1942

In the mid 1930's, the USDA Soil Conservation Service (SCS) realized the importance of hydrologic processes on agricultural fields and watersheds and determining their impact on soil erosion, floods, water resources, and the agricultural economy. In response, the SCS Hydrologic Division established experimental watersheds in Coshocton, Ohio, Hastings, Nebraska, and Riesel, Texas, and operated them until 1954 when the watersheds were transferred to the newly created Agricultural Research Service (ARS).

Research at these watersheds has contributed to many significant engineering advancements including: quantification of soil erosion prevented by agricultural conservation systems; development of the SCS "curve number method", Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE), and watershed models such as SWAT; understanding of agronomic and environmental effects of tillage, fertilizer and chemical management alternatives such as no-till agriculture; and inventions such as the Coshocton wheel water sampler. The three original watersheds established the foundation for the vibrant, national USDA-ARS experimental watershed network that to this day produces sound science and engineering to protect and manage the world's soil and water resources.

Image Caption

Active experimental watersheds and rain gauges at the USDA‐
ARS Grassland, Soil and Water Research Laboratory near Riesel, Texas.

Fluid Bed Reactor

Stuart Grosvenor — Tue, 06 Mar 2018 19:12:24 +0000

Fluid Bed Reactor Tue, 03/06/2018 - 14:12

Era

1940s

Date Created

1942

Coordinates

30.4861, -91.1700304

Address1

Baton Rouge Refinery

Address2

4045 Scenic Hwy

City

Baton Rouge

State

Country

USA

Website

https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/fluidbed…

Creator

Standard Oil Corporation of New Jersey [now Exxon Corporation]

The first commercial circulating fluid bed reactor, PCLA #1 (Powdered Catalyst Louisiana), went on stream on May 25, 1942, in the Baton Rouge Refinery of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey (now ExxonMobil Corporation). This first use of powdered catalysts in continuous operation allowed the efficient cracking of heavy gas oils to meet the growing demand for high-octane fuels. Today, fluid bed reactors are in use worldwide for the manufacture of fuels, chemical intermediates and plastics.

The plaque commemorating the development reads:

The first commercial circulating fluid bed reactor, PCLA #1 (Powdered Catalyst Louisiana), went on stream on May 25, 1942, in the Baton Rouge Refinery of the Standard Oil Corporation of New Jersey (now Exxon Corporation). This first use of powdered catalysts in continuous operation allowed the efficient cracking of heavy gas oils to meet the growing demand for high-octane fuels. PCLA #1 was dismantled in 1963 after 21 years of successful operation. Today, more than 350 fluid bed reactors, including PCLA #2 and PCLA #3, are in use worldwide for the manufacture of fuels, chemical intermediates, and plastics.

Thumb

Image Credit

Courtesy ACS/Keith Lindblom

Image Caption

National Historic Chemical Landmark plaque installed at the site of the PCLA #1 at ExxonMobil’s Baton Rouge Refinery.

