Stories of Inventors

I. The Revelation of Water Vapor

Watt, who lived in the small town of Greenock, once stared at a pot of boiling water sitting on the stove. The water was boiling, and the lid of the kettle was "popping" and bouncing up and down. Every family has a fire to boil water for cooking, and who pays attention to such commonplace things? Watt paid attention to it. Watt watched for a long time, felt very strange, couldn't guess what was the reason, so he asked his grandmother, "Why is the lid jumping?"

Grandmother replied, "When the water boils, the lid jumps." Not satisfied, Watt pressed on, "Why does the lid jump when the water boils? Is something pushing it?" Perhaps his grandmother was too busy to answer him and said impatiently, "I don't know. What's the point of a little child plowing through all this?"

Watt was not discouraged, though he did not find an answer in his grandmother. For days on end, whenever he was cooking, he crouched beside the stove and watched intently. At first, the lid of the kettle was secure, but after a while, the water began to boil, making a "clattering" sound.

Suddenly, the water vapor in the pot came out and pushed the lid to jump. The steam was rising and the lid was bouncing, as if there was a magician hiding in the pot. Watt was happy, almost shouted, he put the lid on the cover, cover and open, repeated verification. He also covered the cup and spoon where the water vapor spewed out.

Watt finally figured out that it was the water vapor that pushed the lid of the pot to jump. He thought again, the steam in the pot can push a pot lid, if you use a very big pot to boil water, produce more steam, not can push heavier things?

Later, Watt grew up, but he never forgot the problem he had pondered as a boy. Then, after many trials and learning from the experiences of others, he finally invented the steam engine. Yes, you have not guessed wrong, he is the famous British scientist James Watt.

Two, studying and calculating wind power in a storm

Time treats people equally and gives them the same amount, but people utilize time differently, and the knowledge gained is very different. Newton was sixteen years old when the knowledge of mathematics is still very superficial, to the high level of mathematical knowledge can even be said to be unintelligent. "Knowledge lies in accumulation, and intelligence comes from learning."

Newton was determined to climb the peak of mathematics by his own efforts. Under the unfavorable conditions of poor foundation, Newton could correctly recognize himself and know the difficulties. He re-learned from the basics, basic formulas, solid, step by step. After studying Euclidean geometry, he studied Descartes' geometry, which he found superficial in comparison, and then he studied Descartes' geometry until he mastered the essentials and realized them. He then invented the algebraic binomial theorem.

The legend of Isaac Newton's "counting the wind in a big storm" can be used as a proof of Newton's body mechanics. One day, the sky was blowing a big storm. The wind was wildly hooting, dusty, confused, so that it is difficult to open their eyes. Newton saw this as a good opportunity to accurately study and calculate the wind.

So he took his gear and ran back and forth alone in the storm. He stumbled and strained to take measurements. A few times the sand got in his eyes, a few times the wind blew away his arithmetic paper, a few times the wind forced him to pause his work, but none of it shook his desire to learn. He did it again and again, and finally sought the correct data.

He was so happy that he rushed home and continued his research. Where there's a will, there's a way. After diligent study, Newton laid a deep foundation for his scientific tower. Soon, Newton's mathematical tower was built, and at the age of twenty-two, he invented differential calculus, and at the age of twenty-three, he invented integral calculus, for the cause of human science.

Three, Edison invented the electric light

British scientists David and Faraday invented a kind of electric light called arc lamp. This lamp uses a charcoal stick as a filament. Although it can emit bright light, but the light is harsh, large power consumption, life is not long, very impractical. Therefore, Edison secretly resolved: "arc lamps are not practical, I must invent a soft light electric lamp, so that thousands of families can use."

His experiments began to work on the material of the filament: the traditional charcoal bar for the filament, a power filament breaks. Ruthenium, chromium and other metals were used as filaments, and when they were energized, they burned out after a few moments of brightness. Using white gold wire as filament, the effect is also not ideal. In this way, Edison experimented with more than 1,600 materials. Trial after trial, failure after failure, many experts believe that the future of the electric light is bleak.

Some famous British experts even ridiculed Edison's research as "meaningless". Some journalists also reported, "Edison's ideal has become a bubble." Edison in the face of failure, in the face of all the cynicism, Edison did not retreat. He understood that failure is the mother of success, and every failure means another step closer to success.

October 1879, in a chance, Edison's old friend McKinsey came to visit him. Edison looked at McKinkey's long beard, which waved as he spoke, and suddenly his eyes lit up and he said, "Beard, sir, I'm going to use your beard." McKenzie cut off a lock and gave it to Edison. With confidence, Edison selected a few thick beards, charred them, and put them in a light bulb.

But, sadly, the test results were also unsatisfactory. "Then try it with my hair, maybe it'll work." McKenzie said. The words touched Edison y, but he understood that hair was of the same nature as a beard, and did not take the old man's advice. Edison walked away, ready to see the kindly old man off.

