Crane
Crane names 10 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Crane a wading bird
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a wading bird, classified near the heron. There are three North American species. The whooping crane is fifty inches in length. The plumage is white, save that the tip of the head and the sides of the neck are red, and the wing coverts black. It bred formerly from Illinois northward in unfrequented places, and wintered in the Gulf States. The whooping cranes migrated in single file with outstretched legs and neck. This species is practically extinct. The sandhill or brown crane of somewhat more southern range is a brownish gray bird, forty inches in length. It is noted for its antics in the breeding season, which have been likened aptly to an Indian war dance. In pioneer days the sandhill crane was so numerous and so familiar from Nebraska to Minnesota as to dispute the possession of the autumn stubble fields with the turkeys, but the most courageous "gobbler" was glad to retire before the powerful wing and sharp beak of the crane. There is also a third American species known as the little brown crane. It ranges from Alaska to Mexico. See Heron Whenever the days are cool and clear, The sandhill crane goes walking Across the field by the flashing weir, Slowly, solemnly stalking. The little frogs in the tules hear, And jump for their lives if he comes near; The fishes scuttle away in fear When the sandhill crane goes walking. The field folk know if he comes that way, Slowly, solemnly stalking, There is danger and death in the least delay, When the sandhill crane goes walking. The chipmunks stop in the midst of play; The gophers hide in their holes away; And "Hush, oh hush!" the field-mice say, When the sandhill crane goes walking. --Mrs. Mary Austin, in St. Nicholas.
Crane a machine for lifting weights
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a machine for lifting weights, worked either by hand, or by steam, or by hydraulic power. The most common hand form consisting of an upright revolving post and a projecting arm (usually at an angle of about 45°), the jib with a fixed pulley at its extremity. Whenever much hoisting or heavy work has to be done, steam or hydraulic power is always used; the cranes are then either stationary or portable, the latter type being used whenever it is more convenient to move the crane to its work than the converse. The stationary power cranes differ from the hand ones mainly in their vastly greater power, and consequently greater size and complexity of gearing; where steam is used there are generally two direct-acting steam-cylinders, which replace the two handles worked by hand. The very powerful stationary cranes used in docks capable of lifting 50 to 75 tons are examples of this kind. Hydraulic power is very largely used in cranes for these places and in great steel-works; they are simpler in construction, a good deal of gearing being done away with; the water in the operating cylinder is always under great pressure.
Crane WALTER, painter
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
WALTER, painter; born in Liverpool, Aug. 15, 1845; the son of an artist, Thomas Crane (1808- 1859). He himself was trained as an artist, and much of his work consisted of book-illustrations. Among these may be named his series of "Toy-books" (1869- 1875); "The Baby's Opera" (1877), and "The Sirens Three." In 1862 he began to exhibit paintings at the Royal Academy, showing in that year "The Lady of Shalott," and he was a constant contributor to the Grosvenor Gallery from its foundation in 1877 till 1888. His His pictures nearly always deal, in a somewhat decorative fashion, with subjects of an imaginative nature, such as "The Riddle of the Sphinx" (1887); "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" (1895)., He also painted Britannia's " (1897); "The World's Conqueror" (1898), etc. He also produced many very delicate landscape subjects in water-colors; designed wall papers; and published poems, illustrated by himself, "Queen's Summer" (1891), and "The Claims of Decorative Art" (1892). Since 1888 a member of the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolors, he was in 1893 appointed art director to the city of Manchester. He was a prominent socialist, and died in 1905.
Crane any bird of the genus Grus
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
any bird of the genus Grus, or the family Gruide. The common crane is G. cinerea. The tip of the bill is horncolored, its middle part greenish-black, the base reddish. The top of the head, which is naked, is of a red color; the plumage in general is an ashy-gray; the throat, neck, and occiput darker; the feet black-length, 3 feet 8 inches to 3 feet 10 inches. It is a grallatorial bird, frequenting marshes. It is a migratory bird, in winter living in India, Egypt, and other warm countries of the Old World, and in summer migrating to the N. In these passages it flies, generally by night, high in air, in a large wedge-formed flock, led by a single leader, or in long lines, and with discordant cries. Where it breeds, which is in the N. of Europe and Siberia, the nest is among rushes. The eggs, two in number, are pale bluishgreen, with brown markings.
