Alloy

Alloy (pronounced al-oi (noun) or uh-loi (verb))

(1) A substance composed of two or more metals, or of a metal or metals with a nonmetal, intimately mixed, as by fusion or electrodeposition.

(2) A less costly metal mixed with a more valuable one.

(3) A standard; quality; fineness.

(4) Admixture, as of good with evil.

(5) To mix (metals or metal with nonmetal) so as to form an alloy.

(6) To reduce in value by an admixture of a less costly metal.

(7) To debase, impair, or reduce by admixture; adulterate.

(8) A slang term for aluminum, applied often to wheels made of the metal.

1590–1600: From the Middle French aloi (a mixture), from aloier (to combine) from the Old French alei, noun derivative of aleier (to combine) from the Latin alligāre (to bind up), the construct being al- (from the Latin adjective suffix -ālis) + ligāre (to bind) (from which English ultimately gained ligament).  It replaced the earlier Middle English allay from the Anglo-French allai.  An alloy is metallic substance made by mixing and fusing two or more metals, or a metal and a nonmetal, to obtain desirable qualities such as hardness, lightness, and strength. Brass, bronze, and steel are all alloys.  Alloys often have physical properties markedly different from those of the pure metals.

Tube Alloys

Tube Alloys was the code name of the UK’s World War II atomic weapon programme.  Work at Cambridge University during the 1930s had witnessed nuclear fission which underpinned the theory a nuclear chain reaction could be started, thereby making possible an atomic bomb.  While the science remained mysterious to most, the term “atomic bomb” had been known since 1913 when HG Wells used it to describe a continuously-exploding bomb in his novel The World Set Free.  The code name was chosen because it was vague enough to be associated with just about any engineering project.

Trinity A-Bomb test, 1945, the world's first detonation of a nuclear weapon.  Trinity was a plutonium device, the uranium bomb used against Hiroshima not tested because the scientists and engineers were certain of its success.    

Because the development of an atomic bomb demanded vast resources, Tube Alloys was later absorbed into the parallel US research; the trans-Atlantic effort picking up its code name from the project’s first headquarters in Manhattan, NYC.  It was originally to be called Development of Substitute Materials but it was thought that might attract unwanted interest so Manhattan Engineer District was instead adopted.  A bit of a mouthful, before long, it was known to all involved as the Manhattan Project.

Of alloys and aluminium

One of the consequences of the ultimate success of the Tube Alloys project was the form the British Land Rover (1948-2016) took.  The Manhattan project was top secret and until well into 1945 it wasn’t certain either if the A-bomb was going to work or if it could be produced in volume as a deliverable weapon.  Accordingly, military procurement plans continued on the assumption the war in the Far East would continue perhaps until the end of 1946 meaning there were big orders in the pipeline for war-planes, notably medium and heavy bombers, both requiring much aluminium.  The sudden end of the war in August 1945 thus resulted in the cancellation of most of these orders but because of the lead-times in industrial production, huge stocks of sheet aluminium were in warehouses and elsewhere in the supply chain.  After the war, the UK was not exactly bankrupt but the economy was poor shape and there was much need to encourage exports, the official mantra at the time “export or die” and it was no idle treat; manufacturing concerns companies not orienting their production towards exports would quickly find they were unable to secure raw materials and had to either build for export or go out of business.

Series 1 Land Rover.  Note the panels fashioned with sheets of aluminium which needed only to be cut or folded.

So steel was in chronically short supply because of the need to re-build so much of the infrastructure which had been damaged or destroyed, mostly by the Luftwaffe’s gravity bombs and the later use of the V1 flying bombs and the big V2 rockets but aluminium was plentiful.  Sheet aluminium was also light, not susceptible to rust and importantly, could be folded into simple shapes, obviating the need for complex and tooling to be built, an expensive and time consuming process.  These qualities appealed to Rover’s engineers who, while working on their modernist range of post-war passenger vehicles and turbine engines, conjured up of the country’s most enduring exports, the Land-Rover which in its original form would remain in production until outlawed in 2016 by humorous European Union (EU) bureaucrats; it also in 1970 begat the Range Rover which didn’t exactly create the niche of the civilized four wheel drive (4WD) but certainly defined it.  Using a simple to build chassis and existing engines, the original Land Rover was developed at remarkably low cost, something helped by most of the external panels being fashioned from flat sheet aluminium, most requiring nothing more than cutting and folding.

In recent years, although more expensive than steel, aluminium remains an attractive metal for manufacturers, attracted by its light weight and ease of construction.  Before the advent of fibreglass and later more exotic composites, it was the material of choice for many high-performance cars, some special low-volume runs of “alloy bodies” even featuring in the production schedules of models constructed usually from steel.  Sometimes too there was a mix, components like doors, hoods (bonnets) & trunk (boot) lids used to lighten vehicles made substantially from steel, offering a significant weight-reduction without the large cost of re-tooling for the entire platform.  It was done not only to guarantee high-performance but also to do something about low-performance.  After the second oil shock (1979), Mercedes-Benz rushed into production the 300 SD (1978-1980), a diesel version of the S Class (W116 1972-1980) sedan in response to demand for diesel vehicles in North America.  However, even after bolting a turbo-charger to the (OM617) five cylinder 3.0 litre (183 cubic inch) engine, such was the lack of power compared to the familiar petrol V8s that performance was hardly stellar.  Aerodynamic improvements would have to wait for the replacement platform (W126 1979-1991) and the only practical solution was weight reduction so the hood and truck lid were replace with pressings using aluminium.  That helped but not by much and the acceleration offered by the 300 SD was never described as anything but leisurely although the offset was the famously durable OM617 would run for decades.  Priorities had however changed and the 300 SD became a best-seller in the US and was a major factor in helping the company meet the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, mandated in 1975, a reasonable achievement given the infamous thirst of the V8s.  In later years, lightweight parts also proved attractive to owners of the 450 SEL 6.9 which used the 6.9 litre (417 cubic inch) (M100), the diet regime making the Teutonic hot rod faster still.

