The story of the invention of the screwdriver

The Roberston screwdriver, also known as a square screwdriver, was invented in 1908 by P.L. Robertson, a native Canadian. The screwdriver presented a solution to the frequent problem users encountered with flathead screwdrivers: the driver often slipped out of place and slowed down the process of securing the fasteners. Robertson’s design depended on the corresponding square shape on the top of screws that enabled the square-shaped screwdriver to make secure contact with the screw. As the screwdriver was rotated, it was far less likely to slip out of place and the process moved a lot faster.

Once Robertson had conceived the notion of a square-headed screwdriver, he toyed with various manufacturing methods until he was able to produce screws with a square-shaped imprint on their heads. When the correctly-sized driver is inserted into a corresponding screw, the user can rortate the driver horizontally without fear of the driver slipping. Because the driver is self-centering, only one hand is needed for rotation.

Robertson patented his invention of both the square-headed screw and driver in 1909, but The Steel Company of Canada did not take kindly to his invention. Some went as far as to try to undermine his patents, but the attempts were unsuccessful. Manufacturers took to the new designs right away, and companies, such as Ford, came to depend on the screws and driver as key components in automobile production. As a result, Robertson soon produced special metal screws for Fords’ use in Model A manufacturing. Henry Ford sought a licensing arrangement with Roberston, but Robertson turned him down.

By the end of the late 1940s, Robertson’s company had grown to employ 500 people and the screws were available in three different sizes with corresponding drivers, each distinguished by one of three colors: small drivers were green, medium drivers were red, and large drivers were black. Although the design was rapidly integrated into the Canadian market and still continues to thrive today, Robertson screws and screwdrivers were much less successful in the US and are not commonly used.

Currently, there are five different Robertson screwdrivers available, with suitable screw size indicated by the color. Orange drivers (#00) are appropriate for use with screw types 1 and 2. The recess size range (the size of the corresponding square imprint on the screw) is from 1.77-1.80 mm. Yellow drivers (#0) work with screw types 3 and 4 and feature a recess size range of 2.29 to 2.31 mm. Green drivers (#1) operate with screw types 5, 6, and 7, with a recess size range of 2.82 to 2.86 mm. Red drivers function with screw types 8, 9, and 10 and have a recess size range of 3.34 to 3.38 mm. Black drivers work with the largest screws, types 12 and higher, and have a recess range of 4.81 to 4.85 mm

The Invention of Radio

Early in the 19th century, Michael Faraday, an English physicist, demonstrated that an electrical current could produce a magnetic field.

In 1864, James Clerk Maxwell, a professor of experimental physics at Cambridge, proved mathematically that any electrical disturbance, that generates an electromagnetic field, could produce an effect at a considerable distance from the point at which it occurred and predicted that electromagnetic energy could travel outward from a source as waves moving at the speed of light.

In 1888 Heinrich Hertz demonstrated that Maxwell’s prediction was true for transmission over a short distance.

In 1901 the Italian physicist, Guglielmo Marconi, perfected a radio system that transmitted Morse code over the Atlantic Ocean.

In 1906 the American physicist Lee De Forest invented the vacuum tube which amplified radio signals that were received by antenna, thus much weaker signal could be transmitted over longer distance. The vacuum tube was also used to generate radio waves and soon become the main component of radio transmitter.

After World War II more advancements were made: The replacement of the vacuum tube by the transistor and of wires by printed circuits drastically reduced the power that radio equipment needed to operate enabling radio components miniaturization and more reliability.

During the years claims were made that as a matter of fact not Marconi invented radio but Oliver Lodge, Alexander (Aleksandr) Popov or Nikola Tesla , had sent wireless messages before Marconi got his patents (British 7777, US 763,772).

In 1943, in a celebrated 1943 Supreme Court decision, Marconi's 1904 US patent No. 763,772, was found to be invalid. As a result, some claim that this decision proves that Nikolai Tesla is the inventor of radio.

It does not really matter. What Marconi undoubtedly did invent was an entirely new science-based industry. In his hands an obscure and, to most people, unintelligible branch of physics became a consumer product like no other. We are used to being told that some new technology will change the world. Marconi's is one of the few that did.