Vandenberg Air Force Base

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 07:40:15 +0000

Vandenberg Air Force Base

(not verified) Wed, 07/25/2012 - 03:40

Society

Main Category

Sub Category

Era

Date Created

Location Country

Coordinates

34.732778, -120.568056

Address1

Vandenberg AFB

City

Lompoc

State

Country

USA

Website

https://www.aiaa.org/HistoricAerospaceSites/

Creator

U.S. Army

U.S. Air Force

Vandenberg Air Force Base was the nation’s first space and ballistic missile operational and training base. Beginning with its first launch, a Thor Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) on December 16, 1958, it has been the launch site of many of America’s military satellites and polar-orbiting satellites. Its notable launches include Discoverer 1 in 1959, the world’s first polar-orbiting satellite, which resulted in the first recovery of a man-made object from space, and helped the Air Force conceal the launch of the Corona series of photo reconnaissance satellites, the nation’s first spy satellites. The base has played a critical role in America’s defense policy throughout its existence, housing the Atlas, Titan I, Titan II, Minutemen and Peacekeeper ICBM programs. The air base’s historically significant launch complexes are Space Launch Complex-6 (SLC-6) and Space Launch Complex-10 (SLC-10). SLC-6 housed the launch site for the Manned Orbital Laboratory (MOL), an Air Force program designed to prove the utility of using manned, space based resources for intelligence gathering in battle. The Air Force canceled the MOL program in 1969, when it decided that the unmanned spy satellites exceeded the intelligence gathering capabilities of the MOL program. Currently, The Boeing Company uses LSC-6 to launch its Delta IV Launch Vehicle. SLC-10 is one of the last surviving examples of a 1950s era launch complex. Built at the start of the Space Age, SLC-10 contributed significantly to the operational missions of the Air Force’s Thor IRBM training program, America’s military satellite program, and the Air Force’s Program 437, an Air Force anti-satellite weapons system test platform. Between January and March, 1962, the Air Force relocated SLC-10 to Johnson Atoll in the Pacific Ocean to support the Air Force’s nuclear weapons testing program, before rebuilding the site at its original location in 1963.

Tags

VandenBerg

ICBM

Air Force Base

Thor Intermediate Range

Manned Orbital Laboratory

Delta IV Launch Vehicle

National Defense

Camp Cooke

Image Credit

Courtesy Flickr/DVIDSHUB (CC BY 2.0)

Image Caption

Delta IV Launch at Vandenberg Air Force Base

SS Jeremiah O'Brien

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 07:40:07 +0000

SS Jeremiah O'Brien

(not verified) Wed, 07/25/2012 - 03:40

Society

Main Category

Sub Category

Era

Date Created

Location Country

Coordinates

37.811111, -122.418056

Address1

Pier 45 in Fishermans Wharf

City

San Francisco

State

Country

USA

Website

http://www.asme.org/about-asme/history/landmarks/topics-m-z/water-transportatio…

https://www.asme.org/getmedia/f558ea74-61d6-4650-92f3-d980c237c373/98-SS-Jeremi…

Creator

New England Shipbuilding Corporation

The SS Jeremiah O'Brien, an emergency cargo vessel of the type EC2-S-C1 better known as Liberty Ships, is one of two operative survivors of 2,751 ships, the largest fleet of single class ever built. The other is the SS John W. Brown, now in Baltimore (not operative at the time of the landmark designation). Between March 1941 and November 1945, eighteen US shipyards produced 2,751 ships. The design stressed minimum cost, rapidity of construction, and simplicity of operation. The original design and configuration have not been altered. Dire necessity to move supplies across the Atlantic faster than Nazi U-boats could sink them led the U.S. Navy to adopt plans for the mass production of tramp steamers (from Joseph L. Thompson & Sons of Sunderland, England). A San Francisco radio announcer who served on one at Normandy called them the shopping baskets of World War II. The O'Brien was built in fifty-six days at South Portland, Maine, by the New England Shipbuilding Corporation. A triple-expansion engine of 2,500 horsepower drove the 441-foot vessel, carrying 9,000 tons of cargo at 11 knots. Water-tube oil-fired boilers replaced coal-burning Scotch boilers of the original design. The ship carried ammunition, grain, and other dry cargo from the United States to Great Britain and ports in South America, Australia, India, and the Philippines.

Tags

one of only two operating survivors of the US emergency-cargo fleet known as Liberty Ships

Image Credit

Courtesy Wikipedia/Sanfranman59 (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Image Caption