He subconsciously helped the old man flatten the cotton thread jacket he was wearing. Suddenly, he cried out again, "Cotton thread, why don't you try cotton thread?" Without hesitation, McKenzie unzipped his jacket, tore off a piece of cloth woven from cotton thread, and handed it to Edison. Edison placed the cotton thread in a U-shaped airtight crucible and treated it with high temperature. Edison held the charred cotton thread with tweezers. It was ready to be mounted inside a light bulb.

But because the charred cotton thread is thin and brittle, and Edison was too nervous, holding the tweezers hand slightly trembling, so the cotton thread was broken. In the end, it took Edison a lot of effort to fit a piece of charred cotton thread into the bulb. At this time, the night is falling, Edison's assistant to the light bulb air extraction, and the light bulb on the lamp base, all work ready, everyone quietly waiting for the results. When the power was turned on, the bulb emitted a golden glow that illuminated the entire laboratory.

Thirteen months of hard work, more than 6,000 kinds of materials tried, tested more than 7,000 times, finally made a breakthrough. But how long will the light stay on?1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours, 6,767 hours went by, and the light stayed on for 45 hours before the filament burned out.

This is the first practical electric light. Later, on October 21, 1879, this day was designated as the day of the invention of the electric light, marking the birth of the usable electric light. Although this, Edison did not meet, he did not revel in the joy of success, but to put forward higher requirements - "45 hours, or too short, must be extended to hundreds of hours of life, or even thousands of hours".

One day, the weather was sweltering, he took the bamboo fan surface on the desktop by hand and fanned it while considering the question. "Perhaps a thousand bamboo filaments work better when charred." Edison simply wanted to try everything he saw. The test results showed that using bamboo filament as a filament worked well, the filament was durable, and the bulb could be lit for 1,200 hours. After further testing, Edison found that the charred Japanese bamboo filament for the filament works best. So he began mass-producing electric lamps. He installed the first bulbs on the "Garnett" expedition ship so that the expeditioners would have more time to work. After that, electric light began to make its way into the homes of ordinary people.

Four, Albert Einstein

It is well known that Albert Einstein is the originator of the theory of relativity, but we may not realize that the great theoretical scientist has also invented a unique "green" refrigerator.

Nearly 80 years after Einstein's invention, several German physicists are working on a refrigerator powered by alcohol based on his design. The feasibility of this refrigerator shows that Einstein was not only good at theoretical research but also an inventor who pursued pragmatism.

Jorgen Rehn, rector of the Max Polack University in Berlin, said, "Einstein was born into a merchant family, and he knew from an early age that he had to earn money to support his family because his family wanted him to take over the family business." Einstein came up with the theory of relativity in 1905, while he was working for a Swiss patent company. But it wasn't until 1926, when he was already living in Berlin and had won the Nobel Prize, that he began to develop the idea of a "green" refrigerator.

Allegedly, Einstein was determined to develop a non-toxic refrigerator after reading a newspaper article about an ordinary Berlin family being poisoned by sulfur dioxide leaking from the engine of their refrigerator. Together with another physicist, Leo Slade, he designed the eco-friendly refrigerator using harmless alcohol as a raw material.

While Einstein also filed a technical patent for his invention, the ever-changing nature of high technology meant that his invention was never put into production, and the only alcohol-based prototype refrigerator has not survived since. Fortunately, the aforementioned German scientists now don't want Einstein's invention to become history for good, saying that at least building such a refrigerator would be the best way to honor the great man.

V. STEPHEN SUN

Before the advent of the train, people's transportation and travel on land was mainly carried out by people and other animals. But both people and other animals have the same shortcomings: slow speed, susceptible to weather changes, the need to rest and replenish food in the middle of the journey. So, can we make a machine to replace people and other animals for transportation and travel? The British steam locomotive inventor Stephen Sun, known as the "father of the train," made this idea a reality.

Diligence creates a great inventorJune 9, 1781, Stephenson was born in England in a poor miner's family. His father was a stoker who looked after the steam engine in the coal mine, and his mother was an ordinary housewife. The family of eight lived on his father's meager income, which made life very difficult. Stephen Sun could not afford to go to school, and when he was 8 years old, he went to work herding cattle for others.

Besides herding cattle, Stephenson's other job was to bring food to his father, who worked in a coal mine. Every time he came to the boiler room where his father worked, he was mesmerized by the constantly rotating machines, and he was always fascinated by the roaring fire in the boiler and the rumbling sound of the machines.

He wanted to understand how they could turn on their own and with such power. When he grew up, he thought, it would be great to be a stoker like his father, operating a huge steam engine! When he was herding cows, he used to make his imaginary steam engine out of clay, with boilers, cylinders, flywheels, and all sorts of other parts.

