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This article is about the skilled manual worker meaning of the term; for other uses see Tradesperson (disambiguation).

Carpenter at work in Tennessee, June 1942.

A tradesman is a skilled manual worker in a particular trade or craft. Economically and socially, a tradesman's status is considered between a laborer and a professional, with a high degree of both practical and theoretical knowledge of their trade. In cultures where professional careers are highly prized there can be a shortage of skilled manual workers, leading to lucrative niche markets in the trades.

The training of a trade in European cultures has been a formal tradition for many centuries. A tradesman typically begins as an apprentice, working for and learning from a Master, and after a number of years is released from his master's service as a Journeyman. After a Journeyman has proven himself to his trade's guild (most guilds are now known by different names), he may settle down as a Master and work for himself, eventually taking on his own apprentices.

Since the 20th Century, this process has been changed in many ways. A tradesman still begins as an apprentice, but the apprenticeship is carried out partly through working for a tradesman and partly through an accredited trade school for a definite period of time (usually around 4 years), after which he/she is fully qualified. Starting one's own business is purely a financial matter, rather than being dependent on status. Few trades still make a distinction between a qualified tradesman and a master.

While in some countries a recognised qualification is mandatory for an individual to register as a tradesmen or builder, in others it is not the case. In the absence of a regulator in these markets a number of private companies have been set up to screen contractors and ensure that they are suitable for the their advertised services.

A Jack of all trades is a colloquial term for someone who holds some degree of skill/qualification in more than one trade, but has not made a continuous career of any one. In many cases, a trade has been largely eliminated by social or technological change, and skilled workers have found employment in similar trades (e.g. typesetters have become mostly obsolete due to electronic printing).

[edit] Types of tradesmen/Tradeswork

• Artisan
• Baker
• Barber or Hairstylist
• Boilermaker
• Blacksmith
• Brewer
• Bricklayer
• Butcher
• Cabinet maker
• Cable Joiner
• Carpenter
• Carpet layer
• Cement Mason
• Cheesemaker
• Chef
• Chimney sweep
• Cobbler
• Clockmaker
• Construction worker
• Cooper (profession)
• Electrician
• Gaffer
• Glazier
• Haberdasher
• Handyman
• Heavy equipment operator
• HVAC & Refrigeration mechanic
• Ironworker
• Instrument Mechanic
• Jeweller
• Journeyman
• Knife sharpener
• Labourer
• Lineworker
• Locksmith
• Longshoreman
• Machinist
• Mechanic
• Milkman
• Miller
• Millwright
• Painter and decorator
• Pastry chef
• Piano tuner
• Plasterer
• Plumber
• Printer
• Roofer
• Sawfiler
• Solderer
• Steeplejack
• Steelworker
• Stonemason
• Tailor
• Theatrical technician
• Tinsmith
• Tool and Die Maker
• Traditional trades
• Watchmaker
• Welder
• Window cleaner
• Wood cutter

See also[link]

• Vocational education
• General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen of the City of New York
• Livery Company
• Trade union

Look up tradesman in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

This job-, occupation-, or vocation-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Geoffrey Edwin Hall Ballard
Born	(1932-10-16)16 October 1932 Niagara Falls, Canada
Died	2 August 2008(2008-08-02) (aged 75) North Vancouver, Canada
Spouse	Shelagh Ballard (1932) (m. 1956–2008) «start: (1956)–end+1: (2009)»"Marriage: Shelagh Ballard (1932) to Geoffrey Ballard" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Geoffrey_Ballard)
Children	Curtis (1957) Mark (1959) Edward (1963)
Parents	Archibald Hall Ballard Jessie Marguerite Mildred

Geoffrey Ballard, CM, OBC (16 October 1932 – 2 August 2008) was a Canadian geophysicist and businessman. A long time advocate of replacing the internal combustion engine, in 1979 Ballard founded what would become Ballard Power Systems to develop commercial applications of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEM). Acknowledged worldwide as the father of the fuel cell industry,^[1] Time named him a "Hero for the Planet" in 1999.^[2]

Early life and education[link]

Ballard was born in Niagara Falls, Ontario, to Jessie Marguerite Mildred of the Rowntree's family in York and Archibald Hall Ballard of Staten Island, New York. His father studied electrochemical engineering at the University of Toronto and later specialized in the area of radiation. He was working at Carborundum Corporation when the lab director fell overboard from a boat during a party and was washed over Niagara Falls, so Archibald Ballard was promoted to lab director at a relatively young age in his mid-40s. He spent most of World War II at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, working on the atomic bomb.^[3]

