Norman de Bruyne
Encyclopedia
Norman Adrian de Bruyne FRS was born in Punta Arenas Chile
on November 8, 1904, baptized on March 19, 1905 at the Anglican Church St. James Church, by the Rev. Edwin Aspinall. His father was Dutch
and his mother English
. He grew up in England, studied science at the University of Cambridge
and became a physics researcher. Around 1930, he became interested in aviation. de Bruyne was the first student of the new flying school which Arthur Marshall established in Cambridge in 1931
and Trinity College, Cambridge
from October 1923 reading Natural sciences obtaining a First in 1927. He became a Fellow at Trinity in 1928 to research atomic physics under Rutherford
at the Cavendish Laboratory
. In 1928 de Bruyne published his findings in the Proceedings of the Royal Society. He also wrote up his research as a thesis for the Trinity Fellowship and in September 1928 was duly elected a Prize Fellow of Trinity College. De Bruyne took his MA and PhD degrees in 1930. He continued to work at the Cavendish until 1931.
Dr. de Bruyne developed other "plastics". A laminate of flax roving and paper soaked with liquid phenolic resin and cured under pressure was called Gordon Aerolite. This type of reinforcement was suggested by Mr. Malcolm Gordon as a result of the publication of Dr. de Bruyne's lecture to the Royal Aeronautical Society
in 1937. Malcolm Gordon's was a student of Dr. de Bruyne, and Gordon's family had connections to a Belfast linen business which supplied de Bruyne with flax after he had been rejected by an American glassfibre manufacturer; The reply to his enquiry, in January 1937, for glass "silk" went as follows: " . . . I have to say that we see no prospect of glass 'silk' being suitable for molded plastics . . . Our reluctance to supply it for any purpose where it is possibly going to be a failure . . ." as they did not see "any prospect for glass 'silk' being suitable for molded plastics" and did not want to be associated with potential failure.
Dr. de Bruyne's Aero Research company continued to expand. The company made Miles Magister tailplanes for the Air Ministry. During this time, de Havilland's chief engineer began spending time at Aero Research discussing the concept of wood sandwich construction with balsa core. This eventually led to the production of the Mosquito bomber. As war broke out, the company began to grow and developed the strip heating process to speed the assembly of wood parts. Morris Motors used Aerolite and strip heating to assembly Horsa gliders, as did de Havilland on the Mosquito as well as on other aircraft and in naval launches and patrol boats. Other adhesives were developed, Redux (for REsearch at DUXford - de Bruyne with George Newell) was developed to box aluminum sheet to a balsa core. Fomvar was an early film adhesive. Aerodux was a resorcinol which to this day remains one of the company's most popular glues. At the end of the war, the company's first efforts to market their products was to the Finnish Plywood Association who ordered 100 tons of Aerolite. This order was a turning point for Aero Research, which spent the next five years working on a plan and financing for truly large-scale low-cost production of urea-formaldehyde resins. In the end, Aero Research was taken over by the Swiss Ciba company, a large multinational group of chemical companies that wanted to expand into England.
embodied a number of very interesting points, quite apart from its main structural features. The control column was of the jointed type, so that the top can be swung over to allow either front passenger to fly the machine. On the rear of the top of this column is another small handle which operates the brakes; a sideways motion brakes either wheel for taxing, while pulling backwards puts on both brakes together. This last point is valuable, in that it ensures raising the elevators at the same time that the brakes are applied. This brake lever can also be locked in the fully on position for parking, locking the elevators at the same time; and, as the ailerons are operated by an irreversible link motion, the machine is then in a suitable state to be left unattended.
The Ladybirdwas designed by de Bruyne and completed by a Mr Maas. It was sold to, and completed by, Mr. J. Maas, who subsequently returned to Holland,.
