1.
International rule (sailing)
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The International rule, also known as the Metre rule, was created for the measuring and rating of yachts to allow different designs of yacht to race together under a handicap system. The word ton and hence tonnage originates from the word tun which is a measure of volume equivalent to the size of a barrel which could contain 252 gallons of wine. In the UK, merchant sailing vessels were historically measured using Builders Old Measurement to measure tonnage and taxed according. This system of measuring or rating merchant sailing ships has a long, well established history, so tonnage, each yacht fell within a Class based upon its measured tonnage. In the early 19th century four ranges of tonnage and hence four Classes were defined, based on experience gained from the results of numerous races each Class was allocated a distance allowance that the Class had to give away to the next lower Class. This was equivalent to a Class 1 having to more distance than a Class 4 yacht during a race. In 1834 handicapping by distance was changed to handicapping by time, as yacht racing in particular became more and more popular designers started to look for and found loopholes in the measurement rules to enable a design to get a better rating. Whilst this encouraged designers it discouraged owners from participating in handicap racing because designs were being outdated almost before the yacht was launched. In order to restore the equilibrium, work began on new formulas, the adoption of the British Thames Measurement by the Yacht Club of France in 1870 may mark the beginning of international rating rules. In 1893, the Germano-Scandinavian Union was formed and it developed its Union Rule. Starting in 1902, under the leadership of the New York Yacht Club, by the early 20th Century yacht racing had spread across Europe but each country had its own different rating rules but they all typically used similar principles. The leading yacht racing countries came together and laid down a system that calculated the rating of yachts, measurement rules, construction regulations and this was largely driven by the United Kingdom. The then Secretary of the YRA, Brooke Heckstall-Smith had been in discussion with Scandinavians German and French yacht clubs, a committee met again in October 1906 in Berlin to elaborate on the application of the Rule. Delegates from this went on to form the International Yacht Racing Union. The USA sent observers to the meetings but did not initially adopt the first International rule, the International rule eventually became the backbone of yacht racing. The Rule created a formula that took into account most problematic areas that had caused dissent among the racing nations. It does not restrict size—many individual classes were created and it allowed designers a degree of latitude—yet controlled unsafe extremes. It laid down rules and governed the use of materials—yet understood that the Rule must develop
2.
Sloop
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A sloop is a sailing boat with a single mast and a fore-and-aft rig. A sloop has only one head-sail, if a vessel has two or more head-sails, the cutter is used, and its mast may be set further aft than on a sloop. The most common rig of modern sailboats is the Bermuda-rigged sloop, typically, a modern sloop carries a mainsail on a boom aft of the mast, with a single loose-footed head-sail forward of the mast. Sloops are either masthead-rigged or fractional-rigged, on a masthead-rigged sloop, the forestay attaches at the top of the mast. The mainsail may be smaller than the headsail, which is called a genoa jib. On a fractional-rigged sloop, the forestay attaches to the mast at a point below the top, typically 3/4 of the way to top, or perhaps 7/8 or some other fraction. The mast of a fractional-rigged sloop may be placed forward, compared to a masthead-rigged sloop. After the cat rig, which has only a mainsail, the rig is one of the simpler sailing rig configurations. A sloop typically has two sails, a mainsail and a headsail, while the cutter has a mainsail and two or more headsails, next in complexity are the ketch, the yawl and the schooner, each of which has two masts and a minimum of three sails. A sloop has a system of mast rigging — a forestay. By having only two sails, the sails of a sloop are larger than those of an equivalent cutter. Until the advent of lightweight sailcloth and modern sail-handling systems, the sails of a sloop could be a handful. So, until the 1950s, sailboats over 10 metres Length Over All would typically use a rig or a two-mast rig. After the advent of modern winches and light sailcloth, the became the dominant sailing rig type for all. No rig type is perfect for all conditions, sloops, with their paucity of spars and control lines tend to impart less aerodynamic drag. Compared to other rigs, sloops tend to very well when sailing close hauled to windward. Cutters, ketches and yawls are often preferred to sloops when venturing far offshore, because it is easier to reef small sails as the wind increases, while still keeping the boat balanced. To maximize the amount of sail carried, the classic sloop may use a bowsprit, for downwind sailing, the typical foresail may be replaced by larger curved sails known as spinnakers or gennakers
3.