After high school in Niagara Falls, Ballard attended Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, studying geological engineering.^[4] Here he met his future wife, Shelagh, and they married and graduated the same year, in 1956. Ballard won a position at Shell Oil in Alberta, leading exploration teams on horseback. He left Shell for Mobil Oil and travelled around the world on exploration trips. During these trips his advice was often ignored as he was "only" a BSc (difficult enough in 1950s), and after several such incidents he decided to leave industry and took a doctorate in earth and planetary sciences from Washington University in St. Louis.^[5]

After receiving his PhD in 1963, Ballard worked as a civilian for the U.S. Army, specializing in microwave communications and studying how to hide refueling tanks under the ice in Greenland.^[2] Ballard was working for the Army at Fort Huachuca in Arizona in 1973 when the oil crisis hit. The U.S. government responded by establishing the U.S. Federal Energy Conservation Research office, and started looking for someone to run it. Given his background running projects, the Army seconded him to become the office's director, initially for six months.^[6]

He quickly grew disillusioned with the political system. "Energy systems are notorious for their long gestation periods, often twenty years or longer, [but] there had to be a pay-off in a product within five to seven years in order to justify the public money being put in. There are political cycles involving re-election, so the politicians didn't want to put money into systems that were going to come to fruition in some other generation. You sent out the plans, and they hacked and cut at them."^[7] When the contract ran out, he decided to quit and strike out on his own.

American Energizer[link]

One of the studies he had been involved in at the Conservation Research office was on electric cars powered by conventional lead-acid batteries. None of these struck him as practical, but he was convinced that electric traction was the future. He told Discover Magazine in a 2002 interview that "My goal from the very beginning was replacing the internal combustion engine -- just getting that off the streets."^[5] Ballard had earlier met Ralph Schwartz in Arizona, who introduced him to the idea of using lithium batteries in place of lead-acid, as they would be much lighter. However, at the time, lithium batteries were not able to be recharged. Schwartz convinced Ballard that they should study the problem, and Ballard cashed in his pension to buy a portion of their new joint venture, American Energizer.^[8]

Schwartz and Ballard were introduced to Keith Prater at the University of Texas chemistry department, and sold him on the idea of developing a new rechargeable lithium battery technology with them. Prater was able to quickly determine that that no one knew what the product of the lithium-salt reactions in existing batteries were, and guessed that it was lithium dithionite, which he was able to synthesize. Working in a trailer, Ballard and Schwartz built a simple battery and Prater brought a sample of the lithium dithionite, and when they were placed together and charged, a weak current was produced. After further development the system was able to be recharged about a dozen times.

With the technology looking like it could be made into a commercial enterprise, Ballard contacted an acquaintance, John Horton, to provide further backing. Horton was in the process of re-fitting a small submarine in North Vancouver for oil exploration, and Ballard convinced him that their new battery would be a perfect fit.^[9] Horton agreed to provide several thousand dollars a month in funding. With this in place, Ballard purchased an abandoned motel in Arizona for $2,000 and set about turning it into a lab.

By 1977 the batteries were coming along, and Ballard and Prater were shuttling back and forth between Arizona and Vancouver. Ballard had always wanted to return to Canada, so Schwartz sold his interest in the battery technology to Ballard for $1, while Ballard sold his interest in Schwartz's latest venture, a mechanical anti-lock braking system for the same $1. In 1979 Ballard moved to Vancouver and became president and CEO of Ultra Energy.^[10]

In Canada, Ultra Energy operated out of the same hangar where Horton was re-fitting his submarine. By the mid-1970s the refit was complete, with no battery in site, and Horton dropped his support for the battery project. After obtaining some private bridge financing, they won a contract for a non-rechargeable lithium battery with a shelf life of 10 years for the fire detector company, Firenetics.^[11] After about a year the battery was ready and production was going to be started in Hong Kong, when, to Ultra's surprise, Firenetics filed for bankruptcy after a long lawsuit with General Electric. Ultra Energy was insolvent.

Ballard Power Systems[link]

The main Ultra Energy team immediately re-formed as Ballard Research, taking over offices directly across the street from the Ultra ones. Ballard started calling old contacts in the oil industry, looking for companies that might be interested in diversifying their energy holdings. Shell was interested and kept the company afloat for a time, but dropped their interest when one of the minority shareholders held out. In mid-1981, Amoco decided to take over the rechargeable side of the company, and paid off most of the company's local debts.^[12] Now solvent, the company quickly started looking for applications for their technology, and won contracts with the Canadian Forces to further develop their single-use long-life battery. This led to a successful production line producing thousands of cells for the U.S. and Canadian militaries.

