The first US patent for a telescope design was issued to Alvan Clark of Cambridge in 1851. Clark was a painter but interested in astronomy like others. As a hobby, he manufactured small lenses and mirrors. Due to his expertise to detect the small residual errors in best lenses, he gained a reputation in Europe & then the American orders started to come in. His company – The Alvin Clark Company became one of the foremost producers of some of the largest lenses for telescopes in the 1800’s.
Manchester Ship Canal
Supervised by chief engineer and designer, Edward Leader Williams, the construction began on the Manchester Ship Canal in north-west England in 1887 on this day. The 40-mile waterway (60-km) was promoted by native manufacturer Daniel Adamson to ascertain Manchester as Associate in Nursing upcountry port for ocean-going ships, to be more cost effective than transport via railway. In Jun 1882, Local businessmen met & enabling legislation from Parliament was sought in Nov 1882, but strongly opposed by Liverpool and railway companies. An Act of Parliament was eventually passed on 6 Aug 1885, followed by two years raising £5 million for initial costs. The canal opened to traffic on 1 Jan 1894.
Chrysanthemums
Chrysanthemums were introduced into England from China in 1790. These hardy plants have since been found native in Japan, northern Africa, and southern Europe. Their flowers are found in every color except blue. Their blooms come in a vivid variety of shapes and sizes. Few are spherical in shape and have in curved petals at the center. Some flowers petals are tubular-shaped petals of unequal length and little hooks at the end of it. Spoon Chrysanthemums as name suggests have rather flat petals that are spoon-shaped at the end. Anemone Chrysanthemums have fairly flat, thin petals with shorter tubular petals in the center.