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President Donald J. Trump

Started by The General, February 11, 2011, 01:33:34 AM

Metron2267

Quote from: SredniVashtar on June 16, 2018, 03:24:03 PM
You not getting mixed up with the Davy Lamp? He was a brilliant man but I'm not sure the bulb was his invention. There were patent squabbles over the lamp but not with Edison.

https://www.energy.gov/articles/history-light-bulb

Long before Thomas Edison patented -- first in 1879 and then a year later in 1880 -- and began commercializing his incandescent light bulb, British inventors were demonstrating that electric light was possible with the arc lamp. In 1835, the first constant electric light was demonstrated, and for the next 40 years, scientists around the world worked on the incandescent lamp, tinkering with the filament (the part of the bulb that produces light when heated by an electrical current) and the bulb’s atmosphere (whether air is vacuumed out of the bulb or it is filled with an inert gas to prevent the filament from oxidizing and burning out). These early bulbs had extremely short lifespans, were too expensive to produce or used too much energy.

When Edison and his researchers at Menlo Park came onto the lighting scene, they focused on improving the filament -- first testing carbon, then platinum, before finally returning to a carbon filament. By October 1879, Edison’s team had produced a light bulb with a carbonized filament of uncoated cotton thread that could last for 14.5 hours. They continued to experiment with the filament until settling on one made from bamboo that gave Edison’s lamps a lifetime of up to 1,200 hours -- this filament became the standard for the Edison bulb for the next 10 years. Edison also made other improvements to the light bulb, including creating a better vacuum pump to fully remove the air from the bulb and developing the Edison screw (what is now the standard socket fittings for light bulbs).

(Historical footnote: One can’t talk about the history of the light bulb without mentioning William Sawyer and Albon Man, who received a U.S. patent for the incandescent lamp, and Joseph Swan, who patented his light bulb in England. There was debate on whether Edison’s light bulb patents infringed on these other inventors’ patents. Eventually Edison’s U.S. lighting company merged with the Thomson-Houston Electric Company -- the company making incandescent bulbs under the Sawyer-Man patent -- to form General Electric, and Edison’s English lighting company merged with Joseph Swan’s company to form Ediswan in England.)


Quote from: SredniVashtar on June 16, 2018, 03:24:03 PM
You not getting mixed up with the Davy Lamp? He was a brilliant man but I'm not sure the bulb was his invention. There were patent squabbles over the lamp but not with Edison.

I think it was one of those stair step/begat things.  I could be wrong, as Brig might say, but I thought the closest thing was Davy's before the lamp and it stair stepped from there.  There are a bunch of fellas in the lightbulb hall of fame.

Quote from: Metron2267 on June 16, 2018, 03:28:23 PM
https://www.energy.gov/articles/history-light-bulb

Long before Thomas Edison patented -- first in 1879 and then a year later in 1880 -- and began commercializing his incandescent light bulb, British inventors were demonstrating that electric light was possible with the arc lamp. In 1835, the first constant electric light was demonstrated, and for the next 40 years, scientists around the world worked on the incandescent lamp, tinkering with the filament (the part of the bulb that produces light when heated by an electrical current) and the bulb’s atmosphere (whether air is vacuumed out of the bulb or it is filled with an inert gas to prevent the filament from oxidizing and burning out). These early bulbs had extremely short lifespans, were too expensive to produce or used too much energy.

When Edison and his researchers at Menlo Park came onto the lighting scene, they focused on improving the filament -- first testing carbon, then platinum, before finally returning to a carbon filament. By October 1879, Edison’s team had produced a light bulb with a carbonized filament of uncoated cotton thread that could last for 14.5 hours. They continued to experiment with the filament until settling on one made from bamboo that gave Edison’s lamps a lifetime of up to 1,200 hours -- this filament became the standard for the Edison bulb for the next 10 years. Edison also made other improvements to the light bulb, including creating a better vacuum pump to fully remove the air from the bulb and developing the Edison screw (what is now the standard socket fittings for light bulbs).