Sailing at the 1920 Summer Olympics
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Sailing/Yachting is an Olympic sport starting from the Games of the 1st Olympiad. With the exception of 1904 and possible 1916 sailing was always a part of the Olympic program, for each class three races were scheduled from 7 July 1920 to 10 July 1920 off the coast of Ostend at the North Sea. Ostend offers a fair condition for sailing on the North Sea, however, there are tidal conditions the current is reasonable predictable. Local knowledge does not have too much influence of the races, the wind conditions are also good for sailing. However, in the case of the 1920 Summer Olympic regattas the prevailing breeze did not show, most races had to be sailed under light air conditions. An unprecedented and unique Olympic situation happened with the races in the 12 Dinghy, when in the second race one of the marks was taken hostage by the tidal current and went drifting the race had to be nullified. As a result, the first Olympic event held in the Netherlands was not in 1928, as venue of this final the Buiten IJ in Amsterdam was chosen. A maximum of 2 boats per country per class was allowed, Source, Source, The Olympic Sailing event of 1920 was without any doubt the most strangest in history so far. With a program of no less than 16 classes and an entry list that consists of 7 out of 14 classes with just competitor, after World War I the International Sailing Authority had obvious no clue in what direction sailing had developed since 1912. The Nordic countries had developed the Skerry Cruiser classes and the International rule classes had adopted in 1919 a new edition of the rule which was not yet implemented in the countries. Therefore, the entries were open for the old, as well the new rule, besides that, an advice from 1908 was followed by putting two one design classes on the program. By doing this the 1920 Olympics acted as a test laboratory from which the IYRU could draw conclusion for the development of the sport. These lessons learned, not too many different classes and moving towards one design classes, Source, As a result of the First World War, AUT, GER, HUN and TUR were not invited. The agony athletes develop after finishing fourth at the Olympics must have started at the Olympic Sailing event of 1920. The Belgium 6 Metre team of Louis Depiere, Raymond Bauwens and Willy Valcke finished 4th, in the Sailing regattas, Norway took 7 gold medals. This boost put them in the regions of the medal table. They still profit from this boost, during the Sailing regattas at the 1920 Summer Olympics among others the following persons were competing in the various classes, Digital Library Collection
4.
America's Cup
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The Americas Cup, affectionately known as the Auld Mug, is a trophy awarded to the winner of the Americas Cup match races between two sailing yachts. The timing of each match is determined by an agreement between the defender and the challenger, the Americas Cup is the oldest international sporting trophy. The ewer was originally awarded in 1851 by the Royal Yacht Squadron for a race around the Isle of Wight in England, any yacht club that meets the requirements specified in the deed of gift has the right to challenge the yacht club that holds the cup. If the challenging club wins the match, it gains stewardship of the cup, the history and prestige associated with the Americas Cup attracts not only the worlds top sailors and yacht designers but also the involvement of wealthy entrepreneurs and sponsors. It is a test not only of sailing skill and boat and sail design, from the first defense of the cup in 1870 through the twentieth defense in 1967, there was always only one challenger. Since 1983, Louis Vuitton has sponsored the Louis Vuitton Cup as a prize for the winner of the challenger selection series, early matches for the cup were raced between yachts 65–90 ft on the waterline owned by wealthy sportsmen. This culminated with the J-Class regattas of the 1930s, after a long legal battle, the 2010 Americas Cup was raced in 90 ft lwl multihull yachts in a best of three deed of gift match in Valencia, Spain. The victorious Golden Gate Yacht Club then elected to race the 34th Americas Cup in AC72 foiling, Golden Gate Yacht Club successfully defended the cup. The 35th Americas Cup match was announced to be sailed in 50 ft foiling catamarans, the history of the Americas Cup has included legal battles and disputes over rule changes including most recently over the rule changes for the 2017 Americas Cup. It was originally known as the R. Y. S, £100 