Aircraft engines, considered unreliable during the first 20 years of aviation due to their need for liquid-cooling, heavy weight and other inconsistencies, were given a revolutionary boost with the development of Pratt & Whitney’s R-1340 Wasp Radial Engine in 1925.
Mechanical
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Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/nostri-imago (CC BY 2.0)Image Caption: Pratt & Whitney Wasp A, R-1300 (R-1340)
2015
The oldest surviving rotary snowplow in the world
M
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2015
The Rainhill Trials were an important competition in the early d
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Image Credit: Public DomainImage Caption: Rolling stock on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 1831
2016
When Robert G. LeTourneau started moving earth in 1919, he thought that land leveling should require only one man. In 1920, by installing a generator and electric motors, R.G. was able to control the scraper blade from the tractor seat while driving the tractor.
In June 1922, LeTourneau developed his “Mountain Mover” with a telescoping bowl. He incorporated a floor behind the cutting edge taken from his previous designs, and employed welding instead of riveting to save weight.
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2004
A number of major engineering feats required to complete the tasks for the mission at hand, which were later used in further projects
The Hughes Glomar Explorer was designed to complete the mission of lifting a 2,000-ton Soviet submarine 17,000 feet from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.
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Image Credit: Public DomainImage Caption: Color photo of the Hughes Glomar Explorer
2006
The oldest and most comprehensive collection of photographic and cinematic technology
In 1888, George Eastman created the Kodak camera, the first camera designed to use roll film. The camera's simplicity and user friendly mechanism revolutionized amateur snapshot photography and in 1892, he founded the Eastman Kodak Company, in Rochester, New York.
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Image Credit: public domain
2015
The first funicular to employ a single, two-rail track along its entire length, with a short passing track.
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Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/Martin Abegglen (CC BY-SA 2.0) 2015
With over 300 specimens, the Museum of Engines and Mechanisms of the University of Palermo collectively narrates the evolution of engine technology. This collection of engines, from water-powered devices, through the era of steam and reciprocating engines, to jet turbines, includes engines that once served to power pumps, factories, automobiles, airplanes, and ships.
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Image Caption: FIAT G.59 4B trainer aircraft equipped with a Rolls Royce Merlin 500-20 engine, 1950
2017
The first wave pool in North America to consistently generate 3-5 foot spilling waves suitable for surfing
Big Surf Waterpark uses 15 gates that empty water into a 2.5 acre lagoon with contours that replicate a natural beach. Waves are produced by pumping water to a pre-selected height and released through underwater gates. The water released breaks over a baffle (similar to a natural reef), forming one wave per cycle. Water is recirculated to the lagoon through pumps.
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Image Caption: Designed by Phil Dexter, the facility uses 15 gates that empty water from a reservoir into a 2.5 million gallon lagoon with contours that replicate a natural beach.
2013
A drive system that keeps the antenna pointed with millimeter precision regardless of factors such as environmental change
The Arecibo Observatory has the largest radio telescope ever constructed. Maintaining the greatest electromagnetic wave gathering capacity of any telescope, it has been an essential tool in modern astronomy, ionosphere and planetary studies.
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Image Credit: Public DomainImage Caption: Arecibo Radiotelescope
2001
Innovations
The IBM 350 disk drive storage development led to the breakthrough of on-line computer systems by providing the first storage device with random access to large volumes of data. Since its introduction on September 4, 1956, it has become the primary computer bulk-storage medium, displacing…
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The world's first high-speed, dockside container-handling cranes reduced ship turnaround time from three weeks to eighteen hours. They became the model and set the standard for future designs worldwide. In service January 7, 1959, the A-frame cranes built at Encinal Terminals in Alameda,…
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This hydraulic closed-die press, among the largest fabrication tools in the world, has had a profound influence in America's leading role in commercial aircraft, military aircraft, and space technology. As part of the same Heavy Press Program that created the Mesta press, the Wyman-Gordon press…
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The Southwest Research Institute Split-Hopkinson Pressure Bar apparatus is a mechanical test instrument used to characterize the dynamic response of materials at high strain rates (typical of impacts and explosions).
