Category Archives: Inventions

Medal

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Medal

Take a medallion as your prize.

  • A medal is a flat, generally disc-like piece of metal, typically engraved and awarded to a person or group, that has accomplished a significant achievement.
  • ‘Medals’ are also called ‘medallions’, and large ones are often known as ‘table medals’.
  • The term ‘medal’ originates from the Latin words ‘medalia’ – a coin having a value of half a denarius, or ‘metallum’ – meaning ‘metal’ which developed into a word meaning ‘coin’.
  • Medals may be hung from a ribbon to be worn around one’s neck or pinned onto clothing, depending on their design and purpose.
  • Typically, medals have an embossed design that may include symbols or faces, as well as text.

Medal, Invention, Award, Trivia, Ribbon, Metal, Facts, Red, Academics

  • The earliest known record of a medal was in the 300s BC, and they were particularly used in the Greek and Roman societies and often made of, or similar to, golden coins.
  • The common metals used in the making of medals are gold, tin, platinum, bronze, copper, iron and silver, and sometimes a combination of materials are used.
  • Medals can vary greatly in size, from those as small as pendants, to those much too large to wear.
  • Medals are commonly distributed to those who are top achievers in the educational, military, sporting and scientific fields.
  • Some artists use medals as their primary canvas, popularly engraving portraits, and they are known as medallists.
Bibliography:
Medal, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medal

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Railroad Track

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Railroad Track

Railroad tracks are quite directional and controlling, if you think about it.

  • Railroad tracks are constructions that direct and provide a platform for trains to move along.
  • ‘Railroad tracks’ are also known as ‘railway tracks’, ‘train tracks’, ‘permanent ways’, and simply ‘tracks’.
  • The width of railroad tracks can vary greatly, from 0.38 to 2.14 metres (1.25 to 7 feet), with the standard gauge measuring 1.435 metres (4.7 feet).
  • Four main parts make up a railroad track – a pair of rails, which hold the train’s wheels; sleepers, which support and hold the rails in place; fasteners, that secure the sleepers and rails together; and the ballast that the sleepers sit on, which allows water to drain away and reduces the growth of vegetation around the track.
  • Early railroad tracks were known as ‘wagonways’ and were grooves cut into the ground or rock, to guide the movement of wheeled vehicles, and these are believed to have existed as early as 600 BC, and later they were commonly used in mines, from the first century BC.

Railroad Track, Invention, Trivia, Ten Random Facts, Train, Line, Transport, Station

  • Railroad tracks are typically made of wooden or concrete sleepers and steel rails, that are placed on a ‘ballast’, a track bed of crushed stone, or a concrete platform known as a ‘ballastless’.
  • Improvements on wagonways in mines were made with the use of timber, until iron railroad tracks were first crafted in the early to mid 1700s, while more practical steel rails emerged in 1857, which boasted increased durability.
  • The rails of railroad tracks were originally too fragile to support the heavy weight of a steam locomotive, although an innovation of long wrought iron rails, created by English railway engineer, John Birkinshaw, in 1820 led to viable, durable tracks.
  • The fasteners of railroad tracks have historically included the combination of baseplates and spikes, bolts or screws, while springs or clips attached to baseplates are becoming increasingly common in modern times.
  • Railroad tracks are to be maintained on a routine basis to avoid train derailments, which includes the spraying of tracks to ensure no plants grow there.
Bibliography:
Lewis M, Railways in the Greek and Roman World, n.d, Science News, http://www.sciencenews.gr/docs/diolkos.pdf
Permanent Way (History), 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permanent_way_(history)
Track (Railway Transport), 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_(rail_transport)

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Ram-air Parachute

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Ram-air Parachute

Ram-air parachutes are full of air.

  • Ram-air parachutes are a type of parafoil parachute or canopy, used to lower one’s descent speed so that safe arrival on the ground can be achieved, or to glide in the air, although those used for gliding purposes are typically called a ‘paraglider’.
  • Ram-air parachutes can be either rectangular in shape, known in parachuting jargon as ‘square’, or tapered, known as ‘elliptical’.
  • The primary advantage ram-air parachutes have over other variants is greater control over direction and speed, and the design also provides lift.
  • A ram-air parachute is made of two fabric layers, typically rip-stop nylon, with a cell-like airfoil in between, which when moving, automatically fills with air.
  • Ram-air parachutes that are the combination of an elliptical shape and small, are notoriously more difficult to control, compared to larger or square ones, primarily due to increased moving speed.

