36. Electromechanical Relay
37. Revolver
38. Morse Code
39. Circuit Breaker

Electromechanical Relay

Joseph Henry had studied electromagnetic properties for a while, and he used this knowledge to invent the first relay. The Electromechanical Relay increased the power of an electric current, and allowed telegrams to travel much farther than just a few miles. Now you could have a control room with a bunch of switches, and have the current turn on and off the appliances miles away if necessary.

Revolver

Texas history chart:

• Texas is unrelated to any European power, before America is discovered.

• Spain claims Texas as their territory after America is discovered.

• Mexico breaks away from Spain, bringing Texas with it.

• Texas breaks away from Mexico and becomes a free country as the Republic of Texas; however, Mexico refused to accept that Texas had broken away, and this later sparked the Mexican-American war.

• The United States of America adopts Texas as the 28th state, sparking the Mexican-American war, because Mexico still considered Texas as their own territory.

Samuel Colt invented the revolver with inspiration from how the steering wheel on a ship worked. (His father had sent him to sea after he dropped out of school.) The revolver could shoot 6 bullets without a reload, and a new bullet was invented that could kill a man in one shoot. Colt had marketing talent. He got the Ottoman and the Russian Empires, which were going to war against each other, to buy his guns by saying that the other was already buying some, even if that were not the case. He got the Texas rangers to buy his guns in the Mexican-American war. The revolver became the foundation of the modern firearms industry, and led to pistols and other improvements.

Morse Code

Samuel Morse grew up and became a painter. While painting the picture of a french man away from home, his wife suddenly got ill and died, before he could get back home to say goodbye. His father’s letter had not come soon enough. So that was his spark for the telegraph with which came Morse code. Morse code makes letters into dots and dashes, which can be translated as clicks on a telegraph or wireless, or as flashes on a light. The radio, telephone, and internet are all results of the telegraph and Morse code.

Circuit Breaker

Charles Grafton Page had an interest in electricity from a young age. This got him involved in electromagnetism, which led him to invent the circuit breaker. If a problem with the electricity supply made too much power go into the appliance, it would probably break. However, the circuit breaker stops the current before the appliance can break. Thomas Edison improved Page’s model and invented the modern circuit breaker.

31. Combine
32. Solar Compass
33. Propeller
34. Mechanical Computer

Combine

John Hascall left New York to move to Michigan to get started in the farming industry, but he had an issue. He couldn’t harvest all the crops in time. So his neighbor, Hiram Moore, invented the combine to help Hascall finish his harvesting. The combine combines the stages of harvesting, reaping, threshing, and winnowing (separating the chaff from the wheat). It shoots it out into a truck that carries the harvest away. It was pulled by a team of horses, tractors, and were later self-propelled. The result of the combine was more food output, which means lower food prices, which means more food we can buy with our money, which means less empty stomachs, which means more happiness!

Solar Compass

The solar compass is a supplement for the magnetic compass around iron ore. It was complex and I might not know one if I saw one. I would NOT know how to use one for sure. It became the standard tool for surveying after the patent expired.

Propeller

The paddle wheel was the most dominant propulsion for boats before the propeller after Robert Fulton began the steamboat industry. Francis Pettit Smith invented the propeller with 8 blades, 4 in the front, and 4 in the back. 4 blades broke during an experiment, and he found the new propeller worked better than his first one. It had numerous advantages over the paddle wheel, such as steering the boat easier. The propeller is now the most widely used method of propelling boats in the world, and it also led to airplane propulsion.

Mechanical Computer

Charles Babbage made plans for a VERY complex calculator, which would also be an early computer. It was never built in his lifetime, but his first(, and not as complex) one was completed in the early 2000’s. It also had a first printer. The Jaquard Loom‘s programing system sparked Babbage’s mind into using punched cards for his computer. Did you know, that the first computer programmer, who programed Babbage’s first machine, was a she? Ada Lovelace by name. Babbage’s diagrams were used to make one of the first electrical computers ever for IBM.

Inventions

26. Platform Scale
27. T-Rail
28. Multi-Coil Magnet
29. Mechanical Reaper

Platform Scale

Thaddeus Fairbanks invented the platform scale in America in 1830. A platform scale is accurate, and it is the kind of scale you might use on the road. If you have ever been to a farmers market or grocery store, they might have platform scales to measure vegetables and other produce. The Fairbanks scale spread around the world, and he made many more types of scales for different purposes, such a railroads and medical centers.

T-Rail

The T-rail was another American invention, invented by Robert Livingston Stevens after he started the first railroad company in America. The T-rail is much stronger than other designs, and it became the world standard. They are also easier to install than others, and that helps efficiency a lot.

