inventions that improved societal life from elevators to weaponry

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INVENTIONS THAT IMPROVED SOCIETAL LIFE FROM ELEVATORS TO WEAPONRY

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Page 1: INVENTIONS THAT IMPROVED SOCIETAL LIFE FROM ELEVATORS TO WEAPONRY

INVENTIONS THAT IMPROVED SOCIETAL

LIFEFROM ELEVATORS TO WEAPONRY

Page 2: INVENTIONS THAT IMPROVED SOCIETAL LIFE FROM ELEVATORS TO WEAPONRY

ELEVATORS

• First sited elevator by Archimedes in roughly 236 B.C. Would have been operated by animal or human power

• First mechanical powered elevator came in around 1823 for use in coal mines with a steam powered engine

• Later Sir William Armstrong would invent a hydraulic crane, this concept would lead to the removal of the steam pump for elevators

• In 1852 Elisha Otis invented the safety elevator which prevented the cab of the elevator from falling if the cable broke

• The first electric elevator was built by Werner von Siemens in 1880 in Germany

• The safety and speed of electric elevators were significantly enhanced by Frank Sprague who added floor control, automatic elevators, acceleration control of cars, and safeties. His elevator ran faster and with larger loads than hydraulic or steam elevators

Page 3: INVENTIONS THAT IMPROVED SOCIETAL LIFE FROM ELEVATORS TO WEAPONRY

STEEL PRODUCTION

• Steel had been produced in bloomer, closed off cone shaped furnaces for thousands of years, steel's use expanded extensively after more efficient production methods were devised in the 17th century for blister steel and then crucible steel.

• With the invention of the Bessemer process in the mid-19th century, a new era of mass-produced steel began.

• This was followed by Siemens-Martin process, open hearth furnace, and then Gilchrist-Thomas process that refined the quality of steel. With their introductions, mild steel replaced wrought iron.

• The mass production of steel was a big step for society as it allowed us to make bigger and stronger buildings

• Andrew Carnegie was the first person to mass produce high quality steel, as a result the price of steel dropped and became more affordable, causing many to use his steel for many projects

Page 4: INVENTIONS THAT IMPROVED SOCIETAL LIFE FROM ELEVATORS TO WEAPONRY

BRIDGES

• Bridges have been built with stone since the Roman time period

• It wasn’t until 1779 that the first iron bridge was created and spanned 100 feet in length

• Because of the fragile nature of iron and the development of steel, steel bridges were eventually being used more often

• The first welded bridge appeared in 1927 in Poland

• The first steel bridge in the United States was Eads bridge in St. Louis, it connects over the Mississippi River

• The Bridge is 6,442 feet long, it is an arched steel bridge

Page 5: INVENTIONS THAT IMPROVED SOCIETAL LIFE FROM ELEVATORS TO WEAPONRY

WEAPONRY

• Muskets were in use until the First World War when the repeating rifle was introduced, it allowed for more rapid fire than the musket and increased accuracy from 150 meters to 500 meters

• With the invention of the motorized vehicle came the tank in WWI, this would make crossing dangerous battle fields safer for the people inside

• Early machine guns as developed by Gatling, were hand cranked as they hadn’t yet created fully automatic machine guns

• Artillery had changed as well from large cumbersome canons were hard to move and difficult to reload

• The Industrial Revolution allowed for lighter more powerful equipment that could be used in the field of battle

Page 6: INVENTIONS THAT IMPROVED SOCIETAL LIFE FROM ELEVATORS TO WEAPONRY

FIGHTING

• In the early days, each side stood in rows so that the front and back were firing and those in the middle were reloading

• In WWI we saw the use of trench warfare

• Between the trenches, barbed wire, and machine guns, fighting quickly changed from what armies had used for a long time prior to WWI