John Vernon Bartlett | |
|---|---|
| File:John Vernon Bartlett.jpg John Bartlett reciving the Frank Whitte award in September | |
| Born | 1927 Wimbledon, London |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Stowe School, Trinity College, Cambridge |
| Occupation | Engineer |
| Spouse | Gillian Bartlett |
| Children | 4 |
| Parent | 2 |
| Engineering career | |
| Discipline | Civil, |
| Institutions | Institution of Civil Engineers (president - 1982) |
| Projects | Londons Victoria Line (creddited) Uks Channel tunnel (creddited) |
| Significant design | Bentonite Tunneling Machine |
| Awards | Telford medal Sir Frank Whittle Medal |
John Vernon Bartlett CBE (born 1927) is a British civil engineer. He was born in London on the 18th June 1927 and has a Master of Arts degree.[1][2] Bartlett was an officer cadet in the Royal Engineers and held a regular army commission, being promoted to Second Lieutenant on 20 June 1947.[3] He later became a senior partner at the Mott, Hay and Anderson engineering consultancy and was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year Honours of 1976.[4] Bartlett returned to the British Army on 30 November 1978, being commissioned a Major in the Engineer and Railway Staff Corps, an unpaid voluntary unit providing engineering and logistics expertise.[5] He was elected President of the Institution of Civil Engineers for the November 1982 to November 1983 session.[1] He has been awarded numerus medals such as the Telford Medal and the Sir Frank Whittle Medal
Sir Frank Whittle Award
editThe Sir Frank Whittle Medal is awarded to an engineer whose sustained achievements have had a profound impact upon their engineering discipline. Academy President Professor Dame Ann Dowling OM DBE FREng FRS presented the award at the Royal Academy of Engineering's AGM in London to Bartlett on the 18th September. On receiving the award, John Bartlett said: “Civil Engineering today is a team game. I hope members of my team will enjoy sharing the recognition given by this award. Many thanks to those who put me forward.” [6]
Tunneling
editOver the last six decades, John Bartlett's work has transformed tunnelling technology, with the invention of the Bentonite Tunnelling Machine, the precursor of all the world's tunnel boring machines for loose, sandy soils, among his many achievements.
Boring tunnels in non-cohesive soils – sands, silts, gravels and mixed ground – is a difficult and often dangerous task, with the tunnel face needing continuous support and a risk of groundwater flooding the works. Tunnelling in such loose soils was possible before the invention of the Bentonite Tunnelling Machine, but the traditional processes used, such as workers digging by hand under compressed air, were extremely hazardous and expensive.
John Bartlett's solution was inspired by a visit to Milan, where he observed how the city's first metro line had been built using a ‘cut and cover’ method rather than boring tunnels. The engineers had used bentonite clay to support the trenches while they were being excavated. Bentonite clay is frequently used in construction because- in a slurry form it is thixotropic – a thick gel when at rest but a liquid when agitated. Bartlett began developing a new type of tunnelling machine that combined slurry trenches with mechanical digging technology.
The result was the Bentonite Tunnelling Machine [7] which he patented in 1964. The machine uses pressurised bentonite slurry in a sealed bulkhead behind the cutting face to balance the water pressure in the ground and stabilises the tunnel while supporting rings are installed. The excavated soil is then separated from the slurry, which is recirculated to the cutting face.
John Bartlett's Bentonite Tunnelling Machine became the prototype for a whole new class of slurry tunnelling machines and by the end of the 1970s more than 1000 had been used worldwide. The machine's descendants have been used in many major civil engineering projects. They include Ada and Phyllis, the giant boring machines used by Crossrail to construct tunnels between Royal Oak and Farringdon, and Busy Lizzie, which was used to cut the Lee Tunnel, the first section of London's Thames Tideway ‘super sewer’.
John Bartlett spent most of his career with consulting engineers Mott Hay & Anderson from 1957 until his retirement as Chairman and Senior Partner in 1988. He worked on the first Dartford Tunnel, the first tunneled sections of the Toronto Subway and was the project engineer responsible for London's Victoria Line. He also had design responsibility for the Channel Tunnel, first as a principal designer for the scheme and following the project's revision in the early 1970s, as a principal design consultant for all civil and geotechnical engineering on the UK section.
Lord Robert Mair CBE FREng FRS, President of the Institution of Civil Engineers, said: “There can be no doubt that a major revolution in the worldwide tunneling industry was triggered by John Bartlett’s invention of the Bentonite Tunnelling Machine. It has enabled a rapid increase in tunnel construction around the world, particularly in urban areas, for water supply, sanitation, and transport – with remarkable benefit to humanity.”
The Bartlett Libary
edit
Not only has Bartlett given himself a name for engineering and tunneling he also has a big passion for ships. He has a library in Falmouth harber named after him due to his contributions to them after donating 6,000 volumes of maritime history in 2005 to add to there now 18,000 collection [8]
The collection includes everything from supertankers to sailing dinghies, it includes an extensive run of Lloyd’s Registers from 1764, to near current editions; a good run of Mercantile Navy Lists, 1850s to 1960s; Lloyd’s Lists, the British maritime newspaper (facsimile editions, or microfilm copies), 1841 to 1859. Our books cover such diverse subjects as Shipping Companies, British and foreign; Yacht cruising; Fishing and Fisheries; a selection of Naval material; Maritime Art and Artists; Navigation; Exploration; etc.
There is also a comprehensive range of Falmouth harbour archives, has been deposited with the Bartlett, by the Falmouth Harbour Commissioners – including Harbour Commissioners, and Harbour Committee minute books; Dredging ledgers; Harbour Masters Journals, 1870’s to 1970s. These are held in the Haddon Room. These archives are supplemented by an extensive range of Falmouth Harbour pilotage material, and G. C. Fox & Co.’s Falmouth Arrivals ledgers.
The Haddon Room, also holds runs of yachting magazines and maritime journals – including Yachts & Yachting, Motor Boat & Yachting, Yachting World, Mariner’s Mirror; Maritime South West, Ships in Focus, a representative number of the Nautical Magazines, and Lifeboat Journals, all of which embrace many elements of maritime enterprise from boating for pleasure to academic research.
They are also growing their digital material form what volunteers can transcribe from the documents Bartlett wrote in his spare time.
References
edit- ^ a b Watson 1988, p. 254.
- ^ Masterton, Gordon (2005), ICE Presidential Address, archived from the original on 3 January 2011, retrieved 24 October 2010
- ^ "No. 37990". The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 June 1947. p. 2773.
- ^ "No. 46777". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 1975. p. 8.
- ^ "No. 47745". The London Gazette (Supplement). 15 January 1979. p. 648.
- ^ "The Sir Frank Whittle Medal web page". The Royal Academy of Engineering web page. 2018. Retrieved 2006-12-22.
- ^ "The Britsh Tunneling society". the Britsh Tunneling society web page. 2018.
- ^ "The Bartlett Maritime Libary and research center". The National Maritme Musseam in Cornwalls webpage.
Bibliography
edit- Watson, Garth (1988), The Civils, Thomas Telford Ltd, ISBN 0-7277-0392-7