11. Pencil
12. Stethoscope
13. Tunneling Shield
14. Paved Roads

Pencil

• Ancient Times: Clay Tablets Are Used To Write.

• Ancient Romans And Greeks: Wax Tablets Are Used To Write. They can be erased

• Middle Ages: Feather Pens Dipped In Ink And Written On Early Paper Is Used

• 1500’s: Pencil is invented in England and the English gain a pencil monopoly because they have good graphite.

• 1789: The French Revolution Begins and English Pencils cannot be imported. That Brings Us To Today’s Lesson.

  A french government official asked a man named Conte to invent a different kind of pencil with a different kind of lead. France had access to powdered graphite, but not solid graphite like England. Conte mixed clay with this powdered graphite, and got sturdy graphite that could be made into rods. Different kinds of marks could be made depending on how much clay you mixed in. Henry David Thoreau re-invented the Conte pencil in America in the 1820’s. Conte is still a pencil brand today even.

• 1822: The Mechanical Pencil Is Invented In England.

• 2007: Smart Pen Is Invented In The United States Of America For Computers, Smartphones, And Tablets.

Stethoscope

Laennac invented the stethoscope in France while working at a hospital. He got inspiration from watching children playing a game. One would hold a hollow stick to his/her ear, and the other would scratch a pin on the other end of the stick; The result was that the scratching of the pin would be amplified in the first child’s ear. His first stethoscope was a rolled up newspaper, but he later made one out of a hollowed out wood tube. He used it to identify an issue with the body and later his nephew used the stethoscope diagnose Laennac with Tuberculosis, which he died from not long after. The stethoscope spread rapidly, and now it is a symbol of hospitals and doctors internationally.

Tunneling Shield

London was a growing city in the 1700 and 1800’s, resulting in a need to travel under the Thames River, rather than over it. Marc Brunel invented the tunneling shield to help accomplish this. Brunel was inspired by a ship worm that ate through wood. The tunneling shield is a structure that is dropped into a hole and used to hold the dirt above the workers. You go in the tunneling shield, dig some of the dirt out, push the tunneling shield forward, and lay down bricks as a permanent support structure. Cave-ins became less common due to the tunneling shield. More modern tunneling shields were made, and also a tunnel under the English channel between England and France was built.

Paved Roads

John McAdam, after having become wealthy during the American Revolution, invented the paved road we have today in 1816 in Britain. The Interstate was invented, and that is what holds our economy together. Paved roads were made of gravel and later tar.

Summarize each of the inventions you studied this week and how they impacted history.

6. Vapor-Compression Theory
7. Oliver Evans
8. Percussion Ignition
9. Canning Process

Vapor-Compression Theory

In the Summer it is hot and that can be uncomfortable for us and it would make food spoil faster than if the food was cold. Oliver Evans (see below) wrote about vapor-compression refrigeration in 1805. Below is how it works in an image:

The refrigerator and air conditioning came from the vapor compression process. In fact, if you are reading this in hot weather but are cool, this is why.

Oliver Evans

Flour was low-quality and hard to make in America. Oliver Evans built a flour mill on the Evans’ family farm so he could try to improve the milling system. He made a bunch of inventions that weren’t very important on their own, but together they pretty much automated the process of milling. Evans also invented the vapor compression theory (see above) and wrote about it in 1805. Vapor compression dramatically changed the world too.

Percussion Ignition

Once their was a flintlock gun firing system. John Forsyth invented the percussion cap. One issue with the flintlock system (in duck hunting, Forsyth’s hobby) was that you would pull the trigger, and a cloud of smoke would come up that the target would see, and get out of the way before the bullet fired. The percussion ignition system was faster, giving the target less time to get away, and it also worked when wet, unlike the old flintlock system. Unfortunately, Forsyth patented his invention, and, like John Kay with his flying shuttle, he went bankrupt and went back to preaching. However, the invention was still successful. It led to the modern bullet, which was very efficient and helpful.

Canning Process

Napoleon offered prize money for a better way to get food to the army after the French Revolution. (Some of you can probably guess the rest. For the benefit of the those who can’t, and so I can successfully complete this essay, I will continue) Nicolas Appert got motivated and invented the canning posses. He used glass jars, but later tin cans were adopted by Napoleon. The army could now get a lot of canned food before leaving for war, and canning led to something most people who have large gardens (like us) do. In fact, within the next week, I am going to can for the first time ever with my own homegrown tomatoes. Canning also led to the mason jar, and now foods could be preserved for years.

Also, List two or three sources of motivation that you think are powerful enough to drive inventors to pursue their inventions, even in the face of adversity like bankruptcy and ridicule.

1. Their own lives
2. Other people’s lives
3. Money

Their own lives

The inventor’s own life could be impacted by their invention, and I think that would drive motivation. Take John Forsyth’s percussion ignition system for example. His motivation was that the old system of firing guns was not effective. His invention started with his hobby, duck hunting. His gun was in inefficient, and he did not catch any ducks. The only issue was he enforced his patent. THAT is the only reason he went bankrupt.

Other people’s lives

The lives of other people could be impacted by the invention, and I think that could drive motivation. Take the flour mill of Oliver Evans for example. Evans saw the problem of poor quality flour, and decided to fix it. This helps other people as well as himself. He had trouble marketing his invention, but (he) didn’t give up because he knew he had an invention that could help other people.

Money

I am going to give to examples of money motivated inventions: The Marine Chronometer and the Canning Process. The Marine Chronometer’s inventor was motivated by the Longitude Act of 1850, while Nicolas Appert was motivated by rewards issued by Napoleon.

Inventions

2. Suspension Bridge
3. Fire Hydrant
4. Locomotive

Suspension Bridge

An early form of the suspension bridge was invented in the middle ages, in the form of vines (and later chains) with wood planks stretched across them. The suspension bridge was improved a lot by James Finley when he invented the modern suspension bridge like in the picture below.

The suspension bridge works like this:

One of the impacts of the suspension bridge was travel was made easier over water. The bridge allowed people to get to other cities over rivers and maybe even small bays.

Fire Hydrant

Frederick Graff invented the wet barrel fire hydrant out of the fire plug around 1800 AD. The fire plug was a hole in the sewer pipe for water to come out of. The wet barrel had water flow up through the barrel to a valve above ground. One disadvantage of the wet barrel is that the water freezes because it is above the frost line, and that stops the water from being available to fight the fire. However, the dry barrel keeps the water under the frost line with an underground valve, so therefore the water doesn’t freeze. Below I have a picture of a dry barrel on the left, and a wet barrel on the right.

The fire hydrant’s impact was that fires could be fought easier and so more lives and property were saved.

Locomotive

The locomotive had a VERY big impact on history, as it was the first steam powered method of transportation. Using the Watt steam engine, the train would have the rotational motion connect to the wheels and the train would then move along the tracks. Trains allowed transportation all over the countries of France, Britain, the United States Of America, and others.

My Favorite Invention This Week

My favorite invention this week was the fire hydrant. I learned how they work for the first time ever. I think fire hydrants are interesting pieces of machinery. That is why the fire hydrant was my favorite invention this week.