The De Bruyne-Maas Ladybird, was a shoulder-wing monoplane with a tricycle undercarriage, and the design incorporated various interesting items of near-bakelite construction. The trailing edge of each of the main undercarriage trousers can be turned to provide airbraking surface. Mr. R. G. Doig carried out the initial test-flying both with the original Scott engine and with the Bristol Cherub
with which the machine is now fitted.
and Royal Aeronautical Society
and in 1967 was elected Fellow of the Royal Society
.
The de Bruyne Medal: On a roughly triennial basis, the Society of Adhesion and Adhesives, Huntsman Advanced Materials and TWI honour a worker in the field of adhesion and adhesives with the award of the de Bruyne Medal. It is presented in recognition of the recipient's personal contribution to innovation in the field of adhesives and related technology and recognises novel technical achievements which have been shown to be technically and economically viable. Since its inception, Huntsman Advanced Materials [formerly Ciba Speciality Chemicals (UK) Ltd.] have sponsored this award.
for £1000 and a consultancy to research into reinforced phenolformaldehyde resins for use in propeller manufacture. This decision by De Havilland Propellers
division turned out to be one of considerable importance as it led directly to the acceptance and use of structural adhesive bonding in many, if not all, aircraft from the mid-1940s to the present day.
Starting in the mid-1930s, de Bruyne concentrated on the development of glues. Conventional "casein" (milk
-based) glues couldn't withstand heat and humidity very well, but were widely used for wooden aircraft. De Bruyne invented a new type of synthetic glue, one which was much more effective at bonding wood to wood, wood to metal, and metal to metal. De Bruyne's new "Redux
" adhesive came into wide use in aircraft, and played a big part in bringing legitimacy to the use of glue for high-stress jobs. In 1937 the company introduced Aerolite
, an adhesive based on urea formaldehyde resins. In 1948 he sold control of the company to Ciba (now Ciba-Geigy) but remained as managing director until 1960.
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
on November 8, 1904, baptized on March 19, 1905 at the Anglican Church St. James Church, by the Rev. Edwin Aspinall. His father was Dutch
Dutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
and his mother English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
. He grew up in England, studied science at the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
and became a physics researcher. Around 1930, he became interested in aviation. de Bruyne was the first student of the new flying school which Arthur Marshall established in Cambridge in 1931
Early life
He was educated at LancingLancing
Lancing may refer to:*Lancing *Lancing , a manufacturing procedure*Lancing, West Sussex*Lancing College*Lancing railway station*Lancing Carriage Works...
and Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
from October 1923 reading Natural sciences obtaining a First in 1927. He became a Fellow at Trinity in 1928 to research atomic physics under Rutherford
Ernest Rutherford
Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson OM, FRS was a New Zealand-born British chemist and physicist who became known as the father of nuclear physics...
at the Cavendish Laboratory
Cavendish Laboratory
The Cavendish Laboratory is the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge, and is part of the university's School of Physical Sciences. It was opened in 1874 as a teaching laboratory....
. In 1928 de Bruyne published his findings in the Proceedings of the Royal Society. He also wrote up his research as a thesis for the Trinity Fellowship and in September 1928 was duly elected a Prize Fellow of Trinity College. De Bruyne took his MA and PhD degrees in 1930. He continued to work at the Cavendish until 1931.
Dr. de Bruyne developed other "plastics". A laminate of flax roving and paper soaked with liquid phenolic resin and cured under pressure was called Gordon Aerolite. This type of reinforcement was suggested by Mr. Malcolm Gordon as a result of the publication of Dr. de Bruyne's lecture to the Royal Aeronautical Society
Royal Aeronautical Society
The Royal Aeronautical Society, also known as the RAeS, is a multidisciplinary professional institution dedicated to the global aerospace community.-Function:...
in 1937. Malcolm Gordon's was a student of Dr. de Bruyne, and Gordon's family had connections to a Belfast linen business which supplied de Bruyne with flax after he had been rejected by an American glassfibre manufacturer; The reply to his enquiry, in January 1937, for glass "silk" went as follows: " . . . I have to say that we see no prospect of glass 'silk' being suitable for molded plastics . . . Our reluctance to supply it for any purpose where it is possibly going to be a failure . . ." as they did not see "any prospect for glass 'silk' being suitable for molded plastics" and did not want to be associated with potential failure.
