physics

Whessoe

Whessoe is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Whessoe rather than just read about it. In short: Whessoe is a company based in Darlington and on Teesside in North East England. It was formerly a supplier of chemical, oil and nuclear plant and instrumentation, and today is a manufacturer of low temperature storage.

Key takeaways

Whessoe belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Whessoe to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Whessoe from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Whessoe is a company based in Darlington and on Teesside in North East England. It was formerly a supplier of chemical, oil and nuclear plant and instrumentation, and today is a manufacturer of low temperature storage.

History

Kitchings and I'Anson The Whessoe Company traces its origins back to an iron foundry shop founded in 1790. That family business was inherited by William Kitching (d. 1850) and Alfred Kitching (1808–1882), both Quakers, who established the Hope Town Foundry in Darlington in 1832. Both William and Alfred Kitching were on the board of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, as well as being shareholders. They built several locomotives for the railway, including subcontracted manufacturing and repair work from Timothy Hackworth. 1845 built, Hackworth designed, Tory class Derwent is preserved in the National Railway Museum collection. In 1860, the Stockton and Darlington Railway purchased the 'Hope Town Foundry' site to extend its Hopetown Carriage Works and the Kitching business relocated to Whessoe Foundry also in Darlington. In 1861, A Kitching was recorded as employing 45 people. The business passed from the Kitchings to their cousin Charles I'Anson. The term 'Whessoe Foundry' was first applied to Charles I'Anson & Company in the 1860s, the name Whessoe being a locality name applied to the foundry. From 1850 to 1890 the company expanded into the manufacture of steel structures, cranes, and gas works equipment. In 1881 the company became a limited liability company.

Whessoe Foundry Company In 1890 the Whessoe Foundry Company Limited was formed, and in 1920 the company was listed on the London Stock Exchange as Whessoe Foundry and Engineering Co Ltd, Shell acquired 51% of the shares. From 1890 onwards the company mainly manufactured equipment for the gas and oil industries, such as gas holders. It also made linings for underground railway tunnels and later, equipment for the nuclear and petrochemical plants. Whessoe designed and constructed reactor vessels for power stations including Calder Hall and advanced gas-cooler reactors at Hunterston B and Hinkley B.

Whessoe LGA Whessoe's business supplying low temperature gas storage equipment remained in Darlington, successively owned by Preussag Noell, Skanska and Al Rushaid. In 2013, it was acquired by Samsung C&T Corporation as Whessoe Engineering Ltd.

Whessoe Varec In 1997 Endress+Hauser acquired the Whessoe Varec instrumentation business.

Controversies Whessoe Oil and Gas was revealed as a subscriber to the UK's Consulting Association, exposed in 2009 for operating an illegal construction industry blacklist, and was among 14 issued with enforcement notices by the UK Information Commissioner's Office.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Whessoe

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Whessoe claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Whessoe before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Whessoe ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Whessoe

In research: Whessoe appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Whessoe in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Whessoe is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Companies based in Darlington, Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange, Engineering companies of the United Kingdom, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Whessoe outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Whessoe in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Whessoe means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Whessoe out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Whessoe in simple terms?

Why does Whessoe matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Whessoe?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Whessoe.