Cup, standing for a cup of a hundred GB Pounds or sovereigns in value. The cup was subsequently mistakenly engraved as the 100 Guinea Cup by the America syndicate, today, the trophy is officially known as the Americas Cup after the 1851 winning yacht, and is affectionately called the Auld Mug by the sailing community. It is inscribed with names of the yachts that competed for it, the syndicate contracted with pilot boat designer George Steers for a 101 ft schooner, which was christened America and launched on 3 May 1851. On 22 August 1851, America raced against 15 yachts of the Royal Yacht Squadron in the Clubs annual 53-nautical-mile regatta around the Isle of Wight, America won, finishing 8 minutes ahead of the closest rival. Apocryphally, Queen Victoria, who was watching at the line, was reported to have asked who was second. No challenge to race for the Cup was issued until British railway tycoon James Lloyd Ashburys topsail schooner Cambria beat the Yankee schooner Sappho in the Solent in 1868. This success encouraged the Royal Thames Yacht Club in believing that the cup could be back home. Ashbury entered Cambria in the NYYC Queens Cup race in New York City on 8 August against a fleet of seventeen schooners, the Cambria only placed eighth, behind the aging America in fourth place and Franklin Osgoods Magic in the fleets lead. Trying again, Ashbury offered a match race challenge for October 1871
5.
Sail
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A sail derives power from the wind to provide motive power for sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and sail-powered land vehicles. Sails mobilize lift and drag properties as air passes along the surface, in most cases sails are supported directly by a mast rigidly attached to the sailing craft or on a wire stay attached to the mast, however some craft employ a flexible mount for a mast. Sails also employ spars and battens to help determine their shape, as a result, sails come in a variety of shapes that include both triangular and quadrilateral configurations, usually with curved edges that promote three-dimensional curvature of the sail. Kites also power certain sailing craft, but do not employ a mast to support the airfoil and are beyond the scope of this article, sailing craft employ two types of rig, the square rig and the fore-and-aft rig. The square rig carries the primary driving sails are carried on horizontal spars and these spars are called yards and their tips, beyond the last stay, are called the yardarms. A ship mainly so rigged is called a square-rigger, the square rig is aerodynamically most efficient when running. A fore-and-aft rig consists of sails that are set along the line of the rather than perpendicular to it. Vessels so rigged are described as fore-and-aft rigged, archaeological studies of the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture ceramics show use of sailing boats from the sixth millennium onwards. Excavations of the Ubaid period in Mesopotamia provides direct evidence of sailing boats, Sails from ancient Egypt are depicted around 3200 BCE, where reed boats sailed upstream against the River Niles current. Ancient Sumerians used square rigged sailing boats at about the same time, the proto-Austronesian words for sail, lay, and other rigging parts date to about 3000 BCE when this group began their Pacific expansion. Greeks and Phoenicians began trading by ship by around 1,200 BCE, northern Europeans were resistant to adopting the fore-and-aft rig, despite having seen its use in the course of trade and during the Crusades. The lateen sail proved to have better performance for smaller vessels. Aerodynamic forces on sails depend on speed and direction and the speed. The direction that the craft is traveling with respect to the wind is called the point of sail. The speed of the craft at a point of sail contributes to the apparent wind —the wind speed. Depending on the alignment of the sail with the apparent wind, for apparent wind angles aligned with the entry point of the sail, the sail acts as an airfoil and lift is the predominant component of propulsion. For apparent wind angles behind the sail, lift diminishes and drag increases as the predominant component of propulsion, because of limitations on speed through the water, displacement sailboats generally derive power from sails generating lift on points of sail that include close-hauled through broad reach. Downwind sailing with a spinnaker Each rig is configured in a sail plan, a sail plan is a set of drawings, usually prepared by a naval architect which shows the various combinations of sail proposed for a sailing ship
6.
