Matthew Henry Phineas Riall Sankey


Matthew Henry Phineas Riall Sankey was an Irish-born engineer and captain in the Royal Engineers, known as the creator of the Sankey diagram.

Biography

Sankey was born at Nenagh in County Tipperary in 1853 the son of General W. Sankey, C.B. He received his first education in Switzerland and at Mr. Rippon’s School at Woolwich. Here from 1871 to 1873 he attended the Royal Military Academy, and from 1874 to 1876 the School of Military Engineering in Chatham.
In the last years of his studies Sankey started as research-assistant of the Royal Commission on Railway Accidents making calculations and experiments on railway-brakes and trails. After graduation he started at the British Army, first on the War Office on architectural design, then leading a drawing office of 16 draughtsmen in Manchester. In Gibraltar he was superintended at the construction of barracks for a Military Telegraphs station. From 1879 to 1882 he was instructor at the Royal Military College, Kingston, Canada, and from 1882 to 1889 back in England working for the Ordnance Survey Establishment at Southampton.
From 1889 to 1904 he was a member of the board of directors of Willans & Robinson engineers. He was appointed lead engineer and steam engine designer in 1892 after Mr. Willans died. Later he designed their new Victoria Works at Rugby. From 1904 to 1909 he was a consulting engineer in the steam and internal-combustion engineering industry. From 1909 until his death in 1926 he was a board member of Marconi’s Wireless Telegraph Company, Ltd, and on the board of some other companies.
In World War I Sankey volunteered serving as a staff officer at the department of the Director of Fortifications and Works. He was decorated with the Order of the Bath and the Order of the British Empire for his service in World War I.
He was also President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

Work

Sankey diagram

In an 1898 article about the energy efficiency of a steam engine in the Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers Sankey introduced the first energy flow diagram: a visualisation to be christened Sankey diagram. Sankey gave the following explanation how to read the image:
Previously created by Charles Joseph Minard to show the number of Napoleon's soldiers going to and from Russia, Sankey specialised its use for energy flow.
This presentation made an impression. Just four years later in 1902 Robert Henry Thurston among others acknowledged, that the heat distribution of the then modern steam engine was best shown by the use of the so-called "Sankey Diagram".

Patents

Sankey received at least four patents for an expansion-gear for engines, a turbine, a reversible turbine, and a steam-turbine.

Publications

Books:
Articles, a selection: