Capsule (pronounced kap-suhl
(U), kap-sool (non-U) or kap-syool (non U))
(1) In
pharmacology, a gelatinous case enclosing a dose of medicine.
(2) In
biology and anatomy, a membranous sac or integument; a cartilaginous, fibrous,
or membranous envelope surrounding any of certain organs or parts, especially (1)
the broad band of white fibres (internal capsule) near the thalamus in each
cerebral hemisphere and (2) the membrane surrounding the eyeball.
(3) Either
of two strata of white matter in the cerebrum.
(4) The
sporangium of various spore-producing organisms, as ferns, mosses, algae, and
fungi.
(5) In
botany, a dry dehiscent (one that that liberates its seeds by splitting, as in
the violet, or through pores, as in the poppy) fruit, composed of two or more
carpels.
(6) A small
case, envelope, or covering.
(7) In
aerospace, a sealed cabin, container, or vehicle in which a person or animal
can ride in flight in space or at very high altitudes within the earth's
atmosphere (also called space-capsule).
(8) In
aviation, a similar cabin in a military aircraft, which can be ejected from the
aircraft in an emergency, complete with crew and instruments etc; an outgrowth
of the original escape device, the ejector-seat. The concept is used also by some sea-going
vessels and structures such as oil-rigs where they’re essentially enclosed
life-boats equipped for extended duration life-support.
(9) A thin
cap or seal (made historically from lead or tin but now usually of plastic), covering
for the mouth of a corked (ie sealed with some sort of stopper) bottle.
(10) A concise
report; brief outline.
(11) To
furnish with or enclose in or as if in a capsule; to encapsulate; to capsulize.
(12) In
bacteriology, a gelatinous layer of polysaccharide or protein surrounding the
cell wall of some bacteria and thought to be responsible for the virulence in
pathogens. The outer layer of viscous
polysaccharide or polypeptide slime of the capsules with which some bacteria
cover their cell walls is thought to provide defense against phagocytes and
prevent the bacteria from drying out.
(13) In
the fashion industry (as a modifier), a sub-set of a collection containing the
most important or representative items (a capsule-collection).
(14) In
chemistry, a small clay saucer for roasting or melting samples of ores etc,
known also as a scorifier (archaic); A small, shallow evaporating dish, usually
of porcelain.
(15) In
ballistics, a small cup or shell, often of metal, for a percussion cap,
cartridge etc.
1645–1655:
From the Middle English capsula (small
case, natural or artificial), from the French capsula (a membranous sac) or directly from the Latin capsula (small box or chest), the
construct being caps(a) (box; chest; case) + -ula (the diminutive suffix). The medicinal sense is 1875, the origin of
the shortened form being that in 1942 adopted by British army quartermasters in
their inventory and supply lists (eg Cap, ASA, 5 Gr (ie a 5 grain capsule of
aspirin)). The use to describe the part
of a spacecraft containing the crew is from 1954, thought influenced by the
number of military personnel involved during the industry’s early years, the sense
from the jargon of ballistics meaning "shell of a metallic cartridge"
dating from 1864 (although the word in this context had earlier been used in science fiction (SciFi or SF)). Capsule has been
applied as an adjective since 1938. The
verb encapsulate (enclose in a capsule) is from 1842 and was in figurative use
by 1939 whereas the noun encapsulation didn’t appear until 1859 but was a figurative form as early as 1934.
Science
(especially zoology, botany, medicine & anatomy) has found many uses for
capsule (because in nature capsule-like formations occur with such frequency)
as a descriptor including the nouns capsulotomy (incision into a capsule,
especially into the lens of the eye when removing cataracts), (the generation
and development of a capsule), capsulorhexis (the removal of the lens capsule
during cataract surgery) & capsulectomy (the removal of a capsule,
especially one that surrounds an implant) and the adjective capsuloligamentous
(of or relating to a capsule and a ligament).
Science also applied modifiers as required, thus forms such as
intercapsule, pseudocapsule, microcapsule, macrosapsule & subsapsule. Industry found a use: the noun capsuler
describing "a machine for applying the capsule to the cork of a wine
bottle" and the first "space capsules" (the part of spaceships
with the life-support systems able to sustain life and thus used as the crew
compartment) appeared in SF long before any were
built or launched. The derived forms
most frequently used are encapsulate and its variations encapsulation and
encapulated. Capsule is a noun &
verb (and rare adjective), capsulise (also as capsulize), capsuled &
capsuling are verbs, capsulation is a noun, capsular, capsuliferous &
capsuligenous are adjectives, capsulate is a verb & adjective; the noun
plural is capsules.
