Anderson, Robert
~ Electric Carriage ~ 1832
The automobile wasn’t just invented. It is not the product of any single
man or group. It is the culmination of a worldwide series of experiments
and developments. Today’s automobile represents over 100,000 patents.
One of those inventive people was Robert Anderson. In 1832, Robert
Anderson of Scotland drove the first electric carriage Source:.The
Story Behind the Horseless Carriage |
Arkwright, Robert ~ Mechanized Textile
Loom ~ 1775
Richard Arkwright made improvements in the textile loom and in 1775 took
out a patent for a new Carding Engine. Arkwright's machine included a
cylinder carding engine, incorporating a crank and comb mechanism. The
comb moved up and down, removing the carded fibers from the doffing
cylinder in a "continuous filmy fleece". Source:
Spartacus Education |
Bose, Amar ~
Speakers, Bose ~ 1968
In the 1950s, Dr. Amar G. Bose observed that loudspeakers didn’t deliver
natural sound. Extensive research into the science of sound led to the
formation of Bose Corporation.
Bose built its reputation with an uncompromising commitment
to lifelike sound. Ground-breaking audio achievements have resulted in
historic milestones which form the foundation for our future endeavors.
Source:
Radio Hall of Fame |
Clemens,
Samuel L. (Mark Twain) ~
Self-pasting Scrapbook ~ 1873
Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) had three patents on inventions of his own.
His most famous patented (US140245) invention was his self-pasting
scrapbook, a book with adhesive already on the pages so that items could
be pasted in by wetting the page to activate the adhesive. This
scrapbook sold 25,000 copies, which he said "was well enough for a book
that did not contain a single word that critics could praise or condemn.
Source:
The
Patent Office Pony also
PBS |
Colt, Samuel ~
Revolver Colt ~ 1836
In 1842, after six years and a production run of 5,000 pistols and
rifles, the company declared bankruptcy, and liquidated its assets. U.S.
Patent No. X009430 reissued February 25, 1836 to S. Colt for Revolving
Gun- Source:
Colt: Legend & Legacy |
Crary,
John Williamson Sr. ~ Brick
making
Machine ~ 1858
US Patents Nos. 21,186 and 67,728. Before Crary's invention bricks were
formed by hand and of inconsistent dimensions/quality.
The Scientific
American magazine, January 1861, featuring Crary's Brick making Machine.
Source: U.S. Patent Office |
Fleck, Abigail ~ Makin'
BaconΠ~ 1983
One Saturday morning in 1993, when she was eight years old, Abigail M.
Fleck and her father, Jonathan, were cooking bacon in their St. Paul,
Minnesota home. Inspired by an offhand comment from her father,. Abbey
Fleck invented a new, quicker and healthier way to cook bacon, then
founded a company to sell her product., The Makin' BaconΠSource:
Inventor of the Week |
Goodyear, Charles ~ Vulcanized Rubber ~
1843
Rubber, so named because it could erase
pencil writing, had long been considered a waterproofing agent, but in its natural state, it
melted in hot weather and froze solid in the cold. After ten years of tireless work and
abject poverty, Charles Goodyear perfects his process for "vulcanizing" rubber,
or combining it with sulfur to create a soft, pliable substance unaffected by weather.
Source:
American Experience |
Hargreaves,
James ~ Spinning Jenny ~ 1767
James Hargreaves (1720-1777) improved on a machine that had been
designed and built years before by an obscure artisan called Thomas
Highs, who was the true genius of the Industrial Revolution. Hargreaves
built his first machine alone, in 1767, that first Hargreaves Jenny had
eight spindles - an improvement on Highs's six - and even larger
versions followed. Source:
Cotton Times - Understanding The Industrial Revolution |
Highs, Thomas ~
Spinning Jenny ~ 1764
Thomas Highs (1718-1803) was a reed-maker and a member of the Swedenborg
religious sect. He had been the brain behind both the spinning jenny and
another spinning machine called the water frame. However, he had no
entrepreneurial flair and no money. Source:
BBC Series Making History |
Ives, Frederic Eugene ~ Halftone
Printing Process ~ 1885
By 1874, Frederic Eugene Ives only 18 years old, was in charge of the
Cornell University photographic laboratory. While there, he developed an
early halftone process using a gelatin relief. He continued to improve
this process, and in 1881 he worked on the first commercial production
of halftone printing plates using his method; in 1885 he introduced an
improved halftone screen. Source:
Encyclopedia Britannica |
Mergenthaler, Ottmar ~
Linotype ~ 1886
Ottmar Mergenthaler's (1854 -1899) invention of the linotype composing
machine in 1886 is regarded as the greatest advance in printing since
the development of moveable type 400 years earlier. Source:
National Inventors Hall of Fame |
Morgan, Garrett ~
Traffic
Light ~ 1923
Garrett Augustus Morgan (1877-1963), is best known for his invention of
the automatic traffic signal. He also is the inventor of the gas mask,
used by firemen in the early 1900s and by soldiers in World War I.
