Archives August 2013

"Native Americans burned oily fish (candle fish) wedged into a forked stick." Bob Sherman, Candle Making History It is difficult to attribute the invention of the candle to one society or country. The first "candles" may have been nothing more than melting lumps of animal fat set on fire. Later, these evolved into reeds dipped into animal fat, longer burning than their predecessors but still without a wick (a central slow-burning core to the candle, usually made from fiber or cord). Archeological evidence indicates that both the Egyptians and the Greeks were using candles with wicks (not dissimilar to those we know today) as long ago as 3000 B.C.E. Many ancient cultures appear to have developed some variation of the candle, using materials such as beeswax or tallow or even the product of berries to make the wax. This surrounded a wick made from fibers of plant material, rolled papyrus, or more...

I am a boy. I am twelve-year-old. My name is Deepak. Deepak means a lamp which gives us light in dark and it also shows the way at night. I am proud of my name. My grandmother gave me this name. I live in Delhi. It is a beautiful city. It is the capital of India. My mother is a housewife and my father a serviceman. My parents are very kind. I have a brother and a sister. My brother is younger to me by eight years, but my sister, Preeti, is older to me. My brother's name is Alok.  We live in our own house. It is beautiful with a big lawn and a small garden. There are swings and slides for plant and trees. I love gardening. My parents also help me in gardening. I go to school in bus. It is about 9 kms. away from my more...

“The most significant development for [navigation and surveillance] since... radio navigation." National Aeronautical Association The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a system of satellites that transmit microwaves over specific wavelengths. GPS receivers pick up signals from these satellites and define a location from the information they obtain. The system was developed by the U.S. government in 1993, but similar mechanisms have been set up in other countries including the Russian GLONASS (incomplete), China's-COMPASS system, and the upcoming Galileo system in 'Europe. The GPS system costs the U.S. government approximately $750 million a year and is used worldwide for navigation. The system is extremely useful and there are a huge range of commercial and domestic applications. In military terms, GPS is used to track targets, locate positions in unknown territory, and project missiles, and it is also used in search and rescue and reconnaissance missions. In the civilian world, GPS units more...

TV is a household name now. One hardly comes across a house today that does not have a TV set. Even those who belong to the lower income group invest in a TV set as soon as they can afford it. Most Indians spend their evenings glued to the television as this is the most easily available entertainment for them. Now there are cable connections in most of the houses and with the advent of international channels on our television, the popularity of TV has grown many fold. How does TV affect our lives today ? We have to consider its advantages and disadvantages. In some ways TV is a boon. It is a vital source of information and helps to shape our lives in many ways. It keeps us posted with the latest political, social and cultural developments in the world. Hence it educates us. It brings the people more...

Outline: Some incidents in life influence our character and future  Ufa—we always remember such incidents or a memorable incident Student of 8th class; wrote an essay on 'Our School—wrote against the  student secretary of the literary club of our school— was abused—matter  reported to the Principal who determined to take action; my request to  excuse him this time—the Principal and all others highly impressed by my  sense of love towards enemies. The enemy became a good friend—won great honour.                                                Everybody has one or the other memorable incident of his/her life This particular incident takes such serious turn that it is long remembered in later life. The significance of the happening is so vital and important  that sometimes it changes the very course of one's life. Some incidents more...

After the straight hairstyles of the 1920s, waves and curls became the fashion, and a new product was needed to hold hair firmly in place. Women had been using natural compounds such as clays and gums to hold their hair in place for centuries, but it was the invention of the aerosol, can that led to the development of the first hair spray. During World War II, the United States government was looking for a way to spray insecticides to kill malaria-carrying bugs. In 1943, two. Department of Agriculture workers designed an aerosol can pressurized by liquefied gas. Soon, hair spray was produced using the same principle, with a debate still raging over whether it was Chase Products of Broadview, Illinois, in 1948, or Helene Curtis of Chicago seven years later who came up with the idea. Early hair sprays contained polymers (long-chain chemical compounds) that when dry form tiny more...

"I'm quitting. ...I'm going to open up an appliance store, I've always really been into toasters." Dane Cook, actor and comedian In 1919 Charles Strite, a factory worker in a manufacturing plant in Stillwater, Minnesota, became annoyed by the burned toast on offer in the factory canteen and set about trying to solve the problem. Originally, toasting bread would have been carried out over a fire, but labor-saving devices to help with this procedure followed, and the first electric toaster was invented in 1893. It worked by passing electricity through coils of Nichrome" (a nickel-chromium alloy), which caused them to give off heat, thus toasting the bread. Early toasters were sold as a status symbol, even before electricity was common in homes, with the power cord designed to connect to a light socket, the only electrical connection any house would have had. Strite's innovation was to add a clockwork timer more...

“[Electricity] had to be abandoned when no adequate insulators could be found for the wires.” In Paris in 1791, a little-known engineer and inventor named Claude Chappe (1763-1805) began to experiment with an optical signaling system or visual telegraph. His ambition was to send complex messages via a succession of towers using a combination of signaling arms. Three years later, in 1794, working with the aid of his four brothers, Chappe demonstrated his first optical semaphore. His string of fifteen towers placed within sight of each other was able to transmit a message 120 miles (190 km) from Paris to Lille in only nine minutes. The project's burdensome costs were borne by a French leadership who were recently at war with Austria and eager for any strategic advantage in communication, Each tower was topped by a 30-foot (9 m) mast to which a rotating arm was attached with smaller, counterbalanced more...

The invention of the machine gun by Richard J. Gatling (1818-1903) irreversibly changed the face of battle. Gatling took advantage of the newly invented brass cartridge (which, unlike the earlier paper cartridges, had its own percussion cap) to produce the first rapid- fire weapon in about 1862. The Gatling gun consisted often parallel barrels that could fire and reload brass cartridges at rapid speeds through the rotation of a hand-operated crank. With each rotation the firing and loading mechanism of each barrel came into contact with a series of cams. The first cam opened the bolt on the barrel, allowing the bullet to fall into a chamber, while another closed the bolt. A further cam released the firing pin with the final one opening the bolt and ejecting the spent case. The first successful model was deployed in a limited capacity during the American Civil War by Union troops. The more...

"The heroic is for hereafter... for labors of pick and spade by Davy lamp down below." George Meredith, The Amazing Marriage (1895) Miners' safety lamps are still referred to generically as "Davy lamps," after Sir Humphry Davy (1778-1829) who pioneered their design. He was not, however, alone in this endeavor. At the same time as Davy was developing his lamp, railway pioneer George Stephenson and Dr. William R. Clanny were also designing a lamp for miners. The invention of the miner's lamp allowed for penetration to deeper mining seams, by providing light, albeit dim. More importantly, the lamp also gave an indication of the presence of flammable gases such as methane, by its flame burning suddenly more brightly with a blue tinge. It also indicated areas where oxygen was low, by the flame simply extinguishing, and so also functioned as a safety device. The greatest design problem was to create more...