The Story of Great Inventions

Elmer Ellsworth Burns

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

Photographed at night while sending a message across the Atlantic.

The terrific snapping of the electric discharge is heard by one standing near the station, but no light is seen. The strange light given out from the network of wires is invisible to the eye, but is caught by the photographic plate.

THE SAME STATION PHOTOGRAPHED BY DAYLIGHT THE SAME STATION PHOTOGRAPHED BY DAYLIGHT

THE STORY OF GREAT INVENTIONS

BY
ELMER ELLSWORTH BURNS

Instructor in Physics in the Joseph Medill High School, Chicago

WITH MANY ILLUSTRATIONS

HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
NEW YORK AND LONDON
MCMX

Published November, 1910.
Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

THE AGE OF ARCHIMEDES

Archimedes the first great inventor.—The battle of Syracuse.—Archimedes' principle.—Inventions of the ancient Greeks Page 1

CHAPTER II

THE AGE OF GALILEO

Galileo and the battle for truth.—The pendulum clock.—Galileo's experiment with falling shot.—The telescope.—Galileo's struggle.—Torricelli and the barometer.—Otto von Guericke and the air-pump.—Robert Boyle and the pressure of air and steam.—Pascal and the hydraulic press.—Newton.—Gravitation.—Colors in sunlight Page 9

CHAPTER III

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

James Watt and the steam-engine.—The first steam-engine with a piston.—Newcomen's engine.—Watt's engine.—Horse-power of an engine.—The Leyden jar.—Conductors and insulators.—Two kinds of electric charge.—Franklin's kite experiment.—The lightning-rod.—Galvani and the electric current.—Volta and the electric battery Page 34

CHAPTER IV

FARADAY AND THE FIRST DYNAMO

Count Rumford.—Count Rumford's experiment with the cannon.—Davy.—Faraday's electrical discoveries.—Oersted and electromagnetism.—AmpÈre.—Arago.—Faraday's first electric motor.—An electric current produced by a magnet.—Detecting and measuring an electric current.—An electric current produced by the magnetic field of another current.—Faraday's dynamo.—A wonderful law of nature Page 55

CHAPTER V

GREAT INVENTIONS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

Electric batteries.—The dry battery.—The storage battery.—The dynamo.—Siemens' dynamo.—The drum armature.—Edison's compound-wound dynamo.—Electric power.—The first electric railway.—Electric lighting.—The telegraph.—Duplex telegraphy.—The telephone.—The phonograph.—Gas-engines.—The steam locomotive.—How a locomotive works.—The turbine Page 88

CHAPTER VI

THE TWENTIETH-CENTURY OUTLOOK

Air-ships.—The aeroplane.—How the Wright aeroplane is kept afloat.—Submarines.—Some spinning tops that are useful.—The monorail-car.—Liquid air and the greatest cold.—The electric furnace and the greatest heat.—The wireless telegraph.—The wireless telephone.—Wonders of the alternating current.—X-rays and radium Page 173