The Capsule
in Asymmetric Engineering
Focke-Wulf
Fw 189 Eurl (Owl).Unusual but far from
unique in its structural asymmetry, and offset crew-capsule, the Blohm &
Voss BV 141 was tactical reconnaissance aircraft built in small numbers and
used in a desultory manner by the Luftwaffe during WWII. A specification issued in 1937 by the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM; the
German Air Ministry) had called for a single-engine reconnaissance aircraft,
optimized for visual observation and, in response, Focke-Wulf responded with
their Fw 189 Eurl (Owl) which,
because of the twin-engined, twin-boomed layout encountered some resistance
from the RLM bureaucrats but it found much favor with the Luftwaffe and, over
the course of the war, some nine-hundred entered service and it was used almost
exclusively as the German's standard battlefield reconnaissance aircraft. In fact, so successful did it prove in this
role that the other configurations it was designed to accommodate, that of
liaison and close-support ground-attack, were never pursued. Although its performance was modest, it was a
fine airframe with superb flying qualities and an ability to absorb punishment
which, on the Russian front where it was extensively deployed, became famous
and captured exampled provide Russian aeronautical engineers with ides which
would for years influence their designs.
The RLM had also invited Arado to tender but their Ar 198, although
featuring an unusual under-slung and elongated cupola which afforded for the
observer a uniquely panoramic view, proved unsatisfactory in test-flights and
development ceased. Blohm and Voss
hadn't been included in the RLM's invitation but anyway chose to offer a design
which was radically different even by the standards of the innovative Fw 189. The asymmetric BV 141 design was intriguing
with the crew housed in an extensively glazed capsule, offset to starboard of
the centre-line with a boom, offset to the left, housing the single-engine in
front and tail to the rear. Prototypes
were built as early as 1938 and the Luftwaffe conducted were operational trials
over both the UK and USSR between 1939-1941 but, despite being satisfactory in
most respects, the Bv 141 was hampered by poor performance, a consequence of
using an under-powered engined. A
re-design of the structure to accommodate more powerful units was begun but
delays in development and the urgent need for the up-rated engines for machines
already in production doomed the project and the Bv 141 was in 1943 abandoned.
Blohm
& Voss BV 141 prototype.
Blohm
& Voss BV 141.Despite the ungainly appearance, the test-pilots reported the
Fw 141 was a nicely balanced airframe, the seemingly strange weight
distribution well compensated by (1) component placement, (2) the specific lift
characteristics of the wing design and (3) the choice of rotational direction
of both crankshaft and propeller, the torque generated used as a
counter-balance. Nor, despite the
expectation of some, were there difficulties in handling whatever behavior was
induced by the thrust versus drag asymmetry and pilots all indicated some intuitive
trimming was all that was needed to compensate for any induced yaw. The asymmetry extended even to the tail-plane,
the starboard elevator and horizontal stabilizer removed (to afford the
tail-gunner a wider field of fire) after the first three prototypes were built;
surprisingly, this was said barely to affect the flying characteristics. Focke-Wolf pursued the concept, a number of
design-studies (including a piston & turbojet-engine hybrid) initiated but
none progressed beyond the drawing-board.
Lindsay Lohan's promotion of Los Angeles-based Civil Clothing's capsule collection, November 2014. The pieces were an ensemble in black & white, named "My Addiction".
The capsule on the circuits
Bisiluro
Damolnar, Le Mans, 1955.The concept of the asymmetric capsule made little
impact in aviation but it certain made an impression on “Smokey” Yunick (Henry
Yunick 1923–2001). Smokey Yunick was American
mechanic and self-taught designer who was for years one of the most innovative
and imaginative builders in motorsport. A dominant force in the early years of NASCAR
where his team won two championships and dozens of races, he continued his
involvement there and in other arenas for over two decades including the Indianapolis
500, his car winning the 1960 event. During
WWII, Yunick had piloted a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress for the 97th Bombardment
Group (Heavy), flying some fifty missions out of Amendola Field, Italy and on
one run, he’d had seen in the skies over Germany a Blohm & Voss BV 141 and
was intrigued by the outrigger capsule in which sat the crew, immediately trying
to imagine how such a layout would affect the flying characteristics. The image of the strange aircraft stayed with
him and a decade later he noted the Bisiluro Damolnar which ran at Le Mans in 1955,
the year of the horrific accident in which eighty-four died. He must have been encouraged by the
impressive pace of the Bisiluro Damolnar rather than its high-speed stability
(it was blown (literally) of the track by a passing Jaguar D-Type) and to
contest the 1964 Indianapolis 500, he created a capsule-car.