Mercedes-Benz R230 construction (left) and Lindsay Lohan’s unfortunate SL 65.

Even in the age of carbon fibre and more modern alloys, aluminium remains widely used because it’s light, strong and it’s properties are well understood in manufacturing.  The Mercedes-Benz R230 (SL, 2001-2011) used aluminium for components such as doors (the inner skins the even lighter magnesium), trunk lid and front fenders (wings) and alloys such as high-strength steel for the platform.  Lindsay Lohan’s unfortunate low-speed event in a 2006 SL 65 afforded users an unusual view of the R230's construction via a gash torn in the aluminium door.

Copper

Copper (pronounced kop-er)

(1) A malleable, ductile, metallic element having a characteristic reddish-brown color, occurring as the free metal, copper glance, and copper pyrites: used as an electrical and thermal conductor and in such alloys as brass and bronze.

(2) As a color, a metallic, reddish brown.

(3) A slang term for a coin (usually of a smaller denomination) composed of copper, bronze etc.

(4) A slang term for a hedge (archaic).

(5) A slang term for a police or other law-enforcement officer, now usually as the shortened “cop”.

(6) In lepidopterology, any of several butterflies of the family Lycaenidae, as Lycaena hypophleas (American copper), having copper-colored wings spotted and edged with black.

(7) In slang and informal use, a tool or any of the various specialized items made from copper, where the use of copper is either traditional or vital to the function of the item.

(8) In historic UK & Commonwealth use, a large kettle (now usually made of cast iron), used for cooking or to boil the laundry (archaic and functionally extinct); a once popular term for any container made of copper.

(9) To cover, coat, or sheathe with copper.

Pre 1000: From the Middle English coper & copper, from the Old English coper & copor, from the Late Latin cuprum (copper), from the Latin aes Cyprium (literally “Cyprian brass” (ie metal from the island of Cyprus)), from the Ancient Greek Κύπρος (Kúpros) (Cyprus).  It was cognate with the Dutch koper (copper), the Old Norse koparr (copper), the German Kupfer (copper) and the Icelandic kopar (copper).  The alternative spelling coper (a hangover from the Middle English) is obsolete.  Copper & are nouns, verbs & adjectives, copperas is a noun, coppered & coppering are verbs & adjectives and coppery, cupric, cupreous & cuprous are adjectives; the noun plural is coppers.

In the Ancient Greek there was khalkos (ore, copper, bronze), a direct borrowing of the primitive Indo-European word meaning "ore, copper, bronze" and familiar in the Sanskrit ayah and the Latin aes.  In Classical Latin aes originally was used of copper but as technology evolved, this was extended to bronze (its alloy with tin) and because bronze was used much more than pure copper, the word's primary sense shifted to the alloy and a new word evolved for "copper," from the Latin form of the name of the island of Cyprus, where the copper mines were located.  Cyprus being the birthplace of Aphrodite (Venus), this led (in the way mythology adapted to the times) to the association of by alchemists of Aphrodite with copper.  Aes passed into the proto-Germanic where originally no linguistic distinction existed between copper from its alloys while in English it became “ore”.  In Latin vernacular, aes was used also to mean “cash, coin, debt, wages” in many figurative expressions. The chemical symbol Cu is from cuprum, from the Ancient Greek Κύπρος (Kúpros) (Cyprus).

The use to describe coins made of (or appearing to be made of) copper dates from the 1580s while to refer to vessels (jars, tubs, pots etc) made from the metal it came into use in the 1660s, the adjective cupreous (consisting of or containing copper (from the Late Latin cupreus (of copper), from cuprum (an, alternative form of cyprum (copper)) emerging in parallel.   The adjectival use in the sense of “made from or resembling copper” emerged in the 1570, a development from the verb, in use since the 1520s.  The alloy copper-nickel was first used to mint coins in 1728.  The trade of coppersmithing, practiced by the coppersmith (artisan who works in copper), was a creation of the early fourteenth century and was, as was practice at the time, soon used as a surname.  The noun copperplate (also copper-plate) described a "plate of polished copper, engraved and etched" dates from the 1660s and was later used figuratively to describe designs (wallpaper, woodcuts, carvings, carpet etc) with some resemblance to the styled metal.  Perhaps surprisingly, the adjectival sense in the sense of an allusion to the reddish-brown color isn’t documented until the turn of the nineteenth century (“cupric” used thus in 1799 and "copper-colored" after 1804) although it may earlier have been part of one or more oral traditions.

Symbol: Cu.
Atomic number: 29.
Atomic weight: 63.546.
Valency: 1 or 2.
Relative density: 8.96.
Specific gravity: 8.92 at 20°C.
Melting point: 1084.87±+0.2°C.
Boiling point: 2563°C

In an example of the way English must seem strange to speakers of more apparently logically languages, the use of “cop” as a slang term for “police or other law-enforcement officer” is a shortening of “copper” but that is etymologically unrelated to the metal, the use of “copper” to describe policemen (at a time all were men” derived from the English “cop”.  The construct was cop (to take, capture, seize) +‎ -er (the agent suffix).  Cop is of uncertain origin but the most likely link is with the Middle English coppen & copen, from the Old English copian (to plunder; pillage; steal) although some etymologists have also suggested the Middle French caper (to capture), from the Latin capiō (to seize, grasp) or the Dutch kapen (to seize, hijack), from the Old Frisian kāpia (to buy), source of the Saterland Frisian koopje and the North Frisian koope.  A perhaps related form was the Middle English copen (to buy), from the Middle Dutch copen.