Ram-air Parachute, Trivia, Ten Random Facts, Flight, Gliding, Jump, Yellow, Blue, Rectangular, Sport, Invention

  • The parafoil design that the ram-air parachute is based on was designed by Canadian Domina Jalbert, in the late 1950s to early 1960s, a patent for which was filed in 1964.
  • The deployment of ram-air parachutes was originally so fast that is was dangerous, however, they have since been designed so that a slower deployment speed is achieved to avoid body injuries, though these speeds differ greatly depending on the parachute.
  • The ram-air parachute has been the most common form of parachute used for humans since its rise in the 1970s.
  • Ram-air parachutes are used in a number of different applications including sky diving, base jumping, paragliding, and for military purposes.
  • Ram-air parachutes and paragliders generally range from 6.5 to at least 41 square metres (70 to 441 square feet) in size, and sizes vary according to their use and user expertise.
Bibliography:
O’Neil A, What’s A “Ram-Air” Canopy?, n.d, About Sports, http://extremesports.about.com/od/air-sports/g/ram-air.htm
Parachute, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parachute#Ram-air
Skydiving FAQ, n.d, Fabulous Rocketeers, http://www.fabulousrocketeers.com/Photo_Sabre2.htm

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Hunting Trophy

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Hunting Trophy

Would you ever display a hunting trophy on your wall?

  • Hunting trophies are objects made of hunted game specimens, typically put on display like a trophy, and they can be as simple as animal horns, tusks or teeth, or it can be the taxidermied head or body of a hunted animal.
  • Generally, elderly animal specimens are favoured for exhibiting as a hunting trophy, due to their impressive size, and hunting these animals will usually have little or no impact on the general population of the species.
  • The practice of hunting animals for the purpose of gaining a hunting trophy is known as ‘trophy hunting’, and most animals that are used for this purpose come from Canada or African countries.
  • If undertaken randomly and without control, trophy hunting can disrupt populations of animals, reproduction patterns and the genetic pool.
  • In the 1800s, taxidermied animals became sought after and were commonly displayed, and during this time, the hunting trophy became popular among Europeans.

Hunting Trophy, Invention, Taxidermy, Trivia, Ten Random Facts, Deer, Head

  • Trophy hunting is often considered to be highly beneficial for African countries, as it contributes greatly to the country’s economy with little negative effect, and in 2008, across a small selection of African countries, $190 million USD was injected into the African economy as a result.
  • Investigations conducted suggest that the controlled hunting of some animals for hunting trophies, especially those in Africa, controls and potentially increases a species’ population, due, in part, to locals of the area wanting to protect the animals so that can collect large sums of money from those wanting to do the hunting.
  • Hunting for the purpose of a hunting trophy is prone to being controversial, as it is commonly claimed that it is inhumane and dangerous to animal populations, however many of the major wildlife organisations have supportive or neutral views on the subject.
  • Hunting trophy animal heads and antlers are commonly mounted on a wall, most often in an office or one’s house, often in a specially designated ‘trophy’ or ‘game room’.
  • A number of places and organisations, including a number of airlines, have banned the handling or importing of hunting trophies, mainly because they don’t agree with the killing of animals for sport purposes.
Bibliography:
The History of Trophy Hunting, 2015, Timeline, https://www.timeline.com/stories/the-history-of-trophy-hunting
Hunting Trophy, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trophy_hunting
Ting I, Hunting trophy imports to Australia rise as global trophy imports fall, 2015, The Sydney Morning Herald, http://www.smh.com.au/environment/animals/hunting-trophy-imports-to-australia-rise-as-global-trophy-imports-fall-20150807-giuagr.html
Trophy Hunting, n.d, In Defense of Animals, http://www.idausa.org/campaigns/wild-free2/habitats-campaign/anti-hunting/hunters/trophy-hunting/

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Airport

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Airport

Airports are the terminals of activity that enable travel to far-off places.