Multi-Coil Magnet

It started with the electromagnet, when Hans Christian Øersted discovered the link between magnets and electricity, and William Sturgeon invented the electromagnet later. Then Joseph Henry took it a step further by using more coils; He was able to do this when he used insulation on his wire, because now the coils could touch. This let more wire into one space, allowing for stronger magnets. Henry’s influence and advice led Alexander Graham Bell to invent the telephone, which led to the iPhone, as well as the power grid.

Mechanical Reaper

Reaping took a long time and a lot of hard work before the mechanical reaper. Reaping is harvesting the wheat, and threshing is taking out the bad stuff. The threshing machine had already been invented in England, and now the hardest part of the job was reaping. Robert McCormick had spent years trying to develop a mechanical reaper, but when he failed, Mrs. McCormick convinced her husband to hand over the work to Cyrus McCormick, their son. Cyrus finished his dad’s work, and the mechanical reaper was the result. A (team of) horse(s) would pull the reaper, which would use the motion of the wheels to cut the wheat, slide it along a wood or metal piece, and knock it onto the ground for workers to pick up. The reaper and threshing came together to form the combine, one of the most popular farming tools. The reaper and threshing machine, and later the combine, led to larger farms and more food output.

My Favorite Invention This Week

My favorite Invention this week was the reaper, because it led to the combine, one of my favorite farm tools.

21. Microphone
22. Typewriter
23. Braille
24. Sewing Machine

Inventions

Microphone

Charles Wheatstone was the first to invent the microphone, in the form of a cone, which mechanically transfers the sound vibrations into an earpiece so the sound can be heard. Wheatstone then left the study of sound to work on the electric telegraph. After many renovations, some made by Thomas Edison, we got the microphone and speaker we have today, which can save audio. Now we have the cell phone, and before that the telephone.

Typewriter

William Austin Burt invented the typewriter, but it was not successful at first. Typewriters are much neater and faster than pencil and paper. In America, a new company invented a new, successful, typewriter. When men went off to war (WWII), the sewing machine (below) gave women more free time, sometimes enough to get a job. Most of the time, that job was a typist. The typewriter led to modern computer keyboard like the one I am using to type this.

Braille

Captain Charles Barbier invented a war code that could be read with the finger, which would later become Louis Braille’s inspiration for his braille reading system for the blind. 3-year-old Louis’ father was a leather smith, and he had a workshop, with some tools dangerous to children. Louis was three when he was in his father’s workshop, trying to make holes in some leather with an awl, which was a tool for that job. The awl slipped, and poked the sight out of one eye. Then it got infected and spread to the other eye. So he was blind. He was sent to a blind school at age 10, and the school was using Barbier’s war code to teach the students. He decided Barbier’s code was too hard to learn, so he invented his own system, the braille writing system for the blind. It spread, and now blind people have just as much of a chance in the world as someone with sight.

Sewing Machine

Bart Thimonnier, with his wife, were tailors (people who make and sell clothes), and invented the sewing machine in France in 1829. The sewing machine has a special stitch, and it does the whole process mechanically. Now clothes could be made faster, and stronger. America produced the most inventors of sewing machines. Women had more free time not making clothes, so they could go get jobs (as typists) (as mentioned above).

My Favorite Invention This Week

My favorite invention this week was the typewriter because it led to the modern keyboard and I like to type like I am now. The typewriter could also type faster than anyone could write, and that keeps the hand less tired. I can type pretty fast, much faster than I can write.

16. Portland Cement
17. Electromagnets
18. Passenger Rail
19. Matches

Portland Cement

Joseph Aspdin invented and patented Portland Cement, which resembled stone from the Isle of Portland. Portland cement was very strong, so it became one of the most popular versions in the world. Cement was one of the Ingredients of concrete, and concrete became widespread in Europe and North America. William Aspdin was Joseph Aspidn’s son, and he modified Portland cement to the most common one today. William, however, did not patent it, so it became more widespread.

Electromagnets

Hans Christian Øersted discovered that electric current and magnetism had link, and that inspired William Sturgeon to invent the electromagnet. The Electromagnet is a very strong magnet, and can be turned on/off at will. It works by sending electric current through iron or a similar metal. One of the electromagnet’s uses today is in a magnetic crane at a junkyard for moving old cars.

Passenger Rail

The locomotive is invented in 1801, and British George Stephenson (stee-vuhn-suhn (dictionary.com)) invented the passenger rail for it. Stephenson had experience with trains for a while, and so he came up with the passenger rail. He also figured out that flat rails were much more efficient than hilly rails. He taught Americans how to build better railroads.

Matches

John Walker invented matches after he decided to invent a way to make a fire easier. He was experimenting with chemicals and wood and he had dipped some wood into a mixture and accidentally struck it against something, and it lit. So the strike-anywhere match was invented. The safety match was invented by taking some of the chemicals in the match, and putting them on a special striking surface.