TELESCOPE

             
    In 1608 the Dutch spectacle maker Hans Lippershey discovered that two lenses, one in front of the other, could produce a magnifying effect. One year later, Galileo Galilei heard of the discovery and made what is believed to be the world's first telescope, going on to discover the moons of jupiter, craters on the moon and observe for the first time separate stars in the Milky Way.

TELEPHONE

               One of the Scottish American physicist and inventor was Alexander Graham Bell (1847 - 1922). In 1876 he exhibited an apparatus embodying the results of his studies in the transmission of sound by electricity - the basis of a modern telephone. The first telephone massage transmitted was from Bell to his assistant: "Mr.Watson, please come here; I want you".

Talking Doll

             A little known invention by Thomas A. Edison is a doll that talked, the first ever to do so. Built in 1888, the doll had a small phonograph in its body that enabled it to recite a dozen nursery rhymes. After making several hundred of these dolls, Edison was informed that his company had previously sold the right to manufacture phonograph toys to another firm. Although that firm had never exercised its right, Edison stopped production and had the dolls destroyed. Of the few he saved and presented to friends, only two are believed to be in existence today.

Synthetic Plastic

               In the early 1860s, a New York firm offered a prize of $10,000 for a satisfactory subtitute for ivory it the manufacture of billiard balls. The prize was won by an American inventor, Jhone Wesley Hyatt who devised for the purpose what came to be known as celluloid. It was the first synthetic plastic.

TEA BAG

                            A small wholesale tea business in New York city was run by Thomas Sullivan at the turn of the century. He had one major problem preventing him from expanding his trade. There was no convenient way for him to send samples of his many varieties of tea to prospective customers.

                          In those days, people made tea by brewing loose tea leaves in pots, then staining the tea into cups, if someone wanted just one cup of tea and did not want to brew a whole pot, there were a number of devices he could use. One was called a "tea bell". Shaped some what like a bell, it held a small amount of tea and could be submerged in a single cup.

                           Sullivan decided to adapt the tea bell idea for sending out his samples. He made little bags og gauze, put different teas inside, then attached half a dozen of his "tea bags" to a piece of cardboard. This became his sample package, which he sent out to retail merchants.

                           To Sullivan's surprise, he began to get requests for shipments of the tea bags in quantity. The customers had seen the samples and wanted tea bags for themselves, it seemed. He complied, and tea bags were soon available for household use.

Synthetic Dye

                  

  The first synthetic dye was produced by William Henry Perkin, an eighteen year old English school boy, in 1856. His teachers had mentioned how valuable it would be to have someone figure out how to make synthetic quinine and Perkin decided to try his home laboratory. He fained, but he noticed a purple tint in the mess he produced, left school, opened a factory and became a millionaire.

Sulphuric Acid

                 The most important industrial chemical is sulphuric acid. This chemical was discovered about 1300, by someone who may have been a Spaniard. In order that his writings be given credence, he wrote of his discoveries under the name of Geber, who was an Arabic Alchemist who lived five centuries before. He was entirely too successful, for his real name is known. The greatest of the medieval alchemist is known only as the "False Geber".

Synthetic Fibres

  The centrifugal method used to twist thread evenly in the manufacture of synthetic fibres was invented in England at the turn of the century by Charles Topham, who while cycling noticed the way in which mud was thrown off the wheels of his bicycle. His "spinning box", patented in 1900, facilitated the commercial manufacture of cellulose and artificial yarns.

Sticking Tapes

                Everyone uses cellophane tape today for a thousand different jobs, but when the stuff was first invented, it was for one purpose to keep moisture out of materials in refrigerated cars.
               

                The problem was posed to Richard Drew, a young Minnesota laboratory assistant, in 1929. Drew had already invented a new kind of marking tape that could be wound up on a roll without sticking to itself. A new rubber-based adhesive made this possible. Drew called his new tape "Scotch Brand". When the manufactures of insulation for refrigerator car came to drew looking for a new tape, he decided to coat the tape eith cellophane, a trasparent and waterproof substance. Next, he had to find the right adhesive that would stick. Drew experimented with one kind of rubber-based adhesive after another untill he found one that seemed to work. But the final tape was hardly a success. It did not adhere evenly, would curl near heat and split too many times. A year later, he hit upon an adhesive that was stranger and much less visible.

            A new firm was interested in Drew's "Scotch Brand Cellophane Tape". It was the Shellmar Products Corporation and they used the world's first cellophane tape to seal up their cellophane wrapped bakery goods.

         Today, cellophane tape is used everywhere - especially in the home. The easy dispenser that allows you to find the beginning of the roll without any trouble was invented by Joseph A. Borden. there id "Scotch Brand Magic Transparent Tape". It may not be magic, but it's as close to being invisible an any cellophane tape on the market.

Stethoscope

                                      

   A stethoscope is the instrument used by doctors to listen to the sounds made by the heart, lungs or other organs inside a patient's body. Its inventor was a French Doctor, Rene Laennec (1781 - 1826) who first used a paper tube and later a wooden pipe. The modern stethoscope which works into both ears was developed later.

STEAREO

                                      Within five years of Alexander Graham Bell's invention of the telephone in 1876, Clement Adler, a French engineer, had devised a primitive form of stereophonic transmission on the stage of the Paris Opera, four miles away. but more than 50 years passed before the technique became practical for domestic use. In 1933 British inventor Alan Dower Blulein patented the stereophonics phonograph. However, the first stereophonic records did not go on sale in the United States until 1958, 15 years later.

Steam Engine

              Contrary  to popular belief, James watt (1736 - 1819) did not invent the steam engine. He did however, make it more efficient.

                Earlier engines used steam traveling through a cylinder to push a piston within the cylinder, cold water was then poured on to the cylinder to  condense the steam, the cylinder also was cooled so that when steam re-entered a great deal of its energy was being wasted in reheating the cylinder.              

                Watt solved the problem by using a separate vessel as a condenser so that the main cylinder remained at an even temperature, He also encased the cylinder in the steam temperature. He also encased the cylinder in the steam jacket to prevent heat loss and he used steam instead of a vacuum to push the piston down as well as up.

SPLIT THE ATOM

                                  A New Zealand scientist Ernest Rutherford ( 1871 - 1937) a New Zealand scientist working at the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge, England, in the 1890s, became the first man to split the atom, thus establishing the  new science of nuclear physics. He gathered around him a group of brilliant nuclear physicist. Their work led to release of nuclear energy and eventually to the atomic bomb. Among his pupils were 14 future Nobel Prize winners.

SPINNING JENNY

                            The "Spinning Jenny" was invented by James Hargreaves (1720 - 1778) in 1764. Turned by hand, the "Spinning Jenny" which Hargreaves named after his wife, enable one person to spin eight threads at the same time. Combines with the flying shuttle that John Kay patented in 1733, it revolutionized the cotton industry.
                              

                           Cotton workers, worried that these machines would threaten their livelihood, raided Hargreasives's house in 1768 and smashed his equipment but they could not stop the wind to change - industrial revolution, that was sweeping England.

SPINNING FRAME

                  The spinning frame of Richard Arwright (1732 - 1792) made possible the British cotton industry of today. Initially he met with the same resistance encountered by kay and Hargreaves. His machines were smashed, but his invention had already proved its usefulness and the cotton industry progressed rapidly as a result of its introduction.

SPACE TRAVEL

              Although evidence is scanty, it appears that four monkeys were the first animals to enter the earth's stratosphere via a V-2 rocket launched from White Sands, New Mexico, in 1951. The next year Aerobee rockets with monkeys and mice on board were frequently launched to test the effects of weightlessness. But usually the USSR is credited with having started the age of space travel by launching the dog Laika into orbit on board Sputnik 2, on November 3 ,1957.

Shopping BAG

                    A small grocery store was run by Walter E. Deubner in St. Paul, Minnesta, and he was looking for a way to give his business a boost, By careful observation, he noticed that his customer's purchase were limited by what they could conveniently carry. So he set about devising a way to help them buy more purchases at one time. It took him four years to develop the right solution. A prefabricated package, inexpensive, easy to use - and strong enough to carry up to seventy-five ponds worth of groceries. The package consisted of a paper bag with cord running through it for strength. Deubner named his new product after himself, calling it the "Deubner Shopping Bag" and sold it for five cents. Deubner patented his product and within three years, by 1915 was selling over a million shopping bags a year.

Sewing Machine

                      In order to support his family his wife took in sewing to make extra money because Elias Howe could not earn enough. Watching his wife sew one day, Howe got the idea for a machine that would sew. It was much easier to think about than to build. It took Howe seven Years, in fact, to make a machine that could sew in straight and even stitches.

                      In 1845, Howe demonstrated his machine, easily beating five women who were sewing by hand. Nevertheless, no one would buy the new invention. It was not until the Civil War which produced a need for thousands of uniforms to be made quickly, that Howe's machine was adopted. He went on to become a wealthy and famous man.

Self-Starter

                 The electric automobile self-starter, which was perfect in 1911 by Charies F. Kettering, made it possible for women to drive without the companion previously needed for cranking the engine.

Safety PIN

                      Long before William Hunt Invented the safety pin in 1849, a kind of safety pin made of gold was used by Ecruscams, in the 7th century B.C.

Rubber Tyres

                        Rubber Tyres were invented long before automobiles. The first rubber tyres were, devised by Robert William Thomson, a Scottish engineer in 1845 They were, at first, just strip of rubber that were fitted around wheels. The first major application was to bicycles.

Rubber heel

                     Tired of pounding pavements looking for a job, Humphrey O' Sullivan of Boston (USA) sat down one day and invented the rubber heel. 
                                                                                                                                                                                          

Roller Skates

                   The first pair of roller skates were worn in 1760 by Joseph Merlin, a musical instrument maker who loved to invent things. invited to a costume party, Merlin arrived with his newly-made skates. He put them on and rolled into the ball room playing a violin. Unfortunately, he had not learned how to stop or change directions. He sailed widely across the floor and crashed into a large mirror. He smashed the mirror, broke his violin and cut himself severely. But the idea soon caught on, and people have been rolling along on roller skates ever since.

Rocking Chair

                                         Rocking Chair was invented by Benjamin Franklin.

REVOLVER

                                    The first successful revolver, the prototype from which all later revolvers are descended, was patented by the American gunsmith Samuel Colt (1814 - 1862). He also made riffles and shotguns with revolving chambers, but his first factory went bankrupt and it was not until the 1850s that Colt had a big success with his Navy revolver. His guns were used by the army and the navy in the American civil war.

Radium

                  A major discovery was made in 1898, which was to change the course of science and transform medicine. French physicist Pierre Curie (1859 - 1906) and his polish wife Marie (1867 - 1934) discovered, in the course of thir experiments, the radiactive elements radium and polonium.
                   

                  Their discovery of these elements was the birth of modern nuclear physics and led to the whole science of radiotherapy. The couple were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1903, which they shared with French physicist Antoine Henri Becquerel (1852 - 1908) who had first discovered the rays emitted by uranium slats.
                  

               Pierre curie was killed in an accident, but Marie became Professor of Physics at Sorbonne in his place and went on to isolate the new elements in 1910. Her achievements were recognized by a Nobel Prize and an honorary professorship in radiology at Warsaw.

QUILT

                                Among purely indigenous American craft-works, none excites more interest today than the patch work quilt. Not that the notion of quilting is uniquely American. The ancient Chinese made padded clothing out of layers of stitched-together fabric; and Europeans of old slept under coverlets whose "counter-points" - the stitches used to tack interior padding in place - were frequently worked in elaborate liner pasterns.

Punch Card

                        The first punch card for giving instructions to machines - the forerunners of today's computer cards - were used in the textile mills of France in the early eighteenth century. A loom designed by Basile Bouchon in 1725 used holes punched in a roll of paper to weave designed into silk fabric. When the paper was pressed against a row of needles. the needles lining up with the holes stayed in place, while the others moved on.

Pulverizing

                        In the early 1700s, the French physicist Renede Reaumur discovered the concept of making paper from wood after watching wasps chewing wood, turning it to pulp with their saliva and spreading it on their nests, where it dried into "paper" when exposed to air. But the idea was not put into practical use until 1852, when the first wood grinding machine for pulverizing wet wood (invented by a German weaver, Frderic Keller) was employed in the production of the first news print.

Printing a page

             Who invented a printing press, so that a book or magazine like this one could be made? The earliest printed book was made in China in 868 AD. In Germany in 1450 a printing press was invented by Gutenberg.