New York's Statute of Liberty with the copper skin colored as it would have appeared in France, prior to being shipped to the US for erection in  in 1886 (left) and as it appeared decades later, the metal showing the effects of oxidization (right).  

The expression “to cop” was thus used in the sense of “to steal” but also (as a transitive verb) “to (be forced to) take; to receive; to shoulder; to bear, especially blame or punishment for a particular instance of wrongdoing”, hence the expressed notions of “cop the blame”, “cop an injury” etc.  It was the association with crime and violence which in the nineteenth century saw "copper" (one who cops (apprehends) the criminal) adopted in the UK (first documented in 1846) to describe what were then the still relatively novel (in the sense of a structured, publicly-funded force) policemen and as “cop”, the world spread world-wide.  Cop also had a mono-syllabic appeal to many sub-cultures who took up the sense of “to obtain; acquire; purchase”; it was used (1) by drug users to express acquisition of narcotics, (2) among anoraks (train-spotters, plane-spotters, bird-watchers etc) to mark the observation and recording of something unique or at least rare and (3) by those living off immoral earnings (pimps), to speak of the recruitment of a prostitute to the lineup.  There was also the alleged slang form “fair cop”, said to be used by criminals (to cops) when admitting guilt although whether this was as common in real life as it was in the imaginations of crime writers isn’t known although “bent copper” (a corrupt police officer) still enjoys some currency.

JTC Roofing in the UK provided a chart using the Statute of Liberty to illustrate the natural process by which copper gradually changes in color from the original reddish-brown to green, a chemical reaction between the metal and the oxygen in the atmosphere, something known as oxidation.  In an aesthetic sense, the transition to green is part of copper’s charming patina but it’s also functional, providing a protective coating which protects surface deterioration and in this it differs from a ferrous metal like iron which, under oxidation, becomes rusted, the rust eating into the material.  The result can be seen in the light bluish-green copper facades which adorn many copper rooftops and structures and the pallette evolves over years before the familiar green tint achieves a final hue, something influenced also by atmospheric and climatic conditions.

The patination of copper induced by oxidation can be emulated in hair colors: Lindsay Lohan demonstrates. 

Helpfully, World of Chemicals has explained the chemistry.  When in 1886 the Statute of Liberty was assembled and erected after being shipped from France, it was a quite dull brown, reflecting the process of oxidation which had already taken from the metal the shininess which the coppersmiths and engineers would have seen when first working on the pates in Paris and it would take another 30-odd years of weathering before the now familiar color settled.  This patination is fine if a structure for decades remains untouched but in some uses in architecture (especially roofs which are vulnerable to damage), it’s sometimes necessary to replace copper panels which can result in an unsightly patchwork of colors.  For this reason, the industry has developed processes of pre-patination which can render copper panels with specific degrees of patination to match a sample of the damaged item, thus providing a close color-match.

Because of its location and the era in which it has stood, the particular path to verdigris (from the French vert-de-gris (literally “green of Greece”)) assumed by the Statute of Liberty was influenced by the unique environmental conditions.  Although the process is linguistically encapsulated as “oxidation”, it's not a simple single reaction between copper and oxygen because the generated green oxide continues to react to make copper carbonates, copper sulphide, and copper sulphate.  Initially, the copper reacts with oxygen from the air in a redox reaction, the metal donating electrons to oxygen, which oxidises the copper and reduces the oxygen, the copper oxide continuing to react with oxygen to form copper oxide.  However, for many of the decades in which the statute stood, the atmosphere contained much sulphur from the burning of coal and this induced another reaction which produced copper sulphide (black) which reacts with atmospheric carbon dioxide and hydroxide ions from water vapour, forming three compounds all of which exist in shades of blue or green.  The speed at which the patina develops and evolution of the colour depends on factors like temperature, humidity and air pollution, not just the presence of oxygen and carbon dioxide and, in another time, in another place, things would have unfolded differently.

Statue of Liberty (1962), silkscreen print by Andy Warhol. 

Andy Warhol (1928-1987) produced a few depictions of the Statute of Liberty, mostly variations of the familiar theme made famous by his prints of Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) but one with a touch of something original was a silkscreen rendering in 1962 of multiple tiled images in 3D.  At auction by Christies (New York) in 2012, it sold for US$43.8 million, part of a collection of contemporary art that realized an encouraging US$412.3 million, regarded at the time as a sign the market was recovering from the shock of the global financial crisis (GFC); the US Federal Reserve (The Fed) must have been pleased to see all that quantitative easing being spent wisely.  Even so, it didn’t set a record for a Warhol, Eight Elvises sold in a private sale 2008 for a reputed US$100 million although the auction house did throw in a pair of 3D glasses with the catalogue so there was that.  In 2013, another Warhol from 1963 set a pop-art record which stands today, Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster) selling at auction for US$105.4 million.

Apotheosis

Apotheosis (pronounced uh-poth-ee-oh-sis (U) or ap-uh-thee-uh-sis (non-U))

(1) The elevation or exaltation of a person to the rank of a god.

(2) An example of an ideal; epitome; quintessence.

(3) The highest achievement of a person or institution.

(4) The highest point in the development of something; a culmination or climax.

(5) A glorified ideal; the realization of the apex or pinnacle (of a concept, construction or belief).

(6) In some Christian writings, a (sometimes blessed) release from earthly life, ascension to heaven; death; a technical synonym for the earthy death which precedes the soul rising to Heaven; the abbreviation in the texts was apoth.

(7) In psychology, the latent entity which mediates between a person's psyche and their thoughts (best known in the example of the id, ego and superego in Freudian psychology.