Waterline
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The waterline is the line where the hull of a ship meets the surface of the water. Temperature affects the level, because warm water provides less buoyancy, being less dense than water, as does salinity. For vessels with displacement hulls, the speed is determined by, among other things. In a sailing boat, the length can change significantly as the boat heels. The waterline can also refer to any line on a hull that is parallel to the waters surface when the ship is afloat in a normal position. Hence, all waterlines are one class of ships used to denote the shape of a hull in naval architecture plans. In aircraft design, the term refers to the vertical location of items on the aircraft. This is the Z axis of an XYZ coordinate system, the two axes being the fuselage station and buttock line. The purpose of a line is to ensure that a ship has sufficient freeboard. All commercial ships, other than in exceptional circumstances, have a load line symbol painted amidships on each side of the ship and this symbol is also permanently marked, so that if the paint wears off it remains visible. The load line makes it easy for anyone to determine if a ship has been overloaded, the exact location of the load line is calculated and verified by a classification society and that society issues the relevant certificates. This marking was invented in 1876 by Samuel Plimsoll, roman sea regulations also contained similar regulations. In the Middle Ages the Venetian Republic, the city of Genoa, in the case of Venice this was a cross marked on the side of the ship, and of Genoa three horizontal lines. The first 19th century loading recommendations were introduced by Lloyds Register of British and Foreign Shipping in 1835, Lloyds recommended freeboards as a function of the depth of the hold. These recommendations, used extensively until 1880, became known as Lloyds Rule, in the 1860s, after increased loss of ships due to overloading, a British MP, Samuel Plimsoll, took up the load line cause. In 1906, laws were passed requiring foreign ships visiting British ports to be marked with a load line and it was not until 1930 that there was international agreement for universal application of load line regulations. In 1966 the International Convention on Load Lines was concluded in London which re-examined and amended the 1930 rules, the 1966 convention has since seen amendments in 1971,1975,1979,1983,1995 and 2003, none of which have entered into force. The original Plimsoll mark was a circle with a line through it to show the maximum draft of a ship
7.
J-class yacht
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The J-Class is one of several classes deriving from the Universal Rule for racing boats. The rule was established in 1903 and rates double-masted racers and single-masted racers, from 1914 to 1937, the rule was used to determine eligibility for the Americas Cup. This is, essentially, a factor to allow some boats designed and built prior to the adoption of the Universal Rule. The numerator contains a yachts speed-giving elements, length and sail area, also the result will be dimensionally correct, R will be a linear unit of length. J-Class boats will have a rating of between 65 and 76 feet and this is not the overall length of the boat but a limiting factor for the variables in the equation. Designers are free to any of the variables such as length or displacement. A table of well-known J-Class yachts follows, note the difference in the variables like displacement, sail area, etc. - applying the Universal Rule to these variables will result in a rating R between 65 and 76 feet. Prior to the adoption of the Universal Rule, the Seawanhaka Rule was used to govern the design of boats for inter club racing. Because the Seawanhaka Rule used only two variables, Load Waterline Length and Sail Area, racing boats at the time were becoming more and more extreme. Larger and larger sails atop shorter and wider boats leading either to unwieldy, as different boats were designed and built, the notion of classes was derived to maintain groupings of competitive class. Following Sir Thomas Liptons near success in the 1920 Americas Cup, he challenged again for the last time at age 79, in 1929. The challenge drew all the novelties developed in the decade on small boats to be ported onto large boats. The yachts that remain in existence are all British, and probably log more nautical miles today than ever did. This would not have been possible if Charles Ernest Nicholson did not obtain unlimited budgets to achieve the quality of build for these yachts, Yacht designer Clinton Hoadley Crane noted in his memoirs that Americas Cup racing has never led to good sportsmanship. The attitude of the New York Yacht Club has been more that of a man in the position at war who has been ordered to hold his position at all costs – at all costs. In 1930, Thomas Lipton spent $1,000,000 for his Shamrock V challenge when America was facing a stock market crash, but the NYYC still built four cup defenders. The rivalry lead both countries to put on a display of technological innovations using the maximum load waterline length authorised by the rule for Endeavour II. Most J-Class yachts were scrapped prior or during World War II because steel, in the post-war era, J-Class racing was deemed far too expensive, so no challenge for the Americas Cup was placed until 1958 with the smaller third International Rule 12mR class
8.
