Creating the Twentieth Century: Technical Innovations of 1867-1914 and Their Lasting ImpactThe period between 1867 and 1914 remains the greatest watershed in human history since the emergence of settled agricultural societies: the time when an expansive civilization based on synergy of fuels, science, and technical innovation was born. At its beginnings in the 1870s were dynamite, the telephone, photographic film, and the first light bulbs. Its peak decade - the astonishing 1880s - brought electricity - generating plants, electric motors, steam turbines, the gramophone, cars, aluminum production, air-filled rubber tires, and prestressed concrete. And its post-1900 period saw the first airplanes, tractors, radio signals and plastics, neon lights and assembly line production. This book is a systematic interdisciplinary account of the history of this outpouring of European and American intellect and of its truly epochal consequences. It takes a close look at four fundamental classes of these epoch-making innovations: formation, diffusion, and standardization of electric systems; invention and rapid adoption of internal combustion engines; the unprecedented pace of new chemical syntheses and material substitutions; and the birth of a new information age. These chapters are followed by an evaluation of the lasting impact these advances had on the 20th century, that is, the creation of high-energy societies engaged in mass production aimed at improving standards of living. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 43
Page 11
... wires for long-distance transmission to launch the electric era during a mere dozen or so years. The third remarkable attribute of the pre-WWI era is the rate with which all kinds of innovations were promptly improved after their ...
... wires for long-distance transmission to launch the electric era during a mere dozen or so years. The third remarkable attribute of the pre-WWI era is the rate with which all kinds of innovations were promptly improved after their ...
Page 27
... wires. I must close this brief recounting of fundamental pre-WWI advances by emphasizing that I have no interest in forcing the concept of the Age of Synergy or exaggerating the era's importance (although that would be hard to do). I am ...
... wires. I must close this brief recounting of fundamental pre-WWI advances by emphasizing that I have no interest in forcing the concept of the Age of Synergy or exaggerating the era's importance (although that would be hard to do). I am ...
Page 35
... wires, illuminated nights. Parsons's invention of the steam turbine created the world's most powerful prime mover that had made the bulky and inefficient steam engines obsolete and allowed inexpensive generation of electricity on large ...
... wires, illuminated nights. Parsons's invention of the steam turbine created the world's most powerful prime mover that had made the bulky and inefficient steam engines obsolete and allowed inexpensive generation of electricity on large ...
Page 37
... wires—was attached to an 18-cell battery at 1:30 a.m. on October 22, 1879, and that it still worked by 3 p.m. and continued to do so for another hour after increased power supply overheated and cracked the bulb (Friedel and Israel 1986) ...
... wires—was attached to an 18-cell battery at 1:30 a.m. on October 22, 1879, and that it still worked by 3 p.m. and continued to do so for another hour after increased power supply overheated and cracked the bulb (Friedel and Israel 1986) ...
Page 38
... wire (diameter of 0.8 mm) in a circuit between the bars of copper and induced first red heat and then brilliant white light (Davy 1840). A tedious account of inventors and their failed or promptly superseded attempts would be needed to ...
... wire (diameter of 0.8 mm) in a circuit between the bars of copper and induced first red heat and then brilliant white light (Davy 1840). A tedious account of inventors and their failed or promptly superseded attempts would be needed to ...
Contents
3 | |
33 | |
3 Internal Combustion Engines | 99 |
4 New Materials and New Syntheses | 153 |
5 Communication and Information | 199 |
6 A New Civilization | 259 |
7 Contemporary Perceptions | 303 |
References | 313 |
Name Index | 337 |
Subject Index | 343 |
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Common terms and phrases
20th century Age of Synergy alloys aluminum American ammonia basic became began Bell’s Benz build built carbon coal commercial company’s converted cylinder Daimler decades device diesel diffusion dominant dynamos early Edison efficiency electric lights electric motors energy eventually experiments explosive figure filament filed film Ford’s four-stroke fuel fundamental furnace German global Hall-Héroult process heat Hertz HVAC improved incandescent lights industry innovations installed internal combustion engines introduced invention inventors iron Karl Benz Kinetoscope lamps late later less lightbulbs machines Marconi Maybach mechanical metal million Model modern nitrogen nitroglycerine operation Otto’s Parsons’s Pearl Street station pioneering Poldhu pre-WWI prime movers produced rapid Reproduced scientific Siemens Smil speed station steam engines steam turbines steel synthesis technical advances techniques telephone Tesla today’s transformers transmission transmitter U.S. Patent United Kingdom vehicles voltage Westinghouse wire wireless world’s world’s largest
Popular passages
Page 139 - Glorious, stirring sight!" murmured Toad, never offering to move. "The poetry of motion! The real way to travel! The only way to travel! Here to-day— in next week to-morrow! Villages skipped, towns and cities jumped— always somebody else's horizon! O bliss! O poop-poop! O my! O my!
Page 270 - The whole of my remaining realizable estate shall be dealt with in the following way: The capital shall be invested by my executors in safe securities and shall constitute a fund, the interest on which shall be annually distributed in the form of prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind.
Page 246 - Rays of light will not pierce through a wall, nor, as we know only too well, through a London fog. But the electrical vibrations of a yard or more in wavelength . . . will easily pierce such mediums, which to them will be transparent.
Page 153 - But in our daily dealing With stone and steel, we find The Gods have no such feeling Of justice toward mankind. To no set gauge they make us,— For no laid course prepare— And presently o'ertake us With loads we cannot bear. Too merciless to bear.
Page 57 - gang" that ran., but, in this case, only to the end of the room, afterward said: "At the time it was a terrifying experience, as I didn't know what was going to happen. The engines and dynamos made a horrible racket, from loud and deep groans to a hideous shriek, and the place seemed to be filled with sparks and flames of all colors. It was as if the gates of the infernal regions had been suddenly opened.
Page 106 - A combustible mixture of gas or vapour and air is introduced into the cylinders, together with air or other gas that may or may not support combustion, in such a manner that the particles of the combustible mixture are more or less dispersed in an isolated condition in the air or other gas, so that on ignition, instead of an explosion ensuing, the flame will be communicated gradually from one combustible particle to another...
Page 188 - The fixation of nitrogen is vital to the progress of civilised humanity. Other discoveries minister to our increased intellectual comfort, luxury, or convenience ; they serve to make life easier, to hasten the acquisition of wealth, or to save time, health, or worry. The fixation of nitrogen is a question of the not far distant future.
Page 23 - My father was a blacksmith, my uncle was a horse doctor, and I was both, along at first. Then I went over to the great arms factory and learned my real trade; learned all there was to it; learned to make everything; guns, revolvers, cannon, boilers, engines, all sorts of labor-saving machinery. Why, I could make anything a body wanted — anything in the world, it didn't make any difference what; and if there wasn't any quick newfangled way to make a thing, I could invent one — and do it as easy...