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What happened during these years?

Vacuum Cleaner Patented - 1899
J
ohn S. Thurman - his "pneumatic carpet renovator" was a
large, gasoline powered system.

Gamma Rays Discovered - 1900
Paul Villard

First Transatlantic Wireless Message - 1901
Guglielmo Marconi sent the first wireless transmission from
England to Canada. The message was three dots Morse Code
representing the letter S.


Air Conditioner- 1902
Willis Carrier, a young engineer, created what he called
an Apparatus for Treating Ai
r

First Man Made Fiber - 1902
William H. Walker, Arthur D. Little, and Harry S. Mork. The fabric
was originally called Viscose, but in 1924, the textile industry
changed its name to Rayon.

Electrocardiograph - 1903
Wilhelm Einthoven Dutch physiologist, refines A.D. Waller's
electrocardiogram, and devises an instrument to record the
heart's electrical impulses

Stainless Steel - 1904
Leon Guillet develops stainless steel but doesn't recognize
it's noncorrosive

 

Electric Plug Patented - 1904
Harvey Hubbell II

First Radio Program- 1906
Professor Reginald Fessenden broadcast a poetry reading, a
violin solo, and a speech from Brant Rock, Massachusetts, to
promote his new alternator-transmitter system.


Plastic - 1907
Leo Baekeland invented the first synthetic polymer the first 
artificial material made by linking small molecules together
to make large ones.


Geiger Counter - 1908
Hans Geiger and Ernest Rutherford invent the Geiger counter
for measuring radiation

Electric Washing Machine - 1908
The first electric-powered washing machine was introduced by
the Hurley Machine Company of Chicago, Illinois. Alva J. Fisher
was the inventor. The machine was a drum type with a
galvanized tub and an electric motor, for which a patent was
issued on Aug. 9, 1910

Pop Up Toaster - 1909
Charles Strite 

Cellophane - 1908
Jaques Edwin Brandenberger in Switzerland.



The Wright Brothers' Flight 1903

It all started at Kittyhawk in North Carolina. The Wright Brothers had been 
testing different gliders and kites in the late 1800's, and in 1900 decided
to try their hand at Airplane Building.

Their first glider, made weighing only 50 pounds was called the  "Unmanned
kite It was propelled by having a 150 foot tower drop a counter weight and
pushing it off of the side of a hill. This was the start of their plans. In 1901,
the Wright's increased the gliders size. Now it had a 22 foot wingspan, and
was a total of 7 feet deep. They took it out a little past Kittyhawk, to a place
where the hills were somewhat better suited for launching a glider. With this
one, they wanted to try free flight before taking it near a hill. Unfortunately,
the larger version wouldn't lift for free flight, and they were forced to move
the glider to a hill and launch it there.

The 1901 glider hadn't lifted because of a mistake in their calculations. They
were off in the amount of space that they needed on the wings to get the 
proper lift. They spent the year of 1902 redesigning their glider from the past
two to something that they could sit in, control, and have it fly on it's own. 
The new glider was bigger, had a somewhat different look, and a powerplant.
Then in 1903, history was made.

On December 17, 1903, The Wright Brothers, with Orville at the controls,
made their history making flight in the first self propelled, heavier than air 
machine called the Wright B Flyer. It took them 45 feet to get off the ground
then 12 seconds later and 120 feet away, the plane touched back to Earth.
We had flown!

The Wrights continued to modify their plane until they got to the longest flight
they had ever had of 1 hour and 17 minutes.  Today planes can travel over 10
hours at a time, and 120 feet is the length of their wingspan, and it can take
nearly 3/4's of a mile to get off the ground.


To Learn More ... Check out these References!
1900: The Wrights' First Efforts
The American Experience/The Wright Stuff


http://www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/97.html
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blradio.htm

 

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