Alexander Robertson & Sons
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Alexander Robertson started repairing boats in a small workshop at Sandbank, Argyll in 1876, and went on to become one of the foremost wooden boat-builders on Scotlands River Clyde. The golden years of Robertsons yard were in the early 1900s when they started building some of the first IYRU 12mR & 15mR racing yachts, Robertsons was well known for the quality of its workmanship and was chosen to build the first 15-metre yacht designed by William Fife III. During World War II the yard was devoted to Admiralty work, after the war the yard built the successful one-class Loch Longs and two 12-metre challengers for the Americas Cup, Sceptre and Sovereign. Due to difficult conditions the Robertson family sold the yard in 1965. During its 104-year history, Robertsons Yard built 500 boats, many of which are still sailing today, Alexander Robertson, the son of a crofter/fisherman from Tarskavaig on the Isle of Skye, was born in Inverkip on 29 August 1851. Following the catastrophic potato blight on Skye in 1846, Alexanders father left Tarskavaig to seek a better life fishing on the River Clyde, after his parents moved to Sandbank in 1859 to run the village Post Office, he served his apprenticeship as a boatbuilder in Dunoon and Govan. In 1876, at the age of 25, he teamed up with Daniel Kerr to build boats at his workshop in Sandbank. The partnership was dissolved in 1878, and Robertson went on to larger premises in order to expand the business. He initially designed many of the yachts and launches himself, Robertson remained chairman of the company until 1935, two years before his death. Robertson not only provided a significant source of employment in Sandbank and he also took a very keen interest in yacht racing in the Holy Loch, even in his later years. By the age of 16, Robertson had started work as an apprentice with the Dunoon boatbuilder, after his initial training, further experience was acquired at Alexander Stephen and Sons Ltd of Linthouse, one of the main Govan yards. In 1876 Robertson, at the age of 25, teamed up with Daniel Kerr to form Robertson & Kerr and this workshop was located in the grounds of his parents Post Office near the old primary school. On 17 October 1878 the Robertson & Kerr partnership was dissolved when Daniel Kerr accepted a job with the Clyde Lighthouse Trust, Robertson continued working at the small workshop for several years, for the most part repairing boats. As business was booming he began looking for premises and found an old distillery site with around 2 acres of land, ample supplies of fresh water. The land was purchased in 1879 and the first shed constructed in 1880, by 1887 the first phase of development of the site had been completed, and Alexander Robertson had the largest number of yachts under his charge of any yard in Scotland. A proper boat numbering system was introduced at the new site in 1889. Boat No 1 was a 25 ft cutter designed by Alexander Robertson for John Dobbie of Dunoon, Boat No 3 was the Fairlie, a 19 ft cutter designed by William Fife III for A. Currie of Sandbank in 1890. This was the start of a relationship with the famous Fife yard at Fairlie
9.
