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[Illustration: MARCONI WIRELESS TELEGRAPH STATION, CLIFDEN, IRELAND]
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.
[Illustration: 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
Copyright, 1910, by HARPER & BROTHERS
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
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
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
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
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
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
APPENDIX
Brief notes on important inventions
INDEX
ILLUSTRATIONS
FIG.
MARCONI WIRELESS-TELEGRAPH STATION, CLIFDEN, IRELAND
THE SAME STATION PHOTOGRAPHED BY DAYLIGHT
1--THE BATTLE OF SYRACUSE
2--GALILEO'S PENDULUM CLOCK
3--AN AIR THERMOMETER
4--TORRICELLI'S EXPERIMENT
5--GUERICKE'S AIR-PUMP
6--GUERICKE'S WATER BAROMETER
7--A LIFT-PUMP
8--A SIMPLE HYDRAULIC PRESS
9--HOW AN HYDRAULIC PRESS WORKS
10--AN HYDRAULIC PRESS WITH BELT-DRIVEN PUMP
11--NEWTON'S EXPERIMENT WITH THE PRISM
12--PAPIN'S ENGINE
13--THE NEWCOMEN ENGINE, IN REPAIRING WHICH WATT WAS LED TO HIS
GREAT DISCOVERIES
14--CYLINDER OF WATT'S STEAM-ENGINE
15--A FLY-BALL GOVERNOR
16--A LEYDEN JAR
17--FRANKLIN'S KITE EXPERIMENT
18--VOLTA EXPLAINING HIS ELECTRIC BATTERY TO NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
19--THE FIRST ELECTRIC BATTERY
20--COUNT RUMFORD'S EXPERIMENT WITH THE CANNON, MAKING WATER
BOIL WITHOUT FIRE
21--OERSTED'S EXPERIMENT
22--A COIL WITH A CURRENT FLOWING THROUGH IT ACTS LIKE A MAGNET
23--A BAR OF SOFT IRON WITH A CURRENT FLOWING AROUND IT BECOMES
A MAGNET
24--TWO COILS WITH CURRENTS FLOWING IN THE SAME DIRECTION
ATTRACT EACH OTHER
25--TWO COILS WITH CURRENTS FLOWING IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS REPEL
EACH OTHER
26--ARAGO'S EXPERIMENT
27--ONE POLE OF A MAGNET SPINS ROUND A WIRE THROUGH WHICH AN
ELECTRIC CURRENT FLOWS
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
29--A COIL OF WIRE AROUND A COMPASS-NEEDLE
30--FARADAY'S INDUCTION-COIL
31--HISTORICAL APPARATUS OF FARADAY IN THE ROYAL INSTITUTION
32--FARADAY'S FIRST DYNAMO
33--FARADAY'S LABORATORY, WHERE THE FIRST DYNAMO WAS MADE
34--THE FIRST TRANSFORMER
35--THE "MAGNETIC FIELD" IS THE SPACE AROUND A MAGNET IN WHICH
IT WILL ATTRACT IRON
36--MAGNETIC FIELD OF A HORSESHOE MAGNET
37--A DANIELL CELL
38--A GRAVITY CELL
39--SHOWING WHAT IS IN A DRY BATTERY
40--A STORAGE BATTERY, SHOWING THE "GRIDS"
41--A STORAGE-BATTERY PLATE MADE FROM A SHEET OF LEAD
42--STURGEON'S ELECTROMAGNET
43--AN ELECTROMAGNET WITH MANY TURNS OF INSULATED WIRE
44--AN ELECTROMAGNET LIFTING TWELVE TONS OF IRON
45--A DYNAMO WITH SIEMENS' ARMATURE
46--RING ARMATURE
47--FIRST DYNAMO PATENTED IN THE UNITED STATES
48--A DRUM ARMATURE, SHOWING HOW AN ARMATURE OF FOUR COILS IS
WOUND
49--A SERIES-WOUND DYNAMO
50--A SHUNT-WOUND DYNAMO
51--A COMPOUND-WOUND DYNAMO
52--ONE OF EDISON'S FIRST DYNAMOS
53--A DYNAMO MOUNTED ON THE TRUCK OF A RAILWAY CAR
54--FIRST ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE
55--FIRST EDISON ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE
56--EDISON'S FIRST PASSENGER LOCOMOTIVE
57--FIRST COMMERCIAL ELECTRIC RAILWAY
58--EDISON, AMERICA'S GREATEST INVENTOR, AT WORK IN HIS
LABORATORY
59--EDISON'S FAMOUS HORSESHOE PAPER-FILAMENT LAMP OF
60--FIRST COMMERCIAL EDISON ELECTRIC-LIGHTING PLANT; INSTALLED
ON THE STEAMSHIP "COLUMBIA" IN MAY,
61--A TELEGRAPH SOUNDER
62--MORSE'S FIRST TELEGRAPH INSTRUMENT
63--A TELEGRAPHIC CIRCUIT WITH RELAY AND SOUNDER
64--A SIMPLE TELEGRAPHIC CIRCUIT
65--FIRST TELEGRAPH INSTRUMENT USED FOR COMMERCIAL WORK
66--HOW TWO MESSAGES ARE SENT OVER ONE WIRE AT THE SAME TIME
67--HOW TWO MESSAGES ARE SENT OVER ONE WIRE AT THE SAME TIME.