When he was 14 years old, Stephenson really did become a trainee stoker, responsible for adding coal to the steam engine, refueling it, and wiping down its parts. He was overjoyed to watch the machine fly under his own operation. But after a long time, he felt that just watching the machine turn was not enjoyable. He began to wonder in his mind: How does the machine turn? What was its internal structure like.

One day, when everyone else had gone home from work, Stephenson secretly took the steam engine apart by himself, and he looked at all the parts carefully. But disassembling is easy and assembling is hard, he was busy for half a day, and he barely managed to reassemble the steam engine. On the way home, he was worried that the steam engine would not turn the next day.

When he started the engine the next day, it turned even better than usual. After this successful disassembly, he was much more courageous, and he often disassembled and reassembled the steam engine again and again, and then disassembled it again and again, so that he had a thorough understanding of all the parts of the steam engine. Interest is the best teacher. How Stephen Sun longed to build a machine himself.

He mimicked the disassembled steam engine and tried to draw a sketch for the coal mine engineer. The engineer looked at him and patted him on the shoulder, saying, "Good, ambitious boy, I hope you will study more and acquire more scientific knowledge, so that in the future you can invent a machine that is better than the steam engine!" However, Stephenson had never entered a school door since he was a child, how could he read and understand the profound theoretical books?

Without cultural knowledge, it is difficult for a 17-year-old student to invent. So, 17-year-old Stephenson walked into school for the first time, and he had to start reading from the first grade. Stephenson sat in class with seven and eight year old children every night. He stood out like a camel in a flock of sheep and a crane in a flock of chickens.

"Hee hee, stupid big guy!" "Hee hee, dumbass!" Such sneers would often come from outside the classroom. Many students in the elementary school mocked the "college student" for not being in college, but in elementary school.

However, Stephenson was not afraid of shame, not afraid of ridicule, he did not care, just focus on hard study. Stephen Sun to work in the mine during the day, in order to earn more money to support their families, the rest of the time he has to repair clocks, shoes, every day exhausted. However, in the evening, Stephenson was always the first to enter the classroom, pay attention to the lecture, burying his head in the study. After school, other people are asleep, he is still in the dim light to review his homework, do homework. Because of his diligence and hard work, he soon mastered a lot of scientific knowledge.

In 1803, Dr. Stephenson was promoted to be a mechanic in a coal mine, and one day in 1810, a coal truck in the mine suddenly broke down, and many mechanics couldn't find out what was wrong with it. Stephenson looked at it for a while and said to the chief engineer, "Let me try." The mechanics didn't believe him, thinking that a "kid" could not fix the machine, but Stephenson soon fixed the coal truck. When the mine manager found out about this, he immediately promoted Stephenson to the rank of mechanic.

Stephenson worked in the coal mine, every day to see the coal workers are always hard to put the coal from the mine a little bit back out, the work is very hard, and developed a great idea: he wanted to make a can be transported a lot of coal but also run very fast steam locomotive. So he put his head down and designed such a locomotive.

In 1814, Dr. Stephenson built a locomotive called the "Half-Shoe". When he drove this locomotive, in the coal mine for the test show, many people laughed at this can only drag 30 tons of goods, only six or seven kilometers per hour, looks like a stupid duck as ugly, walking like an earthquake like the sound of the broken car.

There were also rumors that the train was so loud that the cows would be scared to eat the grass and there would be no more milk; the chickens and ducks would be scared and there would be no more eggs; and the train's smokestacks would emit poisonous gas, which would kill the birds; the sparks would cause fires; and if the boiler exploded, it would be even worse, and the passengers would have to suffer from broken hands and broken bones.

Some of the officials who were originally in favor of the train experiment heard these rumors and began to oppose it, and were very sure that it was impossible to use a steam locomotive as a means of transportation. In the face of technical difficulties and the pressure brought by these rumors, Stephenson did not become discouraged like some other people who were also inventing trains. He always believed that the train he invented would be of great help to mankind, so he summoned up his courage, summed up his experience, and resolved to continue to study and improve the train.

On September 27, 1825, before dawn, many men, women and children living in Storrington, England, got up. Some of them were on foot, some on horseback, heading for the same place. What were they going for? It turned out that Stephenson was going to hold a test run there. Just as the locomotive was starting slowly, a young man came galloping up on horseback, shouting that he wanted to compete with Stephenson's train. And so began a thrilling race between the train and the horse.

At first, the train traveled slowly, while the horse ran wildly. After a while, the train's safety valve was raised, the blower hissed, and a cloud of smoke rose up, and the train gradually accelerated, and soon the train and the horse were running neck and neck. A little while later, the train was not tired, and kept going, but the horse was getting tired. The further back the horse went, the more the horse became overwhelmed, and the farther away the train went.

This long line of steel could carry 90 tons and 400 passengers at a maximum speed of 24 kilometers per hour. This is the world's first train - "Traveler".