Jobn Ericsson. 

 Engineer 



ERICSSON 



(3,757 ft.) Here is a cavern in 

 which Charles Edward sought re- 

 fuge after the battle of Culloden. 



Ericsson, JOHN (1803-89). 

 Swedish-American engineer. Born 

 July 31, 1803, in Vermland, Swe- 

 den, at an 

 early age he 

 developed 

 great aptitude 

 for mechanics, 

 and in 1820 

 became an 

 engineer in the 

 Swedish army. 

 Seeking a 

 wider scope 

 for his talents, 

 he came to England in 1826 and 

 occupied himself with improve- 

 ments in steam machinery. Three 

 years later be built, with John 

 Braithwaite (g.v.), the Novelty 

 locomotive engine to compete with 

 Stephenson's Rocket. Ericsson was 

 occupied with various inventions, 

 chiefly marine engines, up to 1836, 

 when he brought out a marine 

 screw propeller. 



Not obtaining the recognition he 

 expected from the British Admir- 

 alty, in 1839 he went to America, 

 where he lived for the remainder of 

 his life. Turning his attention to 

 defensive armour for warships and 

 improvements in marine engines, 

 he gained a wide reputation. In 

 1861 he designed the famous ar- 

 moured turret ship the Monitor, 

 and in 1862 built a number of 

 similar vessels for the American 

 navy. Ericsson's contributions to 

 the science of mechanical engin- 

 eering had a marked effect on the 

 navigation of the world. He died 

 in New York, March 8, 1889. See 

 Life, W. C. Church, new ed. 1892. 



Eridanus. In classical myth- 

 ology, a river and river-god of 

 Italy. It was identified with the 

 Padus, the modern Po, which rises 

 in the Alps and discharges into the 

 Adriatic by several mouths. 



Eridanus. One of the Ptolemaic 

 constellations. The larger part of 

 it is below the northern horizon. 

 Alpha Eridani or Achernahr is 

 known as the End of the River ; but 

 the title was given by Ptolemy to 

 Theta Eridani much farther N. 

 Beta Eridani is known as Cursa, 

 the footstool of Orion. The con- 

 stellation is also called the River, 

 which may have referred to the 

 Euphrates! See Cursa. 



Bridge Castle. Seat of the mar- 

 quess of Abergavenny in Sussex, 

 near the Kentish border, 3 m. from 

 Tunbridge Wells. The estate has 

 belonged to the Nevilles since the 

 13th century, but the present castle 

 is modern, being built early in the 

 19th century. The park covers 2,000 

 acres. At Eridge Green are the 



Ericsson. The Monitor, an ironclad 

 from Ericsson's plans by the Federal Navy d 

 American Civil War 



Eridge Rocks. The village has a 

 station on the L.B. & S.C. Rly., 

 and the place gives its name to the 

 Eridge Hunt. It is probable that 

 there was a deer park here in 1086. 



Eridu. Sumerian settlement at 

 Abu Shahrain, S. of Muqayyar 

 (Moghair or Ur), S. Babylonia. Ori- 

 ginally an islet on a Persian Gulf 

 estuary, sacred to the water-god 

 Ea, it was the traditional cradle- 

 land of some aspects of Babylonian 

 religion. Examined by J. E. Tay- 

 lor, 1854, its sandstone wall, 20 ft. 

 high, enclosed a platform with 

 marble staircase, bearing a two- 

 staged brick tower. Capt. R. C. 

 Thompson's excavations in 1918 

 revealed a pre-Sumerian neolithic 

 substratum, and copper-age culture, 

 further explored by H. R. Hall 

 during 1919. 



Erie. Southernmost of the 

 chain of great lakes of N. America. 

 It forms part of the boundary 

 between the U.S.A. and Canada. 

 Area, 10,000 sq, m. It is 250 m. 

 long, and its greatest breadth is 

 60 m., while its average depth is 

 90 ft. The lake is 565 ft. above the 

 level of tide water in the Hudson 

 river at Albany, and 330 ft. above 

 the level of Lake Ontario, into 

 which it discharges its waters by 

 the Falls of Niagara. At its N. W. 



hip, 1 

 uring 



the 



ERIE 



end it receives 

 the surplus 

 waters of lakes 

 Superior, Michi- 

 gan, and Huron, 

 through the river 

 Detroit. Con- 

 tributory feeders 

 are the rivers 

 Thames and 

 Grand. A large 

 number of steam- 

 ers and other 

 ships traverse it, 

 except in win- 

 ter, when it is 

 generally frozen over for a con- 

 siderable period. In very hard 

 winters it is possible to cross 

 from the U.S.A. to Canada over 

 the ice. 



Lake Erie is the outlet of a large 

 system of connecting canals, which 

 render its navigation of great 

 importance. The Welland Canal 

 connects with Lake Ontario ; the 

 Erie Canal affords communication 

 between Buffalo and Albany, thus 

 linking up with the Hudson river ; 

 the Ohio Canal begins at Cleveland 

 and ends at Portsmouth, on the 

 Ohio river ; and the Miami and 

 Erie Canal connects Toledo with 

 Cincinnati. During the war of 

 1812-15 an American squadron, 

 under Commodore Perry, captured 

 here a British force of six vessels 

 on Sept. 10, 1813. 



Erie. City of Pennsylvania, 

 U.S.A., the co. seat of Erie co. On 

 Lake Erie, 88 m. S.W. of Buffalo, 

 it is served by the New York, 

 Chicago and St. Louis, and other 

 rlys. Its fine natural harbour, 

 with artificial improvements, is 

 protected by Presque Isle, a strip 

 of land 6 m. long and 1 m. in 

 extreme breadth, and has a 

 maximum depth of 25 ft. An 

 important industrial and com- 

 mercial centre with a valuable 



Erie. Engineering works on the shores of the lake at Buffalo. N.Y. 



By courtesy of Grand Trunk Railway of Canada 



