Ayrton Oneill
Human civilisation has witnessed several engineering marvels that have improved the quality of life, and some of these inventions have been so ahead of their time that they have set the path for future generations to build on. Some of the most notable inventions include the wheel, which was invented around 3500 B.C. and revolutionised transportation; the telephone, which transformed global communication; and the light bulb, which freed people from their dependence on natural light. Other inventions such as the compass, batteries, concrete, plastic, and the airplane have also had a profound impact on human civilisation, shaping the world as we know it today.
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What You'll Learn
The wheel and axle
The invention of the wheel and axle was a complex and challenging task, and it is unclear where the idea originated. The concept may have come from observing a bead spinning on a string or a loose rock or unstable log reducing friction with the ground when rolled upon. The Mesopotamians and Egyptians used rollers to build their pyramids and move heavy equipment, and the Polynesians used them to transport the stone moai statues on Easter Island. However, rollers had limitations, as they had to be replaced as they rolled forward, and friction made them difficult to move.
The invention of the wheel and axle was a significant milestone in human history, showcasing ingenuity and perseverance in solving complex problems. It is a testament to human creativity and our ability to harness mechanical principles to improve our lives and shape our world.
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The telephone
Scottish-born Alexander Graham Bell is credited with inventing and patenting the world's first working telephone in 1876. However, there is some controversy over whether Bell was the true pioneer of the telephone, with several other inventors also claiming to have created telephone prototypes prior to Bell's patent. These include Antonio Meucci, Philipp Reis, and Elisha Gray, who filed a patent for a similar invention on the same day as Bell. Bell was awarded the patent, and he used the money and fame he received to further his work with the deaf community.
Bell's work with the deaf community and his study of how sound is transmitted via the human voice led him to invent the telephone. He was also inspired by Samuel Morse's telegraph and aimed to improve upon the idea of transmitting communication. Bell's early prototype of the telephone, called a "harmonic telegraph", was demonstrated at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876. The first successful words spoken using his invention were directed at his associate Thomas Watson, who was in another room: "Mr Watson, come here – I want to see you."
After the invention of the telephone, wealthy individuals and large corporations primarily used it as a means of communication between specific locations. They would run the wires themselves between locations, and these were called direct lines. Telephone exchanges were then set up to centralize the telephone network within smaller geographic areas, allowing other individual lines to connect with each other through a central station. This was the forerunner of switchboards, which individuals could subscribe to for a monthly fee to gain access to the telephone network.
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The compass
By the 11th century, the Chinese military adopted the compass for navigational orienteering, and by the 12th century, it was used for maritime navigation. The compass spread to Europe and the Islamic world by the 13th century, with some historians suggesting that the Arabs introduced the compass to Europe from China. The compass revolutionized seafaring, enabling mariners to navigate safely far from land, even when the sky was overcast or landmarks were not in sight. This contributed to the Age of Discovery and increased sea trade.
Over time, various improvements were made to the compass, including the development of liquid-filled compasses and dry-card compasses. The English played a significant role in pioneering technical improvements, as their large empire relied heavily on naval power and navigational devices. Today, modern mariners' compasses are often mounted in cylindrical pedestals called binnacles, which include magnets and steel pieces to cancel out the magnetic effects of the ship's metal.
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Stone tools
The earliest stone tools, known as the Oldowan toolkit, were discovered in large quantities in Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. These tools were characterised by their simple construction, using river pebbles or similar rocks that had been struck by a spherical hammerstone to create sharp tips and edges. Hammerstones were also used to chip other stones into sharp-edged flakes, which could be used for cutting.
Knapped stone tools are made from cryptocrystalline materials such as flint, obsidian, and basalt via a splitting process known as lithic reduction. More complex forms of reduction can produce highly standardised blades, which can be fashioned into a variety of tools such as knives, scrapers, and sickles.
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The lightbulb
In 1882, Lewis Howard Latimer, one of Edison's researchers, patented a more efficient way of manufacturing carbon filaments. Edison's contribution to electric lighting was extraordinary because he didn't stop with improving the bulb—he developed a whole suite of inventions that made the use of light bulbs practical. Edison modelled his lighting technology on the existing gas lighting system. In 1882, with the Holborn Viaduct in London, he demonstrated that electricity could be distributed from a centrally located generator through a series of wires and tubes.
In 1903, Willis R. Whitney invented a treatment for these filaments that allowed them to burn bright without darkening the insides of their glass bulbs. The next big change in the incandescent bulb came with the invention of the tungsten filament by European inventors in 1904. These new tungsten filament bulbs lasted longer and had a brighter light compared to the carbon filament bulbs. In 1910, William David Coolidge, an American physicist with General Electric, improved the company's method of manufacturing tungsten filaments.
In 1913, Irving Langmuir figured out that placing an inert gas like nitrogen inside the bulb doubled its efficiency. Scientists continued to make improvements over the next 40 years that reduced the cost and increased the efficiency of the incandescent bulb. However, by the 1950s, researchers had only figured out how to convert about 10% of the energy the incandescent bulb used into light and began to focus their energy on other lighting solutions.
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Frequently asked questions
Windscreen wipers, Gregg's Bakery, the light switch, and the incandescent lightbulb were all invented in Newcastle.
Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn are known as the "fathers of the Internet" for defining the "Internet Protocol" (IP) that allows data packets to be sent between computers.
Tim Berners-Lee invented the WWW, a global hypertext system that encodes information in different ways and uses different languages to provide a service.
On the Net, you find computers, and on the Web, you find documents, sounds, videos, and other forms of information. The Web is an abstract space of information that exists because of programs that communicate between computers on the Net.
The Internet. The design of the Internet was done in 1973 and published in 1974, while the WWW was proposed in March 1989.
