According to the “Background” paragraph of the article, in the early 1890s, the American Press Association put together a feature series of writings in preparation for the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago (Background). They asked seventy-four notable Americans to make predictions about the American life in the 1990s. An electrical engineer, John J. Carty, was one of the several prominent Americans that were asked to share his predictions (Background). The segments ran in newspapers across the country from March through May 1893, in time for the World’s Fair opening (Background). In his writing, Carty mainly focuses on the topic of electricity and how it will be simply revolutionary (Carty). His purpose in writing the essay was to share …show more content…
Several factors influenced his thoughts and ideas. One of the main influences for his predictions was electricity. The introduction of electric power to the home begun in the 1880s (Cross and Szostack 2005, 209). Already in the 1890s, the simplest domestic devices including things like the electric iron in 1893, were powered by electricity, although few consumers could or would avail themselves of them (Cross and Szostack 2005, 209). The stove was being improved from coal and wood to gas stoves (Cross and Szostack 2005, 211). Electric lighting was in the forefront in 1879 where Thomas Edison was still improving his invention of the lightbulb: a glass casing with a filament and a circuitry inside (Cross and Szostack 2005, 158-159). In 1888, Tesla developed the first motor translating AC to mechanical energy (Cross and Szostack 2005, 159) After 1810, and with rapid acceleration from the 1840´s, the technological revolution in industry begin to meld with a new arms race (Cross and Szostack 2005, 189). Rapid acceleration included Robert Stockton improving the steamboats by adding a screw propeller in 1843, the breech loading cannons in 1846, improvements to the musket, and the smokeless gun powder in 1884 (Cross and Szostack 2005, 193, 194, …show more content…
Electricity allowed the mechanization of many below- surface functions and the continuous minor appeared in 1948 to make mining coal much easier (Cross and Szostack 2005, 312). The situation of coal was severely exacerbated by the increased use of petroleum, and later nuclear energy as fuel (Cross and Szostack 2005, 313). Nicola Tesla’s discovery of the first motor for translating alternating current to mechanical energy in the 1890s was a success (Cross and Szostack 2005, 159). Promoters were pleasantly surprised to find that local markets absorbed their output of cheap hydroelectricity, they had expected to transmit the energy to distant cities (Cross and Szostack 2005, 159). In the first decade of the twentieth century, Westinghouse would cooperate with a steelmaking firm, American Rolling Mill, to develop silicon alloys well suited to AC transmission (Cross and Szostack 2005, 159). Military operations were constantly changing and each side was continuously in search of war winning technology that the use of machines and electricity made possible (Cross and Szostack 2005, 201). Germans used both hydrogen-filled dirigible and Giant Goth airplanes for bombing military and civilian targets (Cross and Szostack 2005, 204). The trolley
Nikola Tesla is a man that many individuals associate with brilliance. Moreover, Tesla is a name that ignites impulses within an individual’s brain which illuminate, via bio-circuitry, the thought association of Tesla and brilliance, similar to the force we term as electricity. Brilliance however, shouldn’t be the only descriptive word to come to mind when thinking of one of the greatest engineers and inventors to live. Innovation and determination should be undoubtedly included in the list of descriptive words of Mr. Nikola Tesla. For without the innovative mind of Tesla, midcentury inventions as well as current technological advances would be nonexistent, or worse, credited to Thomas Edison.
doing this, so he quit his job and started to market iron ore. In 1877, Charles Brush quit the iron business and concentrated. entirely on his electric generator, also known as a dynamo. The year before he had quit the iron business, he had created a dynamo with a horse drawn treadmill -. He was able to generate electricity with this.
Nikola Tesla (Physicist, Inventor, Futurist) – Nikola Tesla was a Serbian American electrical engineer, inventor, physicist, futurist and mechanical engineer who was recognized for his assistance in the proposal of alternating current (AC) for the system of electricity. He was born on July 10, 1856 in Smiljan, Austrian Empire which is presently known as Croatia. His father was named Milutin Tesla and was an Orthodox Priest. While his mother, Duka Tesla, was good in making home mechanical appliances, craft tools and has the skill to memorize Serbian poems.
This paper is a discussion of the role played by the ideals of the Enlightenment in the invention and assessment of artifacts like the electric battery. The first electric battery was built in 1799 by Alessandro Volta, who was both a natural philosopher and an artisan-like inventor of intriguing machines. I will show that the story of Volta and the battery contains three plots, each characterized by its own pace and logic. One is the story of natural philosophy, a second is the story of artifacts like the battery, and the third is the story of the loose, long-term values used to assess achievement and reward within and outside expert communities. An analysis of the three plots reveals that late eighteenth-century natural philosophers, despite their frequent celebration of 'useful knowledge,' were not fully prepared to accept the philosophical dignity of artifacts stemming from laboratory practice. Their hesitation was the consequence of a hierarchy of ranks and ascribed competence that was well established within the expert community. In order to make artifacts stemming from laboratory practice fully acceptable within the domain of natural philosophy, some important changes had yet to occur. Still, the case overwhelmingly shows that artifacts rightly belong to the long and varied list of items that make up the legacy of the Enlightenment.
