There is no end to the extraordinary items dreamed up by inventors – a self-raising hat (1896) for the polite man with his arms full; spectacles for chickens to protect their eyes from other fowl that might attempt to peck them (1903); an automatic haircutter (1951); a motorized ice cream cone (1998) which rotates against the tongue. Here are some other examples.
Parachute fire escape
This invention was patented in 1879 by Benjamin B. Oppenheimer of Trenton, Tennessee, USA. It was made up of a parachute attached to a helmet and padded shoes that would allow a person to leap out of a blazing building and land safely – if he was lucky enough not to break his neck.
Spider ladder
This invention was perhaps not so crazy for people who are scared of spiders. British inventor Edward Doughney’s 1991 patent helps spiders to climb out of a bath.
Elephant springboard
A British patent was issued to E. Wulff in 1904 for a springboard that would make an elephant turn a somersault. The animal’s heavy landing was problem that Mr. Wulff failed to solve.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
How can we measure things about the stars?
The distance from the earth to the nearest star is four and one half light-years. A light – year is about six million million miles – or 6,000,000,000,000 miles! Now, if the stars are this vast distance away from us, how can we measure how big they are, what they’re made of, and so on? At one time, the only instrument the astronomers had was the telescope. Today, a whole group of special instruments exists to help astronomers study the motions, brightness, color, temperatures, and composition of the stars. First of these is the camera, which is used to make permanent records of the stars observed. Another instrument is the spectrograph. This is used to photograph the spectra of the stars, or the rays of light coming from them. With the help of the spectrograph, astronomers have learned most of what they know about what the stars are made of, their temperatures, and the speeds at which they are moving.
