Science & Technology

The Sturtevant family business was founded in 1883 by Thomas L. Sturtevant, with the aim of satisfying the increasing need for mechanization in the fertilizer industry. Thoms's son Lawrence, and his nephew Thomas J. Sturtevant, came to work for him—Thomas bringing with him a degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Sturtevant soon branched out into the automotive field and designed various improvements including vacuum brakes and automatic engine lubrication. However, it was his bold invention of the automatic transmission that paved the way for today's automatic cars. At the time, one of the biggest headaches for designers in the fast evolving car industry was simply getting the power from the engine to the wheels. Sturtevant wanted a way to change gear without having to depress a clutch and temporarily disengage the engine from the wheels. His solution was innovative, but initially a failure. His first automatic car of 1904 more...

"If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves." Thomas Alva Edison On November 21, 1877, Thomas Alva Edison (1847- 1931) announced the invention of the first device for recording and replaying sound—the "phonograph." Like the development of photography, it was a landmark invention that allowed for moments or periods in time to be captured in perpetuity. This worked by engraving a visual representation of a sound wave on a sheet of tinfoil wrapped around a grooved cylinder; the sound was captured as a series of indentations in the foil using a cutting stylus that responded to the vibrations of the sound being recorded. When a playback stylus passed over the cylinder a crude representation of the original recording could be heard. As with so many of his inventions, Edison was spurred on in his efforts by his own hearing difficulties. The inventor's first more...

"He [Paul de Vivie] was a man who devoted a lifetime to the perfection of the bicycle..." Clifford L. Graves, writer Paul de Vivie (1853-1930) did not buy his first bicycle until he was twenty-eight, but his passion for cycling would eventually take over his life, and led to the invention of a new system of variable speed cycles. De Vivie's first bike was an "ordinary" high-wheel, or penny-farthing as it's more commonly known. The pedals of this bike were attached directly to the wheels so that one turn of the pedals equaled one turn of the wheel. De Vivie sought a way to improve this ratio to make cycling more energy-efficient. In 1887, he set up a cycle shop in the mountainous region of Saint-Etienne, France, and launched a magazine, Le Cydiste, in which he wrote passionately about cycling, under the pen-name "Velocio." De Vivie's first attempt at creating more...

The rivet has existed for a very long time, in fact since the Bronze Age, and remains one of the best methods of permanently fastening two things (normally metal sheets) together. Rivets are commonly used when it is really rather important that whatever has been fastened stays that way, such as aircraft and ship hulls. The vibrations created by movement also have a habit of loosening nuts and bolts so the rivet is generally the preferred fastening. Back in 1931, Louis Huck was looking for a method to speed up aircraft production, and the blind rivet was his answer. Unlike normal rivets, the blind rivet requires only one-sided access to your desired material, which is particularly useful in airplane construction because of ergonomically shaped hulls that are tricky to access. Just as with normal rivets, a blind rivet is inserted into a predrilled hole, but the rivet has a mandrel—a more...

"[C] otton-bud-related injuries are a common reason for attendances at... clinics" J. C. Hobson and J. A. Lavy Leo Gerstenzang began to design a cotton swab after he saw his wife gluing cotton onto the ends of toothpicks to clean their baby's ears. He used cardboard material for the stem of the swabs to avoid any splinters harming the baby, found a way to attach equal amounts of cotton to each end of the swab, and ensured that the swab stayed put during cleaning. He created the Leo Gerstenzang Infant Novelty Company to supply his swabs and, in 1923, launched his refined product under the name "Baby Gays." In 1926 Gerstenzang changed the name to Q-Tips Baby Gays, with the "Q" standing for quality, but eventually the product became known simply as the Q-Tips that we know today. As well as supplying the baby accessory market, Q-Tips expanded into the more...

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[I]njurious to health?... Anybody who says saccharin is injurious to health is an idiot!" President Theodore Roosevelt On February 27, 1879, Ira Remsen (1846-1927) and Constantin Fahlberg (1850-1910), two chemists from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, were working on the oxidation of o-toluenesulfonamide, a coal tar derivative. Legend has it that both scientists went home for dinner and tasted a sweet residue on their foods, which originated from their unwashed hands. The next day they compared notes on this mysterious sweet chemical and checked their unwashed equipment. The result was a calorie-free, artificial sweetener that they later named saccharin. The scientists published their findings in 1880, though Fahlberg alone pursued a patent. Due to its lack of calories and glucose, saccharin proved very successful with consumers. However, its safety has always been controversial. In 1907, food safety officials tried to ban its use, only to be thwarted by President more...

"The Method of and Apparatus for Producing Animated Pictures of Natural Scenery and Life." Le Prince's 1888 patent French-born Louis Augustin Le Prince (1842-1890) is fittingly remembered as the star of a mystery akin to a tragic silent movie. A photographer trained by Daguerre himself, as well as a chemist and artist, he worked secretively on pioneering moving-image experiments before disappearing just before revealing his findings. Many feel that Edison and the Lumiere brothers wrongly displaced him as the inventors of motion pictures. Some even suggest that he was killed by rivals in this fiercely competitive race. In the 1880s, Le Prince was one of several people working on Kinematographs—early machines for capturing and showing moving images. In 1888, he patented a sixteen-lens Kinematograph that probably never worked properly. He also produced a single-lens device incorporating Eastman paper film and, in the fall of 1888, used it to film horses more...

"Raise your glasses, please, to the Crapper who installed the royal flush!” Adam Hart-Davis, English scientist and broadcaster With his name as manufacturer proudly cast in the iron of countless toilet cisterns the world over, Thomas Crapper (1836-1910) is unlikely ever to be dissociated with visits to the lavatory. But one of the most disappointing of facts relating to inventions is that he did not himself invent the flush toilet. He did, however, popularize and endorse the flush toilet, and he was indeed a plumber. As a young child in the mid-nineteenth century he was apprenticed to a master plumber, gaining the same title himself at the age of twenty. His plumbing was exceptional and he even did work for members of the Royal Family. Crapper's invention of the ballcock was one of nine patents he received, and one of three that were related to improving toilet design. The ballcock more...