THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER STOOD AT THE CENTER, literally and figuratively, of the United States’s westward expansion during the nineteenth century. By far the most prominent name in taming the powerful river was James Buchanan Eads. From the 1830s through the 1850s this supremely capable engineer salvaged hundreds of wrecks with a series of ever-larger diving bells, gaining in the process an intimate knowledge of the river’s bottom.
1890-1899
Sometime in 1894, while his Great Lakes steamer W P. Thew lay tied to a wharf on the banks of the Cuyahoga River in northeast Ohio, Capt. Richard P. Thew whiled away many hours as men laboriously unloaded his iron ore cargo onto the wooden docks.
The discovery of the radioconduction is a phenomenon which revolutionized the means of communication. It is at the origin of the development of the TSF (Télégraphie Sans Fil, or wireless telegraphy). As a member of the French Academy of Sciences (it gains vis-a-vis Marie Curie), Branly received international recognition. No more than about fifteen years separate the first wireless transmission across a few meters (1890) from the first transatlantic communication (Marconi, December 1901).
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Image Credit: Courtesy WikipediaImage Caption: Edouard BranlyEra_date_from: 1890
2010
Studies on the feasibility of building a hydro plant in the site were initiated in 1893. The increasing need for power that was cheaper and easily adapted to mine underground use drove the Lota coal mine company to develop a study of alternatives for this purpose. Engineer William E. Raby traveled to the United States and Europe to assess the use of electricity generation and transmission. The availability of the Chivilingo hydro resources arose as a better alternative to a steam plant.
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Image Credit: Courtesy Wikicommons/B.diaz.cImage Caption: The Chivilingo Hydroelectric Power Plant was the first in Chile and only the second in South America. Era_date_from: 1897
2001
"The majestic Forth Bridge ... symbolises the tremendous achievements of Victorian engineers and the immense strides made in the technique of bridge design and construction since the dawn of the Railway Age..."
- Derrick Bennett, Bridges: Great Buildings of the World
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Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/Brain M Forbes (CC BY 2.0)Image Caption: The Forth Bridge became the longest bridge in the world when it was completed in 1890.Era_date_from: 1890
1985
Society: ASMEMain Category: MechanicalSub Category: PumpingEra: 1890-1899DateCreated: 1890sYork Water CompanyYorkState: PAZip: 17401Country: USAWebsite: https://www.asme.org/about-asme/who-we-are/engineering-history/landmarks/77-worthington-horizontal-cross-compound-pumping, https://www.asme.org/getmedia/8943cdf5-6cab-4567-b165-42f489334684/77-Worthington-Horizontal-Cross-compound-Pumping.aspxCreator: Corliss, George H.
Smaller and cheaper than a triple-expansion vertical engine, the horizontal cross-compound pumping engine, Pump No. 2, ran at relatively slow revolutions and was considered the height of engineering from the 1890s to World War I. This pumping engine at the York Water Company was built by the Worthington Pump & Machinery Corporation, Snow-Holly Works, Buffalo, New York.
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Era_date_from: 1890s
1982
With the discoveries of South Africa's diamonds in the 1860s and gold in the 1880s, immigrants flooded into Cape Town and changed it into a major commercial center. Unfortunately, its water supply had not kept pace with the population growth. After several droughts and years of inadequate water supply, the Woodhead Tunnel was constructed between 1887 and 1891. When it failed to solve the water shortage problem, the Municipality of Cape Town determined that a dam and reservoir needed to be built.
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Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/Tim Fields (CC BY-ND 2.0)Image Caption: Woodhead DamEra_date_from: 1897
2008
The Williams-Miles History of Chemistry Collection, established in 1992, is one of the leading historical collections of chemistry books in the southern United States. It represents a combined 70 years of scholarly collecting by Wyndham D. Miles, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, and William D. Williams, Professor of Chemistry at Harding University. More than 2,000 volumes published between 1600 and 1900 are preserved here; the collection is particularly strong in 19th-century works.
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Image Credit: Courtesy ACSImage Caption: Williams-Miles History of Chemistry Collection at Harding University
1996
The structure has two segments: an East Channel bridge consisting of four 175-foot spans and three 240-foot spans crossing from Harrisburg to City Island; and a West Channel bridge, consisting of seven 175-foot spans crossing from City Island to Wormleysburg.
With 15 truss spans totaling 2,820 feet, the Walnut Street Bridge is the finest and largest surviving example of the standardized Phoenix wrought-iron truss bridges produced from 1884 to 1923.
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Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/rjonesProject856 (cc-by-2.0)Image Caption: Walnut Street BridgeEra_date_from: 1890
1997
The bridge is 408 meters long and weighed approximately 1,500 metric tons when built. Originally supported by four columns, two more were added in later years to support the weight of heavier rail cars.
