180 Master Minds of Modern Science 



that the actual power available at the shaft ran as high as 

 four thousand horse-power. 



Turbines and electro-generators are not the only pro- 

 ducts of the Parsons works, where you will find a large 

 department devoted to the making of searchlight reflec- 

 tors. The first of these was made for use in the Suez 

 Canal more than forty years ago, and since that date 

 great numbers have been made for the British and other 

 navies. Reflectors as much as seven feet in diameter have 

 been made in these works. A special feature of these 

 reflectors is the parabola ellipse mirror, in which the beam 

 of light is concentrated on a narrow slit ; it then spreads 

 out beyond. This projector can be placed behind a 

 narrow loophole which offers only a small target for 

 shots, yet the whole of the light can be projected in the 

 direction of the enemy. 



In 191 1 Parsons received the merited honour of being 

 created Knight Commander of the Bath. He is a Doctor 

 of Science in no fewer than six different universities, and 

 an honorary Fellow of his old college at Cambridge. He 

 presided over the British Association in 1919 and is Past 

 President of the Institute of Physics. 



The Kelvin Medal is perhaps the greatest honour that 

 can come to the scientific engineer. It is awarded only 

 once in three years, and then only after consultation with 

 the principal engineering institutions not merely of Great 

 Britain, but of the whole world. In 1926 Sir Charles 

 Parsons received this medal. He had already been 

 awarded the American Franklin Medal in 1920. He lives 

 in London, and is as keenly interested as ever in scientific 

 engineering. 



