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.