Gaff rig
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Gaff rig is a sailing rig in which the sail is four-cornered, fore-and-aft rigged, controlled at its peak and, usually, its entire head by a spar called the gaff. Because of the size and shape of the sail, a gaff rig will have running backstays rather than permanent backstays, the gaff enables a fore and aft sail to be four sided, rather than triangular. A gaff rig typically carries 25 percent more sail than an equivalent bermudian rig for a hull design. A sail hoisted from a gaff is called a gaff-rigged sail, gaff rig remains the most popular fore-aft rig for schooner and barquentine mainsails and other course sails, and spanker sails on a square rigged vessel are always gaff rigged. The gaff is hoisted by two halyards, The throat halyard hoists the throat of the sail at the end of the gaff and bears the main weight of the sail. The peak halyard lifts aft end of the gaff and bears the leech tension. Small craft attach the peak halyard to the gaff with a span with eyes at both ends looped around the gaff and held in place with small wooden chocks, larger craft have more than one span. Peak halyards pull upwards, approaching the gaff at right angles, additionally, a gaff vang may be fitted. It is an attached to the end of the gaff which prevents the gaff from sagging downwind. Gaff vangs are difficult to rig on the aft-most sail, so are only found on schooners or ketches. A triangular fore-and-aft sail called a jib-headed topsail may be carried between the gaff and the mast. Gunter-rigged boats are similar, smaller vessels on which a spar popularly but incorrectly called the gaff is raised until it is vertical, parallel to the mast. Topsails are never carried on gunter rigs, the Spritsail is another rig with a four-sided fore-aft sail. Unlike the gaff rig where the head hangs from a spar along its edge, the forward end of the sprit is attached to the mast but bisects the face of the sail, with the after end of the sprit attaching to the peak and/or the clew of the sail. For a given sail area a gaff rig has a shorter mast than a bermudian rig, because of its low aspect ratio, the gaff rig is less prone to stalling if oversheeted than something taller and narrower. Whilst reaching, the CE being set back, will encourage a small craft to bear up into the wind. The boat builder can compensate for this at design stage, e. g. by shifting the keel slightly aft, the gaff-cutter is in fact a very popular sailplan for small craft. The helmsman can reduce weather helm significantly, simply by sheeting out the mainsail, sheeting out may appear to create an inefficient belly in the sail, but it is often a pragmatic alternative to having a heavy helm
10.
Bermuda rig
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A Bermuda rig, Bermudian rig, or Marconi rig is a configuration of mast and rigging for a type of sailboat and is the typical configuration for most modern sailboats. Originally developed for smaller Bermudian vessels, and ultimately adapted to the larger, ocean-going Bermuda sloop, the Bermuda rigging has largely replaced the older gaff rigged fore-and-aft sails, except notably on schooners. The traditional design as developed in Bermuda features very tall, raked masts, a long bowsprit, in some configurations such as the Bermuda Fitted Dinghy vast areas of sail are achieved with this rig. Elsewhere, however, the design has omitted the bowsprit, and has become less extreme. A Bermuda rigged sloop with exactly one jib is known as a Bermuda sloop, a Bermuda sloop may also be a more specific type of vessel such as a small sailing ships traditional in Bermuda which may or may not be Bermuda rigged. The foot of a Bermuda sail may be attached to the boom along its length and this modern variation of a Bermuda mainsail is known as a loose-footed main. In some early Bermudian vessels, the mainsails were attached only to the mast and deck and this is the case on two of the three masts of the newly built Spirit of Bermuda, a replica of an 1830s British Royal Navy sloop-of-war. Additional sails were often mounted on traditional Bermudian craft, when running down wind, which included a spinnaker, with a spinnaker boom. The main controls on a Bermuda sail are, The halyard used to raise the head, the outhaul used to tension the foot by hauling the clew towards the end of the boom. The sheet used to haul the boom down and towards the center of the boat, the vang or kicking strap which runs between a point partway along the boom and the base of the mast, and is used to haul the boom down when on a run. The Bermuda rig developed from leg-of-mutton sails in Bermuda during the course of the 17th and 18th cnturies, the design was very useful on the gusty Bermudian waters for the boats that were the mainstay of transport around the archipelago into the 20th century. As Bermuda turned to an economy, after the dissolution of the Somers Isles Company in 1684, the rig was adapted to larger, ocean-going ships. The development of the rig is thought to have begun with fore-and-aft rigged boats built by a Dutch-born Bermudian in the 17th Century, the Dutch were influenced by Moorish lateen rigs introduced during Spains rule of their country. The Dutch eventually modified the design by omitting the masts, with the arms of the lateens being stepped in thwarts. By this process, the yards became raked masts, lateen sails mounted this way were known as leg-of-mutton sails in English. The Dutch called a vessel rigged in this manner a bezaanjacht, a bezaan jacht is visible in a painting of King Charles II arriving in Rotterdam in 1660. After sailing on such a vessel, Charles was so impressed that his successor, the Prince of Orange presented him with a copy of his own. The rig had been introduced to Bermuda some decades before this, Ships with somewhat similar rigs were in fact recorded in Holland during the 17th century
11.
