Amazing inventions

The car itself is an invention we all put an awfull lot of trust in.

Electrical insulation?

Cement/concrete is amazing stuff. It's everywhere and so reliable. Was it the Romans who first used it or does someone predate them?

I read some where (wiki?) that it was the Greeks who invented it, but that

the Romans perfected it to a degree close to what we have today.

Ancient stuff, huh! Whooda thought!

Not only that, they also sussed out how to get it to set under water.

Ain,t so miraculous- before pneumatic, was solid rubber, before was steel, before was wood. Don,t need air, better is Nitrogen. All is engineered to be just right fit etc. But even tyre loses air while driving, can still slow down safely- even some people drive miles on 4 flat tyres!.

I prefer an optimum 78% nitrogen mixture for my tires. It is the best ride for the best price.

I am under the impression that Nitrogen is used to prevent corrosion development on alloy wheels that are so popular these days. I have never heard that nitrogen or any particular % of nitrogen improved the ride. Please explain how the ride is improved, I am very curious.

Stop and think: What is the composition of the atmosphere around us? Uh, 78 % Nitrogen?

AHHHH Yeah

Rail travel?

Air travel?

I agree with air travel. It's the most amazing thing, thought to be impossible a century ago: something heavier than air to fly? No way. And now people do it everyday, almost taking it for granted and ignoring the danger of being suspended of nothing 30000 feet above the earth.

I agree with air travel being a truly great invention. Think of modern jet fighters in dog fights at 2,800 mph, pulling 4 g's or more. But I think to sit on top of a giant firecracker, like the Space Shuttle, is a step above. People don't even think twice about air travel now, it's so common place. Think of all the functioning parts and the temperature differences in something like the Saturn "Moon rocket" for example... most parts purchased from the lowest bidder!

How about suspension. I recently had both gas shockers die within hours of each other. One was on the verge of dying and when the other one blew a seal it was all over. I had to drive my wife to work and then to the shocker supplier for new ones. It was one of the most scariest drives of my life. Every bump made the car bounce around like one of those jumping cars you see in the ghettos of America.(is that sterotyping?). As the supplier said it is not the tyres that keep you on the road it's the suspension.

Try driving without brakes...I had to once when the master cyclinder seal went...on the motorway.

You Win

LOL - it was driving from work to the garage in the evening that was really "fun". You appreciate forward planning and anticipation then...and having learnt to drive on the throttle and gears rather than the brakes. The worst bit was coming round a corner to find a horse & rider there. Astra handbrakes just aren't up to the job!

Astra handbrakes just aren't up to the job!

The hand/parking/emergency brake on many cars is a waste of space but I had a Subaru that had a hand brake that worked on the front disks. You couldn't do hand brake turns in it but boy, when you pulled it on you could really stop that car quickly.

It did however have one minor problem that could be embarrassing if you were not aware of it. If you parked on a hill with hot brakes when the disks cooled down the hand brake could release the disk if not pulled on hard enough. It's easy to get over and not a problem if you remember to park it in gear, but, you can guarantee the one day you forget to put it in gear is the day that the brakes are really hot and you will be parked on a hill.

Hi Masu,

Would that have been a Subaru with adjustable suspension?

The Hydropneumatic Citroens all have the handbrake on the front wheels, as the wheelbase changes with the height of the car. Front brakes take up to 90% of the load, and the rear suspension feeds the rear brakes (to avoid lock-up when driven light) so I have had to put ballast in the boot to get the rear brakes working well enough for the MOT!

And I always park with the car in 1st.

I always park cars in 3rd - a habit from living in a hilly city. It really annoys other pool car users, as unless it's your habit and therefore you always start a car with your foot on the clutch, of course the car won't start or rather hops forward on the starter! Funny how it's my fault for leaving it in gear, but not theirs for not checking...as well as foot on clutch, I always check the gear stick position when starting a car that's not mine.

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you

I dont understand why people leave their cars in higher gears - while it is more difficult to drive off with the engine trying to turn the wheels, when the system is reversed, (ie wheels trying to turn the engine) the higher the gear, the easier it is.

If you don't believe me, try it: make sure the road is clear, and you have the key in so the steering lock is off (just in case). Release the handbrake: In top gear, a car will move quite easily, and if the hill is steep enough with a warm engine, it can even be started in third (HGVs included - but you missed the T-shirt on e-bay). In first or reverse the car will only move slightly, unless your engine is seriously worn.

Would that have been a Subaru with adjustable suspension?

It was a 1983 Subaru Touring Wagon 1.8 L automatic whit huge disks on the front and tidily little drums on the rear. I don't know why they insisted on the rear drums but they didn't do much breaking and it only wore out a single set of rear pads in the 23 years I had it.

It had all independent suspension that was adjustable but it wasn't hydro-pneumatic like in the Citroen. The front suspension was the usual coil with coaxial shock absorber but the rears was pure torsion bar with the torsion bar mounted forward of the centre of gravity and only shock absorbers at the wheels. The result was a vehicle that would pull itself down on all four wheels rather than lifting or dipping the nose during acceleration and braking.