Dr. de Bruyne's Aero Research company continued to expand. The company made Miles Magister tailplanes for the Air Ministry. During this time, de Havilland's chief engineer began spending time at Aero Research discussing the concept of wood sandwich construction with balsa core. This eventually led to the production of the Mosquito bomber. As war broke out, the company began to grow and developed the strip heating process to speed the assembly of wood parts. Morris Motors used Aerolite and strip heating to assembly Horsa gliders, as did de Havilland on the Mosquito as well as on other aircraft and in naval launches and patrol boats. Other adhesives were developed, Redux (for REsearch at DUXford - de Bruyne with George Newell) was developed to box aluminum sheet to a balsa core. Fomvar was an early film adhesive. Aerodux was a resorcinol which to this day remains one of the company's most popular glues. At the end of the war, the company's first efforts to market their products was to the Finnish Plywood Association who ordered 100 tons of Aerolite. This order was a turning point for Aero Research, which spent the next five years working on a plan and financing for truly large-scale low-cost production of urea-formaldehyde resins. In the end, Aero Research was taken over by the Swiss Ciba company, a large multinational group of chemical companies that wanted to expand into England.
Cambridge Aeroplane Construction Co.
The SnarkDe Bruyne Snark
-Bibliography:...
embodied a number of very interesting points, quite apart from its main structural features. The control column was of the jointed type, so that the top can be swung over to allow either front passenger to fly the machine. On the rear of the top of this column is another small handle which operates the brakes; a sideways motion brakes either wheel for taxing, while pulling backwards puts on both brakes together. This last point is valuable, in that it ensures raising the elevators at the same time that the brakes are applied. This brake lever can also be locked in the fully on position for parking, locking the elevators at the same time; and, as the ailerons are operated by an irreversible link motion, the machine is then in a suitable state to be left unattended.
The Ladybirdwas designed by de Bruyne and completed by a Mr Maas. It was sold to, and completed by, Mr. J. Maas, who subsequently returned to Holland,.
The De Bruyne-Maas Ladybird, was a shoulder-wing monoplane with a tricycle undercarriage, and the design incorporated various interesting items of near-bakelite construction. The trailing edge of each of the main undercarriage trousers can be turned to provide airbraking surface. Mr. R. G. Doig carried out the initial test-flying both with the original Scott engine and with the Bristol Cherub
Bristol Cherub
-See also:-Bibliography:* Guttery, T.E. The Shuttleworth Collection. London: Wm. Carling & Co, 1969. ISBN 901319-01-5* Lumsden, Alec. British Piston Engines and their Aircraft. Marlborough, Wiltshire: Airlife Publishing, 2003. ISBN 1-85310-294-6....
with which the machine is now fitted.
Awards
De Bruyne was a Member of the Fellowship of Engineering, Fellow of the Institute of PhysicsInstitute of Physics
The Institute of Physics is a scientific charity devoted to increasing the practice, understanding and application of physics. It has a worldwide membership of around 40,000....
and Royal Aeronautical Society
Royal Aeronautical Society
The Royal Aeronautical Society, also known as the RAeS, is a multidisciplinary professional institution dedicated to the global aerospace community.-Function:...
and in 1967 was elected Fellow of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
.
The de Bruyne Medal: On a roughly triennial basis, the Society of Adhesion and Adhesives, Huntsman Advanced Materials and TWI honour a worker in the field of adhesion and adhesives with the award of the de Bruyne Medal. It is presented in recognition of the recipient's personal contribution to innovation in the field of adhesives and related technology and recognises novel technical achievements which have been shown to be technically and economically viable. Since its inception, Huntsman Advanced Materials [formerly Ciba Speciality Chemicals (UK) Ltd.] have sponsored this award.