For his scientific contribution Marconi was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for the year 1909

The Invention of the Bicycle

The earliest bicycle was a wooden scooter-like contraption called a celerifere; it was invented about 1790 by Comte Mede de Sivrac of France. In 1816, Baron Karl von Drais de Sauerbrun, of Germany, invented a model with a steering bar attached to the front wheel, which he called a Draisienne. It has two wheels (of the same size), and the rider sat between the two wheels, but there were no pedals; to move, you had to propel the bicycle forward using your feet (a bit like a scooter). He exhibited his bicycle in Paris on April 6, 1818

Kirkpatrick MacMillan (1812-1878), a blacksmith from Dumfriesshire, Scotland, invented the first bicycle with foot pedals in the 1830 to 1840's, but he never patented it and his idea did not catch on locally

A French father-and-son team of carriage-makers, Pierre and Ernest Michaux, invented an improved bicycle in the 1860's. Many early bicycles (called velocipedes, meaning "fast foot," or, more descriptively, "bone shakers") had huge front wheels - it was thought that the bigger the wheel, the faster you could go. Early tires were wooden - metal tires were an improvement, and solid rubber tires were added later. A chain with sprockets was added to the bicycle in the 1880's; this was called the "safety bicycle." Air-filled tires were also added in the 1880's. The derailleur gear system was added in the 1970's

The Invention of the Typewriter

The evolution of the typewriter over the years has played an ongoing part of the history of the human need to communicate with others. The invention of the typewriter was brought about in part by combining the need for both speed of communication and for the binding of reading and writing. After many years of thought a machine emerged that would revolutionize the work of a writer that would have normally been done by hand.The first typewriter was invented by Christopher Latham Sholes, and was marketed by the Remington Arms Company in 1873. The process of the type bars in the earliest typewriters was labeled slow, and tended to jam frequently. To fix this problem, Mr. Sholes obtained a list of the most common letters used in the English language, he rearranged his keyboard from a alphabetic arrangement to one in which the most common pairs of letters were spread far apart on the keyboard. Because of the “hunt and peck” method used by typist at the time, Sholes’s arrangement increased the time it took for the typist to hit the keys for common two letter c

The story of the invention of the light bulb

The history of the light bulb reads like a story straight out of a tabloid magazine. Contrary to what schools have taught for years, the American icon, Thomas Edison, neither invented the light bulb, nor held the first patent to the modern design of the light bulb.
Apparently, the we gave the esteemed Mr. Edison credit for the invention solely because he owned a power company, later known as General Electric, and a light bulb is just a bulb without a source of electricity to light it. In reality, light bulbs used as electric lights existed 50 years prior to Thomas Edison's 1879 patent date in the U.S.
Additionally, Joseph Swan, a British inventor, obtained the first patent for the same light bulb in Britain one year prior to Edison's patent date. Swan even publicly unveiled his carbon filament light bulb in New Castle, England a minimum of 10 years before Edison shocked the world with the announcement that he invented the first light bulb. Edison's light bulb, in fact, was a carbon copy of Swan's light bulb
How do two inventors, from two different countries the invent exact same thing? Very easily, if one follows in the others footsteps. Swan's initial findings from tinkering with carbon filament electric lighting, and his preliminary designs, appeared in an article published by Scientific American.  Without a doubt, Edison had access to, and eagerly read this article. Giving Mr. Edison the benefit of the doubt, and stopping short of calling him a plagiarist, we can say that he invented the light bulb by making vast improvements to Swan's published, yet unperfected designs
Swan, however, felt quite differently, as he watched Edison line his pockets with money made from his invention, and took Edison to Court for patent infringement. The British Courts stood by their patent award for the light bulb to Swan, and Edison lost the suit. The British Courts forced Edison, as part of the settlement, to name Swan a partner in his British electric company. Eventually, Edison managed to acquire all of Swans' interest in the newly renamed Edison and Swan United Electric Company.
Edison fared no better back home in the U.S., where the U.S. Patent Office already ruled, on October 8, 1883, that Edison's patents were invalid, because he based them upon the earlier art of a gentleman named William Sawyer. To make matters worse, Swan sold his U.S. patent rights, in June 1882, to Brush Electric Company. This chain of events stripped Edison of all patent rights to the light bulb, and left him with no hope of purchasing any
Edison dusted himself off, and went into business setting up a direct current (DC) system of power distribution in New York City, and selling the light bulbs that used this electricity. The light bulb business only flickered between 1879 and 1889, until word-of-mouth advertising of lower electricity costs fanned the flame, and business boomed. Edison's client base rapidly expanded to three million customers over the span of 10 years
Always at the center of controversy, Edison next found himself in competition with Westinghouse for the sale of the first electric chair to execute criminals to New York. Edison's chair used the DC system of electricity, while Westinghouse used the AC (alternating current) system, designed especially for it by Nickola Tesla. Both Edison and Westinghouse emphasized the humanity of electrocution and the safety of their electrical system as selling points when pitching their chairs to New York
Edison's bid for the sale of his chair was a mere formality and a ploy to have the Westinghouse system of electricity chosen by New York for the electric chair. He endorsed the Westinghouse AC system of electricity as the system of choice to be used for the electric chair, reasoning that the public would associate the Westinghouse AC system with the killing power of the electric chair, and would see the system as unsafe for household use
Edison made this strategic move in anticipation that the public and would flock to the safety of his DC system, as he needed increased sales of the system, because of the great monetary investment he had made in the system. Edison's plan succeeded, in part, as New York did select the Westinghouse electric chair over his model
What he could not take into account, was the fact that, unbelievably, Westinghouse never tested the chair, and the chair failed on its "Maiden Voyage." Though Edison's carefully laid plan went up in smoke, he did get the last laugh, as for years people referred to being electrocuted as being "Westinghoused," even though its chair was no longer in use
It only took a matter of years before the public realized that the benefits of the AC system far outweighed those of the DC system. Edison's DC system took back seat, and the AC system took center stage. People in the U.S. and worldwide chose the AC system over the DC system, because AC currents deliver electricity to power lines with greater efficiency. The DC system is no longer in use today

