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Read Ebook: Every-day Science: Volume 7. The Conquest of Time and Space by Williams Edward Huntington Williams Henry Smith
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Ebook has 612 lines and 84107 words, and 13 pages
THE CONQUEST OF THE ZONES
THE HIGHWAY OF THE WATERS
SUBMARINE VESSELS
THE STEAM LOCOMOTIVE
FROM CART TO AUTOMOBILE
When were carts first used? p. 152--The development of the bicycle, p. 154--The pneumatic tire introduced, p. 155--The coming of the automobile, p. 156--The gas engine of Dr. Otto, p. 157--Cugnot's automobile, p. 158--The automobile of William Murdoch, 1785, p. 158--Opposition in England to the introduction of automobiles, p. 159--An extraordinary piece of legislation, p. 161--Scientific aspects of automobile racing, p. 164--Some records made at Ormonde, p. 165--Records made by Oldfield in 1910, p. 166--Comparative speeds of various vehicles and animals, p. 167--Speed of birds in flight, p. 168--A miraculous transformation of energy, p. 170--Electrical timing device for measuring automobile speeds, p. 171.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF ELECTRIC RAILWAYS
New York the first city to have a street railway, p. 175--Cable systems, p. 177--Early self-sustained systems, p. 178--The electro-magnetic locomotive of Moses G. Farmer, p. 179--The efforts of Professor Page to produce a storage battery car, p. 180--The experiments of Siemens and Halske with electric motors, p. 181--The Edison electric locomotive, p. 182--Third rails and trolleys, p. 184--The inventions of Daft and Van Depoele, p. 185--The work of Frank J. Sprague in developing electric railways, p. 186--How the word "trolley" was coined, p. 187--Storage battery systems, p. 188--The Edison storage battery car of 1910, p. 189--Monorail systems, p. 191--Electric aerial monorail systems, p. 193.
THE GYROCAR
Mr. Louis Brennan's car exhibited before the Royal Society in London, p. 195--How the gyroscope is installed on this car, p. 196--Gyroscopic action explained, p. 197--Why does the spinning wheel exert gyroscopic power? p. 199--Mr. Brennan's model car, p. 200--The "wabble" of the gyroscope explained, p. 202--How the Brennan gyroscopes work, p. 203--Technical explanation of the gyroscope, p. 204--The evolution of an idea, p. 213--Sir Henry Bessemer's experiment, p. 214--What may be expected of the gyrocar, p. 215.
THE GYROSCOPE AND OCEAN TRAVEL
NAVIGATING THE AIR
THE TRIUMPH OF THE AEROPLANE
Balloon versus aeroplane, p. 272--The kite as a flying machine, p. 273--How the air sustains a heavier-than-air mechanism, p. 274--Langley's early experiments, p. 275--Experiments in soaring, p. 277--Lilienthal's imitation of the soaring bird, p. 279--Sir Hiram Maxim's flying machine, p. 283--Langley's successful aerodrome, p. 284--The failure of Langley's larger aerodrome, p. 287--Wilbur and Orville Wright accomplish the impossible, p. 288--The first public demonstration by the Wright brothers, p. 290--The Wright aeroplane described, p. 291--A host of imitators, p. 292--Mr. Henry Farman's successful flights, p. 293--Public demonstrations by the Wright brothers in America and France, p. 293--The English Channel crossed by Bl?riot, p. 294--Orville Wright fulfils the Government tests, p. 295--Spectacular cross-country flights, p. 296--The Wright brothers the true pioneers, p. 300.
THE OLD AND THE NEW--A CONTRAST 60
MARINE ENGINES AND AN EARLY TYPE OF STEAMBOAT 64
THE STEAMSHIPS "CHARLOTTE DUNDAS" AND "CLERMONT" 68
THE "CLERMONT" 72
ROBERT FULTON 98
THE AMERICAN SUBMARINE BOAT "CUTTLEFISH" IN DRY DOCK AT THE BROOKLYN NAVY YARD 108
A FLEET OF BRITISH SUBMARINES MANOEUVERING AT THE SURFACE 116
GEORGE STEPHENSON 124
A CENTURY'S PROGRESS IN LOCOMOTIVE BUILDING 128
CUGNOT'S TRACTION ENGINE AND THE "NOVELTY" LOCOMOTIVE 132
THE FAMOUS LOCOMOTIVES "ROCKET" AND "SANS-PAREIL" 134
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE LOCOMOTIVE 150
THE HOBBY-HORSE OF 1820 CONTRASTED WITH THE MOTOR CYCLE OF TO-DAY 154
THE EVOLUTION OF THE BICYCLE 156
THE EXTREMES OF AUTOMOBILE DEVELOPMENT 158
A RACING AUTOMOBILE 166
RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT IN TRANSPORTATION--THE DE WITT CLINTON TRAIN AND THE GYROCAR 200
TWO VIEWS OF MR. LOUIS BRENNAN'S MONORAIL GYROCAR 216
AN INTERNATIONAL BALLOON RACE 242
TWO FAMOUS FRENCH WAR BALLOONS 264
THE ZEPPELIN DIRIGIBLE BALLOON 266
AN ENGLISH DIRIGIBLE BALLOON 268
ENGLISH AND AMERICAN DIRIGIBLE WAR BALLOONS AND A WRIGHT AEROPLANE 270
THE AEROPLANE OF M. SANTOS-DUMONT 272
LEARNING HOW TO FLY 278
FLYING MACHINES OF THE MONOPLANE TYPE 284
THE WRIGHT AEROPLANE 288
MR. WILBUR WRIGHT PREPARING TO ASCEND IN HIS AEROPLANE WITH HIS PUPIL M. CASSANDIER 292
THE FARMAN AEROPLANE 294
THE MONOPLANES OF BL?RIOT AND LATHAM 296
A BRITISH AEROPLANE 298
MR. WILBUR WRIGHT FLYING OVER NEW YORK HARBOR, OCTOBER 4, 1909 300
THE CONQUEST OF TIME AND SPACE
INTRODUCTION
The preceding volume dealt with the general principles of application and transformation of the powers of Nature through which the world's work is carried on. In the present volume we are chiefly concerned with man's application of the same principles in his efforts to set at defiance, so far as may be, the limitations of time and space.
Something has already been said as to the contrast between the material civilization of to-day and that of the generations prior to the nineteenth century. The transformation in methods of agriculture and manufacture has been referred to somewhat in detail. Now we have to do with contrasts that are perhaps even more vivid, since they concern conditions that come within the daily observation of everyone. Steamships, locomotives, electric cars, and automobiles, are such commonplaces of every-day life that it is difficult to conceive a world in which they have no part. Yet everyone is aware that all these mechanisms are inventions of the nineteenth century. Meantime the aeroplane, which bids fair to rival those other means of transportation in the near future, is a creation of the twentieth century.
In order to visualize the contrast between the practical civilization of to-day and that of our grandparents, it suffices to recall that the first steam locomotive that carried passengers over a railway was put in operation in the year 1829; and that the first ship propelled by steam power alone did not cross the ocean until 1838. Not until well towards the middle of the nineteenth century, then, were the conditions of transportation altered materially from what they had been since the very dawn of civilization,--conditions under which one hundred miles constituted about the maximum extent of a hard day's land journey.
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