The transmission was a three speed front wheel drive system that drove the front wheels by default but you could drop it into four wheel drive on the fly and at any time by operating a push button on the gear lever. With a little practice you could get the gearbox to change gear on demand with a little fancy throttle work.

The steering was power assisted rack and pinion that faded the power assist out as you increased speed and had a ludicrously small turning circle of something like 5 m. It was incredibly responsive and the slightest movement of the steering wheel would result in a change in direction. Most cars have some sort of slack in the steering and people get used to allowing for it so most people that tried to drive it had trouble getting it to go in a straight line. They would continually try and allow for the slack and as a result weave from left to right within a lane. Any movement of the steering wheel meant a change in direction. The only modification I did was to use slightly larger and wider rims and install lower profile tires. There was no change in the diameter of the wheels but the profile was considerably lower than the way it was supplied. It made it marginally heaver on the steering but you could scare the hell out of passengers by tearing around corners at well over twice the recommended speed. I actually pushed it to three times the recommended speed one day and there was no sign of it letting go but I decided that doing this on a regular basis was probably not a good for ones long term survivability prospects.

It was underpowered to buggery and at 1,270 Kg was fairly heavy for a small car but if you worked on the principal that there were only two throttle settings, off and flat out, combined with left foot braking it would perform fairly well and go round corners a lot faster than most other cars. The only modification I did was to use slightly larger and wider rims and install lower profile tires. There was no change in the overall diameter of the wheels but the profile was considerably lower than the way it was supplied. It made it marginally heaver on the steering but you could scare the hell out of passengers by tearing around corners at well over twice the recommended speed. I actually pushed it to three times the recommended speed one day and there was no sign of it letting go but I decided that doing this on a regular basis was probably not a good for ones long term survivability prospects.

It was a really fun car to throw around and it was a very sad day indeed when I finally had to get rid of it after 23 years. I would have liked to restore it to its former glory but unfortunately I no longer have the space required to do the work so it was off to the great parking lot in the sky. Very sad indeed!

Hey, how about the saddle for a contender.

Shall I say 'Rope' (though it had more value before industrial revolution, but still does a awful lot of service for human beings)

The lock.

Radio.

Radar.

Screw, mechanical I mean...

durex to go with screw...

a screw with largely pointless without the screwdriver

I meant...the screw "would be" largely pointless without the screwdriver.

Oh, here's another one...how about the "Preview Comment" button?

The food can was useless for years until some one invented the can opener. The most amazing invention would be the microscope. It opened a new world and solved more problems than it caused. Any other invention had unwanted side effects.

The food can was useless for years until some one invented the can opener Hard to imagine things the other way round

.....And for years the toilet seat was useless until somebody made a hole in it....

Wangito.

-Have you seen the one in the rock-opera film Tommy , aaaagh

No, links?

Wangito

Sorry Wangito , I didn't know of any off hand . Tommy was a film featuring The Who and Elton John made in the 1970's . The plot is one of those deep meaningful ones about the so called 'Pin-Ball Wizard' (Tommy) - at one point his sadistic uncle introduces him to a toilet seat with nails coming up through it (!). Very weird , very rock ' n' roll , very 70's etc. You might find the sound track to download or perhaps the title song (pin-ball wizard ) . I'm no film buff , but I'd guess there is a review site out there somewhere.

"The Who and Elton John" ouch.

why not "The Who and Eric Clapton" or "The Who and Tina Turner?" heck, even Jack Nickleson had a part in it. I know, John DID head up the big single, but I don't think he deserves HALF the billing.

-A-

Fair comment . 'Tommy , starring Roger Daltry and some other people'

That of course leads to written music. I realise music itself is more a discovery, but being able to represent it on paper was a massive breakthrough. Of course Pete Townshend is the genius who invented himself (and the WHO).

Here you go...

Don't confuse the lid with the toilet seat!

Beware of pranksters with cling-film.

The roller bearing.

Paracetamol.

I had to look that up, so it fails the "Amazing" test.

It's the painkiller of choice in Europe, not so popular in US. That's why for PWSlack was obvious but not for you.

Well, if it relieved pain caused by the new USA (post-constitution Land of Taxation, Regulation and Litigation), then I'd need some too.

But I found that we call it acetomenephen here.

Personally, I've always called it N-(4-hydroxyphenyl) acetamide.

The windshield wiper I think is most amazing. It was invented by Mary Anderson in 1903 to help streetcars operate safely in the rain. In 1905 she patented her invention, which allowed the car operator to control the external, swinging arm wipers from within the car. Windshield wipers became standard equipment on cars a decade later.

The compass.

All great ones so far. How about paper and pencils? It seems the simpler the invention, the greater impact it has on society. James

LASER

The Engineer...

10/10 for that one.

Wheel

Yes wheel is an invention. Can you move without a wheel?. The wheel is everywhere on all our cars, trains, planes, machines, wagons, and most factory and farm equipment. What could we move without wheels?

Pyramid blocks?

sea-planes? or ships for that matter.