1570-1580: From the Late Latin apotheōsis (deification (especially of an emperor or royal personage)), from the Ancient Greek ἀποθέωσις (apothéōsis), from the verb ἀποθεόω (apotheóō) (to deify”).  The surface analysis apo- +‎ theo- +‎ -sis may be deconstructed as a factitive verb formed by the intensive prefix ἀπο- (apo-) + θεός (theós) (God) + -σις (-sis) (the suffix which formed nouns of action), the popular form in later Medieval texts being apotheoun (deify, make someone a god) and all forms were related to the primitive Indo-European root dhēs -, forming words for religious concepts which may have been an extension of the root dhe- (to set, put).  The verb apotheosize (exalt to godhood, deify) emerged circa 1760 and begat the inevitable apotheosized & apotheosizing, the extinct earlier (1670s) version being apotheose.  From the Late Latin & Church Latin other European languages picked up the word, the variations including the Catalan apoteosi, the French apothéose, the Galician apoteose, the Italian apoteosi, the Occitan apoteòsi, the Portuguese apoteose and the Spanish apotheosis.  Apotheosis is a noun, apotheosize is a verb and apotheotic is an adjective; the noun plural is apotheoses.

In the Roman Empire, apotheosis was a process whereby a dead ruler was declared divine by his successor.  Usually, the Senate passed a decree in accordance although, even at the time, it was often regarded a tawdry political trick by a new Emperor attempting to identify with a popular predecessor.  Time has not lessened the attraction for politicians and names like Reagan and Churchill are often invoked by those who'd like some of the lustre to reflect on them (although Mr Trump seems happy to mention only the more distant Washington and Lincoln).  Worse still was declaring divine a deceased dill: a work of satire attributed to the Stoic philosopher Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca, circa 4 BC–65 AD) was The Apocolocyntosis (divi) Claudii (literally “The Pumpkinification of the divine Claudius”) which details the death of the Roman emperor Claudius and his judgement before the gods, the list of his crimes and failings so long that he’s cast down to the underworld.  Among scholars of Antiquity, there has been debate about whether Seneca really wrote the piece because among his many essays on politics, morality and philosophy, it’s the solitary satire and it’s thought he may have lent his name to give the piece some intellectual respectability.

Divas: Maria Callas (1923-1977), Chicago, 1955 (left), Lindsay Lohan (b 1986), Los Angeles, 2009 (centre) & Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (b 1981), London, 2018 (right).

An expired emperor's deceased loved ones could also be deified and posthumously, they were awarded the title Divus (or Diva if a women).  Classic Roman religion distinguished between a real god (of which the Romans had many) called deus and mortals defied through apotheosis who were called divus.  The label diva has long been used to describe highly-strung sopranos but in the modern age it’s applied also to pop-singers, reality-TV stars and the odd “difficult duchess”.  In Greek mythology there were mortals who became gods and many cultures embraced the idea, Hinduism by the million and most famously, until 1945 the Emperor was a “living God and the most honorable son of heaven”.  The three great monotheist faiths differ somewhat.  Islam is the clearest in that there is but one God in heaven and his greatest and final prophet was Muhammad (circa 570–632) who spoke through divine guidance but was flesh & blood.  In Judaism there is only one God and he has a special relationship with the Jews because of the covenant with them, the Jews believing (there are a few heretics however) that their Messiah has yet to appear on Earth but that day will come.  Christianity, predictably perhaps, is the most open to interpretation because of the notion of Jesus Christ as both earthy flesh & the second divine being of the Trinity (the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost (Holy Spirit).  Thus, among Christian sects and cults which have come and gone, there's always been a bit of theological wriggle-room.

The Gullwing’s apotheosis

In the churning world of the collector car market, the ecosystem of the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL (W198) is noted for the benchmarks set in the prices for which they sell.  They were produced as both a coupé (1954-1957) with the memorable gullwing doors and a roadster (1957-1963) and in the context of the multi-million dollar used car business, were actually made in quite substantial numbers, some 1400 Gullwings and 1858 roadsters made.  One quirk of the 300 SL has always been that unusually, it’s the roadster which has always sold for less, such is the allure of those exotic doors.

1963 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster: US$3.7 million.

Unexpectedly, the orthodoxy was almost overturned.  In 2018, a 1963 300 SL Roadster with just 1372 km (852 miles) on the odometer attracted US$3.7 million at auction in France, making it the most expensive roadster ever sold, nudging the record (US$4.2) set in 2012 by a 1955 aluminum Gullwing.  It was well above expectations but even apart from it being barely used, it was an exceptional example because it came with both the factory hardtop and soft-top (still untouched in its original shipping crate) and, as one of the few dozen made in the last year of production, it included the all-aluminum engine and the notable (and overdue) addition of four-wheel disc brakes.  Another thing which would have attracted collectors is that based on the VIN (Vehicle Identification Number), just ten more were built before the line ended.

1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL (Weckerlé Alloy) : US$6.825 million.

However, the record didn’t last long because early in 2022, one of the twenty-nine aluminum-bodied Gullwings sold at auction in the US for US$6.825 million which does sound impressive but in what may be a sign of these troubled times, the bids actually failed to reach the estimates of US$7-8 million.  Long known as the Weckerlé Alloy because it was originally ordered by Joseph Weckerlé, the factory’s agent in Casablanca, the provenance of chassis 5500332 was close to impeccable, the 1955 car retaining its Sonderteile (special parts (NSL)) engine with tweaked fuel-injection and a more aggressive camshaft, gaining fifteen horsepower.  Additionally, it was fitted with the much admired Rudge knock-off wheels, the only deviations of note from the original Leichtmetallausführung (light-alloy design) specification being a replacement (1957) gearbox and glass windows which at sometime had replaced the thinner plexiglass units.  A newly trimmed, fitted-luggage set (something of a fetish in the Gullwing world) was also included.