APPENDIX

Brief notes on important inventions Page 237

Index Page 247

ILLUSTRATIONS

FIG.	PAGE
MARCONI WIRELESS-TELEGRAPH STATION, CLIFDEN, IRELAND	Frontispiece
THE SAME STATION PHOTOGRAPHED BY DAYLIGHT
1–THE BATTLE OF SYRACUSE	3
2–GALILEO'S PENDULUM CLOCK	11
3–AN AIR THERMOMETER	14
4–TORRICELLI'S EXPERIMENT	19
5–GUERICKE'S AIR-PUMP	22
6–GUERICKE'S WATER BAROMETER	24
7–A LIFT-PUMP	25
8–A SIMPLE HYDRAULIC PRESS	26
9–HOW AN HYDRAULIC PRESS WORKS	28
10–AN HYDRAULIC PRESS WITH BELT-DRIVEN PUMP	29
11–NEWTON'S EXPERIMENT WITH THE PRISM	32
12–PAPIN'S ENGINE	36
13–THE NEWCOMEN ENGINE, IN REPAIRING WHICH WATT WAS LED TO HIS GREAT DISCOVERIES	39
14–CYLINDER OF WATT'S STEAM-ENGINE	41
15–A FLY-BALL GOVERNOR	42
16–A LEYDEN JAR	43
17–FRANKLIN'S KITE EXPERIMENT	47
18–VOLTA EXPLAINING HIS ELECTRIC BATTERY TO NAPOLEON BONAPARTE	52
19–THE FIRST ELECTRIC BATTERY	54
20–COUNT RUMFORD'S EXPERIMENT WITH THE CANNON, MAKING WATER BOIL WITHOUT FIRE	60
21–OERSTED'S EXPERIMENT	66
22–A COIL WITH A CURRENT FLOWING THROUGH IT ACTS LIKE A MAGNET	67
23–A BAR OF SOFT IRON WITH A CURRENT FLOWING AROUND IT BECOMES A MAGNET	67
24–TWO COILS WITH CURRENTS FLOWING IN THE SAME DIRECTION ATTRACT EACH OTHER	68
25–TWO COILS WITH CURRENTS FLOWING IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS REPEL EACH OTHER	68
26–ARAGO'S EXPERIMENT	70
27–ONE POLE OF A MAGNET SPINS ROUND A WIRE THROUGH WHICH AN ELECTRIC CURRENT FLOWS	71
28–WHEN A MAGNET IS THRUST INTO A COIL OF WIRE IT CAUSES A CURRENT TO FLOW IN THE COIL, BUT THE CURRENT FLOWS ONLY WHILE THE MAGNET IS MOVING	73
29–A COIL OF WIRE AROUND A COMPASS-NEEDLE	74
30–FARADAY'S INDUCTION-COIL	76
31–HISTORICAL APPARATUS OF FARADAY IN THE ROYAL INSTITUTION 77
32–FARADAY'S FIRST DYNAMO	78
33–FARADAY'S LABORATORY, WHERE THE FIRST DYNAMO WAS MADE	79
34–THE FIRST TRANSFORMER	80
35–THE "MAGNETIC FIELD" IS THE SPACE AROUND A MAGNET IN WHICH IT WILL ATTRACT IRON	81
36–MAGNETIC FIELD OF A HORSESHOE MAGNET	81
37–A DANIELL CELL	90
38–A GRAVITY CELL	91
39–SHOWING WHAT IS IN A DRY BATTERY	92
40–A STORAGE BATTERY, SHOWING THE "GRIDS"	94
41–A STORAGE-BATTERY PLATE MADE FROM A SHEET OF LEAD	95
42–STURGEON'S ELECTROMAGNET	97
43–AN ELECTROMAGNET WITH MANY TURNS OF INSULATED WIRE	98
44–AN ELECTROMAGNET LIFTING TWELVE TONS OF IRON	99
45–A DYNAMO WITH SIEMENS' ARMATURE	101
46–RING ARMATURE	102
47–FIRST DYNAMO PATENTED IN THE UNITED STATES	103
48–A DRUM ARMATURE, SHOWING HOW AN ARMATURE OF FOUR COILS IS WOUND	104
49–A SERIES-WOUND DYNAMO	106
50–A SHUNT-WOUND DYNAMO	107
51–A COMPOUND-WOUND DYNAMO	108
52–ONE OF EDISON'S FIRST DYNAMOS	109
53–A DYNAMO MOUNTED ON THE TRUCK OF A RAILWAY CAR	110
54–FIRST ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE	113
55–FIRST EDISON ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE	115
56–EDISON'S FIRST PASSENGER LOCOMOTIVE	117
57–FIRST COMMERCIAL ELECTRIC RAILWAY	119
58–EDISON, AMERICA'S GREATEST INVENTOR, AT WORK IN HIS LABORATORY	122
59–EDISON'S FAMOUS HORSESHOE PAPER-FILAMENT LAMP OF 1870	123
60–FIRST COMMERCIAL EDISON ELECTRIC-LIGHTING PLANT; INSTALLED ON THE STEAMSHIP "COLUMBIA" IN MAY, 1880	125