Portable Time-Piece

                           The first portable time-piece was made in Nuremberg in 1504 by Peter Henlein. Because of their shape and heft, these early watches were called "Nuremberg live eggs". The first wrist-watch appeared as early as 1790. It was made by Jacquest-Droz and Leschot of Geneva.

Potato Chips

                            In the year 1853, in Saratoga Spring, New York, a fussy diner in a restaurant sent his meal back because the french-fried potatoes were too thick and soggy. The chef became angry and decided to make the thinnest fried potatoes the diner had ever seen. He sliced a potato into paper-thin silvers, fried the pieces in boiling fat and sent the golden chips back to the complaining customer. The customer loved them! " Saratoga potato chips" became a popular Item on the restaurant's menu. Thus, potato chips were actually in vented by mistake.

Postage Stamps

                   The first postage stamp for general use were issued in Great Britain in 1840. Before this time, people brought their letter to the post office to be mailed. They paid the postmaster a fee and the postmaster wrote his name on a corner of the envelop to show that postage had been paid. Prepaid gummed stamps enable people to buy stamps in advance and stick them on their letters in place of the postmaster's signature. The first street mailbox, It no longer was necessary to go to post office to mail letters.

POPCORN

                                              Popcorn was discovered by American Indians. For over a thousand years, Indians have been popping and eating popcorn.

          
                                                 Some indians popped corn by tossing  kernels into the fire and waiting for them to pop out. Others popped corn in pots that had been filled with hot sand. Some Indians wore head dresses and necklaces made of puffed corn. The Aztecs used popcorn in thire religious ceremonies. Early American settlers learned about popcorn from the Indians.

PLYWOOD

                           The inventor of dynamite Alfred Nobel also invented plywood and worked out detailed plans for prefabricating plywood houses that could be easily transported to the construction site for quick erection.

PHOTOGRAPH

                                 The first object we can call a photograph was produce in 1822 by the French inventor Joseph Nicephore Niepce. The process was not really practical, thought, it required an exposure of as long as eight hours. Niepce became bankrupt, and in 1829 went into partnership with the French artist Louis Jacques Mande' Dangnerre, who was also working on the process. Dangnerre improved it to such an extent that he usually is considered the inventor of photography.

PAPER MONEY

                     Paper money is a Chinese invention, dating from the seventh century, although some Chinese historians claim that paper money was actually first printed there in 119 B.C. The first bank note were not placed in service until 1661, in Sweden.

PENCILLIN

                  It is one of the most important medical discoveries of our time, for it allows doctors to easily treat illness and infections that once killed many people. If it were not for pencillin and other drugs like it, there would be little a doctor could do for you, if you came down with a very bad cold or a serious infection.

                    Centuries ado, mold bread was sometimes used as an antiseptic, but no one knew why mold kill germs. Late in the 19th century, scientists discovered that certain molds and bacteria produces substances that would kill or prevent the growth of other bacteria. These substances are now called antibiotics.
                  
                  Then, in 1928, an English scientist named Alexander Fleming was working in his laboratory with a culture of bacteria. When a kind of mold, called penicillium, accidentally infect the culture, Fleming noticed that the mold killed the bacteria around it. Further experiment showed that these molds produced a substance that would kill many common bacteria and Fleming named the substance Penicillin.

                 What was most important about penicillin was that it did not harm living body cells, as did the antibiotics discovered before that. In 1939, other scientist found a way to purify and strengthen penicillin, and it became available in the 1940s.

                 

Parking Meter

                     The parking meter was invented by Carl C. Magee of Oklaroma City, USA. It was in 1936 that his application to the U.S. Patent Office was granted.

PAPER

                         From papyrus to Pardment to paper - the story of what people have written their words on is a fascinating one. It all started In Egypt over 5,000 years ago. Ancient Egyptians wrote on a material made from the papyrus reed, a plant grown in the delta of the Nile River. They made this "plant paper" by laying strips of the stem tissue side by side and then sticking them together with a crude kind of paste made from bread crumbs soaked in boilling water. In other ancient countries paper called parchment was made from animal skins. But some early South American Indians preferred making their parchment from the skin of .....humans!
   