1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR (Uhlenhaut coupé): US$143 million.

Trumping all these results however was a world-record which not only set the mark for Gullwings but became the most expensive car ever sold.  In June, 2022, at a private auction conducted in the Mercedes-Benz factory museum in Stuttgart, one of the two 1955 300 SLR (W196S “Uhlenhaut”) coupés went under the hammer for US$143 million.  The 300 SLR (W196S) was a sports car, nine of which were built to contest the 1955 World Sportscar Championship.  Essentially the W196 Formula One car with a body and the straight-eight engine enlarged from 2.5 to 3.0 litres (152 to 183 cubic inches), the roadster is most famous for the run in the 1955 Mille Miglia in Italy which was won over a distance of 992 miles (1597 km) with an average speed of almost 100 mph (160 km/h); nothing like that has since been achieved.  There's infamy too attached to the 300 SLR; one being involved in the catastrophic crash and fire at Le Mans in 1955.  The two 300 SLR Gullwings were intended to be run in the 1955 Carrera Panamericana Mexico but were rendered instantly redundant when both the event and the Mercedes-Benz racing programme was cancelled after the Le Mans disaster.  The head of the competition department, Rudolf Uhlenhaut (1906-1989), added an external muffler to one of the coupés, registered it for road use (such things were once possible when the planet was a happier place) and used it for a while as his company car.  It was then the fastest road-car in the world, an English journalist recording a top speed of 183 mph (295 km/h) on a quiet stretch of autobahn but Uhlenhaut paid a price for the only partially effective muffler, needing hearing aids later in life.  So the relationship to the W198 road cars is distant but such is the resemblance the Uhlenhaut coupés have always been thought the Gullwing’s apotheosis.

Geodesic

Geodesic (pronounced jee-uh-des-ik or jee-uh-dee-sik)

(1) In spherical geometry, a segment of a great circle.

(2) In mathematics, a course allowing the parallel-transport of vectors along a course that causes tangent vectors to remain tangent vectors throughout that course (a straight curve, a line that is straight; the shortest line between two points on a specific surface).

1821: A back-formation from geodesy (surveying), the earlier forms being geodesical (1818) and, from the classical stem, geodetic (1819) (geodetical is from circa 1600). The geodesic dome, one built according to geodesic principles, is attested from 1953 and despite the earlier use in wartime aircraft construction, the use there was only ever casual.  The English use was influenced mostly the French géodésique, dating from 1815.  The alternative adjectival form geodetic is from 1834.

Four-dimensional space-time.

Geodesic describes the curve that locally minimizes the distance between two points on any mathematically defined space, such as a curved manifold; essentially the path is the one of the most minimal curvature so, in non-curved three-dimensional space, the geodesic is a straight line.  In General Relativity, the trajectory of a body with negligible mass on which only gravitational forces are acting (ie a free falling body), defines the geodesic in curved, four-dimensional space-time.

Sir Barnes Wallis (1887-1979) was an English engineer, best remembered as the inventor of the bouncing bomb used by the Royal Air Force in Operation Chastise (the Dambusters raid) to attack the Ruhr Valley dams during World War II and the big Tallboy (6 tonnes) and Grand Slam (10 tonnes) deep-penetration earthquake bombs.

Hull of Vickers R.100 Airship.

Wallis had been working on the Admiralty’s R.100 airship when he visited the Blackburn aircraft factory and was surprised to find the primitive wood-and-canvas methods of the Great War era still in use, a notable contrast to the elegant and lightweight aluminum structure of airships.  He was soon recruited by Vickers to apply his knowledge to the new generation of fixed-wing aircraft which would use light alloy construction for the internal structure.  His early experience wasn’t encouraging, the first prototype torpedo bomber, which used light alloy wing spars inspired by the girder structure of R.100, breaking up mid-air during a test-flight.  Returning to the drawing board, Wallis designed a revolutionary structural system; instead of using beams supporting an external aerodynamic skin, he made the structural members form the aerodynamic shape itself.

The geodesic structure in an airframe.

The principle was that the members followed geodesic curves in the surface, the shortest distance between two points in the curved surface although he only ever referred to it in passing as geodetic; it wouldn’t be until later the label came generally to be applied to the concept.  As a piece of engineering, it worked superbly well, having the curves form two helices at right angles to one another, the geodetic members became mutually supporting, rendering the overall framework immensely strong as well as comparatively light.  Revolutionary too was the space efficiency; because the geodetic structure was all in the outer part of the airframe meant that the centre was a large empty space, ready to take payload or fuel and the inherent strength was soon proven.  While conducting the usual wing-loading stress tests to determine the breakage point, the test routine was abandoned because the wings couldn’t be broken by the test rig.

Vickers Wellseley.

The benefits inherent in the concept were soon demonstrated.  Vickers’ first geodesic aircraft, the Wellesley, entered service in 1937 and in 1938, three of them, making use of the massive fuel capacity the structure made possible, flew non-stop from Ismailia in Egypt to Darwin in Australia, setting a new world record distance of 7,158 miles (11,265 km), an absolute record which stood until broken in 1946 by a Boeing B-29 Superfortress; it remains to this day the record for a single-engined aircraft with a piston engine, and also for aircraft flying in formation.  While the Wellesleys were under construction, Wallis designed a larger twin-engined geodetic bomber which became the Vickers Wellington, the mainstay of the RAF’s Bomber Command until 1943 when the new generation of four-engined heavy bombers began to be supplied in in the volume needed to form a strategic force.  Despite that, the Wellington was still used in many roles and remained in production until after the end of hostilities.  Over eleven-thousand were built and it was the only British bomber to be in continuous production throughout the war.

