Talk:Charles Fox (engineer, born 1810)

Points

Can anyone back up the startling suggestion that railway points were "invented" in 1832 and unknown prior to that? It's obviously untrue, but someone must have read someething that they misinterpreted to write that, and it would be more helpful to correct the information than just to delete it.

Afterbrunel (talk) 15:17, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Presumably there will be a record in the British LibraryChevin (talk) 19:06, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Not so very startling - they used sliding rails previous to 1832. See here for a description (I wish I could find an image)Salmanazar (talk) 00:24, 15 January 2008 (UTC)he

He invented and **patented** the modern type of switch point as I understand it. Chevin (talk) 07:58, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

Title

This article has just been renamed to Charles Fox (civil and railway engineer). This is a tautology, as designing railways is just one possible activity of a civil engineer. So I suggest we change it to read Charles Fox (civil engineer) Ephebi (talk) 23:33, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Is the idea to emphasise that he specialised in railway infrastructure (as opposed to rolling stock) If so why not "Railway Civil Engineer. It would align with a traditional distinction in the rilway industry. Chevin (talk) 07:55, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

The renaming was to distinguish him from the other Charles Fox who was a notable British civil engineer but didn't have the same pivotal role in railway history. --Orange Mike | Talk 03:02, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

The other Charles Fox was known as Douglas Fox. DuncanHill (talk) 11:51, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

In my reading the son was always known as Charles Douglas (per his article) in order to avoid the confusion with his father. MegaPedant (talk) 19:20, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

Fox's treatise on skew arches

The text of Fox's essay is available here and here's a full citation for it: <ref>{{cite journal|title=On the Construction of Skew Arches|first=Charles|last=Fox|journal=Architectural Magazine|volume=Vol. III|editor=Loudon, J. C|publisher=Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longman|location=London|year=1836|pages=pp. 251–260|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=WrcDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA251}}</ref> but I'm unsure as to where this should best be placed in the article. MegaPedant (talk) 19:12, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

Denbigh Hall Bridge

I don't understand why the engraving of Denbigh Hall Bridge has been added. It wasn't designed by Fox and it isn't representative of the type of helicoidal brick skew arch he developed. In fact it isn't a skew bridge at all! —MegaPedant 02:16, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

A useful reference

During my browsing I discovered an interesting document here that was produced in celebration of the 150th anniversary of one of the companies Fox set up. It might be a useful source for expanding the article. —MegaPedant 14:22, 2 January 2011 (UTC)