THE TEN INVENTIONS CENTURY XVIII

THE TEN INVENTIONS CENTURY XVIII

According to the current Gregorian calendar, the eighteenth century comprises the years 1701-1800, inclusive, of the common era. In Western history, the eighteenth century is also called Age of Enlightenment, because during the same intellectual movement arose known as the Enlightenment.In this context,the XVIII century is fundamental to understanding the modern world, since many of the political, social, economic, cultural and intellectual of the century have extended their influence even today.  

• The pianoforte
• Bell Halley
• Spinner
• Hot Air Balloon
• Bicycle
• The food preservation
• Water Thermometer
• Steam engine
• Lighting rod
• English Dictionary

TIME LINE

    Impact of Inventions

The pianoForte

Bartolomeo Cristofori built about twenty pianos in his life, although there are only three of them the oldest of which is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and dates from 1720.From the earliest pianos pianos Italian to present many improvements and advances have been made, but the concept and the basic idea for its construction remain the same. Materials have been optimized for better sound quality, it has gradually increased the number of notes to extend the instrument's musical ability and improved design for better performance. But the fundamental concept of Forte-Piano as an instrument capable of achieving strong and soft sounds remains the same.

Bell Halley 

The first technical success in the campaign, was made by the physicist and astronomer Sir Edmund Halley, who observed the oxygen depletion problem and devised a system to send fresh air down in barrels.Communication between the barrel and the bell was made through a hose leather-well soaked in wax and oil. The hood was fitted, also a small valve that allowed the expired air outlet when penetrating the cool.In 1775, Spalding, Edinburgh, Halley perfected the device by adding to the top of the hood a camera fitted with taps that could be filled with water for immersion, while to surface, the water was expelled. We are dealing with a principle of ballast water used by existing submarine

 Spinner

The Spinning Jenny was a multi-winding spinning machine, invented around 1764 by James Hargreaves (although some also identified as a possible inventor Thomas Highs) in Stanhill, near Blackburn in Lancashire, England). This device greatly reduced the labor required for production of yarn, giving a single worker's ability to handle eight or more spools at once.It was the first major technical innovation in the textile industry and one that opened the doors to the Industrial Revolution, being thus considered a symbol of the era.

 Hot Air Balloon

Recent research has shown that the August 8, 1709, the Brazilian priest Bartolomeu de Gusmao made the first ascent demonstration of air in hot air balloon piloted the India House in Lisbon, at the court of King John V of Portugal. He was persecuted by the Inquisition for witchcraft.The new routes, universally accepted, were carried out by the Montgolfier brothers. Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier lived in Annonay (France), where they owned a paper mill and made the first balloon experiments in 1782 inspired by the observation of the rise of smoke from the chimneys. On June 4, 1783 the Montgolfier conducted the first public display of the find in his hometown. The balloon, unmanned, was a ball sack, made of linen and wrapped in paper, 11 meters in diameter and weighing about 226 pounds and reached about 1830 meters high. The Montgolfier were invited to a demonstration before the court of Louis XVIII in Versailles on 19 September in which he tied a basket to the balloon in which he had a sheep, a rooster and a duck, the first air travelers, suffered no damage. These hot air balloons, which when cooled descended, began to be called a "Montgolfiere" or "mongolfiera."

 Bicycle

What is clear is that the bike is the result of the evolution of a toy, namely the Célérifère that came to be a solid wooden frame shaped animal with two wheels that you could only go straight . As the name implies this toy was born in France and in particular in Paris XVIII 1791 French revolution in full hand count of Sivrac Mede. The ingenious idea of Sivrac was placing two wheels in tandem rather than side by side as was done since ancient times. This toy of rich kids and the British plagiarized creating your own Dandy Horse remained unchanged for 20 years before someone will put a device to change direction.

The Food Preservation

A major problem of the eighteenth century was death by scurvy in long passing ships sailing the high seas, a fact that worried and wanted to find a solution.He was a young French chef Nicholas Appert, who began to experience and observe that food cooked over 80 º C without being exposed to air, lasted longer without spoiling.From this observation, began to pack food in containers, without air, which were then sterilized at temperatures that kill bacteria, microorganisms, etc.., Making lasting, tasty and nutritious.

Water Thermometer

The first person who devised a thermometer was closed Fernando II de 'Medici (1610-1670), who built it in 1654. At first, thermometers sealed using water or alcohol or mixtures of both, but these fluids gave off fumes which resulted in pressure effects. The German physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686-1736) worked at first with alcohol thermometers, but in 1714 made the key breakthrough by using mercury.The metal remains liquid between very low temperatures and very high off very little vapor and expands and contracts at a pace matched by changes in temperature. It is therefore an ideal fluid for thermometers and is still used today generally the same purpose. The Fahrenheit thermometer was first able to determine the level of heat with sufficient accuracy to be useful to scientists.

Steam Engine

Thomas Newcomen (born February 12, 1663 - August 5, 1729), blacksmith and inventor, was born in Dartmouth, Devon, England. It is often cited as the father of the industrial revolution as the first innovator and entrepreneur.In 1712 Newcomen, with partner Thomas Savery built a steam engine for pumping air out of the mines, coal until tin Newcomen native area in the southwest of England, particularly in Cornwall.More machines were installed by Newcomen himself in England, which led to the construction of over 100 machines before the patent expired in 1733. The design was later improved by James Watt.

Lighting rod

In 1747 Franklin began his experiments on electricity supported the hypothesis that lightning is an electrical phenomenon and proposed an effective method to prove it. His theory was published in London and carried out in England and France before he himself performed his famous kite experiment in 1752. He invented the lightning rod and introduced the so-called one-fluid theory to explain the two types of atmospheric electricity, positive and negative. The lightning rod in attracting short-rays and do not approach us. Its function is to catch the rays.



English Dictionary

Johnson began work on a major project, writing a dictionary manager for a few bookshelves. After more than eight years of work, the Dictionary of the English language was published in 1755. This extraordinary work contains about 40,000 entries with definitions clarified graphics and features, appointments, apart from an extraordinary number of illustrative examples. The biographers of the nineteenth century promoted the image of an eccentric Johnson, careless and clumsy, whose conversation was certainly lively and memorable, but whose literary influence was limited. Only in the middle of the twentieth century was full scholarly assessment of his contribution as a writer.