Vickers Wellington fuselage internal detail.

The final aircraft of the type, with a more complex geodetic structure was a four-engined heavy bomber called the Windsor but testing established it didn’t offer significantly better performance than the heavies already in service, and the difficulties which would be caused by trying to replicate the servicing and repair infrastructure was thought too onerous so it never entered production.  Post-war, higher speeds and operating altitudes with the consequent need for pressurised cabins rendered the fabric-covered geodetics obsolete.

Flair & Flare

Flair (pronounced flair)

(1) A natural or innate talent, aptitude, or ability, a bent or knack for something; instinctive discernment or perceptiveness.

(2) Smartness of style, manner, etc; stylishness or elegance.

(3) In hunting, scent; olfaction, the sense of smell (now rare).

(4) In Scots, a word for floor.

1350–1400: From the Middle English flayre, from the Old English flōr, from the Old French flaire (scent; odour (literally “sense of smell”) which endures in Modern French as flarier), a noun derivative of flairier (to reek; to give off a smell), ultimately from unattested Vulgar Latin flāgrāre, a dissimilated variant of the Classical Latin frāgrāre (to smell sweet), source also of fragrant in Modern English).  The related Latin form was flāgrō, a dissimilated variation of the verb frāgrō (emit a sweet smell).  The present participle is flairing, the past participle flaired).  In modern use, the original sense (scent, sense of smell etc) is rare and restricted to niches such as hunting and historical fiction.  The sense of "special aptitude" is an invention of American English, dating from 1925, probably from hunting and the notion of a hound's innate and extraordinary ability to track scent.  The popular uses now refer to (1) matters of style or (2) a particular talent or aptitude:

“He has a flair for the business”.

That was Winston Churchill's (1875-1965; UK prime-minister 1940-1945 & 1951-1955) grudging assessment in 1944 of Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke (later Lord Alanbrooke; 1883-1963, Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS) 1941-1946) as a general.  It was about as close to praise as the CIGS received from his chief; the prime-minister liking his soldiers dashing and daring rather than cautious and conscientious.  The most common synonyms now (depending on context) include chic, dash, élan, grace, verve, oomph, ability, aptitude, elegance, genius, gift, glamour, knack, mastery, taste, bent, faculty, feeling, head, panache & pizzazz.

Flare (pronounced flair)

(1) To burn with an unsteady, swaying flame, as a torch or candle in the wind; the flame of this type.

(2) To blaze with a sudden burst of flame (often followed by up); the flame of this type.

(3) To start up or burst out in sudden, fierce intensity or activity (often followed by up).

(4) To become suddenly enraged; express sudden, fierce anger or passion (usually followed by up or out).

(5) To shine or glow.

(6) To spread gradually outward, as the end of a trumpet, the bottom of a wide skirt, or the sides of a ship.

(7) To display conspicuously or ostentatiously to display.

(8) To signal by flares of fire or light.

(9) To cause (something) to spread gradually outward in form.

(10) In metallurgy, to heat a high-zinc brass to such a high temperature that the zinc vapors begin to burn; to increase the temperature of (a molten metal or alloy) until a gaseous constituent of the melt burns with a characteristic flame or (of a molten metal or alloy) to show such a flame.

(11) In hydrocarbon extraction, to discharge and burn (excess gas) at a well or refinery.

(12) A bright blaze of fire or light used as a signal, a means of illumination or guidance etc; the device or substance used to produce such a blaze of fire or light.

(13) In fashion, a gradual spread outward in form; as in a skirt or trousers (known also as bell-bottoms).

(14) In engineering, an outward extension, usually as a curvature.

(15) In automotive design, an extension at the wheel arch of the fender (mudguard) to ensure tyres don’t extend beyond the bodywork.

(16) Something that spreads out.

(17) In optics, light, often unwanted or extraneous, reaching the image plane of an optical instrument, as a camera, resulting from reflections, scattering by lenses, and the like.

(18) In photography, a fogged appearance given to an image by reflection within a camera lens or within the camera itself.

(19) In astronomy (commonly as solar flare), a sudden and brief brightening of the solar atmosphere in the vicinity of a sunspot that results from an explosive release of particles and radiation.

(20) In US football (NFL), a short pass thrown to a back who is running toward a sideline and is not beyond the line of scrimmage.

(21) In television, a dark area on a CRT picture tube caused by variations in light intensity (mostly archaic).

(22) In aviation, the final transition phase of an aircraft landing, from the steady descent path to touchdown; to operate an aircraft to transition from downward flight to level flight just before landing.

(23) In pathology, an area of redness on the skin surrounding the primary site of infection or irritation.

(24) In engineering, as flare tube fitting, a flare nut being used to secure the flared tubing’s tapered end to the also tapered fitting, producing a pressure-resistant, leak-tight seal.

(25) In baseball (also as blooper or Texas leaguer), a low-fly ball that is hit in the region between the infielders and the outfielders.

(26) An inflammation such as of tendons (tendonitis) or joints (osteoarthritis).

(27) In pyrotechnics (also as Bengal light or fusee) a colored flare used as a warning on a railroad.  In US use, a parachute flare or Very light.

1540-1550: Of uncertain origin, the verb not appearing in English until the mid-sixteenth century, most etymologists thinking it probably related to the Latin flagrō (I burn) and may be from a Scandinavian source or the Dutch vlederen.  The Norwegian flara (to blaze; to flaunt in gaudy attire) has a similar meaning, but the English word predates it so it’s presumed derivative.  There may be some relationship with the Middle High German vlederen (to flutter (and represented in modern German by flattern)) but the evidence is scant.  In English, the original meaning was “spread out” (as applied to hair (and later structures such as the sides of ships)) leading to a comparison with the Old English flǣre (either of the spreading sides at the end of the nose).  The meaning "shine out with a sudden light" dates from the 1630s while the notion of "spreading out in display" emerged in the 1640s and is the source of the modern association with things which "spread gradually outward".