Polyethylene terephthalate
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It may also be referred to by the brand name Dacron, in Britain, Terylene, or, in Russia and the former Soviet Union, Lavsan. The majority of the worlds PET production is for synthetic fibers, in the context of textile applications, PET is referred to by its common name, polyester, whereas the acronym PET is generally used in relation to packaging. Polyester makes up about 18% of world production and is the fourth-most-produced polymer, polyethylene, polypropylene and polyvinyl chloride are first, second and third. PET consists of polymerized units of the monomer ethylene terephthalate, with repeating units, PET is commonly recycled, and has the number 1 as its recycling symbol. Depending on its processing and thermal history, polyethylene terephthalate may exist both as an amorphous and as a semi-crystalline polymer, the semicrystalline material might appear transparent or opaque and white depending on its crystal structure and particle size. Polymerization is through a reaction of the monomers with water as the byproduct. Because PET is an excellent water and moisture barrier material, plastic bottles made from PET are widely used for soft drinks, for certain specialty bottles, such as those designated for beer containment, PET sandwiches an additional polyvinyl alcohol layer to further reduce its oxygen permeability. Biaxially oriented PET film can be aluminized by evaporating a thin film of metal onto it to reduce its permeability and these properties are useful in many applications, including flexible food packaging and thermal insulation. Because of its mechanical strength, PET film is often used in tape applications. Non-oriented PET sheet can be thermoformed to make packaging trays and blister packs, if crystallizable PET is used, the trays can be used for frozen dinners, since they withstand both freezing and oven baking temperatures. As opposed to amorphous PET, which is transparent, crystallizable PET or CPET tends to be black in colour, when filled with glass particles or fibres, it becomes significantly stiffer and more durable. PET is also used as a substrate in thin film solar cells, Terylene is also spliced into bell rope tops to help prevent wear on the ropes as they pass through the ceiling. PET was patented in 1941 by John Rex Whinfield, James Tennant Dickson and their employer the Calico Printers Association of Manchester, DuPont de Nemours in Delaware, USA, first used the trademark Mylar in June 1951 and received registration of it in 1952. It is still the name used for polyester film. The current owner of the trademark is DuPont Teijin Films US, in the Soviet Union, PET was first manufactured in the laboratories of the Institute of High-Molecular Compounds of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1949, and its name Lavsan is an acronym thereof. The PET bottle was patented in 1973 by Nathaniel Wyeth, PET in its natural state is a colorless, semi-crystalline resin. Based on how it is processed, PET can be semi-rigid to rigid and it makes a good gas and fair moisture barrier, as well as a good barrier to alcohol and solvents. PET becomes white when exposed to chloroform and also certain other chemicals such as toluene, about 60% crystallization is the upper limit for commercial products, with the exception of polyester fibers
12.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
Lionheart (GBR)
Clipper (CAN)
Victory '83 (ITA)
Australia III (AUS)
Kiwi Magic (NZL)
South Australia (SUI)
United States