(Historical footnote: One can’t talk about the history of the light bulb without mentioning William Sawyer and Albon Man, who received a U.S. patent for the incandescent lamp, and Joseph Swan, who patented his light bulb in England. There was debate on whether Edison’s light bulb patents infringed on these other inventors’ patents. Eventually Edison’s U.S. lighting company merged with the Thomson-Houston Electric Company -- the company making incandescent bulbs under the Sawyer-Man patent -- to form General Electric, and Edison’s English lighting company merged with Joseph Swan’s company to form Ediswan in England.)

Yeah, Edison and his crew came up with the commercially viable one.

SredniVashtar

Quote from: Billy Joe Mulgreavey on June 16, 2018, 03:29:37 PM
I think it was one of those stair step/begat things.  I could be wrong, as Brig might say, but I thought the closest thing was Davy's before the lamp and it stair stepped from there.  There are a bunch of fella in the lightbulb hall of fame.

Davy was Cornish, famous for its tin mines. The mines would have firedamp in them which caused explosions when exposed to a flame. The Davy Lamp had special mesh across it that prevented explosions. It was there to provide light to miners above all. He was an amazing figure and well worth looking into.

Yorkshire pud

Quote from: Billy Joe Mulgreavey on June 16, 2018, 03:29:37 PM
I think it was one of those stair step/begat things.  I could be wrong, as Brig might say, but I thought the closest thing was Davy's before the lamp and it stair stepped from there.  There are a bunch of fella in the lightbulb hall of fame.

The Davy lamp was invented for miners. It burned in such a way that if the...Oh I'll let wiki explain.

Quote
The lamp consists of a wick lamp with the flame enclosed inside a mesh screen. The screen acts as a flame arrestor; air (and any firedamp present) can pass through the mesh freely enough to support combustion, but the holes are too fine to allow a flame to propagate through them and ignite any firedamp outside the mesh. It originally burned a heavy vegetable oil.

The lamp also provided a test for the presence of gases. If flammable gas mixtures were present, the flame of the Davy lamp burned higher with a blue tinge. Lamps were equipped with a metal gauge to measure the height of the flame. Miners could place the safety lamp close to the ground to detect gases, such as carbon dioxide, that are denser than air and so could collect in depressions in the mine; if the mine air was oxygen-poor (asphyxiant gas), the lamp flame would be extinguished (black damp or chokedamp). A methane-air flame is extinguished at about 17% oxygen content (which will still support life), so the lamp gave an early indication of an unhealthy atmosphere, allowing the miners to get out before they died of asphyxiation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davy_lamp


Edison was an inventor but he was also an asset stripper. He basically stole other people's ideas and called them his own. The lamp now used with the (Edison) screw (as opposed to the bayonet cap used in the UK] and the filament within that makes it work as it does, had about 2000 prototypes before it was perfected.

Dr. MD MD

Quote from: SredniVashtar on June 16, 2018, 03:33:40 PM
Davy was Cornish, famous for its tin mines. The mines would have firedamp in them which caused explosions when exposed to a flame. The Davy Lamp had special mesh across it that prevented explosions. It was there to provide light to miners above all. He was an amazing figure and well worth looking into.

Mmm...Cornish pasties... :P


Metron2267

Quote from: Billy Joe Mulgreavey on June 16, 2018, 03:31:30 PM
Yeah, Edison and his crew came up with the commercially viable one.

Which is cool, I mean one has to move the technology into the market at some point...

Metron2267

Quote from: Yorkshire pud on June 16, 2018, 03:36:27 PM
Edison was an inventor but he was also an asset stripper. He basically stole other people's ideas and called them his own.

Elon Musk predecessor... :(

Metron2267


Quote from: SredniVashtar on June 16, 2018, 03:33:40 PM
Davy was Cornish, famous for its tin mines. The mines would have firedamp in them which caused explosions when exposed to a flame. The Davy Lamp had special mesh across it that prevented explosions. It was there to provide light to miners above all. He was an amazing figure and well worth looking into.

Yeah, Edison had that reputation.  But In some ways, he was just capitalizing on the times and taking advantage of emerging tech AND emerging markets.  Sorta like some of the early NFL players.  Many of them barely made enough to live on, others had to have sideline jobs, some made no money to speak of, yet they helped forge what it is today, where even the players who make league minimum do quite nicely.  Sometimes it comes down to right place/right time.  Again, not denying his bastard status.

Edit: I meant to quote Pud's post, but I'm on my Kindle and can t fix it easily so screw it.