The noun flare (a giving off of a bright, unsteady light) dates from 1814 and was derived from the verb; from this followed (by 1883) the sense of "signal fire" (1883). Astronomical use dates from 1937.  The general meaning "a gradual widening or spreading" is emerged circa 1910, the best known modern example probably the “flares” (flared trousers), first noted in 1964, actually an adaptation of earlier forms of design but a fashion trend which is associated with the hippie era and lasting until the mid 1970s.  Flares then became suddenly unfashionable but revivals since have been frequent and they now enjoy a standardized niche in the industry.

In idiomatic use, the flare-up (a sudden burst) applied by 1827 to an argument and by 1858 to light, derived from the verbal phrase and contemporary publications noted the vogue flare-up enjoyed as a street expression in 1830s London.  The 1660s noun flatus (wind in the bowels) was a direct borrowing from the Latin flatus (a blowing, breathing, snorting; a breaking wind), past participle of flare (to blow, puff) from the primitive Indo-European root bhle- (to blow).  From this came the 1590s adjective flatulent (affected by digestive gas), from the sixteenth century French flatulent, from the Modern Latin flatulentus, from Latin flatus.

Flare is a verb (used without object) & noun, flared is a verb & adjective and flaring is a verb (the noun derived from the verb).  The present participle is flaring, the past participle flared and the noun plural is flares.  Synonyms, depending on context, include flame, erupt, explode, flash, blaze, blaze, boil over, break out, burn, explode, flare up, flash, flicker, glow, seethe, widen, burst, dart, dazzle, flutter, fume, glare, rant, shimmer & broaden.

Worn with flair: Lindsay Lohan (left) in peach flared trousers, Los Angeles, 2012 and (right) out shopping in flared jeans, Milan, 2015.

1975 Porsche 911S (left) with standard body and 1979 Porsche 930 3.3 (right; often called the 911 Turbo) with flared wheel arches, a body style which came generally to be called the “wide-body”.

1963 AC Shelby Cobra 289 (left, retrospectively dubbed the "slab-side") and 1967 AC Shelby Cobra 427 S/C (right) with flared wheel arches.  Aspects of the bulge-bodied 427 had actually already been seen on competition versions of the 289 and it has for decades been the most popular style of body (regardless of the engine installed) used by producers of replicas, there now being in excess of 50,000 of these, dwarfing the production of the thousand-odd originals.

For many years, most cars have used slightly flared wheel arches but more exaggerated extensions are often added to high-performance models to enable wider wheels and tyres to be fitted.  If the high-performance version is to be a regular-production model, the usual practice is the integrate the flares into the fender.

1975 Holden Torana SL/R 5000 L34 (left) and 2020 Dodge Challenger SRT (right).  Limited production models however often have flares added which are obviously “tacked-on”.  That can be part of their attraction, giving the things the appearance of something obviously intended for competition, emphasizing too their “limited production” status.  The 1975 Torana L34 (and the 1977 A9X) was an extreme example, leaving exposed the bolts attaching the flares to the fenders.

Peter Brock (1945-2006) in his self-built Austin A30 Holden sports sedan (left), Hume Weir, circa 1969 and Harry Lefoe's Hillman Imp (right) at the same circuit in 1971.  Both were typical of the racing cars built by amateurs in the 1960s to compete in events with very loose regulations.  The prevailing theory seems to have been to find the smallest possible car and add to it the largest engine which fell conveniently to hand.  Brock used a 179 cubic inch (2.9 litre) Holden six in the little car which had begun life with a 803 cm³ (49 cubic inch) four yet even that wasn’t the most extreme of the time.  The Hillman Imp's light-weight and diminutive dimensions held great appeal for Australian earth-moving contractor Harry Lefoe (1936-2000) who had a spare 302 cubic inch (4.9 litre) Ford (Windsor) V8 sitting in his workshop.  By then, the Imp was a Chrysler product but because the published guidelines of the Australian Sports Sedan Association (ASSA) restricted engines to those from cars built by the manufacturer of the body-shell, the small-block Ford V8 could be put in an Imp because it had been used in the earlier Sunbeam Tiger.  So the big lump of an iron V8 replaced the Imp's 875 cm3 (53 cubic inch) aluminium four and such was the difference in size that Lefoe insisted his Imp had become "mid-engined" although it seems not to have imparted the handling characteristics associated with the configuration, the stubby hybrid infamous for its tendency to travel sideways.  It was never especially successful but it was loud, fast, spectacular and always a crowd favourite.  Also typical was the simple “flaring” of the wheel arches, easily crafted with sheet metal and often integrated with aerodynamic “improvements” created with by guesswork rather than wind-tunnels or computer emulations.  The technique was known as the “square flare”.

1974 Ford Cologne Capri.  Factories with bigger budgets sometimes use both wind-tunnels and computer emulation to optimize the shape of flares, often using them to direct airflow to radiators or brakes as well as permit the fitment of wider tyres.

1987 Mercedes-Benz 300E (left) and 1991 Mercedes-Benz 500E; note the modest flared wheel arches on the 500E which added about two inches to the width of the car, something which proved surprisingly significant.

