The two 3,500-hp steeple compound Unaflow steam engines powering the S.S. Badger represent one of the last types of reciprocating marine steam engines. Built by the Skinner Engine Company, most Unaflow engines are single expansion. These feature tandem high- and low-pressure cylinders separated by a common head. The Badger's four Foster-Wheeler Type D marine boilers, which supply 470-psig steam to the engines, are among the last coal-fired marine boilers built.
1952
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Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/ssbadger (CC BY 2.0)Image Caption: SS Badger CarferryEra_date_from: 1952
1996
Frank Zybach, a tenant farmer and inventor living near Strasburg, Colorado, received a patent for a "Self-Propelled Sprinkling Irrigating Apparatus" on July 22, 1952.
The device used mobile towers to continuously move a pipeline in a circle around a pivot. Water was supplied through the pivot and distributed by sprinklers on the pipeline. Zybach formed a partnership with A.E. Trowbridge, an entrepreneur-businessman, in 1953 to manufacture center pivots in Columbus, Nebraska.
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Image Credit: U.S. Department of Agriculture photoImage Caption: The Center Pivot Irrigator transformed agricultural production throughout the world.Era_date_from: 1952
1993
The Dorton Arena was the first use of a cable-supported roof system in the world. Commissioned in 1949 by North Carolina State Fair manager J.S. Dorton, the new building was intended to be a livestock judging pavilion. Architect Matthew Nowicki (1910 - 1950) proposed a structure that included a pair of intersecting parabolic arches supported by slender columns around its perimeter with a network of wire cables that supported the saddle-shaped roof.
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Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/Justin Doub (CC BY 2.0)Image Caption: Dorton ArenaEra_date_from: 1952
2002
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 common household. The DWP paved the way for the creation of a worldwide trenching-products industry, its machines used for the installation of all underground utilities including telephone, cable-TV and data, and fiber-optic cables.
YearAdded:
Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/NathanReed (CC BY 2.0)Image Caption: Ditch Witch® DWP Service-Line TrencherEra_date_from: 1952
2002
Innovations
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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The Dorton Arena was the first use of a cable-supported roof system in the world. Commissioned in 1949 by North Carolina State Fair manager J.S. Dorton, the new building was intended to be a livestock judging pavilion. Architect Matthew Nowicki (1910 - 1950) proposed a structure that…
Frank Zybach, a tenant farmer and inventor living near Strasburg, Colorado, received a patent for a "Self-Propelled Sprinkling Irrigating Apparatus" on July 22, 1952.
The device used mobile towers to continuously move a pipeline in a circle around a pivot. Water was supplied through the pivot and… Read More
The two 3,500-hp steeple compound Unaflow steam engines powering the S.S. Badger represent one of the last types of reciprocating marine steam engines. Built by the Skinner Engine Company, most Unaflow engines are single expansion. These feature tandem high- and low-pressure cylinders separated…
Read More