BRIDGE METHOD
68--FIRST BELL TELEPHONE RECEIVER AND TRANSMITTER
69--A TELEPHONE RECEIVER
70--TWO RECEIVERS USED AS A COMPLETE TELEPHONE
71--CARBON-DUST TRANSMITTER
72--THE PHONAUTOGRAPH, A FORERUNNER OF THE PHONOGRAPH
73--EDISON'S FIRST PHONOGRAPH AND A MODERN INSTRUMENT
74 to--THE FOUR-CYCLE GAS-ENGINE
78--TWO-CYCLE GAS-ENGINE. CRANK AND CONNECTING-ROD ARE ENCLOSED
WITH THE PISTON
79--SELDEN "EXPLOSION BUGGY," FORERUNNER OF THE MODERN
AUTOMOBILE
80--SOME EARLY LOCOMOTIVES
81--HOW A LOCOMOTIVE WORKS
82--HERO'S ENGINE
83--AN UNDERSHOT WATER-WHEEL WITH CURVED BLADES
84--AN OVERSHOT WATER-WHEEL
85--DE LAVAL STEAM-TURBINE
86--A MODERN STEAM-TURBINE WITH TOP CASING RAISED SHOWING BLADES
87--DIAGRAM OF TURBINE SHOWN IN FIG.
88--A STEAM-TURBINE THAT RUNS A DYNAMO GENERATING 14,000
ELECTRICAL HORSE-POWER
89--BRITISH ARMY AIR-SHIP "NULLI SECUNDUS" READY FOR FLIGHT
90--BASKET, MOTOR, AND PROPELLER OF THE BRITISH ARMY AIR-SHIP
"NULLI SECUNDUS"
91--A ZEPPELIN AIR-SHIP
92--COUNT ZEPPELIN'S "DEUTSCHLAND," THE FIRST AIR-SHIP IN
REGULAR PASSENGER SERVICE
93--THE BALDWIN AIR-SHIP USED IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY
94--IN FULL FLIGHT
95--WRIGHT AIR-SHIP IN FLIGHT
96--HOW THE WRIGHT AIR-SHIP IS KEPT AFLOAT
97--THE SEAT AND MOTOR OF THE WRIGHT AEROPLANE
98--THE BLÉRIOT MONOPLANE
99--THE "PLUNGER"
100--U. S. SUBMARINE "SHARK" READY FOR A DIVE
101--FIRST SUBMARINE CONSTRUCTED IN THE UNITED STATES. IT WENT
TO THE BOTTOM WITH SEVEN MEN, WHO WERE DROWNED
102--HOW MEN IN A SUBMARINE SEE WHEN UNDER THE WATER
103--A TOP THAT SPINS ON A STRING
104--A CAR THAT RUNS ON ONE RAIL
105--MANUFACTURING DIAMONDS--FIRST OPERATION
106--MANUFACTURING DIAMONDS--SECOND OPERATION
107--MANUFACTURING DIAMONDS--THIRD OPERATION
108--MARCONI AND HIS WIRELESS-TELEGRAPH SENDING AND RECEIVING
INSTRUMENTS
109--DIAGRAM OF WIRELESS-TELEGRAPH SENDING APPARATUS
110--DIAGRAM OF MARCONI WIRELESS-TELEGRAPH RECEIVING APPARATUS
111--RECEIVER OF BELL'S PHOTOPHONE
112--A GAS FLAME IS SENSITIVE TO ELECTRIC WAVES
113--CAPTAIN INGERSOLL ON BOARD THE U. S. BATTLE-SHIP
"CONNECTICUT" USING THE WIRELESS TELEPHONE
114--INCANDESCENT ELECTRIC LAMP LIGHTED THOUGH NOT CONNECTED TO
ANY BATTERY OR DYNAMO
115--AN ELECTRIC DISCHARGE AT A PRESSURE OF 12,000,000 VOLTS, A
CURRENT OF 800 AMPERES IN THE SECONDARY COIL
116--AN ELECTRIC DISCHARGE SIXTY-FIVE FEET IN LENGTH
117--A PHYSICIAN EXAMINING THE BONES OF THE ARM BY MEANS OF
X-RAYS
118--X-RAY PHOTOGRAPH OF THE EYE
119--PHOTOGRAPH MADE WITH RADIUM
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
Great inventions are a never-failing source of interest to all of us,
and particularly to the boy in his teens. The dynamo, the electric
motor, the telegraph, with and without wires, the telephone, air-ships,
and many other inventions excite in him an interest which is deeper than
mere curiosity. He wants to know how these things work, and how they
were invented. The man is so absorbed in the present that he cares
little for the past. Not so with the boy. He cares for the history of
inventions, and in this he is wiser than the man, for it is only by a
study of its origin and growth that we can understand the larger
significance of a great invention.
Great inventions have their origin in great discoveries. The story of
great inventions, therefore, includes the story of the discoveries out
of which they have arisen. The stories of the discoveries and the
inventions are inseparable from the lives of the men who made them, and
