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"
Portland Cement1843 Joseph AspdinWilliam AspdinWilliam Beverley Portland cement is modern cement. It’s admittedly dull — unless being used on dilapidated ships by mobsters for shoes — but extremely useful with more mainstream uses. Portland cement is used to make buildings, stadiums, stairs, sidewalks, foundations, and shares the unfortunate honor of being the enabler of brutalist architecture. … Continue reading "Portland Cement"
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"
Chemical WarfareChemical warfare refers to using chemicals as a weapon of mass destruction, killing many people at once. Fritz Haber, the inventor of the ammonia extraction process, is also the father of modern chemical warfare. On Jan. 31, 1915, Germany used a type of tear gas on allied troops. Due to the temperature, the chemicals failed … Continue reading "Chemical Warfare"
Offshore Oil DrillOffshore Drilling Units allow drilling for oil underwater. History Early patents describe over-water drilling wells that never worked. Thomas Rowland filed an 1869 patent for a “submarine drilling apparatus.” There are limited records showing submerged oil wells in 1891, in Grand Lake in Ohio. However, it wasn’t until 1894 that offshore exploration started in earnest. … Continue reading "Offshore Oil Drill"
Credit CardMerchants have always issued credit in one form or another directly to customers. But the idea that a bank would issue credit to purchase anything then, eventually, collect from their customer is newer. In 1946, after WWII, John C. Biggins invented the first universal credit card, called “Charg-It.” However, the card only worked at participating … Continue reading "Credit Card"
Assault RifleAssault rifles can shoot repeatedly and rapidly without reloading. Nazi’s realized that in most fire-fights soldiers were less than 400 meters. While traditional machines guns could shoot considerably further, their range was unhelpful. Furthermore, the weight of both the weapons and ammunition became a liability. In response, Nazi’s invented a light weapon with smaller and … Continue reading "Assault Rifle"
Long Playing (LP) Records & Talking MoviesLong-playing records play for a long time, enabling records with more than one song. Background As Edison’s phonograph evolved, the recordings eventually migrated to small disks played at 78 rotations per minute (rpm). Each disk held about three minutes of music per side. Filmmakers wanted to add sound to their movies. Before then, movies ran … Continue reading "Long Playing (LP) Records & Talking Movies"
Gas Extraction from Coal & Gas Powered LanternCombining gas extracted from coal into a lantern, then into lights, allowed for non-candle bright lights. This literally lit up the industrial era. Factories could function at night and people could stay awake longer. Gas lighting vastly increased productivity. In 1667, Thomas Shirley published a report describing flammable gas naturally seeping from coal. In 1684, … Continue reading "Gas Extraction from Coal & Gas Powered Lantern"
Fighter AircraftBackground In 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright invented the airplane. Other aircraft preceded theirs, lifted aloft by lighter-than-air elements, but the wright brothers smaller and faster airplane was a new breakthrough. People could fly like birds, except faster and higher. The Wright Brothers were furiously worried about their intellectual property being stolen. In hindsight, their … Continue reading "Fighter Aircraft"
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"
PatentsPatents protect the invention of things but not works of art or trademarks, which have their own body of law. They give a limited monopoly for an inventor to produce or license their invention for a set amount of time. Throughout history, patent law has inspired and rewarded innovation but also stifled innovation when abused. … Continue reading "Patents"
Mass Manufactured Soft DrinksBackground John “Doc” Pemberton was an Atlanta chemist. After the Civil War he, like many chemists of the time, used coca-derived “wine” as a prescription for various ailments, real and imagined. Some of the wines contained distilled coca leaves, which cocaine is made from. Others contained the less expensive already distilled cocaine. Cocaine during this … Continue reading "Mass Manufactured Soft Drinks"
Color MoviesThough not the first color movie, The Wizard of Oz left an indelible mark. Swapping from the old world of black and white to color the world flew over the rainbow. Movies have never been the same since. Kalmus, an MIT alum, created a process for color movies and ramped up a company, Technicolor. Initially, … Continue reading "Color Movies"