Crane W(INTHROP) MURRAY
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
W(INTHROP) MURRAY, an American public official and manufacturer; born at Dalton, Mass., April 23, 1853. He was educated at the public schools, and at Williston Seminary (A.M., Williams 1897). He was Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts (1897-1899) and Governor (1900-1902). On the death of Senator Hoar he was nominated to fill the vacancy in the United States Senate, and was elected in January, 1905, for the term expiring in 1907, and re-elected for the term 1907-1913. He was a member of the Republican National Committee American (1892-1902), and again from 1904 on, and a delegate-at-large to all Republican National Conventions since 1892, except in 1900. He died in 1920.
Crane ROBERT BRUCE, an American painter
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
ROBERT BRUCE, an American painter. He was born in New York in 1857, receiving his first lessons under Alexander Wyant, and later studying in Europe. He devoted his talent in the main to the portrayal of landscapes, such subjects as plowed fields and meadows covered with snow attracting him. Interesting examples of his work are "Autumn" (National Gallery, Washington); "Autumn Uplands" (Metropolitan, New York); "March" (Brooklyn Museum), "Springtime" (Peabody Institute, Baltimore); "The Hills," which won the Saltus prize (National Academy). He was a member of the National Academy of Design and American Water Color Society. THE CROWNED CRANE
Crane CHARLES RICHARD, an American manufacturer and diplomat
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
CHARLES RICHARD, an American manufacturer and diplomat, born in Chicago in 1858. He was educated in the Chicago public schools, entered the employ of the Crane Company, and became 1st vice-president in 1894 and president in 1912. In 1909 he was appointed minister to China, but resigned before assuming his official duties. He was again appointed minister to China by President Wilson in 1920. In 1917 he was a member of the Diplomatic Commission to Russia, and was American commissioner on mandates in Turkey in 1919.
Crane FRANK, an American clergyman and writer
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
FRANK, an American clergyman and writer. He was born in 1861 in Urbana, Ill., was educated at Illinois Wesleyan University and ordained to the Methodist Episcopal ministry in 1882. A preacher in Methodist churches in Chicago from 1896, he joined the Congregationalists in 1903. After being pastor of the Union Congregational Church of Worcester, Mass., for five years, ending in 1909, he took up writing moral essays for syndicated newspapers. His works include: "The Religion of To-morrow," "Lame and Lovely."
Crane WILLIAM H., an American actor
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
WILLIAM H., an American actor; born in Leicester, Mass., in 1845. He made his first appearance on the stage when 18 years old and soon won recognition as a comedian. His rôle in "The Henrietta," in which he was associated with Stuart Robson, was his first Since 1889 he "starred" at success. great in "The Senator"; "The American Minister"; "Father and the Boys" (1907); "The Senator Keeps House" (1911); "The New Henrietta" (1914), etc.
Crane STEPHEN, an story-writer
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
STEPHEN, an story-writer; born in Newark, N. J., Nov. 1, 1870. He wrote "Maggie," "The Red Badge of Courage," and "George's Mother" (1898), stories; "The Black Riders and Other Lines" (1895), verse; and other books. He died in Badenweiler, Germany, June 5, 1900. an English
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The birds have moved most. Aiton's 1910 note that the whooping crane is "practically extinct" nearly came true -- the wild flock fell to about 15 birds by 1941 -- but protection at Aransas and Wood Buffalo has brought it back past 500 in the wild, while the sandhill crane Aiton's remembered from pioneer days now stages in the hundreds of thousands on Nebraska's Platte River each spring; the "little brown crane" is no longer a separate species but the lesser race of the sandhill, and cranes are no longer classed "near the heron" at all, being placed with the rails in the Gruiformes. Collier's crane that lifts 50 to 75 tons in a dock is dwarfed by today's crawler and ring cranes rated in the thousands of tonnes, and steam power has vanished from the trade entirely. Of the people, Walter Crane remains the best known, still collected as an Arts and Crafts illustrator and wallpaper designer -- though Collier's gives his death as 1905 when he in fact died in 1915; Winthrop Murray Crane has faded as a senator but his family paper mill at Dalton, Massachusetts, is remembered for a contract no one on the page mentions, supplying the paper for United States banknotes, which it still holds.
Written for this edition, 2026.