And the winner is....

Religion.

It's the greatest invention of all.

Wangito.

I'm not sure if I should touch that one. . . are you saying that God is man's greatest invention?

-A-

God and Religion are quite distinct.

Wangito is claiming that religion is an invention.

What about Zero?. The importance of the creation of the zero mark can never be exaggerated. This giving to airy nothing, not merely a local habitation and a name, a picture, a symbol, but helpful power, is the characteristic of the Hindu race from whence it sprang. No single mathematical creation has been more potent for the general on-go of intelligence and power.

"Zero" blurs the distinction between invention and discovery.

I feel that way about math in general. Learning calculus was like discovering the handywork of God.

-A-

2⁶⁴ - 1 ?

correct. but using the sigma gives some idea where the number comes from. it is a discription of the process, not just a number. and, it looks cooler.

-A-

Sigma is very cool , and describes a process well . It could be said that numbers originate from prime building blocks . It's probably impossible to find a number that isn't interesting , even one that has factors.

You gotta get out more, buddy.

If you think that's sad ,

2⁶⁴-1 = (2³²+1).(2¹⁶+1).(2⁸+1).(2⁴+1).(2²+1).(2+1).(2-1)

OMG. Not you too.

must .. control ...get a gri..

2⁶² + 1 = (2³¹ - 2¹⁶ + 1).(2³¹ + 2¹⁶ +1)

aaah , sweet release

Religion isn't worthy of being included in this list. Invention is creation with a purpose,usually from study and experimentation. Religion has evolved from pre-literate savages fear of the dark and death. The sooner it goes away the better off humanity will be.

Yes, the humanitarian socialists like Pol Pot, Mao, Stalin, Hitler et al. certainly proved that, right?

I couldn't have said it better:

"Invention is a creation with a purpose".... might be the ...."Savage's fear of the ...."

Wangito.

Fear of the dark and death is still with us, so does that mean we still have a need for religion. Besides all the major religions of today arose from civilized people, not savages.

Not sure this qualify as invention, but the discovery of fire is the most amazing and most use tool in our lives.

MidniteFighter

Sorry, it's a big difference between discovery and invention. You only may invent a way to discover something (usually by mistake or chance), but you cannot re-invent what nature did long before anyone here.

Regards

ok, what about Penicillin then??

MidniteFighter

Steel and the welding, cutting and machining of steels

...the precursor for which was the Blast Furnace. Nice one.

Being an ME I want to say the lever. However, in fairness, I have to say harnessing electricity has changed the world most. I know electricity was not "invented," I am talking about the processes which rendered electricity useful.

-A-

Got to say PLASTIC (in today's world, anyway).

Nylon?

You're right!

Nylon stockings coupled with high heels shoes made my life much more enjoyable...

Rubber?

No. Let's not go there...

Agreed (could lead us away from the original question...fast!)

Although rubber comes from a tree and should therefore be placed in the same category as fire, no?

That's worth a smile! Good one.

PVC

Like the new outfit ER - Green is cool , but it should have been British Racing Green.

Vroom , vroom !

I couldn't persuade MS Paintshop to give me that shade! Watch the flower...

(have you read today's installment of An Engineer in Paradise yet?)

Someone pinched her avatar.

Depends on whether you are a user or beholder?

Definitely not a user. But on the right persons (read: women, please, so I don't have to explain this again ), I am in total admiration...

Can you imagine how life must've been without refridgerated food supplies, air conditioning, etc.?

At the most basic level of how we live, I'd have to rate antibiotics and refridgeration as the Biggies.

After these, the biggest single improvement was, I think, roads.

Atheism, on the other hand, was a terrible invention. I'll not say anything one way or another about religions other than the historically obvious fact that those who vigorously oppose them (Nero, Caligula, etc.) have been a real nightmare for people of any thought system.

Seeing how many ideas came to you, guys, I would add to the original question this one:

What is the most important outcome of ALL inventions?

My choice: Global Warming!

There is a significant school of thought claiming that as an invention, fair enough.

warming on earth and mars at the same time leads me to wonder about that big ol' star we share.

-A-

Quite.

I am no expert but for the sake of being off topic:

''...used by some to infer an external common mechanism for global warming on Earth and Mars (e.g. here and here). But this is incorrect reasoning and based on faulty understanding of the data.''

Taken from: http://www.realclimate.org/index.php?p=192

Hi -A-,

Mars' meteorology is too young to draw any such conclusion. What we see is only a shrinking of polar caps but on Mars ice is frozen CO2!

If you do not agree with global warming, let's put it differently: ice ages and warm ages are a natural cyclic phenomenon - mainly induced by Sun's activity - as you said. However, if human activity is "helping" only the warm ages, it's like superimposing a positive DC voltage over an AC voltage getting a nice positive offset.

I hope this picture will help any engineer who saw an oscilloscope in his life will understand we're in a big trouble. If we are not able to prioritize all investments and focus mainly on proven or future technologies and inventions - to stick with the subject - to clean the environmental mess, than we'll be the only self-extincting species on Earth!