William Peter Durtnall
William Peter Durtnall, M.I.Mar.E., M.I.Auto.E., M.I.Loco.E, was a British electrical engineer and inventor, and a captain in the Royal Air Force. He was involved in both marine and locomotive engineering and invented a thermoelectric engine patented as the "Paragon". He transferred from the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve to a temporary commission as a captain in the Royal Air Force in April 1918.
Early life
Durtnall was born in Herne Bay, Kent 1873 and baptised there on 2 February 1873. His father was a mariner before marriage, and later became a railway carman. His mother ran a lodging house, and his grandfather had been a sailmaker at Chatham Dockyard.Career
Durtnall was apprenticed to Willans at Rugby, where he was involved in a junior position in work relating to the Heilmann steam locomotives. He first served at the Herne Bay Electric Light Co. in 1886. He then served at the Maxim Weston Electric Company's works at Dalston under Mr W J L Hamilton, Engineer for both companies, until 1890. He was elected an Associate of the Institution of Electrical Engineers in 1893.The Herne Bay Electric Light Co. appears never to have been formally registered. It was promoted by a firm called Shippy Bros, backed by the Universal Electric Light Co. and Durtnall was not paid his wages between March 1888 and January 1889, resulting in a court case at Canterbury County Court on 2 April 1889. Durtnall was employed by the Herne Bay Co. from May 1887 to 26 January 1889 and was paid a wage of 6s. per week to clean and stoke the engine, fit up bells and attend to the offices. Judgement was given in £9 for 30 weeks wages.
In October 1890 he was appointed Chief Electrical Engineer to the Cannon Street Hotel Co. he installed a high frequency electrical system at Cannon Street Hotel in 1895. He resigned in 1899; by 1901 he had set up in business as an Electric Light and Power Engineer from premises at 85 Finsbury Pavement, E.C. Notable installations included: Messrs Hurst & Co. Dye Works; The Guildhall Literary & Art School, Winchester Corporation; Anderton's Hotel, Fleet Street, London; Messrs Raphael Tuck & Sons, Moorfields City, London; Messrs A V Smeeton & Co., Sun Court, Golden Lane, City.
Some of his subsequent work was on buses and ships. He made an experimental petrol electric bus for London use c1905. However, was most of his work was with ships.
Back in England, he continued work on 'hybrid' drives, namely coupling a high speed internal combustion engine to generators or alternators that produced electricity for variable speed electric traction motors that drove ship's propellers or wheels on automobiles and locomotives.
The "Paragon" thermo-electric engine was developed and patented by Durtnall in the early years of the 20th century. He proposed a number of applications, including road, rail, marine and air transport. In 1906, Durtnall designed and constructed the first vehicle to be propelled by polyphase alternating current, generated on the vehicle itself. It took the form of a motor-omnibus that could travel at three different speeds. By 1921, he was working for R. & W. Hawthorn, Leslie and Company.
Durtnall's propulsion system was first made public at the Franco-British Exposition in July 1908, where he read an original paper on the subject before members of the Institute of Marine Engineers. He there was awarded the Denny gold medal. In 1917 he was awarded the president's gold medal.