Alexander Archie Jude
Alexander Archie Jude (1875-c1947)
1947 Obituary [1]
1947 Obituary [2]
"STEAM engineers will learn with regret of the death of Mr. Alexander Archie Jude, which took place at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, on Saturday, March 8th, in his seventy-first year. For many years he was chief turbine designer to Belliss and Morcom, Ltd., of Ledsam Street Works, Birmingham. Mr. Jude was born in the City of Norwich in 1875, and he received his early education at King Edward VI School, Norwich. After completing his technical education in general engineering subjects, he was apprenticed to Earle's Shipbuilding and Engineering Co, of Hull. He began to serve his six years' apprenticeship course in 1890 and in 1893 he was successful in gaining a Whitworth Exhibition. On completing his apprenticeship in 1896 he stayed with the firm for a further five years in the drawing-office...[more]
1948 Obituary [3]
"ALEXANDER' ARCHIE JUDE, Wh.Ex., was born at Norwich in 1875. He was educated at King Edward's School, Norwich, and from there went on as an apprentice to Earle's Shipbuilding Company. In 1893 he was awarded a Whitworth Exhibition.
Mr. A. E. Seaton, who was General Manager and a Director of Earle's at the time, formed a high opinion of the young man and recommended him to his old Naval College friend, Alfred Morcom. As a result, A. A. Jude moved to Birmingham in 1901 to take up a position on the staff of Messrs. Belliss and Morcom, where his genius would have the opportunity to develop. His first work there was to take charge of the design of large size triple-expansion engines, for which there was a big demand both at home and abroad. With characteristic thoroughness he carried out research on strength of materials, metallurgy, vibration, and any other problems which would help his work to perfection.
At this time the competition of the steam turbine was becoming serious, so he turned his attention to this development. The barrage of patents was formidable. He studied with great care the work of his celebrated predecessors, Parsons, Rateau, Curtis, and de Laval, and ultimately found gaps in their coverage whereby he was able to design a novel and successful turbine. His first three efforts were purely experimental; then two were used in 1904 for generating power in Belliss and Morcom's power house. Finally, the results having been satisfactory, the first sale was made in 1905 of a 2,000 kW., 1,500 r.p.m. set to Aston Corporation. His thoroughness is illustrated by the fact that in 1906 he published a textbook on the steam turbine, which many engineers consider to be a classic summary.
In 1918 he studied the important problem of large high-speed turbines, and had the design of a 3,000 r.p.m., 10,000 kW. turbine completed in the following year. He also worked out a very original type of turbo-compressor, and at the time of his death was busy in that sphere of design.
His mind was never idle, and in his leisure he was still a thorough-going research worker. For instance, he delighted to practice the science of tree pruning, and when cycling or motoring he preferred a freak machine with gadgets of his own invention. During the war he worked out a device for the rapid location of bombs and incendiaries, and this was used 'with good effect in eight places in the Birmingham area. Like many mathematicians he was a keen musician, and in this field his mechanical bent led him to invent improvements in church organ details.
Industry as a whole owes much to his clear scientific insight into the principles of high-speed mechanism." (Lt.-Colonel R. K. Morcom, C.B.E., M.I.Mech.E.)