SredniVashtar

I don't think Davy even made money on it. He gave it away. Although I think George Stephenson invented something similar and there was a fuss about who invented it.

Quote from: SredniVashtar on June 16, 2018, 03:47:02 PM
I don't think Davy even made money on it. He gave it away. Although I think George Stephenson invented something similar and there was a fuss about who invented it.

Yeah that happened a lot.  Some guys were in it simply to help mankind, or they just weren't interested in capital gains. Wasn't Tesla much that way? 
I was looking at Davy's wiki pages.  He may have coined the term "laughing gas" while screwing around with Nitrous Oxide, and he commented on how it could be used for medicinal purposes though it would be several years before that actually happened.  Sounds like if he would have been around a half decade later, he could have cleaned up financially. 

SredniVashtar

Quote from: Billy Joe Mulgreavey on June 16, 2018, 03:53:01 PM
Yeah that happened a lot.  Some guys were in it simply to help mankind, or they just weren't interested in capital gains. Wasn't Tesla much that way? 
I was looking at Davy's wiki pages.  He may have coined the term "laughing gas" while screwing around with Nitrous Oxide, and he commented on how it could be used for medicinal purposes though it would be several years before that actually happened.  Sounds like if he would have been around a half decade later, he could have cleaned up financially.

Yes, the laughing gas was at the Pneumatic Institute in Bristol. They were basically getting high, although they thought it had health benefits. He never put together that it could be an anaesthetic.

Yorkshire pud

Quote from: SredniVashtar on June 16, 2018, 03:47:02 PM
I don't think Davy even made money on it. He gave it away. Although I think George Stephenson invented something similar and there was a fuss about who invented it.


Stephenson had the first working railway between Stockton and Darlington. Trevethick had a steam engine and it was James Watt (From whenst we get the unit of power) who developed Newcomen's steam engine, made it far more efficient and that pretty much was the catalyst of the industrial revolution...He didn't though invent the governor which stopped the engine overspeeding or slowing down..That little bit of brilliance was invented by Leonardo da Vinci.

Quote from: Yorkshire pud on June 16, 2018, 04:14:33 PM

Stephenson had the first working railway between Stockton and Darlington. Trevethick had a steam engine and it was James Watt (From whenst we get the unit of power) who developed Newcomen's steam engine, made it far more efficient and that pretty much was the catalyst of the industrial revolution...He didn't though invent the governor which stopped the engine overspeeding or slowing down..That little bit of brilliance was invented by Leonardo da Vinci.

Could you imagine all those guys in today's litigious society, with all the ball-busting lawyers around?

albrecht

Quote from: SredniVashtar on June 16, 2018, 03:58:17 PM
Yes, the laughing gas was at the Pneumatic Institute in Bristol. They were basically getting high, although they thought it had health benefits. He never put together that it could be an anaesthetic.
I recall "laughing gas" being involved in one of James Burke's "Connections."  Yes, here it is. Episode 3 of the 1994 reboot of the show:

"hot air balloons and laughing gas, and goes on to surgery, hydraulic-water gardens, hydraulic rams, tunnelling through the Alps, the Orient Express, nitroglycerin, heart attacks and headaches, aspirin, carbolic acid, disinfectants, Maybach-Gottlieb Daimler-Mercedes, carburetors, helicopters, typewriters, punch cards, and IBM."

In some ways, Burke is like the "Alex Jones" of the scientific history world: everything is connected. Connecting the dots. Etc. Not in terms of ranting or trying to sell you water filters. Was a great show and he is an interesting guy.

Dr. MD MD

Quote from: albrecht on June 16, 2018, 04:18:11 PM
I recall "laughing gas" being involved in one of James Burke's "Connections."  Yes, here it is. Episode 3 of the 1994 reboot of the show:

"hot air balloons and laughing gas, and goes on to surgery, hydraulic-water gardens, hydraulic rams, tunnelling through the Alps, the Orient Express, nitroglycerin, heart attacks and headaches, aspirin, carbolic acid, disinfectants, Maybach-Gottlieb Daimler-Mercedes, carburetors, helicopters, typewriters, punch cards, and IBM."

I say! Good show, old boy! Yes...quite! :D

Yorkshire pud

Quote from: Billy Joe Mulgreavey on June 16, 2018, 04:17:25 PM
Could you imagine all those guys in today's litigious society, with all the ball-busting lawyers around?