                         The inventor of paper was a Chinese official named Ts'ai Lun, who first made his paper in 105 A.D. from an assortment of strange ingedients including mulberry and bamboo fibers. fish nets and rags. The Emperor Ho Ti was so pleased with Ts'ai Lun's invention that he made him a rich and important man in his court. Unfortunately, success went to the inventor's head and he become involved in a dangerous intrigue. Rather than be shamed by public exposure, he commited sucide by taking poison. We do not know if he left a sucide note behind, written on the paper he invented.

                     The Chinese jealously guarded the secret of paper making for nearly a 1000 years. Finally, the Moors learned it and brought it with them into Spain and Sicily. From there, it spread throughout Europe and by the 1200s, paper mills were appearing in Italy and else where. Johan Gutenberg gave paper a big boast when he invented the first practical mechanical printing press in 1455. Within next fifty years, thousand of books were being printed all over Europe and paper was much in demand.

Opinion Poll

                             In 1938 only 8% of the American people believed that Hitlar had no further territorial ambition in Europe, and 84% favoured registration of pistols and revolvers - so reported the tree-years-old-Gallup Po, the "grand daddt" of opinion polls in the United States. Formal opinion polls did not exist until the 1930s, but they have become increasigly important, Particularly in politics and business. The Gallup Poll boasts a remarkable record. for national elections have deviated on the average by only 2.3% point from the actual elections returns. An impressive performance despite the 1948 Dewey Truman Gaffe that Gallup and most other pollsters committed. since 1936, and in the period of 1970-76 it was slightly more than one per cent.

Nitroglycerine

              In 1847, the Italian chemist Asacanio Sobero produced nitroglycerine for the first time. But when he heated a drop of it, there was a shattering explosion. Realizing, in horror, its possible application to warfare, Sobrero stopped all research in that direction. The trouble was that other scientists did not.

NEWSPAPER

   

                                                      The first Newspaper was probably the Tsign Pao (News of the Capital) a court journal published in Peking. It is said to have started as early as the 500s, and continued publication until 1935. In the beginning, it was printed from carved wooden blocks and was published by the Chinese Government to inform people of important events. There was also a Government "newspaper" in ancient Rome. It recorded current events and was called the Acta Diuran (Daily Events). By the 16th century, people were paying for newspaper.
     

NEON

                   The father of so many inventions - Georges Claude who lived in Paris at the turn of the century was also known as the "Edison of France". About 1901 he found that a rare kind of gas - neon, could be obtained from the air.The problem was, in Claude's own words, "Once we had it, no one had any use for it". Claude and his assistants experimented. The most interesting quality of neon, they found, was that it glowed when as electrical charge was passed through it.

                    This fact gave Claude an idea for an entirely new way of producing light. He made neon tubes that could be used like ordinary light bulbs, but people did not take to the reddish light for household use. Then by bending the tubes with heat, Claude found a way to from letters. He realized that neon tubes could be used as advertising signs.

                   The neon sign was first used in the United States in 1923 to advertise a play called "Little Old New York". The sign attract more interest than the play and the boom in neon had began.

Moratorium

                                     The suggestion of a moratorium on invention was put forward in 1933 by Sir James Alfred Ewing, an eminent British engineer. The moratorium would have allowed for assimilation and integration of the exiting mass of inventions and for evaluation of further proposals.

Modern Magic

                 The founder of modern magic Jean Eugene Robert Houdin (1805 - 1871) was an inventor of many complicated toys and automate.

                His first profitable gadget was an alarm click; a bell wound peal to rouse the Sleeper and a lighted candle would come out of a box. It was for his application of electricity to clocks in general that Houdin was decorated in Paris, In 1855. ( Harry Houdini assumed his name from Houdin's)

Modern Lock

                           Lock have been around for thousand of years,but the kind of lock we use today is less than 200 years old.In 1817, the British government offered a prize to any one who could design a lock that could not be picked open by a thief. A man named Jeremiah chubb presented a lock and that he said, was safe. To test the lock, the government gave it to a lock-picker, who was in jail, offering him his freedom if he could pick the lock. He tried for ten weeks, but could not open the lock. In all the years Since this kind of lock was invented, no one has even been able to pick it open! This of lock most people have in their doors was invented in 1861, by an American named Linus Yale. It is called a Cylinder Lock.

Miner's Lamp

                               Some historians of science claim that the handsomest of the great scientist was the English chemist Humphry  Davy. His lectures on science during the years of the Napoleonic wars were extremely successful, society women flocking to him as much to see him as to hear his excellent talks. He discovered seven new elements and nitrous oxide (a gas), and he invented the miner's lamp. He seems also to have been a talented poet, according to the estimate of such established poets as Wordsworth and Coleridge.