DID YOU KNOW

The first light bulbs lasted a mere 150 hours, and that ten years later, Edison introduced one that lasted 1,200 hours? The average light bulb today lasts approximately 1,500 hours

Invention of the Integrated Circuit

1958: Invention of the Integrated Circuit

As with many inventions, two people had the idea for an integrated circuit at almost the same time. Transistors had become commonplace in everything from radios to phones to computers, and now manufacturers wanted something even better. Sure, transistors were smaller than vacuum tubes, but for some of the newest electronics, they weren't small enough
But there was a limit on how small you could make each transistor, since after it was made it had to be connected to wires and other electronics. The transistors were already at the limit of what steady hands and tiny tweezers could handle. So, scientists wanted to make a whole circuit -- the transistors, the wires, everything else they needed -- in a single blow. If they could create a miniature circuit in just one step, all the parts could be made much smaller
One day in late July, Jack Kilby was sitting alone at Texas Instruments. He had been hired only a couple of months earlier and so he wasn't able to take vacation time when practically everyone else did. The halls were deserted, and he had lots of time to think. It suddenly occurred to him that all parts of a circuit, not just the transistor, could be made out of silicon. At the time, nobody was making capacitors or resistors out of semiconductors. If it could be done then the entire circuit could be built out of a single crystal -- making it smaller and much easier to produce. Kilby's boss liked the idea, and told him to get to work. By September 12, Kilby had built a working model, and on February 6, Texas Instruments filed a patent. Their first "Solid Circuit" the size of a pencil point, was shown off for the first time in March
But over in California, another man had similar ideas. In January of 1959, Robert Noyce was working at the small Fairchild Semiconductor startup company. He also realized a whole circuit could be made on a single chip. While Kilby had hammered out the details of making individual components, Noyce thought of a much better way to connect the parts. That spring, Fairchild began a push to build what they called "unitary circuits" and they also applied for a patent on the idea. Knowing that TI had already filed a patent on something similar, Fairchild wrote out a highly detailed application, hoping that it wouldn't infringe on TI 's similar device

All that detail paid off. On April 25, 1961, the patent office awarded the first patent for an integrated circuit to Robert Noyce while Kilby's application was still being analyzed. Today, both men are acknowledged as having independently conceived of the idea

Story transistor invention

The first point contact transistor made use of the semiconductor germanium. Paper clips and razor blades were used to make the device

In 1947, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain, working at Bell Telephone Laboratories, were trying to understand the nature of the electrons at the interface between a metal and a semiconductor. They realized that by making two point contacts very close to one another, they could make a three terminal device - the first "point contact" transistor

They quickly made a few of these transistors and connected them with some other components to make an audio amplifier. This audio amplifier was shown to chief executives at Bell Telephone Company, who were very impressed that it didn't need time to "warm up" (like the heaters in vacuum tube circuits). They immediately realized the power of this new technology

This invention was the spark that ignited a huge research effort in solid state electronics. Bardeen and Brattain received the Nobel Prize in Physics, 1956, together with William Shockley, "for their researches on semiconductors and their discovery of the transistor effect." Shockley had developed a so-called junction transistor, which was built on thin slices of different types of semiconductor material pressed together. The junction transistor was easier to understand theoretically, and could be manufactured more reliably