so we must deal with biography, which in itself is of interest to the
boy. Such a story is the story of physical science in the service of
humanity.
The interest of the youth in great inventions is unquestioned. Shall we
stifle this interest by overemphasis of technical detail, or shall we
minister to it as a thing vital in the life of the youth of to-day?
A few sentences quoted from G. Stanley Hall will indicate the author's
point of view. "The youth is in the humanist stage. Nature is sentiment
before it becomes idea or formula or utility." "The heroes and history
epochs of each branch [of science] add another needed quality to the
still so largely humanistic stage." "A new discovery, besides its
technical record, involves the added duty of concise and lucid popular
statement as a tribute to youth." The need of a "concise and lucid
popular statement" of the rise of the great inventions which form the
material basis of our modern civilization and all of which are new to
the young mind, has no doubt been keenly felt by others as it has been
by the author. The story of our great inventions has been told in sundry
volumes for adult readers, but nowhere has this story, alive with human
interest, been told in a form suited to the young. It was the
realization of this need growing out of years of experience in teaching
these branches that led the author to attempt the task of writing the
story.
The purpose of this book is to tell in simple language how our great
inventions came into being, to depict the life-struggles of the men who
made them, and, in the telling of the story, to explain the working of
the inventions in a way the boy can understand. The stories which are
here woven together present the great epochs in the history of physics,
and are intended to give to the young reader a connected view of the way
in which our great inventions have arisen out of scientific discovery on
the one hand, and conditions which we may call social and economic on
the other hand. If the book shall appeal to young readers, and lead them
to an appreciation of the meaning of a great invention, the author will
feel that his purpose has been achieved.
The author is deeply indebted to Dr. Charles A. McMurry and Prof. Newell
D. Gilbert, of the Northern Illinois State Normal School; Profs. C. R.
Mann and R. A. Millikan, of the University of Chicago; and Prof. John F.
Woodhull, of Columbia University, for reading the manuscript and
offering valuable suggestions. Acknowledgment is further made here of
valuable aid in collecting material for illustrations and letter-press.
Such acknowledgment is due to Prof. A. Gray, University of Glasgow;
Prof. Antonio Favaro, Royal University of Padua; Prof. A. Zammarchi,
Brescia, Italy; Mr. Nikola Tesla; the Royal Institution, London;
_McClure's Magazine_; _The Technical World Magazine_; _The Scientific
American_; the Ellsworth Company; Commonwealth-Edison Company;
Association of Edison Illuminating Companies; Electric Controller and
Supply Company; Kelley-Koett Manufacturing Company; Watson-Stillman
Company; Gould Storage Battery Company; Thordarson Electric Company; the
Westinghouse Machine Company; Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of
America, and the Siemens-Schuckert Werke, Berlin.
The drawings illustrating Faraday's experiments are from exact
reproductions of Faraday's apparatus, made by Mr. Joseph G. Branch,
author of _Conversations on Electricity_, and are reproduced by his kind
permission.