Like many of the machines
Yunick built, the capsule-car was designed with the rule-book in one hand and a
bucket of the sponsor’s money in the other, Hurst Corporation in 1964 paying
US$40,000 (equal to circa US$335,000 in 2021) for the naming rights. Taking advantage of the USAC’s (the Indianapolis 500’s
sanctioning body) rules which permitted the cars to carry as much as 75 gallons
(284 litres) of fuel, some did, the placement of the tanks being an important factor in the carefully calculated weight-distribution. The drawback of a heavy fuel load was greater weight which, early on, decreased
speed and increased tyre wear but did offer the lure of less time spent refueling so what
Yunick did was take a novel approach to the "fuel as ballast" principle which balanced the mass by placing the driver and fuel towards the front
and the engine to the rear, the desired leftward bias (the Indianapolis 500 being run anti-clockwise) achieved by specific placement. His great innovation was that using a
separate, left-side capsule for the driver, he created three different weight
masses (front, rear and left-centre) which, in theory, would both improve
aerodynamic efficiency and optimize weight distribution.
Despite the appearance, the
capsule-car was more conventional than intended. The initial plan had been to use a turbine
engine (as Lotus later would, almost successfully) and a single throttle/brake
control but, for various reasons, it ended up using the ubiquitous Offenhauser power-plant
and a conventional, two-pedal setup.
Upon arrival at the track, it made quite an impression and many
understood the theories which had inspired the design. Expectations were high. Unfortunately, the theories didn’t work in
practice and the car struggled to reach competitive speeds, an attempt at a
qualifying lap delayed until the last available day. Going into turn one at speed, a problem with
the troublesome brakes caused a loss of control and the car hit the wall, the
damage severe enough to preclude any chance of repairs being made in time for
the race.
Hurst
Floor Shifter Special, Indianapolis, 1964.Yunick wasn’t discouraged and
remained confident a year was enough time to develop the concept and solve the
problem the shakedown on the circuit had revealed but the capsule-car would
never race again, rule changes imposed after a horrific crash which happened
early in 1964 race meaning it would have been impossible for it to conform yet
remain competitive. Effectively rendered
illegal, the capsule-car was handed to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum,
where it's sometimes displayed.
Japanese Hotels: The Pod and the Capsule
The
term "capsule hotel" is a calque of the Japanese カプセルホテル (kapuseru hoteru). The
capsule hotel is a hotel with very small accommodation units which certainly
can’t be called “rooms” in any conventiona sense of the word although the
property management software (PMS) the operators use to manage the places is essentially
the same (though simplified because there’s no need to handle things such as
mini-bars, rollaway beds et al). Although
not exclusive to Japan, it’s Japanese cities with which the concept is most
associated, the first opened in Osaka in 1979 and they were an obvious place
for the idea to emerge because of the high cost of real estate. Although the market has softened since the “property
bubble” which in 1989 peaked with Tokyo commercial space alone reputedly (at
least as extrapolated by the theorists) worth more than the continental United
States, the cost per m2 remains high by international
standards. Because one typical hotel
room can absorb as many m3 as a dozen or more capsules, the optimized
space efficiency made the economic model compelling, even as a niche market.
Many
use the terms “pod hotel” (pod used here in the individual and not the
collective sense) & “capsule hotel” interchangeably to describe
accommodation units which compact sleeping spaces with minimal additional
facilities but in Japan the industry does note there are nuances of difference
between the two. Both are similar in
that structurally the design is one of an array of small, pod-like sleeping
units stacked side by side and/or atop each other in a communal space. In a capsule hotel, the amenities are limited
usually to a bed, small television and usually some (limited) provision of
personal storage space with bathroom facilities shared and located in the communal
area. The target market traditionally
has been budget travellers (the business as well as the leisure market) but
there was for a while the phenomenon of those booking a night or two just to
post the images as something exotic on Instagram and other platforms. Interestingly, "female only" capsule hotels are a thing which must be indicative of something.
The
“Pod Hotel” came later and tended to be (slightly) larger, some 10-20% more
expensive and positioned deliberately as “upmarket”, obviously a relative term
and best thought of as vaguely analogous with the “premium economy” seats
offered by airlines. Compared with a
capsule, a pod might have adjustable lighting, a built-in entertainment system
supporting BYD (bring your own device) and somewhat more opulent bedding. Demand clearly existed and a few pod hotels emerged with even a private bathroom and additional storage space although the
sleeping area tended to remain the same.
It’s part of Japanese urban folklore that these more self-contained pods
are often used by the famous “salarymen” who find them an attractive
alternative to finding their way home after an evening of karaoke, strong
drink, the attention of hostesses and such.
That aspect of the salaryman lifestyle predated the 1980s and capsules
and pods were just a more economic way of doing things. Not however predicted in a country which had
since the mid-1950s become accustomed to prosperity, full-employment and growth
were the recessions and consequent increase in unemployment which became part
of the economy after the bubble burst in 1990.
In this environment, the capsules and especially the pods became low-cost
alternative accommodation for the under-employed & unemployed and while estimates
vary according to the city and district, it may be that at times as many as 20%
of the units were rented on a weekly or monthly basis by those for whom the
cost of a house or apartment had become prohibitive.