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Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/Rafael Retamal (CC BY-SA 2.0)Image Caption: Viaducto del MallecoEra_date_from: 1890
1994
Innovations
Read More"Electricity produced here in the spring of 1891 was transmitted 2.6 miles over rugged and at times inaccessible terrain to provide power for operating the motor-driven mill at the Gold King Mine. This pioneering demonstration of the practical value of transmitting electrical power…
The first authenticated discovery of gold in the U.S. occurred on the Cabarrus County farm of John Reed in 1799, sparking the nation's first gold rush. During its peak years, more than a million dollars of gold was recovered a year, making North Carolina a leader in gold production until 1848.…
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This collection includes many examples of advances in mechanical refrigeration for residential and commercial applications, dating from about 1890 to 1960. Such devices dramatically improved food storage safety and convenience and set high standards for mechanical reliability. The RRM collection…
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This was one of the first power facilities to demonstrate the feasibility of long distance electric power transmission. Through an elaborate switchboard at the main station, tied to similar boards at substations, a complete circuit was created to drive an electric motor 153 miles from the…
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A Day's Pay According to tunnel records, the following pay rates were established for the 600-700 laborers required for this project:
- 17.5 cents per hour for diggers
- 15 cents per hour for erectors
- 12.5 cents per hour for others
- One additional dollar…
The Turbinia was the world's first turbine-driven ship. It attracted worldwide attention at the 1897 Spithead Naval Review by traveling more than 34 knots. This remarkable performance accelerated the acceptance of the steam turbine as an alternative to the steam reciprocating engine on ships as…
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In the early 1900s, Union Station was the hub of passenger railroad traffic in the central United States. It was one of the first stations to serve as a centralized terminal for multiple railroad lines. It originally served 22 rail lines; 13 from the east and nine from the west.
The…
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The bridge is 408 meters long and weighed approximately 1,500 metric tons when built. Originally supported by four columns, two more were added in later years to support the weight of heavier rail cars.
In the late 19th century, the Malleco River represented the border between the…
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The structure has two segments: an East Channel bridge consisting of four 175-foot spans and three 240-foot spans crossing from Harrisburg to City Island; and a West Channel bridge, consisting of seven 175-foot spans crossing from City Island to Wormleysburg.
With 15 truss spans totaling…
Read More
The Williams-Miles History of Chemistry Collection, established in 1992, is one of the leading historical collections of chemistry books in the southern United States. It represents a combined 70 years of scholarly collecting by Wyndham D. Miles, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland…
Read More
With the discoveries of South Africa's diamonds in the 1860s and gold in the 1880s, immigrants flooded into Cape Town and changed it into a major commercial center. Unfortunately, its water supply had not kept pace with the population growth. After several droughts and years of inadequate water…
Read MoreSmaller and cheaper than a triple-expansion vertical engine, the horizontal cross-compound pumping engine, Pump No. 2, ran at relatively slow revolutions and was considered the height of engineering from the 1890s to World War I. This pumping engine at the York Water Company was built by the…
Read More
"The majestic Forth Bridge ... symbolises the tremendous achievements of Victorian engineers and the immense strides made in the technique of bridge design and construction since the dawn of the Railway Age..."
- Derrick Bennett, Bridges: Great Buildings of the World
Throughout…
Read More
Studies on the feasibility of building a hydro plant in the site were initiated in 1893. The increasing need for power that was cheaper and easily adapted to mine underground use drove the Lota coal mine company to develop a study of alternatives for this purpose. Engineer William E. Raby traveled… Read More
The discovery of the radioconduction is a phenomenon which revolutionized the means of communication. It is at the origin of the development of the TSF (Télégraphie Sans Fil, or wireless telegraphy). As a member of the French Academy of Sciences (it gains vis-a-vis Marie Curie), Branly received… Read More
Imagine a world without batteries. It would be a much different world, in which the automobile and the telephone would have developed differently and probably later, a world without many of the conveniences of modern life and without some of the necessities. The battery, ever smaller and more…
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Charles C. Fenno Of Grinnell, Ia, Patented The First Field Corn Silage Harvester On April 19, 1892. His Ground-Powered Machine Cut The Corn Plant And Fed The Tassel End First To A Rotary Cutter. Joseph Weigel Of Flandreau, Sd, Improved Fenno's Harvester In 1912 By Adding An Engine To…
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In 1892, John H. Froehlich, Froehlich, IA, Mounted A Gasoline Fueled Internal Combustion Engine On A Traction Geared Frame And Used It To Power A Threshing Machine. A Change In Power Source Had Begun On North American Farms. In 1892, The Case Co., Racine, Wi, Built An Experimental Gas…
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Luebben Hay Baler - Historic Landmark of Agricultural Engineering. In 1892, Hugh Luebben from Sutton, Nebraska, with sons Melchior and Ummo built a mobile machine to produce round hay bales between two sets of rotating flat belts. They began manufacturing the baler in 1909 in Beatrice…
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In 1894, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and his brother, Will Keith (W.K.) Kellogg, were making a granola type cereal for their patients in the Battle Creek Sanitarium, a general health facility in Michigan. This granola cereal was made from wheat that was boiled, rolled into a sheet, toasted,…
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