In the 1880s, there was a war going on in the United States. Backstabbing, secrecy, and death were common. However, this war had no weapons. It was a dual between two geniuses. These two men are the fathers of modern technology. The War of Currents was a battle between the famous inventor Thomas Edison, and the mysterious genius Nikola Tesla. Tesla and Edison engaged in an epic competition to create the most efficient, cheap, usable form of electricity. Everyone knows who Thomas Edison was, but not many people know of Nikola Tesla. Tesla was an unappreciated mastermind who changed the world with his inventions, performed many strange experiments, and practically invented usable electricity.
As James Levine is famous for saying, “I was lucky that I met the right mentors and teachers at the right moment.” To me, one of the greatest mentors of innovative scientific history was Nikola Tesla. That being said, if given the opportunity to spend the next year of my life in a different time period I would like to live during the year 1942 so I could work beside Tesla. This was the year before Tesla died, a time when he had experienced the full scope of his expertise and could impart that wisdom to me. My questions about his popularity would be answered in full. Questions about Tesla’s integrity could lead to the answer to the legendary disputes about what was rightfully his. Legends about genius inventions that could only be imagined
Hamilton is known as a manufacturing city with two major metal industries, iron and steel. In 1892, a primary steelmaking facility was built and the city of Hamilton offered “free land, cash bonuses, and tax concessions if the company [started] running by 1894” (Freeman 84). This offer was to attract more companies to set up location in Hamilton resulting in the increase of the city’s economic growth and development. During this time, there was the advancement of the electric power. This prompted building a steam powerhouse that produced electricity for streetcars. A group of five men started a company called the Cataract Power Company and they came up with the idea of “alternating current” (Freeman 84). The company was able to transmit electric power from St. Catharines to Hamilton using transmission towers. The city was graced with a primary steelmaking facility and electric power, and thus, experienced an increased economic growth. Over the years, electric power became inexpensive attracting many American steelmaking compa...
The Steam Engine “In the never-ending search for energy sources, the invention of the steam engine changed the face of the earth.” (Siegel, Preface) The steam engine was the principal power source during the British Industrial Revolution in the 18th century. The steam engine opened a whole new world for everyone. The steam engine maximizes production, efficiency, reliability, minimizes time, the amount of labor, and the usage of animals.
The year of 1884 was in a period of magnificent things. Things that would ever change our world; in good ways and bad ways ("Nikola Tesla." History.com.) This year was the year when Nikola Tesla was hired as an engineer for Thomas Edison’s company in Electricity. There he learned many things about electricity and gained an extraordinary amount of ideas that would soon help him the future
The invention and proliferation of electrical motors in early last century inevitably brought to traditional kinds of lathes becoming electric. It was the very first major step towards present day computer controlled lathes, and came into being as producers searched for to improve productivity and lower costs.
The history of engineering goes back into the 19th century when Alexander Volta (1745-1827) made a remarkable discover regarding the nature of electricity (Cosgrove 749). He discovered that electrical current could be controlled and could flow from one point to another. By the time the mid-19th century came about the rules for electricity were being established. During this time electromagnetic induction was discovered by Michael Faraday who lived from 1791 to 1867 (749). Also during this time Samuel Morris invented the telegraph in 1837 which relies on the principles of electromagnetic induction (749). Alexander Graham Bell, who lived from 1847 to 1922, created the telephone which also uses electricity in order to operate (749). Through the success of the telephone, Bell Telephone Company was established. In 1878, the light bulb was finally invented by Thomas Edison who lived from 1847 to 1931 (749). Off the principles of Faraday’s electric motor from 1821, Nicholas Tesla invented a more efficient and powerful electric motor in 1888 (749). To make these inventions be more significant, effort was expended to make better motors and transformers and to enhance the power needed to make them function. Through these inventions during the middle 19th century, it led to the capability of lighting homes and cities through the use of electricity, and it also led to the creation of the telephone communication system (750).
Thomas Edison is widely regarded as one of the most influential inventors and innovators of the Twentieth Century. Edison’s efforts ushered in a new era of technology; a world in which electricity would be harnessed and made to bow before man’s will. Walter Lippman wrote, “It is impossible to measure the importance of Edison by adding up the specific inventions with which his name is associated” (qtd. in Baldwin 409). Edison’s decades long career was a synergistic melding of his success as an inventor and his prowess as a promoter and businessman. He exemplified the ideals of intelligence married to hard work and perseverance. He forever changed the landscape of American invention and the limits of technological change (Baldwin 409).
The introduction of machinery initiated the Industrial Revolution making factories an important way of life. The machinery in factories used the pow...
Nikola Tesla is regarded as one of the most brilliant inventors in history. His work provided the basis for the modern alternating current power system, as well as having developed both radio and the fluorescent light bulb. He worked with Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse, among others. He was also widely misunderstood by his peers and the public at large.
In the early years, England and France were the first nations to experiment with electric vehicles with the United States showing some interest in about 1895. The general perception of the electric vehicle was that it had many advantages over gasoline powered cars. It was clean, silent, free from vibrations, thoroughly reliable, easy to start and control, and produced no dirt or odor. The disadvantages were short range and high initial cost. It was not as cheap to run as other forms of transportation and could average only about 18 miles per day, but this met the needs of much of the population in the larger cities. Electric vehicles outsold all other types of cars in the year 1899 and 1900. A wide variety of automobiles were built when designers experimented with different body styles and engine