Source:
US Department of Transportation |
Newton, Isaac ~
Reflecting Telescope ~ 1688
A stimulating journey into the revelations of Sir Isaac Newton. Learn
about his discovery of Gravity and Optical Theories. Learn why cars roll
uphill, why dogs chase cars and Newton's secret library. While sitting
in the shadow of an apple tree Newton made a great discovery. By watching
an apple fall he was able to make the call. He identified the reason as
gravity. A ThinkQuest-NYC project.
Source: Newton's
Castle |
Ohm, Georg ~ Ohm's Law ~ 1827
In 1827, using equipment of his own creation, George Simon Ohm
(1787-1854) determined that the current that flows through a wire is
proportional to its cross sectional area and inversely proportional to
its length or Ohm's law. These fundamental relationships are of such
great importance, that they represent the true beginning of electrical
circuit analysis. Source:
Corrosion Doctors |
Otto, Nicholaus August
~ Internal Cmbustion Engine ~ 1876
A German traveling salesman named Nicholaus Otto constructed the first
practical internal combustion engine; it used a four stroke cycle of a
piston to draw a fuel-air mixture into a cylinder, compress it,
mechanically capture energy after ignition, and expel the exhaust before
beginning the cycle anew. Issued (US) patent 194,047 on August 14, 1877.
Source:
Greatest
Engineering Achievements |
Parker, Philip M. ~ W-O-D Project ~ 1999
The Websters-Online-Dictionary Project is the world's largest dictionary
of modern language usage (the
equivalent of 500 encyclopedias). The dictionary will soon consist of
over 400 modern languages, and 10 ancestral languages, with some 30
million individual entries across languages The dictionary is free
to consult over the Internet.
Source:
About the W-O-D Project |
Schroeder, Becky
~ Glo-sheet ~ 1972
Rebecca Schroeder from Toledo, Ohio, USA was ten when she became an
inventor. Becky got a patent for her invention in 1974; she was on
television and won awards for it. She improved upon the idea over the
next few years eventually calling it the Glo-Sheet. The Glo-Sheet has
been used in many places. Doctors use them so they can check patient's
notes in the dark without waking them up and the US Navy and NASA have
used them. Source:
To Young To Vote |
Stanley, William ~
Transformer ~ 1886
On March 20, 1886, William Stanley demonstrated a system of high voltage
transmission via a "parallel connected transformer." The device,
combined with high-voltage transmission lines, made it possible to
spread electric service over a wide area and allowed alternating current
to be available at different voltages. Patent 349,611. Source:
Inventor of the Week |
Tull, Jethro ~
Seed Drill ~ 1701
In 1701, two years after beginning farming, Jethro Tull invented a
horse-drawn seed drill. In those days, there were no tractors, and they
used animals like horses or oxen to pull the plow. This new invention
would drill a hole and plant a seed automatically. The grains could be
planted evenly in straight rows without waste. Source:
Education Helper |
Watts, William
~ Shot Tower ~ 1782
In 1782 an English plumber named William Watts saw possibility in that.
He realized that if he dropped molten lead far enough through the air,
it, too, would form into spheres. The surface tension of lead is a lot
higher than that of water, so it forms very perfect spheres indeed. He
saw that he had a new way to make buckshot. Source:
Engines
of Our Ingenuity |
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