  • Airports are a construction that provides assistance in the flying, taking off and landing of aircraft, as well as the storage, service, repair and maintenance of aircraft.
  • Airports usually consist of a type of runway for aircraft to land on, and often have hangars, terminals and control towers for further functionality.
  • When an airport has large amounts of traffic they will generally have at least one control tower, which is used to monitor aircraft arrivals and departures, dangers due to weather conditions and other factors, and to ensure there are no aircraft collisions.
  • It is generally considered that the world’s oldest airport still in use is the College Park Airport of the United State’s Maryland built in 1909, while one of the earliest commercial facilities still in use is Sydney Airport in Australia which officially opened in early 1920.
  • Airport runways vary depending on the facility size, with smaller ones generally having grass, gravel or dirt based runways of under 1 kilometre (0.6 miles) in length, while larger runways are made of concrete or asphalt and reach lengths of 2 to 5 kilometres (1.2 to 3.1 miles).

Airport, Trivia, Ten Random Facts, Invention, Place, Port, Aircraft, Aeroplane, Qantas, Australia

  • Despite the majority of airports being of smaller size, most are owned by a government organisation, rather than by business corporations or an individual.
  • The first airports were, on the most part, reserved for military use until after World War I; many of which were later used for commercial purposes.
  • Each airport has its own letter code, known as an International Air Transport Association (IATA) code, and generally also an International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) code, and the facilities usually have an official name, and sometimes a common name, which may be more well known than its formal title.
  • In 2013, there were 41,821 airports in the world, and almost a third of those were located in the United States, while Brazil had the second biggest number of facilities with almost ten percent of the world’s total.
  • Airports are generally split into two sections, landside – which is open to the public and includes roads and transport options, and airside – which has restricted access and includes airplanes, runways, hangars and so on.
Bibliography:
Airport, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airport
Field Listing: Airport, n.d, The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2053.html
The History of Airports, 2015, AvJobs, http://www.avjobs.com/history/airports.asp

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Laminated Glass

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Laminated Glass

So much glass is laminated glass; quite outstanding, really.

  • Laminated glass is a glass that fails to break apart on cracking, a quality that causes the glass to be categorised as a ‘safety glass’.
  • Laminated glass is made of layers of glass, and resin or acetate, generally PVB or EVA, which bond to the glass and hold it together.
  • When cracked, laminated glass typically fractures in rings, a pattern that is comparable to a spider web.
  • Frenchman Édouard Bénédictus, an artist and chemist, invented laminated glass in 1903, after a flask made of glass failed to scatter into pieces across the floor when he accidentally knocked it off a shelf, as it had unintentionally been coated with a plastic film.
  • Commonly, the glass layers of laminated glass are each 2.5 millimetres (0.1 inch) thick, with a 0.38 millimetre (0.01 inch) thick thermoplastic layer situated between the two glass layers, although thicknesses can vary, depending on their application.
Laminated Glass
Slabs of Laminated Glass
Image courtesy of warrenski/Flickr
  • As a general rule, the strength of laminated glass is directly proportionate to the amount or thickness of plastic and glass layers it has.
  • Édouard Bénédictus filed a patent for laminated glass in 1909, and while it was designed for automobile windscreen use, it was not until after it had been used in World War I for gas mask lenses that it became widely accepted for the use of windscreens and was enforced in some circumstances by the 1930s.
  • Laminated glass with small fractures can be fixed through a process of drilling, filling with resin, and curing the resin with ultraviolet light.
  • Laminated glass is most commonly used in windows for both automobiles and buildings, although it has many other applications.
  • As a glass considered excellent for high security purposes, laminated glass is notoriously difficult to cut, is resistant to many weapon types and is unaffected or safe in the case of natural disasters.
Bibliography:
Laminated Glass, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laminated_glass
Laminated Safety Glass, n.d, National Glass, http://www.nationalglass.com.au/catalogues/NGP_Section_05.pdf
Safety Glass, 2007, The Great Idea Time, http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/safglass.htm

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