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Engineering Innovations

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Owens AR Bottle Machine Owens AR Bottle Machine
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Only since 1912 have glass jars and bottles been in cheap and plentiful supply for pharmaceuticals, household products, food and beverages, and an endless variety of uses. The…
PACECO Container Crane PACECO Container Crane
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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…
Paddle Steamer Uri Paddle Steamer Uri
Lucerne,
This is the oldest operating vessel with a diagonal, compound steam engine, with disc valve gear. Operating at a higher pressure than the oscillating-cylinder engines then used in…
(Image not displayed) Paige Compositor
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The Paige Compositor was an invention developed by James W. Paige (1842–1917) between 1872 and 1888. It was designed to replace the human typesetter of a lead type-composed…
Panama Canal Panama Canal
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The United States became interested in a water route through the Panamanian isthmus in the mid-1850s, but it was the French who first attempted to build the Panama Canal. Led by…
Parshall Flume Parshall Flume
Fort Collins, CO
Since the beginning of irrigated agriculture, it has been important to measure flows of irrigation water. Accuracy of early water measurement methods often suffered because of…
Pearson Field Pearson Field
Vancouver, WA
Pearson Field, named for U.S. Army Lt. Alexander Pearson Jr., a prominent early aviator who died in an airplane crash in 1925, is the oldest continuously operating airfield in the…
Peavey-Haglin Concrete Grain Elevator Peavey-Haglin Concrete Grain Elevator
St. Louis Park, MN
No image dominates the Midwestern landscape like the monolithic grain elevator, whose present shape and construction owe much to grain company operator Frank Peavy and architect-…
Pegasus 3 Engine BS 916 Pegasus 3 Engine BS 916
Bristol, BC
The Pegasus 3 is the earliest surviving example of the prototype engine for vertical/short takeoff and landing (V/STOL) jets, namely the Royal Air Force's Harriers and US Marine…
Pelton Impulse Water Wheel Pelton Impulse Water Wheel
Camptonville, CA
Water wheels have been used to power mills and pumps for centuries. However, the traditional water wheel was inefficient: water hitting a bucket would splash back against the next…
Penn. RR GG1 Electric Locomotive #4800 Penn. RR GG1 Electric Locomotive #4800
Strasburg, PA
The 4,620-horsepower GG1 was primarily a passenger locomotive, routinely operating at over 100 miles per hour, but was used in freight service as well. Conceived by the…
Pennsylvania Turnpike (Old Section) Pennsylvania Turnpike (Old Section)
Harrisburg, PA
The Pennsylvania Turnpike was the first American paved highway of the automobile era in which tolls alone were expected to pay all project costs. The 160-mile roadway, which cut…
Peterborough Hydraulic (Canal) Lift Lock Peterborough Hydraulic (Canal) Lift Lock
Peterborough, ON
Opened July 9, 1904, this lift lock is the highest of its type in the world, transferring boats between two water levels in a single 19.8 m (65 ft.) lift. Designed in place of…
Philadelphia City Hall Philadelphia City Hall
Philadelphia, PA
Philadelphia City Hall was the largest masonry load-bearing wall building in the world at the time of its completion in 1901, stood as the tallest occupied building in the United…
Philadelphia Municipal Water Supply Philadelphia Municipal Water Supply
Philadelphia, PA
After an initial difficulty in attracting customers (who were used to getting their water from public pumps and private wells and cisterns), Philadelphia's waterworks soon couldn'…
Picatinny Arsenal Picatinny Arsenal
Wharton, NJ
Built in 1880 as the Piccatinny Powder Depot, this site was the major supplier of smokeless powder to the military for many years. Since World War II, Picatinny Arsenal has been…
Pickup Forage Harvester Pickup Forage Harvester
Madison, WI
William J. Conroy Of Aylmer, Quebec, Received Patent No. 465,127 On The First Field Hay Chopper On 15 December, 1891. Its Sickle Cut The Crop, Which Was Elevated Directly Into A…
Pierce-Donachy Ventricular Assist Device Pierce-Donachy Ventricular Assist Device
Hersjey, PA
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…
Pilatusbahn - the world's steepest cog railway Pilatusbahn
Alpnach,
The Pilatusbahn—the steepest rack railway in the world—has operated successfully since its opening in 1889 over a route of 4.62 kilometers (2.87 miles) between Alpnachstad on Lake…
Pin-Ticketing Machine Pin-Ticketing Machine
Miamisburg, OH
This was the first successful machine for mechanizing the identification and price marking of retail merchandise. At a single stroke of the operating handle, the machine formed a…

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