The apparatus, based on devices invented by Bertram Hopkinson and…
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Published in 1914-15, the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (BPVC) was the first comprehensive standard for the design, construction, inspection, and testing of boilers and pressure vessels. With adoption in the United States and use in many countries, it has contributed significantly to…
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This collection of equipment—all of it maintained in operating condition and used for educational purposes—was established in 1987. It spans the period from the late 19th century to the 1940s, when steam was the prime motive force for most U.S. industries, including rail and marine…
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The DWP was the first mechanized, compact service-line trencher developed for laying underground water lines between the street-main and the house. This machine, first produced in 1949, replaced manual digging, thus making installation of running water and indoor plumbing affordable for the…
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This floating dredge is one of the last mammoth gold dredges in the Fairbanks Mining District that traveled an ancient stream bed, thawing the ground ahead of it and scooping up the gravel. During 32 years of operation, a fortune in gold washed through its sluices. Ladder dredges came to Alaska…
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The unprecedented innovation of the steam-atmospheric engine by Thomas Newcomen (1663-1729) of Dartmouth and his assistant John Calley stands at the beginning of the development of practical thermal prime movers in the early years of the eighteenth century. Spreading through Europe and then to…
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This is the first extremely smooth, surgically implantable, seam-free pulsatile blood pump to receive widespread clinical use. In its use in more than 250 patients, it has been responsible for saving numerous lives. When used as a bridge to transplant, the pump has a success rate greater than 90…
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The Glengyle is the earliest known survivor of the fleet of heavyweight, all-steel sleepers built by Pullman Company. The design was introduced in 1907 as a marked improvement over the wooden version then in use. Some 10,000 were built, in various configurations, the last in 1931. The Glengyle…
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The precision "choreographed" staging of Radio City Music Hall offers size and versatility, unlike any other. Built in 1932 by Peter Clark, its innovative elevator system is a forerunner of other stage designs (including the Metropolitan Opera House) as well as aircraft carrier systems built in…
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Kinematics is the study of geometry of motion. Reuleaux designed the models in the Cornell collection as teaching aids for invention, showing the kinematic design of machines. The mechanisms in the collection represent the fundamental components of complex machines and were conceived as elements…
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The Saugus Ironworks, the first commercial ironworks in North America, was an impressive technological achievement for an early colony. The same basic processes are used today: reducing iron oxide with carbon to produce metallic iron that can be cast in a mold, producing wrought iron by puddling…
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This 50,000-ton die-forging press is among the largest fabrication tools in the world. It was designed and built for the U.S. Air Force by the Mesta Machine Company of Pittsburgh, following the discovery of a 30,000-ton press used by the Germans in World War II (later acquired by the Soviet…
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The Ljungstrom air preheater is a regenerative heat exchanger, invented in the 1920s and soon used throughout the world. Dr. Fredrik Ljungstrom, then technical director at Aktiebolaget Ljunstrom Angturbin, invented it for preheating combustion air in boiler plants, but the use has expanded to…
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The idea of constructing a rotating boom for
hydromechanical tests at the Alden Hydraulic Laboratory
originated with Professor Charles Metcalf Allen, head of
the lab from 1896 to 1950. The original boom was designed
in 1908 by Professor Allen, assisted by two Worcester
Polytechnic Institute… Read More
The "Alligator" amphibian tractor is the progenitor of all amphibian assault vehicles used since 1941, a pioneer venture both in its design and the materials used in its construction. Donald Roebling, a grandson of Colonel Washington Roebling (designer of the Brooklyn Bridge), built an amphibian… Read More
The Apollo lunar module (LM-13) was developed by the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corp. (now Northrop Grumman). The LM's main functions were to carry two astronauts from lunar orbit to the moon's surface, and then return them to lunar orbit to rendezvous and dock with the Apollo command-service… Read More
The Apollo was the vehicle that first transported humans to the moon and safely back to earth. Nine lunar flights were made between 1968 and 1972. The command module, built by North American Aviation (at the time of launch, North American Rockwell Corporation), accommodated three astronauts during… Read More
