CA

In 1942, University of California, Davis (UCD) biologist, Jack Hanna recognized the need for breeding tomato varieties that ripen uniformly and withstand the rigors of mechanical harvesting. In 1949, UCD agricultural engineer Coby Lorenzen and Hanna began developing a mechanical tomato harvester. Parallel efforts by others, notably those started in 1957 by agricultural engineer Bill Stout and horticulturist Stan Ries of Michigan State University, eventually resulted in several different harvesting mechanisms. In the late 1950s, UCD agricultural engineer Steven J.

The Rain Bird horizontal action impact drive sprinkler head was invented in 1933 by Orton Englehardt, a citrus grower and native of Glendora. The design offered slow rotation and uniform watering, benefits long sought by local irrigators. Clement M. LaFetra, a friend of Englehardt, urged early patent application. A patent was awarded on December 18, 1933. Englehardt, with no entrepreneurial aspirations, assigned all rights to LaFetra and his wife Mary Elizabeth. Production began in the LaFetra family barn on October 13, 1935.

The Sidehill Combine Developed By The Holt Brothers At Stockton, California In 1891, A Significant Milestone In Grain Harvesting And Agricultural Efficiency That Opened New Land For Wheat Farming, Is Designated A Historic Landmark Of Agricultural Engineering By The American Society Of Agricultural Engineers 1982

The Food Canning Industry Was Revolutionized In 1920, When The Continuous Rotary Pressure Sterilizer Was Introduced By Albert R. Thompson. Thompson Was Chief Engineer For The Anderson-Barngrover Co. Of San Jose, California, Now The FMC Corporation. The Sterilizer Cooked Canned Products Uniformly Under Pressure For Short Period At High Temperatures, Then Quickly Cooled Them Under Pressure To Prevent Swelling Or Bursting. It Operated Continuously At Speeds Of Up To 400 Cans Per Minute.

George Stockton Berry (1847-1917) of Lindsay, Tulare County, California designed, built, and in 1886, operated the first self-propelled combine. He was granted a U.S. Patent (# 374,339) in1887. The Berry design embodied the following "firsts":

Known as the birthplace of Naval Aviation, North Island was the site of the first successful seaplane flight and the first amphibious flight in the U.S., both made by Glenn Curtiss.  The first Naval pilot, Lt. T.G. Ellyson, was trained here at the Curtiss Aviation Camp.  A flight school established here by Ellyson trained the next Naval aviators as well as the Navy’s first aviation maintenance personnel.  North Island was also the site of the first night flight, and the home of the first aircraft carrier, the USS Langley.

On this site, which was the Dutch Flats Airport, Charles A. Lindbergh made the first flight of his Spirit of St. Louis airplane, constructed in 60 days by dedicated employees of Ryan Airlines, Inc.  The 20-minute flight on 28 April 1927 was witnessed by those who built the aircraft. Lindbergh describes the flight:

On 15 November 1950, the SSFL conducted its first official test with a Rocketdyne-designed XLR43-NA-1 large liquid propellant rocket engine, which later became the Redstone engine.  Encompassing 2558 acres, 18 large static test stands, 5 component test laboratories and an advanced test facility, the SSFL and its dedicated employees have provided significant contributions to U.S. rocketry and space programs for over 50 years.

This site, formerly known as Oakland Municipal Airport, served as the gateway to the Pacific during aviation’s pioneering age of trans-Pacific flight. Among other notable events, Albert Hegenberger and Lester Maitland departed from the airfield on 28 June 1927 on the first flight from the mainland to Hawaii, and Amelia Earhart landed here on 13 January 1935, completing the first-ever solo flight from Hawaii to the mainland.