In 1991, Mercedes-Benz finally gave the W124 (1984-1995 (body-styles other than the four-door sedan would remain in production until 1997 and 46 500Es were actually built in 1990)) an engine with the power to exploit the fine underpinnings.  The 500E (later E500 when the naming system was updated) was a response to demand from those who hankered after something like the old 300SEL 6.3 (W109 1968-1972) as well as a long-overdue model to compete with BMW’s M5 but, with development of the new S-Class (W140 1991-1998) over-budget and behind schedule, the production work on the 500E project was out-sourced to Porsche.  Porsche’s engineers did a good job mating the 5.0 litre (303 cubic inch) V8 to the chassis, a task which included some modifications to the suspension and a flaring of the wheel arches to accommodate the wider track.  So subtle were the flares that they’re almost imperceptible to the casual viewer and without a standard W124 with which to compare, probably few notice.  That’s not surprising given the 500E was a modest 56 mm (2.2 inches) wider than the more prosaic models (1,796 mm (70.7 in) vs 1,740 mm (68.5 in)).

However, those two-odd inches of additional width created by the wheel arch flares proved an unanticipated obstacle to volume production, the prototype found to be too wide to proceed at several points on the W124 production line.  As a glitch (in communication and systems management rather than engineering), it recalled an incident which afflicted the somewhat more ambitious Hubble Space Telescope (HST) which, upon deployment, was found to have one incorrectly ground mirror which blurred the view.  In software and hardware, NASA found a solution, a part of which was effected during a celebrated (and anyway scheduled) servicing mission.  On Earth, things were simpler for Mercedes-Benz which contracted with Porsche to handle part of the production process, the cars shuttled by truck between the two factories, located a few miles apart in Stuttgart.  That was inconvenient for Mercedes-Benz but fortuitous for Porsche, which, hard-hit by the recession-induced downturn in the sports car market, needed something to make use of their now substantially idle facilities.  The well-publicized arrangement meant it took eighteen days to complete every 500E but it added to the allure of the car and even at a very high price, 10,479 were sold and they were in many ways the blueprint for the AMG range which followed.  Encouraged by the success, the factory released the 400E (1991-1995 and later renamed E420) which, with a 4.2 litre (256 cubic inch) V8, didn’t demand the fitment of the five litre car’s wider track and flared wheel arches.  Being thus able to use the standard W124 production line, it was built at a much lower cost and 22,802 were sold.

Built by Ferrari: 1973 Dino 246GTS with "chairs & flares" options.

The rhyming colloquialism “chairs and flares” (C&F to the Ferrari cognoscenti and these days the early Dinos are an accepted part of the family) is a reference to a pair of (separately available) options available on later production Dino 246s.  The options were (1) seats with inserts (sometimes in a contasting color) in the style used on the 365GTB/4 (Daytona) & (2) wider Campagnolo Elektron wheels (which the factory only ever referred to by size) which necessitated flared wheel-arches.  In the early 1970s the factory wasn’t too punctilious in the keeping of records so it’s not known how many cars were originally built equipped with the wider (7½ x 14” vs 6½ x 14”) wheels but some privately maintained registers exist and on the basis of these it’s believed production was probably between 200-250 cars from a total run of 3569 (2,295 GT coupés & 1,274 GTS spyders (targa)).  They appear to have been most commonly ordered on UK & US market cars (although the numbers for Europe are described as “dubious” and thought an under-estimate; there are also an unknown number in other countries), the breakdown of verified production being:

246GT: UK=22, Europe=5, US=5.
246GTS: UK=21, Europe=2, US=91.

The “chairs and flares” cars are those which have both the Elektron option and the Daytona-style seats but because they were available separately, some were built with only one of the two, hence the existence of other slang terms in the Dino world including “Daytona package”, “Sebring spyders” and, in the UK, the brutish “big arches”.  In 1974, the Dino's option list (in US$) comprised:

Power windows: $270.00
Metalic Paint: $270.00
Leather upholstery: &450.00
Daytona type central seat panels: $115.00
Air-conditioning: $770.00
14 x 7½ wheels & fender flares: $680.00
AM/FM/SW radio: $315.00
Electric antenna & speakers: $100.00

At a combined US$795.00, the C&F combination has proved a good investment, now adding significantly to the price of the anyway highly collectable Dino.  Although it's hard to estimate the added value because so many other factors influence calculation, all else being equal, the premium would seem to to be well over US$100,000.  Because it involves only wheels, upholstery and metal, the modifications are not technically difficult to emulate although the price of a modified vehicle will not match that of an original although unlike some of the more radical modifications to Ferraris (such as conversions to roadsters), creating a C&F out of a standard 246 seems not to lower its value.  These things are always relative; in 1974 the C&F option added 5.2% to the Dino GTS's list price and was just under a third the cost of a new small car such as the Chevrolet Vega. 

Gas flaring on off-shore oil-rig.

It’s surprising gas flaring isn’t more controversial than it is.  A practice which dates from the earliest days of oil extraction, it was originally merely a safety procedure, disposing of the surplus and unwanted gas unavoidably associated with oil production but has long been recognized as wasteful of a valuable natural resource which, if harvested, could be used to generate energy now produced by more polluting sources such as coal.  The volume of gas flared annually (ie burned off in the atmosphere) is sufficient to satisfy the energy needs of all sub-Saharan Africa.  Additionally, the flaring process, which annually burns some 144 billion m³ of gas, is estimated to contribute to the atmosphere about 2.8 kilograms of CO₂ equivalent emissions for each m³, resulting in over 400 million tons of CO₂ annually and, the methane emissions resulting from the inefficiency of the flare combustion contribute significantly to global warming.  This is especially acute in the medium term because methane is over 80 times more powerful than CO₂ as a greenhouse gas so on a 20-year timeframe, the multiplier effect means the annual CO₂ equivalent emissions are increased by nearly 100 million tons.  There are technical solutions to this which would remove the need for most flaring as well as providing a valuable energy source less polluting than coal or diesel but, for the oil industry, the economics are not compelling.  Nor, given the relationships between the fossil-fuel industry and politicians, does there seem to be any hint of political will to pursue the issue.