If you ever have the opportunity to visit a place called Ironbridge and Telford, it's a wealth of history in the telling. Sheffield too has an open air museum and one under cover in a place called Kelham Island. All those places (plus Bristol with IKB) pretty much were the birthplaces of modern industrial processes.

Quote from: Yorkshire pud on June 16, 2018, 04:23:02 PM

If you ever have the opportunity to visit a place called Ironbridge and Telford, it's a wealth of history in the telling. Sheffield too has an open air museum and one under cover in a place called Kelham Island. All those places (plus Bristol with IKB) pretty much were the birthplaces of modern industrial processes.

You mean they lied to me in American History? :D

Yorkshire pud

Quote from: Billy Joe Mulgreavey on June 16, 2018, 04:34:42 PM
You mean they lied to me in American History? :D


I don't know what they told you. But in Sacramento there is a railway museum...Makes absolutely no mention or reference to Steam engine invention or railway invention in the UK.  >:(

Dr. MD MD

Quote from: Yorkshire pud on June 16, 2018, 04:48:30 PM

I don't know what they told you. But in Sacramento there is a railway museum...Makes absolutely no mention or reference to Steam engine invention or railway invention in the UK.  >:(

I'm sure you'll correct them. ::)

Yorkshire pud

Quote from: Dr. MD MD on June 16, 2018, 04:51:59 PM
I'm sure you'll correct them. ::)

I asked why...I got a blank look. 

Quote from: Yorkshire pud on June 16, 2018, 04:48:30 PM

I don't know what they told you. But in Sacramento there is a railway museum...Makes absolutely no mention or reference to Steam engine invention or railway invention in the UK.  >:(


Wiki mentions it though so that allegation must be fake. :P

Quote from: Yorkshire pud on June 16, 2018, 04:54:59 PM
I asked why...I got a blank look.

Well, we got the cotton gin, we got that goddamit!  Gin itself is disputed between you guys and the Dutch but the cotton gin is ours!

Dr. MD MD

Quote from: Billy Joe Mulgreavey on June 16, 2018, 04:58:23 PM
Well, we got the cotton gin, we got that goddamit!  Gin itself is disputed between you guys and the Dutch but the cotton gin is ours!

Peanut butter, hot dogs,


albrecht

Quote from: Billy Joe Mulgreavey on June 16, 2018, 04:58:23 PM
Well, we got the cotton gin, we got that goddamit!  Gin itself is disputed between you guys and the Dutch but the cotton gin is ours!
The Dutch, or Low Countries, hands down. They invented two main kinds the 'new' or 'young' which becomes what most of the world knows as Gin due to the Brits, is clear and relatively tasteless or a 'gin' taste, and "old" which is more like whiskey and darker.

Now, in terms of becoming addicted to it as a society or in perfecting better versions and popularizing it worldwide, I would go with the Brits.


Metron2267

Quote from: Yorkshire pud on June 16, 2018, 04:54:59 PM
I asked why...I got a blank look.

Perhaps because you never bothered to check their name nor mission statement:

https://www.californiarailroad.museum/visit/exhibits


From our immaculately restored, iconic engines and rolling stock to rotating exhibits carefully curated to illuminate life along the historic California railways, our exhibits are sure to enthrall both the most avid rail enthusiasts and first time visitors alike.

Locomotives

The locomotive collection of the California State Railroad Museum contains 19 steam locomotives dating from 1862 to 1944. The Museum’s locomotives illustrate the development of steam technology from its early years in the mid-nineteenth century through its apogee and climax in the 1940s.
The engines range in size from the diminutive Southern Pacific No. 1, “C.P. Huntington,” to the million-pound giant, Southern Pacific articulated cab-forward No. 4294. Fewer than 45 full-size steam locomotives built prior to 1880 exist in the United States. The Museum has eight of these, including Central Pacific Railroad locomotive No. 1, “Gov. Stanford.” While the locomotive collection of the California State Railroad Museum is extensive, only a portion is on public exhibition at any one time. The remaining engines are either undergoing restoration or awaiting restoration in the Museum’s shop facilities.


You see it's a state museum focusing on state railroads...

:o



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