61–A TELEGRAPH SOUNDER	129
62–MORSE'S FIRST TELEGRAPH INSTRUMENT	131
63–A TELEGRAPHIC CIRCUIT WITH RELAY AND SOUNDER	132
64–A SIMPLE TELEGRAPHIC CIRCUIT	133
65–FIRST TELEGRAPH INSTRUMENT USED FOR COMMERCIAL WORK	135
66–HOW TWO MESSAGES ARE SENT OVER ONE WIRE AT THE SAME TIME	137
67–HOW TWO MESSAGES ARE SENT OVER ONE WIRE AT THE SAME TIME. BRIDGE METHOD	139
68–FIRST BELL TELEPHONE RECEIVER AND TRANSMITTER	142
69–A TELEPHONE RECEIVER	143
70–TWO RECEIVERS USED AS A COMPLETE TELEPHONE	145
71–CARBON-DUST TRANSMITTER	146
72–THE PHONAUTOGRAPH, A FORERUNNER OF THE PHONOGRAPH	149
73–EDISON'S FIRST PHONOGRAPH AND A MODERN INSTRUMENT	150
74 to 77–THE FOUR-CYCLE GAS-ENGINE	152
78–TWO-CYCLE GAS-ENGINE. CRANK AND CONNECTING-ROD ARE ENCLOSED WITH THE PISTON	154
79–SELDEN "EXPLOSION BUGGY," FORERUNNER OF THE MODERN AUTOMOBILE	155
80–SOME EARLY LOCOMOTIVES	158
81–HOW A LOCOMOTIVE WORKS	161
82–HERO'S ENGINE	164
83–AN UNDERSHOT WATER-WHEEL WITH CURVED BLADES	165
84–AN OVERSHOT WATER-WHEEL	166
85–DE LAVAL STEAM-TURBINE	167
86–A MODERN STEAM-TURBINE WITH TOP CASING RAISED SHOWING BLADES	168
87–DIAGRAM OF TURBINE SHOWN IN FIG. 86	169
88–A STEAM-TURBINE THAT RUNS A DYNAMO GENERATING 14,000 ELECTRICAL HORSE-POWER	170
89–BRITISH ARMY AIR-SHIP "NULLI SECUNDUS" READY FOR FLIGHT	176
90–BASKET, MOTOR, AND PROPELLER OF THE BRITISH ARMY AIR-SHIP "NULLI SECUNDUS"	178
91–A ZEPPELIN AIR-SHIP	181
92–COUNT ZEPPELIN'S "DEUTSCHLAND," THE FIRST AIR-SHIP IN REGULAR PASSENGER SERVICE	182
93–THE BALDWIN AIR-SHIP USED IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY	183
94–IN FULL FLIGHT	185
95–WRIGHT AIR-SHIP IN FLIGHT	187
96–HOW THE WRIGHT AIR-SHIP IS KEPT AFLOAT	189
97–THE SEAT AND MOTOR OF THE WRIGHT AEROPLANE	191
98–THE BLÉRIOT MONOPLANE	192
99–THE "PLUNGER"	195
100–U. S. SUBMARINE "SHARK" READY FOR A DIVE	197
101–FIRST SUBMARINE CONSTRUCTED IN THE UNITED STATES. IT WENT TO THE BOTTOM WITH SEVEN MEN, WHO WERE DROWNED	198
102–HOW MEN IN A SUBMARINE SEE WHEN UNDER THE WATER	199
103–A TOP THAT SPINS ON A STRING	200
104–A CAR THAT RUNS ON ONE RAIL	202
105–MANUFACTURING DIAMONDS—FIRST OPERATION	207
106–MANUFACTURING DIAMONDS—SECOND OPERATION	209
107–MANUFACTURING DIAMONDS—THIRD OPERATION	211
108–MARCONI AND HIS WIRELESS-TELEGRAPH SENDING AND RECEIVING INSTRUMENTS	215
109–DIAGRAM OF WIRELESS-TELEGRAPH SENDING APPARATUS	217
110–DIAGRAM OF MARCONI WIRELESS-TELEGRAPH RECEIVING APPARATUS	218
111–RECEIVER OF BELL'S PHOTOPHONE	223
112–A GAS FLAME IS SENSITIVE TO ELECTRIC WAVES	224
113–CAPTAIN INGERSOLL ON BOARD THE U. S. BATTLE-SHIP "CONNECTICUT" USING THE WIRELESS TELEPHONE	226
114–INCANDESCENT ELECTRIC LAMP LIGHTED THOUGH NOT CONNECTED TO ANY BATTERY OR DYNAMO	229
115–AN ELECTRIC DISCHARGE AT A PRESSURE OF 12,000,000 VOLTS, A CURRENT OF 800 AMPERES IN THE SECONDARY COIL	230
116–AN ELECTRIC DISCHARGE SIXTY-FIVE FEET IN LENGTH	231
117–A PHYSICIAN EXAMINING THE BONES OF THE ARM BY MEANS OF X-RAYS	233
118–X-RAY PHOTOGRAPH OF THE EYE	234
119–PHOTOGRAPH MADE WITH RADIUM	235

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