THE R W THOMSON LECTURE 2013 Robert William Thomson (1822 – 1873) Inventors and Inventions in the World of Advanced Composites

The Mining Institute of Born in in 1822, Robert William Thomson left school aged 14 and spent two years in America before returning to Stonehaven where he taught himself the Tuesday 29 October 2013 7.00pm basics of science and mathematics while redesigning his mother’s mangle, building a ribbon saw and producing a working model for his elliptic steam engine, which he The fourth in a series of annual Prestige Lectures later perfected. organised by the After an engineering apprenticeship in and Scottish Association for Metals (SAM) he worked for a civil engineering company in Scottish Plastics and Rubber Association (SPRA) and then . Here he invented a new and method of detonating explosives using electricity, thereby The Mining Institute of Scotland (MIS) saving many lives in the mining industry world-wide. He was only 23 years old when he patented the pneumatic Local Societies affiliated to The Institute of tyre, a design remarkably similar to the modern radial tyre. Materials, Minerals and Mining However this met with limited success because of poor quality of roads and the variable quality of vulcanised in memory of rubber, the rubber industry still being in its infancy. He Robert William Thomson turned to solid rubber tyres for his next inventions — an the prolific inventor from Stonehaven invalid chair, his road steamers, capable of hauling up to 40 tons, and steam omnibuses.

Later inventions included the self-filling fountain pen, a portable steam crane, and a hydraulic dry dock. His many patents included a method of separating rock, stone and coal, improvement to steam gauges and elastic beds and seats. The Lindsay Stewart Lecture Theatre Edinburgh Napier University, Craiglockhart Campus Edinburgh EH14 1DJ The 2010 R W Thomson Lecture will be held at 7:00pm on THE R W THOMSON LECTURE Tuesday 29 October 2013 Tuesday 29 October 2013 in the Lindsay Stewart Lecture Theatre of Edinburgh Napier University (Please complete in BLOCK LETTERS) Craiglockhart Campus, Edinburgh EH14 1DJ

The 2013 Lecture will be delivered by Name: Professor Geoff Gibson

The title of his talk is: Address: Inventors and Inventions in the World of Advanced Composites Professor Geoff Gibson

Timings BSc PhD Ceng FIMMM

6:30 pm Registration iand Refreshments in Geoff Gibson holds the Roland Cookson Chair of Composite Tel: The Stewart Lecture Theatre Lobby Materials at Newcastle University. He runs the Centre for Composite Materials Engineering, which specialises in several aspects of the fabrication and use of composites, including Email: 7:00 pm Professor Gibson delivers the marine and offshore applications, pipework, thermoplastic fouth R W Thomson Lecture composites, environmental behaviour and the behaviour of composite structures in fire. Research in this area is I should like to attend the Lecture and wish to bring 8:30 pm Close sponsored by EPSRC, DTI, EU and directly by industry. the following guests Currently Newcastle University is the Lead Partner in the EU- sponsored FIRE-RESIST programme, aimed at promoting a step-change improvement in the fire behaviour of advanced Name: The dress for the occasion will be lounge suit. Presidents composites. of IOM3 Affiliated Societies are asked to wear their The talk will involve a light-hearted and highly selective Name: badges of office. Name badges will be provided. excursion through the field of inventions, some important, some less so, in the development of advanced composites. Please complete the slip on the right hand side and return This is an area where R.W. Thomson may well have worked if Please send to: it by Friday 18 October. he had been alive today, as the inventions in composites run strangely parallel to those in rubber a century earlier. We Spaces are limited and applications will be taken on a have much to learn from our predecessors, especially in terms Colin Hindle, SPRA Educarion Officer first come, first served basis. Directions will be sent to of finding effective ways to exploit our discoveries. Examples will be cited of areas where we have both succeeded and School of Engineering & Built Environment confirm acceptance failed. You will learn about a company that had one to many Edinburgh Napier University good inventors and also about the lesser-known UK invention Merchiston Campus without which there would be no Boeing Dreamliner or Airbus A350. Edinburgh EH10 5DT Colin Hindle (SPRA Education Officer)

Tel: 0131 455 2622 Tel: 0131 455 2622 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]