Aero Research Limited
Norman de Bruyne had a meeting, on 9 April 1936, with de Havilland aircraft and received a chequeCheque
A cheque is a document/instrument See the negotiable cow—itself a fictional story—for discussions of cheques written on unusual surfaces. that orders a payment of money from a bank account...
for £1000 and a consultancy to research into reinforced phenolformaldehyde resins for use in propeller manufacture. This decision by De Havilland Propellers
De Havilland Propellers
de Havilland Propellers was established in 1935, as a division of the de Havilland Aircraft company when that company acquired a license from the Hamilton Standard company of America for the manufacture of variable pitch propellers...
division turned out to be one of considerable importance as it led directly to the acceptance and use of structural adhesive bonding in many, if not all, aircraft from the mid-1940s to the present day.
Starting in the mid-1930s, de Bruyne concentrated on the development of glues. Conventional "casein" (milk
Milk
Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many...
-based) glues couldn't withstand heat and humidity very well, but were widely used for wooden aircraft. De Bruyne invented a new type of synthetic glue, one which was much more effective at bonding wood to wood, wood to metal, and metal to metal. De Bruyne's new "Redux
Redux (adhesive)
Redux is the generic name of a family of phenyl–formaldehyde/polyvinyl–formal adhesives developed by Aero Research Limited at Duxford, UK, in the 1940s, subsequently produced by Ciba . The brand name is now used for a range of epoxy adhesives manufactured by Hexcel. The name is a...
" adhesive came into wide use in aircraft, and played a big part in bringing legitimacy to the use of glue for high-stress jobs. In 1937 the company introduced Aerolite
Aerolite (adhesive)
Aerolite is a urea-formaldehyde gap filling adhesive which is water and heat resistant. It is used in large quantities by the chipboard industry and also by wooden boat builders for its high strength and durability. It is also used in joinery, veneering and general woodwork assembly...
, an adhesive based on urea formaldehyde resins. In 1948 he sold control of the company to Ciba (now Ciba-Geigy) but remained as managing director until 1960.
Techne Ltd.
de Bruyne launched a new company in 1948 — Techne Limited to design and produce laboratory instruments. Techne Inc. was established in Princeton, New Jersey in 1961 to service the rapidly growing North American market. The company remained controlled by the family until 1971 when Dr de Bruyne placed transferred the company holdings to a family trust which later sold the firm. Techne today is established as a manufacture of temperature control equipment. Techne offers a complete range of molecular biology and laboratory products including thermal cyclers, hybridisation ovens, waterbaths, dri-block Heaters, cell culture equipment and temperature controlled calibrators..See also
- Aero Research LimitedAero Research LimitedAero Research Limited was a British company that pioneered several new adhesives, intended initially for the aeronautical industry.Formed in 1934 by Norman de Bruyne at Duxford, Cambridgeshire from an earlier company of his, the Cambridgeshire Aeroplane Construction Company, ARL started a...
- AeroliteAerolite (adhesive)Aerolite is a urea-formaldehyde gap filling adhesive which is water and heat resistant. It is used in large quantities by the chipboard industry and also by wooden boat builders for its high strength and durability. It is also used in joinery, veneering and general woodwork assembly...
- AralditeAralditeAraldite is a registered trademark of Huntsman Advanced Materials referring to their range of engineering and structural epoxy, acrylic, and polyurethane adhesives. The name was first used in 1946 for a two-part epoxy adhesive....
- De Bruyne SnarkDe Bruyne Snark-Bibliography:...
- ReduxRedux (adhesive)Redux is the generic name of a family of phenyl–formaldehyde/polyvinyl–formal adhesives developed by Aero Research Limited at Duxford, UK, in the 1940s, subsequently produced by Ciba . The brand name is now used for a range of epoxy adhesives manufactured by Hexcel. The name is a...
- Family at war