"In most Iowa homes this third day of the week  [Tuesday] is reserved for ironing." The Iowa Housewife, 1880 Devices for getting wrinkles out of fabric have been around nearly as long as fabric itself. The Vikings used whalebone smoothing boards, the Chinese filled metal pots with hot coals to press cloth, and, in seventeenth-century England, the screw press was popular. By the nineteenth century, most metal smoothers (irons) had adopted their familiar shape, but ironing boards had not evolved at the same rate as fashion design and ironing was often carried out on tables or boards resting across two chairs. Sleeves, pant legs, ruffles, pleats, pockets, buttons, curved seams—the more details were added to clothes, the more difficult it was to remove the wrinkles after laundering. To help improve matters, inventors turned their attention from irons to ironing boards. The first U.S. patent for an "ironing table" was granted more...

Sir William George Armstrong (1810-1900), the first and last Baron Armstrong of Cragside, was an English industrialist who pioneered the use of hydraulic power to operate a wide variety of machinery, harnessing the power of water to feed the Industrial Age. One of his first inventions using the 'resource of water was an improved rotary water motor, and soon after this innovation he designed a piston engine driven by water. He realized that his invention had the potential to be incorporated into a more' efficient design of crane than those then in operation. The first of Armstrong's hydraulic cranes was built on Newcastle docks in 1846 and was tremendously successful. It utilized the pressure from the town's mains water supply, acting on a piston inside a cylinder, this in turn moving gears that drove the- crane. The design was so successful that the Newcastle Corporation ordered three more cranes, .soon more...

Educational value of travelling cannot be over- estimated. It gives us first hand knowledge of the places through which we pass. We can know their physical features, crops, minerals and natural beauty. It also brings us into contact with different ways of life. These lessons are more interesting and more effective than what we learn from books. Men travel for different purposes. Some men travel for pleasure, some men for business and some for education. In ancient times, travelling was difficult and risky. There were no roads. A traveller had to pass through hills and forests. He had to face the fury of nature, wild beasts, robbers and many other obstacles. But all these could not daunt the spirit of ancient travellers like Fahien, Hiuen Tsang, Ibn Batuta and others.         Thanks to the triumph of science, travelling has now become easy, cheap, quick and pleasant. We more...

“... shaped like a small brick... and could hold the equivalent of about two-and-a-half pages." Astrid Wendlandt, Financial Times It is 1984. Economies are booming, Newsweek magazine declares it "the year of the yuppie," and in the U.K. the Filofax personal organizer is the must have accessory for all young urban professionals. In London, though, Dr. David Potter is planning to make the leather-bound, paper-based Filofax obsolete. Dr. Potter's company, Psion—the name comes from "Potter's Scientific Instruments"—had been in business for a few years already, making games and other software for early home computers like Sinclair's ZX Spectrum. In 1984 Psion entered the computer hardware market, releasing a new kind of handheld computer, the Psion Organiser. It was a hefty device, a rectangular slab of plastic with a small screen at the top and a keyboard protected by a sliding sleeve. It had a clock, a small memory, and it more...

I have neighbours on every side of my house. There are some I like most. There are others whom I do not like at all. Next to our house there live Mr. and Mrs, Sharma. They are not appreciated and liked by anyone in the colony. Both husband and wife are not at all social, they are self centered. I have never seen anyone visiting their house. Mr. Sharma works in some government office. The Sharmas are of typical character. They even do not participate in social functions held in the colony. Mr. Sharma leaves for his office exactly at 9-15 a.m. by his cooler. Prior to his leaving for office exactly at 9 a.m. there is always in uproar of quarrel at very high volume. People of the colony wait for this moment daily. The timing is very punctual; even you can adjust your watches at that time. Exactly more...

I have many friends who are dearer to me than my own life. It is very difficult to name the best choice out of them off hand. My maximum time is spent in the company of Brijmohan  whom I call Briju, but others call him Mirchi. I do not know what type of child they consider him to be but for me he is sweeter than honey. He is one of the best centre-forwards in the hockey team of our school. His only ambition is to bring India on the Olympic map once again in this game. He is an ace sprinter  and when he chases the ball, no one can snatch it from him. He was the captain of the state junior team that participated in the national games. It is surprising to make out how he stands first in different subjects in the class. Most of the players more...

The word 'Internet' flashes many images upon the canvas of the human mind. The dominant one may be hundreds or thousands of computers and computer networks connected with each other exchanging information. This is the hardware aspect of internet. Its application aspect is the multitude of different services interval offers, by E-mail and others. Yet another image is that of everyone doing their own thing. Through internet, any type of information can be exchanged like text, audio-video signals on data, etc. Every country has an information network through which it is connected to internet. Internet is mostly used for Electronic mail, i.e. E-mail messages can be sent to anyone connected to internet. This also helps in development of software data base, which is the base of internet. With the development of multimedia, the interest of people in internet has increased. Through the use of internet and joining of computer, telephone more...

I have sweet and beautiful dreams of my country. I am a resident of India. She is my beloved motherland. I am proud of being an Indian. I wish that my country may rise to a great nation. She should help her neighbours and may give them the message of peace. I wish that my country should become militarily strong and be fully prepared in this nuclear age for defence. I wish that no foreign country may dare attack again, like the plundering raids of the old times. We should try to live peacefully with our neighbors. But we should not lack in our security in the name of peace. Hence, I wish she should become first rate world power in terms of military strength. I wish that my country should become a messenger for peace in the world. India's great culture and civilization had once spread in the far more...

A peacock is a very beautiful bird. It is also very large. The male peacock is good looking, but a peahen (female peacock) looks rather ugly. It is simply a brown bird having no lovely tail like its male partner. It has rough and ugly legs. A peacock is found mainly in India and different other parts of Asia. It lives on snakes, frogs, insects and food grains. The feathers in its wings are the combination of blue and green colours. There are beautiful blue feathers in its neck. But the most attractive and beautiful part of the body is its lovely long tail. When it spreads it, the tail looks like a big fan. There are three colours in it: blue, green and golden. The rainy season is the most favourite season for a peacock- When it rains, it rains, it  becomes very happy and starts spreading its nice more...

The human quest for clean, drinkable water has been going on for thousands of years, and methods of purifying   water   have   undergone   countless incarnations over this time. According to the evidence of Sanskrit writings dating to approximately 2000 B.C.E., water filtration appears to have been developed in the-Indus Valley, located in current day Pakistan and western India. The Susruta Samhita, ancient Sanskrit medical writings, include instructions on purifying water: "Impure water should be purified by being boiled over a fire, or being heated in the sun, or by dipping a heated iron into it, or it may be purified by filtration through sand and coarse gravel and then allowed to cool." Early purification methods were focused on the aesthetic qualities of water,'..such as taste and appearance, rather than hygiene. The ancient Egyptians were also concerned with the appearance of their drinking water. As early as 1500 more...