-Summarize each of the inventions you studied this week.

Introduction to inventions and inventors

In lesson 1 I learned that something changed around 1800 AD in the west due to economic growth and inventions started appearing more rapidly. I also learned that inventors had to face lots of challenges and resistance. Galileo was a good example because he had to face a lot of resistance because he challenged old ideas. And last, I learned that long time optimism is required for sustained capital growth.

Suspension Bridges

In lesson 2 I learned about suspension bridges, and how the Romans were the great bridge builders of the ancient world. Also that there were lots of other bridges but non were very strong. I also learned that James Finly, born in 1756 was an Irish emigrant who moved with his family to Pennsylvania, and received a good education. In 1784 he became Justice of the Peace at age 32 and later became a politician and reviewed lots of bridge designs. Later he used the experience he had to build a bridge that was cheap and easy to build almost anywhere. After years of experimenting he built the first suspension bridge over Jacob’s Creek in 1801. His first bridge spanned 70 feet and was 13 feet wide the whole way. It cost 600$ which is a little less than 20,000$ 2019 money and could hold 540 tons. I also learned that the longest suspension bridge is in Japan and is 6,500 feet long and the golden gate bridge is 4,200 feet long. His bridge spread because he published his designs in a magazine and it spread to Great Britain. Then the first British bridge was built in 1820. Last, I learned that they reduce travel time and shipping costs.

The Fire Hydrant

In my 3rd lesson I learned about the fire hydrant. Before the fire hydrant they used to make the water pipes out of wood and when there was a fire, the firemen would dig down until the found the water pipes and then drill a hole into the pipe and then wait for the water from the pipe to fill up the hole they had dug and then use the water to fill their buckets and put out the fire, then when they were done they would plug up the hole. This was the most interesting thing I learned this week because I had no idea how they used to put out fires before the fire hydrant. But that method became a problem in 1666 when the great fire of London took out most of the city. That is when the firemen got smarter and when the pipes were laid they pre-drilled the holes into the pipes and stuck another smaller pipe into the holes and then when they buried the pipes the smaller pipes would stick up and when there was a fire they went to their smaller pipes and drilled their holes and filled their buckets and that saved a little time. After that, I learned that Frederick Graff was born in 1775, and is given the credit for inventing the fire hydrant. He got a job as a carpenter and moved to Pennsylvania and there became friends with influential people. There he designed a iron “fire plug”. The wet barrel designs like Graff’s “fire plug” froze in the winter and they had to cover them in the winter with box’s, so new designs where created to overcome these limitations, and the dry barrel design arrived by 1812, and by the 1900s they had been nearly perfected.

The locomotive

Lesson 4 talked about how railways evolved from early transportation, and different designs for high pressure steam engines were experimented with. Richard Trevithick was born in England in 1771 to a Cole mining family. His father was a Cole mining captain, and his mother was the daughter of a Cole miner, so Cole mining ran in the blood. From a young age he was interested in steam engines, and when he grew up he invented the first high pressure steam engine in 1801. He named it the Puffing Devil, and it could pull a couple passengers about half a mile. Unfortunately the Puffing Devil broke down three days later but he built another one for a Cole company and put on public displays to spread his invention. The Locomotive powers the train and rail transport is energy efficient. The Locomotives then used fire tube boilers that vaporize water which drives pistons that turn the wheels. The steam also provides passenger heat and braking power, it also powers the steam whistle and the pressure relief valve. Locomotives made their way to America by 1829 and had huge economic benefits. And by 1900 it had transformed great Britain and America.