While the single-use design was successful, the rechargeable version never matured. In 1983, Ballard, Prater and Paul Howard started looking for new ideas for their development side to work on as the funds for the battery project dried up. Among a variety of ideas were a number of attempts to find government funding, which eventually led them to a Department of National Defense (DND) request for proposals for bids to produce a low-cost solid polymer fuel cell. Now known as PEM's, these cells had only been used commercially in Project Gemini and a few other space probes, and General Electric gave up on the technology when NASA moved onto other fuel cell designs for Project Apollo and the Space Shuttle. Although a number of attempts had been made to lower the high cost of PEM cells since then, none had been commercially successful.

At the time, no one in the company had any direct experience with fuel cells, and Ballard himself reputedly stated "What's a fuel cell?" when the topic was first brought up.^[13] Prater, with an extensive electrochemical background, flew to the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, where limited PEM research was still being carried out. He managed to gather a small number of parts from test cells that would provide an early start. Meanwhile Ballard sent teams to Ottawa to better understand the contract. Armed with this information from both sources, they won the $500,000 contract, which called for them to provide three prototype cells that produced between 50 and 150 watts and be ready in 28 months. After meeting the requirements, they won a follow-up contract, and it was during this project, in 1986, when they reached a milestone of producing four times as much energy per unit volume as any previous fuel cell.^[14]

In 1987 Ballard won a contract with Perry Oceanographics to provide fuel cells for their small submersibles. After some difficulties in developing a stack of the required 2 kW size using their then-current" Mark IV" cell design, the system was successfully installed and became one of the first commercial fuel cell system since the 1960s. An upgrade to the "Mark V" cell design dramatically improved performance, providing 4.1 kW from a stack the same size as the original 2 kW model. A contract with the Royal Navy soon followed, and although the resulting cells were not used as the Royal Navy decided to go all-nuclear, a research contract allowed the company to continue improving the cells.

Development from these engineering samples to real-world products was going to be long and expensive. Although the battery line continued to do well, the profits it generated were not enough to run the company as a whole. Ballard started looking for new capital, and found Mike Brown, a founder of the Vancouver-based Ventures West venture capital company. Ventures West provided several rounds of funding, and Brown suggested that if the company wanted to be successful it was going to need new leadership who was familiar with dealing with large companies. Although the founders found it difficult to accept a stranger into their midst, they were eventually won over and Firoz Rasul became the new CEO. Rasul immediately instituted a development plan with a timeline of goals that had to be met and go/no-go milestones.^[15]

The company was re-organized, spinning off the battery side to BTC Engineering, while the fuel cell side became Ballard Technologies Corp. Feeling the technology was ready for commercial use, in 1989 Ballard raised $4 million in public money from the British Columbia government to build a fuel cell powered bus, introducing it at Science World in 1993. He took the bus to energy fairs around the world, and Daimler-Chrysler and Ford invested $750 million to buy a one-third stake in the newly public Ballard Power Systems. Ballard told Time in 1999 that the fuel-cell cars should become economical by 2010 and "the internal combustion engine will go the way of the horse. It will be a curiosity to my grandchildren."^[2]

Taking the technology from laboratory to the road proved very difficult, and after years of development and many rounds of additional funding, Ballard left active management in 1998. The automotive power division was sold to Daimler-Chrysler and Ford in 2008 for $96.6 million, and Daimler currently operates a small number of fuel cell busses in Hamburg, United States, Japan and Singapore. Ballard Power Systems continues its work on PEMFC's for stationary power use and backup systems.

After Ballard[link]

After leaving full-time management at Ballard Power Systems, in 2000 Ballard formed General Hydrogen,^[1] which worked on the problems of generating and distributing hydrogen. In 2007, the company was sold to Plug Power for $10 million.

In 1999 he was named by Time as 'Hero of the Planet'.^[2] In 2002 he was named 'Business Leader of the Year' from Scientific American.^[16] He received the World Technology Network Award in Energy in 1999, and in Environment in 2000. He also received the Gutenberg International Environment prize in Sweden in 2000. He served as chair of the Canadian Hydrogen Association and as an Advisory Board member for the Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California.

He died of complications from liver disease at Lions Gate Hospital in North Vancouver.