Mechanical Man

              Elektr, the mechanical man, was made by the Westinghouse Company and first exhibited in new york city during the World's Fair of 1939-40. The seven-foot, 260-pound robot was set in motion by vibration of the human voice. He could walk, smoke, count on his fingers up to 10 , tell whether an object held before him was red or green and perform 20to 30 other feast. Elektro's electrical system contained 24,900miles of wire or enough to encircle the globe.

Mechanical clock

                          The invention of the first mechanical clock has been attributed to I'Hsing and Liang Ling-tsan of China 725 AD.

Matches

                            In 1825 Walker,  a 44-years old chemist from the English town of Stockton-on-Tees, was busy making a"lighting mixture" of antimony sulphide and potassium chlorate for use with a flint and steel. When he accidentally rubbed some of the mixture against his hearthstone, he discovered that it lit spontaneously. He could light the friction matches he developed from this discovery by drawing them through a piece of folded sand paper. Walker's invention, sold only locally, was never patented. It was Samue Jones who copied and patented the matches in 1828 under the trade name ucifer. The invention of the modern friction match is attributed to Sir Issac Holden of Keighley, Yorkshire; in 1829he produced a match of phosphorous and sulphur that, being more effcient than Walker's superseded it by 1833.

Man-Made Fiber

          The first man-made fiber was produced experimentally by Sir Joseph Swan in 1883.

Malted Milk Powder

                        Malted milk, was originally developed as a preservative for milk powder. The man who discovered the method was William Horlick of Racine, Wisconsin, U.S.A. wisconsin is known as the "Dairy State", and in fact, produces so much milk that it has always been a problem what to do with the surplus. Many Wisconsonites had tried to preserve milk. The most popular idea was to dry it untill it became a powder. But milk powder suffered from one major drawback. It tended to spoil during the drying process.

                          Horlick's idea was to add something to milk that might prevent spoilage. He tried many substances. Finally, one worked, an extract of wheat and barley that had been treated with malt. He called hes malted milk powder "diatoid"people did not like the name very much, but they liked his product.

Lithographic Printing

          The technique of lithography was discovered about 1796 by Johann Neponuk Aloys Senefelder, an aspiring Czech playwright. He is said to have copied his mother's laundry list on to a piece of limestone, using a wax pencil. When he accidentally spilled water on the stone, he noticed the waxed portion did not become wet . Sensefelder realized that the same principle would enable printing ink to be selectively transferred to paper or cloth. The process he developed and patented in 1801 marked a major development in the history of printing.

Leeuwenhock Microscope

               The most remarkable of all the 17th century microscopist was Antonie Van Leeuwenhock who held the position of janitor at the Deft City Hall for all of his adult life (it was a sinecure). Building his own microscopes, he was the first to describe spermatozoa-reporting the discovery rather nervously, fearing it might be considered obscene. He was the first to describe structure that could only be bacteria. No one else was to see bacteria again for a century, that is, untill microscopes were devised that could magnify as well and as clearly as Leeuwenhock's tiny lenses.

KODAK

                           The first camera was bought by George Eastman in 1874, when he was twenty four years old. It was to lead him to fame and fortune. Photography at that time him to fame and fortune. Photography at that time was not new. In fact, it had been over forty years earlier that the Frenchman Louis Daguerre, had invented the process. Professional photographers were already taking high quality pictures. The trouble was that taking and developing photographs was very large and chemically treated glass plates were used as a recording medium.

                            George Eastman loved photography. He also believed that everyone shoud be abe to enjoy it. He put his genius to work on the problem of making photography cheaper. His first discovery was light, flexible and inexpensive. Then he developed a simple box camera that anyone could operate. It was made to hold enough film for one hundred exposures.
                           
                              The first of Eastman's cameras, called Kodaks, went on sale in June, 1888. Loaded and ready for use, they only cost twenty-five dollars. In the beginning, when a film was used up, the owner had to send it, camera and all, to the single developing plant in Rochester, New York, for printing. Soon, however, refinements enabled film to be printed locally. The public loved the little Kodak camera and Eastman's dream of popular photography came true.