Early Age Inventions

The earlyman were the greatest inventor. They discovered he fire, agriculture, copper, iron etc. They also invented the wheel. The discovery and use of metals, especially iron, is a great landmark in the history of mankind. It made them far more smooth, secure and happier. The discovery of metals and the different sources of power and the invention are things which drastically changed the lifestyle of man.

Steam Engine

                We all have seen that when the water in a kettle boils, the lid of the kettle starts jumping. It is because of the steam that tries to escape from the kettle. Similarly, you must have seen the weight on a pressure cooker jumping violently when the steam in the vessel has accumulated. About 200 years ago, a young boy in Scotland, while looking at the boiling water in  the kettle, thought of using these power of steam to run machines. His name was James Watt.

In 1769, James Watt invented the first steam engine which could be used not only to throw water out of coal mines but also to run machines by making a wheel turn. It was beginning of the industrial revolution in Europe. Soon many types of machines where made. They were run by steam. As a result, goods could be produced quickly and cheaply. Steam engines were also fitted in the ships and boats which sailed on the seas. It made England the Queen of the seas, as her ships could sail across the seas to far off countries.

After some years,  a boy became very eager to invent another type for machine. He was George Stephenson. George Stephenson was a worker in a coal mine. In 1815, he invented a steam engine that could move on wheels. It was called locomotive because it moved from one place to another and carried load in its wagon tied to its back. In 1825, the first locomotive invented by Stephenson ran on rails dragging behind 34 wagons loaded with coal and passengers. It moved at the speed of 12 miles an hour. In 1829, the first railway was built. In 1830, Stephenson made another engine which could run at the speed of 30 miles an hour, it was called the “Rocket”.

The invention of the steam engine greatly revolutionized the world. it led to the establishment of large number of mills and factories which began to produce a lot of things both quickly and cheaply. The ships now began to sail upon the seas to far off places more safely and more speedily. The railway began to carry goods and passengers to longer destination with less time. Trade and commerce increased many times and life became more comfortable and more pleasant.

Aircraft

In olden times, man could not think to fly in the air. He used to watch the birds flying in the sky and hear about the ‘Pushpak Viman’  which brought back Rama, Sita and his devotees to Ayodhya. Similarly, you might have read the story of Icarus who flew very high, the wax melted and he fell into the sea.

In the 18^th century, some people flew into the sky in hot air balloons or hydrogen balloons. The first manned balloon was flown on 21st November 1783, which went upto a height of 9 km over Paris. In the subsequent years, scientists made many improvements and development of the aeroplane.

It was Sir George Cayley, an Englishman, who first of all thought that it would be possible to fly a plane through the air if it is light and at the same time, if the air could be forced against its wings.

Soon he made a light-weight plane fitted with but there was no engine- light and powerful enough to move the propeller. His countrymen William Henson and John Strong fellow did his job and made their model fly up to 40 yards in 1848. This marked the beginning of powered  flights.

It was, however, the Wright Brothers who first of all built the aeroplane on the modern lines in 1903 and had successfully flew  it on 17^th December 1903. It was the beginning of the Air age.

Since then many changes and improvements have been made in the design of Aeroplanes. Now there are Aeroplanes which fly across the seas and over the high mountains, vast deserts and the thick forests. Now Aeroplane are used to transport goods and passengers. They are also used to transport soldiers. They also used as bombers and fighter planes in war.

 Camera

Photography entered all the spheres of our life during the last one hundred years. Now there are family albums, portraits, photographic illustration, magazines and books, cinema, x-ray, colour slides and numerous other applications of this invention in various trades and professions.

The first permanent photographs were made by 2 Frenchmen  Josef Nepee and Louis Daguerre. Paper negatives and paper prints were made in 1841 by an English photographer for Talbot. It was, however, in 1888 that East man introduced the first roll film camera, which he got patented under the ‘Kodak’ name. Since then photography in principle developed around this invention. It depends on the action of light on a film coated with a thin layer of silver bromide. A camera consists of a light proof chamber with a lens at one end and the sensitive film on the other end. A box camera is the simplest camera. Early cameras where much longer but now smaller and smaller cameras are being made. Films are also very sensitive and can photographer even in dull weather. Modern cameras have synchronized flash and automatic control adjustments.

Photography today is so simple that many people and children take it as a hobby. It has opened new doors of entertainment and education. Now we can obtain photographs even from other space as well as from underneath the oceans. In medicine, x-ray has made possible detection of skeleton abnormalities and injuries etc. Films are screened in cinema houses for our entertainment. Books and magazines are illustrated to explain important facts and statements. In fact, photography has opened new horizons of human achievements.