Albert Hall (engineer)

Albert Hall born Portsmouth (1878 – 11 February 1941) was an English engineer and inventor, notable for his contribution to improvements in electricity generation and the development of radio and early radar. He served as an apprentice in the Naval Dockyard and gained a scholarship to study at the Royal College of Science. After graduating he was recommended to Dr Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti by Professor John Perry, which resulted in Hall joining Ferranti in 1902.

Dr Ferranti was convinced that the future prime mover for electricity generation would be through a turbine engine employing very high temperatures. Hall's experience in thermodynamics was crucial to the development and patenting of materials able to withstand these high temperatures and stresses. Their collaboration eventually resulted in them producing nickel-protected soft steel turbine blades and machinery for their manufacture. Dr Ferranti had already been working for some years with J & P Coats of Paisley on cotton spinning improvements and it was here that Hall developed a small air-lubricated turbine to replace individual spindle motors, increasing the spindle speed from 6000 rpm to more than 20,000 rpm. According to J F Wilson Coats financed this and also agreed to co-finance the turbine development with Vickers of Sheffield, with Hall supervising the main projects while commuting between Paisley and Sheffield.

In 1915 Hall was requisitioned by Lord Chetwynd to enter the service of the Ministry of Munitions to act as his assistant. Hall was to help design and build the Largest Shell Factory in England for the manufacture of Amatol and the filling of shells and bombs. During his time as chief engineer there, he lived on site in Orchard Cottage and survived a massive explosion, the cause of which was never determined. Hall's work in Chilwell was acknowledged in 2012 when a commemorative plaque was placed on the re-built property.

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