E. E. B.
CHICAGO, _June, 1910_.
THE STORY OF GREAT INVENTIONS
Chapter I
THE AGE OF ARCHIMEDES
Archimedes, the First Great Inventor
Archimedes, the first great inventor, lived in Syracuse more than two
thousand years ago. Syracuse was a Greek city on the island of Sicily.
The King of Syracuse, Hiero, took great interest in the discoveries of
Archimedes.
One day Archimedes said to King Hiero that with his own strength he
could move any weight whatever. He even said that, if there were another
earth to which he could go, he could move this earth wherever he
pleased. The King, full of wonder, begged of him to prove the truth of
his statement by moving some very heavy weight. Whereupon Archimedes
caused one of the King's galleys to be drawn ashore. This required many
hands and much labor. Having manned the ship and put on board her usual
loading, he placed himself at a distance and easily moved with his hand
the end of a machine which consisted of a variety of ropes and pulleys,
drawing the ship over the sand in as smooth and gentle a manner as if
she had been under sail. The King, quite astonished, prevailed with
Archimedes to make for him all manner of machines which could be used
either for attack or defence in a siege.
The Battle of Syracuse
During the life of King Hiero Syracuse had no occasion to use the war
machines of Archimedes. The grandson of King Hiero, who succeeded to the
throne, was a tyrant. He attempted to throw off the sovereignty of Rome
and entered into an alliance with Carthage. His cruelty toward his own
people was so great that, after a short reign, he was assassinated.
There was anarchy in Syracuse for a time, the Roman and anti-Roman
parties striving for supremacy. The anti-Roman party gaining possession
of the city, the Romans, in order to bring Syracuse again into
subjection, prepared for an attack by sea and land. Then it was that
Syracuse had need of the war machines made by Archimedes (Fig. 1).
[Illustration: FIG. 1--THE BATTLE OF SYRACUSE
The city defended by the inventions of Archimedes.]
The Romans came with a large land force and a fleet. They were sure that
within five days they could conquer the city. But there are times when
one man with brains is worth more than an army. In the battle which
followed, Archimedes with his inventions was more than a match for the
Romans.
The city was strong from the fact that the wall on one side lay along a
chain of hills with overhanging brows; on the other side the wall had
its foundation close down by the sea.
A fleet of sixty ships commanded by Marcellus bore down upon the city.
The ships were full of men armed with bows and slings and javelins with
which to dislodge the men who fought on the battlements. Eight ships had
been fastened together in pairs. These double vessels were rowed by the
outer oars of each of the pair. On each pair of ships was a ladder four
feet wide and of a height to reach to the top of the wall. Each side of
the ladder was protected by a railing, and a small roof-like covering,
called a penthouse, was fastened to the upper end of the ladder. This
covering served to protect the soldiers until they could reach the top
of the wall. They thought to bring these double ships close to shore,
raise the ladders by ropes and pulleys until they rested against the
wall, then scale the wall and capture the city.
But Archimedes had crossbows ready, and, when the ships were still at
some distance, he shot stones and darts at the enemy, wounding and
greatly annoying them. When these began to carry over their heads, he
used smaller crossbows of shorter range, so that stones and darts fell
constantly in their midst. By this means he checked their advance, and
finally Marcellus, in despair, was obliged to bring up his ships under
cover of night. But when they had come close to land, and so too near to
be hit by the crossbows, they found that Archimedes had another
contrivance ready. He had pierced the wall as high as a man's head with
many loopholes which on the outside were about as big as the palm of the
hand. Inside the wall he had stationed archers and men with crossbows to
shoot down the marines. By these means he not only baffled the enemy,
but killed the greater number of them. When they tried to use their
ladders, they discovered that he had cranes ready all along the walls,
not visible at other times but which suddenly reared themselves above
the wall from the inside and stretched their beams far over the
battlements, some of them carrying stones weighing about five hundred
pounds, and others great masses of lead. So, whenever the ships came
near, these beams swung round on their pivots and by means of a rope
running through a pulley dropped the stones upon the ships. The result
was that they not only smashed the ships to pieces, but killed many of
the soldiers on board.
Another machine made by Archimedes was an "iron hand" or grappling-hook
swung on a chain and carried by a crane. The hook was dropped on the
prow of a ship, and when it had taken hold the ship was lifted until it
stood on its stern, then quickly dropped, causing it either to sink or
ship a great quantity of water.
