Sit-Flat Paper BagsSure, sit-flat paper bags are not the condensing steam engine, the telegraph, pneumatic tools, or the dynamo generator but they represent something new: a woman entrepreneur. After realizing the hassle of bags that would not stand Margaret Knight set out to create a machine for a bag with a flat bottom. She worked with three … Continue reading "Sit-Flat Paper Bags"
Jet EngineAn RAF pilot he thought up the jet engine and tried convincing the English military to fund development. When they refused, he created a private company to develop his jet engine, Power Jets Ltd. Undercapitalized, development of the new engine plodding along slowly. During WWII, the Allied forces realized the military potential of the jet … Continue reading "Jet Engine"
LaparoscopyFor centuries surgeons have been purposefully cutting holes in people trying to heal them. Background Before anesthesia, antibiotics, and Lister’s germ theories surgery often meant a slow and painful death from infection. Putting things into perspective, more people died in the US Civil War from infection than from direct strike of a weapon. Purposefully cutting … Continue reading "Laparoscopy"
Ballpoint PenBallpoint pens are modern pens, where ink a tube coats a ball at the end which writes. Unlike fountain pens they are inexpensive and require no skill beyond the ability to write. Loud, an American Harvard-educated lawyer, invented and patented the ballpoint pen but failed to commercialize the pen. Other versions were released but none … Continue reading "Ballpoint Pen"
Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) turns a tiny bit of DNA into a much larger amount which can subsequently be sequenced. In 1983, Mullis figured out a way to multiply the tiniest piece of DNA by orders of magnitude, making millions of copies. This is how the smallest bit of DNA, from bacteria, viruses, historical artifacts, … Continue reading "Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)"
Credit ReportingAccurate credit reporting vastly lowered the risk of lending and, with it, the cost of capital. Lewis Tappan Tappan was a strident Christian who did not believe in credit. His brother and he went bankrupt, twice. Tappan and brothers were busybodies, known to snoop and report on New York City gaming houses, brothels, and other … Continue reading "Credit Reporting"
Programmable Machine (Jacquard Loom)The Jacquard Loom is a seminal invention in the history of modern computers. Automation technology existed long before the loom but the automation was simple repetition. For example, pull the loom up, push a thread through, pull the loom down, and push another thread through then repeat. Different color threads might be used on different … Continue reading "Programmable Machine (Jacquard Loom)"
Frozen FoodFather of frozen food Clarence “Bob” “Bugs” Birdseye was first and foremost a naturalist. Birdseye collected countless insects, opened a taxidermy service in his teens, and worked at the United States Agriculture Department through his early years. While working with the Inuit in Canada he learned that fish in -40C weather would almost instantly freeze … Continue reading "Frozen Food"
Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS)MEMS are literally microscopic-machines. The best-known MEMS are the accelerometers that have become ubiquitous in smartphones, allowing precise tracking of movement on the X, Y, and Z-axis. Significantly, MEMS are the reason your phone can sense movement. Additionally, other MEMS devices include miniature microphones, projectors, cameras, and countless others. MEMS were first proposed in 1959 … Continue reading "Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS)"
PasteurizationFrench scientist Louis Pasteur disproved the theory of spontaneous generation, the idea that certain organisms are ever-present in nature. For example, early scientists believed fleas came from dust and maggots from dead meat absent anything else. Pasteur theorized and later proved that all organisms come from something else, that nothing exists in a vacuum. He … Continue reading "Pasteurization"
Object-Oriented ProgrammingObject oriented programming is the first of countless Xerox PARC inventions. Vastly simplifying, there are two ways to program a computer. In procedural programming, each thing the computer does is listed. Conditional statements tell the computer which path to follow. Comparatively, in object-oriented programming, objects mimic real life. Programmers then act on these objects. For … Continue reading "Object-Oriented Programming"
TelegraphBackground Samuel Morse invented the telegraph. He learned that his wife was sick while working in a different city. By the time he arrived home, she had died. Morse determined to invent a faster message delivery system. Like Fulton, Morse was an artist before going into business. He had no background in science or engineering. … Continue reading "Telegraph"
Electric Arc WeldingElectric arc welding lowered the price of joining metal pieces, eventually enabling the construction of much larger structures. Russians love to build giant things, bolshoya as they say in Russian. Therefore, it makes sense that it was a Russian, Benardos Nikolai Nikolaevic, who realized in 1881 that two metal pieces can be tightly joined together … Continue reading "Electric Arc Welding"
Planned Communities / Cookie-Cutter SuburbsLevitt produced inexpensive homes. He subcontracted building parts of the home to specialists who would do the same work repeatedly, from house to house. His methods reduced costs and increased quality: a standardized parts assembly line for houses. Levitt’s methods were copied with cookie-cutter style suburbs dotting the US especially, where people have limited choices … Continue reading "Planned Communities / Cookie-Cutter Suburbs"
- Blue Ocean Strategy Basics – Making Competition Irrelevant
A different way of thinking. It’s right there on the front of the jacket of the book Blue Ocean Strategy, “How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant.” It’s also one of the most misunderstood concepts of blue ocean strategy. I’ve been working on blue ocean strategy since 2001, when it was … Continue reading "Blue Ocean Strategy Basics – Making Competition Irrelevant"