public for the various purposes to which it is applicable.

Its utility in superseding scaffolding to a great degree is obvious. For cleaning the inside of the roods of churches, chapels, halls, and museums; painting and repairing the fronts of houses; assisting firemen to direct the jets of water upon burning houses; facilitating reconnaissances and observations; rendering ladders and climbing unnecessary in gathering fruit; lopping the branches of tall trees, and watering conservatories; painting and caulking the sides of ships – in face, for all purposes in which a certain elevation, without the expense and incumbrance of scaffolding, is requisite, this invention will prove of much value.

We understand that it is viewed with much favour on the other side of the Channel.

Whenever a new energy or force was discovered in the past, it wasn’t long before someone tried to see if it could be used as a medical treatment.

As most things can treat something though, it wouldn’t be long before “this might work in some cases on a few illnesses” is turned into CURES EVERYTHING!

Just as the discovery of radiation initially lead to the use of radioactive elements as treatments – and indeed still are in more controlled conditions, the discovery of controllable electricity spurred an entire industry in dubious cures for all manner of ailments.

As regular readers may recall, I have a growing collection of old newspapers, from which I have learnt that rheumatism and gout seemed to be the greatest medical concern of the age.

Today I acquired a collection of prints from various newspapers and this advert from October 1882 jumped out at me.

What I like most about these adverts is the improbable list of the things the device will cure: Nervous headaches; bilious headaches; neuralgia; dandruff – not to mention preventing grey hairs and baldness.

Click on the image for a larger version.

Considering the quackery of the claims made about the brush, even more amusing to my mind is the dire warning that there are fakes around that wont work as promised, and that people simply must make sure they buy only from Dr Scott.

Note also how they push the address of the shop quite strongly – as it would have been just a few doors down from the first electricity generator for public use in London, which powered street lighting in the Holborn area. Hanging onto the coattails of its more legitimate neighbour!

The Ig Nobel awards – an annual award for real science that seems just a bit weird when you first hear about it – also hosts a series of shows around the UK, and the London tour details have been announced.

This is truly one of my annual highlights as it is a fantastically enjoyable evening of weird science and humour.

Click here for my review of last year’s show

This year, the show will include:

Elena Bodnar, a physician, is a 2009 Ig Nobel Prize winner in public health, for inventing a brassiere that, in an emergency, can be quickly converted into a pair of protective face masks, one for the brassiere wearer and one to be given to some needy bystander.

Catherine Douglas of Newcastle University shared the 2009 Ig Nobel Prize in veterinary medicine with Peter Rowlinson for showing that cows who have names give more milk than cows that are nameless.

Erwin Kompanje studies overlooked spectacular medical history. He is a clinical ethicist at Erasmus University Rotterdam. On this year’s tour her will show scientific investigations of Rudolph’s red nose.

John Hoyland created and edits the “Feedback” column in New Scientist Magazine. He will present a fresh batch of oddities.

And Dan Meyer, a swordswallower, shared the 2007 Ig Nobel Medicine Prize for the penetrating medical report “Sword Swallowing and Its Side Effects.” In 2010 he will present evidence of some of the unexpected physical objects people have swallowed.

Time limits will be enforced by twin eight-year-old Miss Sweetie Poos.

Tickets are free, but limited to two per applicant.

To request tickets, simply fire off an email to events@imperial.ac.uk with your name and address. Tickets will be confirmed and posted out at the beginning of March.

The show itself is on Thursday March 18th, 2010, at 6pm.

Look forward to seeing you there on the night.

This event is being held at Southend on Sea – but I thought it would interest people in London.

–

An exhibition by Maxwell Roberts

Since revolutionising map design in 1933, Henry Beck’s iconic London Underground diagram has set the standard for the mapping of transport network worldwide.

The exhibition explores the success of the Beck map and the rules that it adopted, and asks whether the increasingly complex networks of today demand fresh approaches.

Roberts presents a collection of his own work: maps that are easier to use; maps that teach us about good design; maps that challenge our preconceptions; and maps that are purely decorative.

Runs: Fri 25th Feb to Mon 8th March.

Mon-Fri: 9am-5pm
Sat: 9am-4:30pm

The artist will be “in residence” on 26 & 27 Feb and 6th March.

Admission: Free

Address: Campus Gallery, South Essex College of Further & Higher Education, Luker Road, Southend on Sea, Essex.

Thanks to London Reconnections for letting me know about this.

An early map

Inspired by the Art Nouveau movement?

A slightly redesigned version of the modern map (note the changes to the Bakerloo and Victoria lines).

Maps from other metro networks will also be on display.

Woe woe and thrice woe – my Twitter account has been suspended for a “minimum of one week”.

It seems I have been a naughty boy by “churning” too much – which is to say that I recently decided a bit of a cull of the people I am following, while adding some possibly interesting London based people has triggered an alert at Twitter and I have been slapped on the wrist.

Oh well.

Hopefully will be back on Twitter next week, as I do miss the chatter.

Incidentally, not blogging a lot right now as am very busy working on a new project – ironically, developing a new service based on Twitter.