With such machines, unknown before, Archimedes drove back the enemy. On
the landward side similar machines were used. The Romans were reduced to
such a state of terror that "if they saw but a rope or a stick put over
the walls they cried out that Archimedes was levelling some machine at
them and turned their backs and fled."
After a long siege, however, hunger forced the Syracusans to surrender.
Marcellus so admired the genius of Archimedes that he gave orders that
he should not be injured. Yet, in the sack of the city which followed,
Archimedes was slain by a Roman soldier.
The Roman historian Livy records that "Archimedes, while intent on some
figures which he had made in the dust, although the confusion was as
great as could possibly be, was put to death by a soldier who did not
know who he was; that Marcellus was greatly grieved at this, and that
pains were taken about his funeral, while his relations also were
carefully sought and received honor and protection on account of his
name and memory."
Archimedes' Principle
Hiero, when he became King of Syracuse, decreed that a crown of gold, of
great value, should be placed in a certain temple as an offering to the
gods, and sent to a manufacturer the correct weight of gold. In due time
the crown was brought to the King, and a beautiful piece of work it was.
The weight of the crown was the same as that of the gold, but a report
was circulated that some of the gold had been taken out and silver
supplied in its place. Hiero was angry, but knew no method by which the
theft might be detected. He therefore requested Archimedes to give the
matter his attention.
While trying to solve this problem Archimedes went one day to a bath. As
he got into the bath-tub he saw that as his body became immersed the
water ran out of the tub. He quickly saw how he could solve the problem,
leaped out of the bath in joy, and, running home naked, cried out with a
loud voice "Eureka! eureka!" (I have found it! I have found it!)
Using a piece of gold and a piece of silver, each equal in weight to the
crown, and a large vase full of water, he proved that the crown was not
pure gold, and found how much silver had been mixed with the gold.
The incident of the golden crown may have been the starting-point of
Archimedes' study of solid bodies when immersed in fluids. Every one
knows that a boy can lift a heavy stone under water that he could not
lift out of water. The stone seems lighter when in the water. A diver
with his lead-soled shoes could scarcely walk on land, but walks easily
under water. When the diver comes up, the place where he was immediately
becomes filled with water. Now, whatever that water weighs which fills
the diver's place, just that much weight will the diver lose when he
goes down. What is true of the diver is true of the stone or of any
object under water. The stone when in the water loses just as much
weight as the weight of the water that would fill its place. This is the
fact which was discovered by Archimedes and which is called "Archimedes'
Principle."
It is said by an ancient author that Archimedes invented more than forty
machines. Of these the best known are the block and tackle, the endless
screw (worm gear), and the water snail, or Archimedean screw. Yet his
delight was not in his machines, but in his mathematics. Though he had
invented machines to please his king, he regarded such work as trifling,
and took little interest in the common needs of life.
Inventions of the Ancient Greeks
The common needs of life are to-day the chief concern of the greatest
men, and so we find it hard to sympathize with this view of Archimedes.
His view, however, was that of other learned men of his time, that the
common needs of life are beneath the dignity of the scholar, and so we
can see why the Greeks made so few great inventions.
Hero, who lived a century later than Archimedes, invented a
steam-engine, which, however, was only a toy. A water-clock, in which
the first cog-wheels were used, was invented by another Greek named
Ktesibus, who also invented the force-pump. The suction-pump was known
in the time of Aristotle, who lived about a century before the time of
Archimedes, but the inventor is unknown.
Concerning electricity, the Greeks knew very little. They knew that
amber when rubbed will attract light objects, such as dust or chaff.
Amber was called by the Greeks "electron," because it reflected the
brightness of the sunlight, and their name for the sun was "Elector."
From the Greek name for amber we get our word "electricity."
The Greeks possessed scarcely more knowledge of magnets than of
electricity. In fact, their ideas of magnets cannot be called knowledge,
for they consisted chiefly of legends.
They told of the shepherd Magnes, who, while watching his flock on Mount
Ida, suddenly found the iron ferrule of his staff and the nails of his
shoes adhering to a stone; that, later, this stone was called, after
him, the "Magnes stone," or "Magnet."
They told impossible stories of iron statues being suspended in the air
by means of magnets, and of ships sailing near the magnetic mountains
when every nail and piece of iron in the ship would fly to the mountain,
leaving the ship a wreck upon the waves.