SS Jeremiah O'Brien 1

Alaska Highway

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 07:38:38 +0000

Alaska Highway

(not verified) Wed, 07/25/2012 - 03:38

Society

Main Category

Sub Category

Era

Date Created

Location Country

Coordinates

64.047778, -145.718611

Address1

Dawson Creek British Columbia

Address2

to Delta Junction, Alaska, US

City

Delta Junction

State

Country

USA

Zip

99737

Website

http://www.asce.org/project/alaska-highway/

Creator

MacDonald, Thomas

The Alaska Highway, initially called the Alaskan-Canadian (Alcan) Military Highway, provided an essential transportation link to the Yukon and Alaska during World War II. It begins at the junction with several Canadian highways in Dawson Creek, British Columbia and runs to Delta Junction, Alaska, via Whitehorse, Yukon. After the shock of Pearl Harbor, the Alaska Highway was a first step in America's defense strategy -- a vital military supply line during the war. Over ten thousand Army Engineers were rushed to the far Northwest. Their mission was to blaze a road to Alaska in less than a year. They battled mountains, muskeg and mosquitoes on a front that stretched across miles and miles of rugged, sub-Arctic terrain. To this day, it has remained the only transportation link to the Yukon and Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories. Built in 1942 in just eight months, the 2500 km (1570 miles) highway was a significant feat of time critical engineering and construction. Besides being completed much sooner than expected, the Alaska Highway was the largest undertaking at the time for a northern construction project. It still remains one of the largest northern construction projects to this day. During the project's construction, significant experiences were gained in Arctic engineering and construction, particularly in permafrost. The Alaska Highway provided an opportunity for the development and refinement of cold region engineering roadway construction techniques and construction supply techniques. In addition to increasing knowledge in the field of cold region engineering, it enabled the development, settlement and economic growth of millions of acres of land. The highway also became the basis for a substantial tourism-based economy. Resources 1.Twichell, Heath. Northwest Epic: The Building of the Alaska Highway. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. 2. Remley, David A. Crooked road : The story of the Alaska Highway. New York, McGraw-Hill, 1976.

Tags

Image Credit

Courtesy Flickr/Bruce McKay (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Image Caption

Driving on the Alaska Highway with a snowy mountain horizon

Grumman Wildcat “Sto-Wing” Wing-folding Mechanism

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 07:36:59 +0000

Grumman Wildcat “Sto-Wing” Wing-folding Mechanism (not verified) Wed, 07/25/2012 - 03:36

Society

ASME

Main Category

Mechanical

Sub Category

Air and Space Transportation

Era

1940-1949

Date Created

1942

Location Country

Coordinates

42.228517, -85.557582

Address1

Air Zoo

Address2

6151 Portage Road

City

Kalamazoo

State

Country

USA

Zip

49002

Website

http://www.asme.org/about-asme/history/landmarks/topics-a-l/air-and-space-trans…

https://www.asme.org/getmedia/2d64abc8-3fa3-4d29-92d4-40db4777e8b2/238-Grumman-…

Creator

Grumman, Leroy

The Wildcat's innovative "Sto-Wing" mechanism developed on the XF4F-4 prototype by Leroy (Roy) Grumman (1895-1982), a founder of Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, was crucial to the U. S. Navy's success during World War II.

The idea of a folding wing was not new: as early as 1920, F.M. Osborne patented a high-wing monoplane with folding wings, but never produced this design. A 1928 plane with folding wings designed by W. Leonard Bonney crashed on its first flight.

When the US Navy desperately needed its aircraft to take up less space on ships, Grumman's engineers designed a safe and reliable wing-folding mechanism. Using a draft eraser and paper clips, he found the proper angle at which the clips would need to pivot in order to open and refold. Although the original Sto-Wing operated with hydraulic cylinders, they added too much weight to the craft, so a model built from lighter materials was developed.

The Sto-Wing folding mechanism, by reducing the aircraft's overall size, increased carrying capacity on ships by 50 percent. The Wildcat was one of the few US planes to be produced and utilized throughout World War II. Their simple design had the ruggedness and reliability required for carrier service, and became the model for many subsequent naval aircraft.

Tags

first functional wing-folding mechanism, enabling aircraft to take up less space on ships

Image Credit

Public Domain (US Navy)

Image Caption

Grumman Wildcat “Sto-Wing” Wing-folding Mecha