Quotation[link]

It will take a combined effort of academia, government, and industry to bring about the change from a gasoline economy to a hydrogen economy. The forces are building and progress is being made. It is of major importance that a change of this magnitude not be forced on unwilling participants, but that all of us work together for an economically viable path to change.

— Geoffrey Ballard , World Hydrogen Energy Conference

References[link]

Notes[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Tom Koppel, "Powering the Future: The Ballard Fuel Cell and the Race to Change the World", John Wiley & Sons, 1999, ISBN 0-471-64629-6
• Innovation Canada, "Case 2. Ballard Power Systems", Government of Canada, 15 February 2005

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Simon Anderson (born 7 July 1954) is a surfboard designer and shaper, noted for creating the 3 fin Thruster surfboard, a surfboard design now used on most shortboards.^[1]

Early life[link]

Anderson grew up in the North Beach area of Sydney, with three brothers. ^[2]

Anderson's surfing skill stood out from his brothers, and in 1972 he was a surprise winner of the junior division at the Bells Beach Classic Easter competition. In that year he also started shaping, with Shane Stedman in the Sydney suburb (and surf-factory hotbed) of Brookvale, near his home.

When Simon was recruited by Shane Surfboards, he was given the job of shaping "pop-outs," as they were called. That essentially meant that after the foam blank came out of the mold, the outer skin had to be taken off and then the board was glassed. They were a mass produced 'affordable' surfboard, but Simon was able to gain a considerable amount of shaping experience in a short time. He now had two things going for him; he was a world class surfer and he shaped his own equipment.

The Shane factory at that time was the workplace of quite a few noted Australian shapers. Among them were Terry Fitzgerald (Hot Buttered), Butch Cooney, Ted Spencer (from the films "Evolution" and "Sea Of Joy") and Frank Latta. These shapers contributed to Simon learning his craft, but it would be another local shaper who would have a profound influence on Simon's career and the development of the Thruster.

In 1975 he started his own surfboard factory, Energy Surfboards, in Brookvale.

Surfing career[link]

Simon was an incredible surfer with a smooth, but powerful style. A 'natural footer' (left foot forward), Simon was noted for having exceptional ability on his backhand, no doubt honed in the famous lefts of North Narrabeen. He was and is a true power surfer in the proud lineage of Nat Young, Peter Drouyn, Keith Paull, John Otten, David Humphrey Treloar and the other Australian great's that influenced the time. Anderson's surfing style was powerful and graceful, reflecting his size (over six feet tall, the same as his brothers). His laid-back attitude to life seemed to limit his success in competition though. Still, he was a two-time Australian Junior Champion in 1971 and 1972, and on the World Professional Tour he finished 3rd in 1977 and 6th in both ‘80 and ‘81. Simon has double wins at both Bells and the Coke events, along with a Pipeline Masters victory.

In 1977 he had a burst of professional competitive success, winning first the Bells Beach Classic competition, then the Coke Surfabout in Sydney. Those wins, on single-fin boards, put him into the top 10 on the world championship tour and gave him a chance of taking that title, until the twin-fin intervened. Mark Richards had created a twin-fin design which greatly helped sharp turns on steep waves, by always having one fin deep in the wave. The twin-fin was capable of performing in the poor wave conditions and locations that the WCT events were held at the time. Within months surfers on this design were winning all competitions, but it was poorly suited to Anderson's size and style. He simply overpowered the twin fin and didn't like the idea of having to 'nurse' the board through turns, and he wasn't going to compromise his surfing to adapt to the design.

The Thruster[link]

In October '80, Simon crossed paths with Frank Williams. Frank, a journeyman shaper, had worked with Geoff McCoy, Barry Bennett and other notable Sydney board makers. Simon ran into Frank as he was coming out of the water at Narrabeen with a board that was essentially a twin fin with a strange little "half moon" shaped fin on the tail. Simon asked him what the third fin was for, and Frank told him that it made it more stable. Simon responded that he'd make it "real stable."^[3] In that moment the Thruster was conceived in Simon's mind. Being a shaper, he constructed a prototype right away.

This wasn't the first time three fins had been used on a board, Anderson was aware of the Campbell Brothers Bonzer from December, 1970.^[4] and the Tri-fin by Bob McTavish from 1971.^[5] The Tri-fin design was essentially a single fin with two small outer fins. The Bonzer had a triangular fin set up with two 'keel' shaped fins with long bases, along with a large center fin.^[6] But the Thruster was the first with equal size fins. The idea was to have the maneuverability of a twin-fin, but the stability and drive of a single-fin, in particular enough stability to prevent the tail drift found on twin-fins in big waves.

