Flashcards
Inventions
Flashcards do conjunto (8)
- 1—In 1849 Walter Hunt, an inventor from New York, was sitting at his desk trying to think of a way of paying off a debt of $15. While he was thinking he was twisting a piece of wire and came up with the idea of the ‘safety pin.’ The difference between Hunt’s ‘safety pin’ and other pins was that his one had a clasp, or catch, to hold the sharp pin in place. A few weeks later he sold the rights to his invention for $400.
- 2—In 1908 Thomas Sullivan, a tea and coffee merchant from New York, started packing his tea in little silk bags to give away as samples to his customers. To his surprise many of his customers came back, not for his tea, but for the bags. He found out that they were putting the bags directly into the boiling water. Later on people started making the teabags from very thin paper.
- 3—In 1810 Peter Durand invented a metal can for preserving food. The advantage of the can was you could keep the food for quite a long time. The problem was that the only way to open it was using a hammer and chisel! Almost 50 years later, in 1858, Ezra Warner invented the first can opener. The modern-day can opener, using a rotating wheel with a sharp edge wasn’t invented for a further 12 years.
- 4—In 1888 John Loud, a leather merchant, invented the ballpoint pen. He used his invention for marking the leather he worked with. However, his pen had one big problem – it leaked. Almost 50 years later, in 1935, two Hungarian brothers György and László Bíró came up with a new ink and pen that didn’t leak. Now millions of biros are sold each year.
- 5—Like many inventions, what we use today doesn’t look the same as the original invention. That is certainly the case with the paperclip. The original paperclip was invented in 1890 by Johann Vaaler, a Norwegian. His paper clip was a piece of metal wire with a triangular ‘tongue.’ However, even though the shape was different, the use was exactly the same. Vaaler used his paperclips for keeping pieces of paper together on his office desk.
- 6—In 1933 Percy Shaw was driving along a country road at night. It was dark and Shaw couldn’t see where he was going. Suddenly he saw two lights and he stopped his car and got out. There at the side of the road was a cat. Shaw realized that his car lights were reflected by the eyes of the cat. He went home and a few weeks later invented the Cat’s eye, or road reflector. Now there are millions of these on roads around the world, helping drivers stay on the road at night.
- 7—In 1867 two brothers, Thomas and Clarence Scott, began selling toilet paper on the streets of Philadelphia. Although they didn’t invent toilet paper, their product was much better than anything sold before. Ten years earlier Joseph Gayetty had invented toilet paper, but he sold it as loose pieces of paper. A few years later Walter Alcock put the paper on a roll, but the Scott brothers improved it further by adding perforations (tiny holes) making it easy to use.
- 8—The hourglass, or sand clock, was probably invented in the 14th century, although we can’t be sure. The first written records of an hourglass are from 1338. The hourglass had many uses including being used on ships, in churches and for cooking. Today many people still use an hourglass when they are cooking eggs in water. Traditionally, the hourglass is made of two glass bulbs connected by a narrow glass tube and contains sand.
Informações
- Descrição
- Pre-Independent 2 - Unit 6
- Criado por
- DIEGO LUIS GONZALEZ RESTREPO
- Visualizações
- 44
- Avaliação