Soho was a former huntingcry, made by the huntsman when they uncoupled the dogs when hunting hares. The cry effectively means 'after him' and was directed as an instruction to the dogs to chase the hare. Research Soho
Matthew Boulton was an English mechanical engineer. He was born in 1728 at Birmingham and died in 1809. He engaged in business as a manufacturer of hardware, and invented and brought to great perfection inlaid steel buckles, buttons, watch-chains, etc. In 1762 he added to his premises by the purchase of the Soho, a barren heath near Birmingham, where he established an extensive manufactory and school of the mechanical arts. The introduction of the steam-engine at Soho led to a connection between Matthew Boulton and James Watt, who became partners in trade in 1769. Research Matthew Boulton
William Murdock was a Scottish engineer. He was born in 1754 at Lugar near Auchinleck in East Ayrshire, and died in 1839. He invented the coal gas light, and in 1784 an engine which ran on wheels. He began experimenting with the illuminating properties of gases in 1792 and in 1800 erected an experimental apparatus at Soho (near Birmingham) with the result that gas was used in some places as an illumination after the peace of Amiens in 1802. Research William Murdock
Mandy Miller is an English actress. She was born in 1944 in Somerset.
Mandy Miller (real name Angie Quick) is a pornography actress. She played Emmanuelle in the 1981 'Emmanuelle in Soho' and appeared in the 1981 'Mary Millington's World Striptease Extravaganza'. Research Mandy Miller
3S Accounting is a versatile accounting computerpackage for the PC designed for the small office/ home office (SOHO) market. 3S Accounting is full featured, easy to use and completely free. It includes a general ledger, accounts receivable, accounts payable, and an invoicing and order-entry system. Reports can be exported directly to MSOffice and Corel WordPerfect. Research 3S Accounting
Gas lighting was a formerly common application of ordinary coal-gas, the gas obtained by heating coal, to the lighting of buildings, streets, &c. In 1739 the Reverend Clayton published a paper in
the Philosophical Transactions, on the inflammable nature of the gases obtained by the decomposition of pit-coal in heated close vessels; but no practical application of thia discovery was made before 1792, when a Mr. Murdoch, a native of Ayrshire, in the employ of Messrs. Watt and Boulton, lighted his own house and offices at Redruth on this principle. In 1798 he erected a gas apparatus on a large scale at the SohoFoundry, Birmingham, and in 1802 Le Bon lighted his house in Paris by gas, and made a proposal to supply the whole city. In 1803 Mr. Winsor exhibited gas illuminations at London in the Lyceum, and afterwards raised the sum of 50,000 pounds from a number of subscribers who formed themselves into a National Light and Heat Company in 1810. With this money Mr. Winsor lighted Pall Mall, but was soon succeeded by Mr. Samuel Grieg, who invented the hydraulic main, the wet-lime purifier, and the wet gas-meter. From this time coal gas became the most common illuminating agent wherever it could be prepared economically.
Another kind of gas for lighting that came into use to some extent, namely, water-gas, was produced from the decomposition of water in the form of steam by passing it through incandescent fuel.
Gas was obtained from coal, the best sorts being those bituminous coals known in England by the name of cannel, and in Scotland by the name of parrot. The coal was distilled in retorts of cast-iron or later, after about 1900, more generally of fire-clay, heated to a bright red heat. As they issued from the retort into the hydraulic main the products of distillation contained vapours of tar, together with steam impregnated with more or less ammoniumcarbonate, sulphide, hydrosulphide, thiosulphite, etc. These vapours would condense in the pipes in which the gas must be distributed, and would clog them up; they therefore had to be so far removed by previous cooling as to cause no inconvenient condensation at ordinary temperatures. The crude gas contained besides, sulphuretted hydrogen, the combustion of which would cause an offensive smell. Carbonic acid weakened the illuminating power of the gas, and also had to be removed.
The profitable consumption of gas, whereby the strongest light can be had at the least expenditure of gas, depends considerably upon the form of the burner, and the mode by which the flame is fed with the air necessary for its combustion. There must be a sufficient supply of oxygen to convert the carbon of the gas into carbonic acid, and the hydrogen into water. If there is not a sufficient supply of oxygen, the flame will be smoky from excess of carbon. In this case the remedy is either to reduce the supply of gas or increase the supply of air. This may be effected by modifying the form of the burner, or in the case of the Argand burner by having a different shape of glass chimney. As to the form of the burner, it was found that a plain jet about 6 mm in diameter at the orifice, will not give a flame free from smoke of a greater height than 60 mm but the same quantity of gas which would give a smoky flame from a plain jet, would produce a clear bright flame by extending or dividing the aperture of the jet so as to expose a larger surface of flame to the atmosphere. It was not, however, necessary to increase the superficial area of the flame;
it could even be diminished with a more intensely luminous effect by having instead of one aperture two small ones pierced at an angle to each other, so that the jets crossed each other a system known as the fishtail or union jet.
Another form was the slit or batwing burner, in which a clean slit was cut across the top of the beak. In the Argand burner a circle of small holes supplied the gas, and a current of air was admitted through the centre of the flame, which was surrounded by a glass chimney. In the Welsbach incandescent lamp the light was produced by causing the burning gas to raise to white heat what is known as the mantle, suspended over the burner. The mantle consisted essentially of cottonyarn steeped in a solution of salts of such metals as thorium, cerium, yttrium, lanthanum, magnesium, etc, and when the thread had been burned away there remained a skeleton of the oxides of the metals used. Research Gas Lighting
Regent Street is a world famous street in London. It was laid out in the form of a sweeping curve by the architect John Nash between the years 1813 and 1820 and designed as an artery for traffic through the heart of the West End, extending from Regent's Park to the Mall and Buckingham Palace, along which the Prince Regent (later King George IV) might drive in comfort and state. Beneath the road, the main north-south sewer was hidden, to convey the sewage of North London into the Thames.
Regent Street was also a public parade, where the well-dressed and the flashily dressed might see and be seen underneath the rows of columns or colonnades flanking the street. It was also a shopping centre, drawing its labour from Soho to its east side and its clients from Mayfair to the west. The street served also as a boundary between the rich of Mayfair and the poor of Soho. Research Regent Street
Soho (formerly So Ho during the 17th century) is a district of west-central London, formerly a hunting ground (whence the name) it is now London's 'West End' famed for its restaurants, Cafes, China Town and seedy sex shops.
Soho is a village in St Thomas, Jamaica. Research Soho
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Soho