The original Thruster had fins made from single fin 'lay-ups' (layers of fiberglass), which were thicker than what is used on today's multi-fin boards. Simon knew enough about board design to figure that the fins could be smaller as there were more of them. However, the back fin started off slightly bigger than the forward fins, but since that caused the rear fin to hang over the tail, sander Steve Zoeller ground it down at Simon's request so that Simon would not get cut should his foot slip over the tail block. Consequently, all three fins ended up roughly the same size.

Simon noticed some drag due to the thicker fins and corrected that on the 2nd one he made by using thinner fins, at the same time increasing the tail width, also to compensate for the drag. He states he found using the thinner fins alone eliminated the drag issue, but that initially the Thruster was labeled inaccurately as needing a very wide tail to work. That misconception disappeared fairly quickly once they started being made by shapers all over the world.

Another 'North Narra' surfer named Bill McCausland, who later became one of the founders of Gorilla Grip and FCS, told Simon he should name this new design. Simon explained how the name Thruster came about: {{quote|Three fins had been done before. There'd been tri-fins (and) Bonzer's. So just to name it a tri-fin or three fin, people wouldn't know what it was. So "Thruster" is because the water gets pushed through the fins in the turn. The single fin (just) holds that speed through a turn. Whereas with the twin fins, obviously the speed was quickly released and you'd just zip along. But the third fin was controlling it, controlling that thrust through the turn.^[7]

Reception[link]

He took that first Thruster to Hawaii for the 1980-81 winter on the North Shore, then on to California where he signed on to be sponsored by Gary McNabb at Nectar. McNabb wanted an Australian surfer because they were making a big splash in the world of surfing at the time.

The Thruster was met with skepticism initially, thought perhaps merely a gimmick, or only for Anderson's particular size and style. Back in Sydney in early 1981 Anderson made two more Thrusters at his own factory and using those he won the double of the Bells Beach Classic and the Coke Surfabout in Sydney, for a second time, then later the Pipe Masters at Banzai Pipeline in Hawaii. Although a few multi-fin designs had been invented and some, notably the Campbell Brothers' "Bonzer", had been used since the early 70s, multi-fin configurations exploded in popularity and have been in constant development since Anderson's competitive successes.

Those victories silenced the critics and brought the thruster to everyone's attention. For the rest of 1981 competitions still had single-fins and twin-fins in use, but from 1984 onwards every world champion has used a thruster. Today most shortboards use this design, as well as some longboards.

Manufacturing[link]

Anderson began to sell his new design with Energy Surfboards and it is thought that Philip Briggs from NSW Australia was the first to buy the design. Many original Thruster Surfboards currently have a high re-sale value as they are very rare. He labeled boards from his factory as "The Original 3 Fin Thruster. Concept and Design by Simon Anderson."

Anderson never sought to patent or trademark his design. When asked about it he replied, "If I didn’t come up with it right then, there were a lot of other people at the time that were working toward that same end goal. I’m just fortunate, and happy to contribute. I’m not owed anything by anyone, but you can give me a wave out in the surf if you want to." ^[8]

A small kind of homage to his gift to the world of surfing holds that every surfer with a thruster should give Anderson $1 as thanks.^[9] Derek Hynd did that circa 1993, $55 for the boards he owned. Lost Surfboards USA did it for every board they sold in 2003, which was about $5000.^[10]

Personal life[link]

Today Anderson lives with his wife and two sons in Newport Beach, Sydney, a few suburbs north of where he grew up. He still makes state-of-the-art surfboards at BASE on Australia's Gold Coast under his own name.

On 14 November 2000, Anderson was awarded the Australian Sports Medal for services to surfboard design.^[11]

References[link]

This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (April 2009)

External links[link]

• Patton, Jon (February 2001). "Lord Of The Board". Surfing Magazine. 
• Barilotti, Steve. "Belief System: The Bonzer Saga". The Surfers Journal 13 (2). http://www.surfersjournal.com/BI13-2.html. 
• Beggs, Scott (1981). "Thruster". http://www.surfresearch.com.au/00000095.html. 
• Carroll, Nick (October 2000). "Simon Anderson profile at surfline.com". http://surfline.com/surfaz/anderson_simon.cfm. 
• Walker, Dougall (May 1981). "The Tri-Fin: Did God Mean It To Be?". Tracks magazine. http://www.surfresearch.com.au/1981_Walker_Trifin_Tracks_May_n128p16.html.