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When we were all mere children, somewhere in a Science course somewhere, we were taught the names of the BASIC Machines, right?
Were there five? - or more? DUH! The lever - the inclined plane - the screw - the wheel (or was it the pulley - or is pulley just a form of the wheel?) WHATEVER! Anyway, right now I'm tired and don't remember, so if you recall the rest - please drop us a line and let us know, OKAY?
So, just for a moment now, let us take a "Giant Leap for Mankind" into the current technologically advanced present, con su permissimo!
Read on MacDuff !!!
What Is Man’s Greatest Invention ?
By: Tom Hyland - 01/29/00
As we near the end of the first month of the new millennium, I have begun to ponder many things that until now have been taken for granted. As explosions of thought permeate my cerebrum, I find that I just must write! Anyway, here we are in the Year of our Lord, 2000, and computers and the Internet seem to be taking over the world. Everybody everywhere is trying to sell us something. We have: e-bays, e-commerce, e-links, e-mags, e-mails, e-malls, e-quests, and even e-zines! The old saying used to be, "The Ayes have it!" Now, it seems that the E’s have it.
GIMME AN "E" !!!
At the risk of sounding stupid, I guess the E stands for electronic, huh? So naturally, many, if not most of you, would quickly answer the question posed in my title by saying, "that’s easy . . . the computer is man’s greatest invention." Right? . . . WRONG !!! "How so?" You may ask. Well, inside just about every computer, there exists a little device whose function is to "cool" it; otherwise, it would over-heat and "CRASH!" Then where would we all be, if all the computers in the world simply could not function?
"Oh, abacus, abacus, wherefore art thou, abacus?"
Next, consider all the buildings in the world, both residential and commercial. What if all the furnaces, boilers, fans, and air conditioners simply could not work because of the absence of this same device? We would certainly be very uncomfortable most of the time, correct? Our entire environment would be drastically changed for the worse.
What if all the: automobiles, trucks, planes, trains, boats and ships would not work, for lack of this device? Transportation of people, products, and services would cease and desist! It would be kind of difficult, to say the least, for you to even acquire that "almighty" computer, wouldn’t it? And even if you foot-peddled your little tri-cycle somewhere and back to haul your little e-Wonder home, guess what? It would still over-heat and CRASH! Oh, yes, lest I be remiss, let us not forget all the: washing machines, driers, refrigerators, freezers, turn-tables, printers, fax machines, blenders, power tools, and every other mother-lovin’ appliance on the earth . . . none of them would work either!
By now you have gotten the picture, and know this "mad-man’s" answer, right? Is it: a micro-chip, a transistor, a diode, a capacitor, a voltage regulator, a generator, an alternator, or some other Electronic thing-a-ma-gig? NOPE! In my old 1953 edition of Webster’s New World Dictionary of The American Language, on page 961, it is defined as follows:
motor - n. 1. anything that produces or imparts motion. 2. an engine; especially, an internal-combustion engine for propelling a vehicle. 3. a vehicle propelled by an engine; especially, a motorcar; automobile. 4. in electricity, a machine for converting electrical energy into mechanical energy.
So, there you have it, my contention is that the lowly motor is man’s greatest invention, merely because it has such a wide-spread influence over just about every other machine that was ever invented.. Practically every vehicle, ever manufactured anywhere needs a "starter motor" to engage the engine, in order to overcome inertia, whether it is internal combustion, gasoline powered, diesel powered, or even turbine powered. Every cooling or heating device which utilizes a fan, whether a propeller, or impeller, needs a motor to turn the shaft which spins the fan. While the greater majority of heating systems may be forced hot air, and utilize such a fan motor, even older homes like our 65-year-old hot water radiator system must have a circulating pump to force the hot water throughout the house. This pump is powered by an electric motor.
Q.E.D. : No motor = no motion . . .
No motion = no nuttin’ = Nuttin’ Honey!
As the sun sets in the west, and I bid you adieu, a startling revelation comes to mind. Namely, just what powers these great gadgets we call motors? Er, ah, well, um, you see, I guess it would be . . . electricity, huh?
Now we all know the story of the great inventor, Benjamin Franklin and his kite experiment, correct? Well, suffice it to say that he did not invent electricity, he just discovered it. So, while we may not know exactly who invented the greatest invention of man-kind, the motor (or so I say), maybe we can still give Ben three "thumbs’ up" and a "double jiggle" for his efforts, because without electricity, we’d be in a real peck of trouble. But that’s another story, for another day!
Tom Hyland
Copyright: 01/29/00
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Best regards,
Leland
It's so tough to try and figure which of man's many inventions was the greatest, for if one of the earliest human hominids hadn't harnessed the use of fire and another of his later cohorts hadn't figured out how to keep torches lit in damp weather, all the rest would be moot.
Of course among the most "modern" or recent inventions, the harnessing of electricity and the first engines (steam powered first, right?) had to be among the most vital.
I'm also fond of saying that Henry Ford's offering - introducing mass production to industry was one of the greatest environmentally friendly acts of the last century. For without the car and its use of the internal combustion engine, all our major cities would be awash in horse manure. Anyone who doubts this should read some accounts from the early part of the twentieth century in New York, where "street sweepers" used large push brooms to constantly sweep the ever-present horse manure into the surrounding waterways of NYC creating a thick glaze over all the rivers around New York and permeating the air with a nauseating aroma, especially in summer.
At any rate, this is a great piece Tom.