Top 10 Inventions from Past to Present--Oil Spill Cleanup Invention Could Be Invention of the Century

Throughout history great men and women have invented many wonderful, marvelous things. However, the most valuable inventions are not the gadgets that entertain and amuse us, but those that allow society to lead healthier, more comfortable, and easier lives. Following is a list of what I perceive as the top ten inventions ever.

Modern Indoor Plumbing

Sarah Palin used Joe Plumber as a symbol of average Americans. But, perhaps Sarah and others don't give plumbers enough credit. After all, how many of us would want to do without modern indoor plumbing? Didn't think so. Modern indoor plumbing gets my vote for among the top ten inventions ever invented, if not the top.

The true catalyst for developing standardized, superior plumbing began after an outbreak of amoebic in Chicago during the 1933 World's Fair, traced to faulty plumbing in two hotels. Ninety-eight people died and 1,409 became ill.

One year later, Major Joel Connolly, Chief Inspector of the Chicago Bureau of Sanitary Engineering, spoke these prophetic words:

"One of the lessons to be drawn from the amoebic dysentery outbreak ... is that plumbing demands the very best, painstaking effort that thoroughly qualified, certified plumbers can give in every building, and especially where the systems are complicated and extensive, and where large numbers of people may be affected by contamination of water."

Standardization of materials, methods, and training raised plumbing to a new level and deservedly earned public trust. Today's plumber must learn and adhere to coded standards through in-depth training and licensing. (Software: Just Plumbing or Mad Science?)

Penicillin

If it plays in Peoria, it will play anywhere. As a Central Illinois resident, I found it quite interesting that a moldy cantaloupe in a Peoria, Illinois market in 1943 was found to contain the best and highest-quality penicillin after a worldwide search.The discovery of the cantaloupe, and the results of fermentation research on corn steep liquor at the Northern Regional Research Laboratory at Peoria, Illinois, allowed the United States to produce 2.3 million doses in time for the invasion of Normandy in the spring of 1944. Large-scale production resulted from the development of deep-tank fermentation by chemical engineer Margaret Hutchinson Rousseau. Today, what played in Peoria, now plays world-wide--penicillin. (Penicillin Discovery)

Vaccines

French chemist Louis Pasteur's discovery that certain microbes cause diseases such as cholera, anthrax and rabies, led to his formulation of germ theory, postulating that these diseases and many others were caused by bacteria. Pasteur is called the "father of bacteriology" because his work led to a new branch of scientific study. This led to the invention of vaccines that have prevented diseases and saved many lives. (Vaccines)

Light Bulbs

Man must work from dusk to dawn, but a woman's work is never done. But, how did women work without indoor lighting?

Before electricity generation began slightly over 100 years ago, kerosene lamps lit most houses. People bought ice to cool insulated boxes (iceboxes) and then placed food in these iceboxes to prevent spoilage. Fireplaces or wood-burning or coal-burning stoves heated rooms.

Heard the expression "go fly a kite?" Well, thanks to Benjamin Franklin's flying a kite with a metal key attached to the string one stormy night in Philadelphia, the principles of electricity gradually became understood. Without this understanding, the invention of light bulbs could not have happened.

Inventor Thomas Alva Edison(in the USA) discovered In 1879 that a carbon filament in an oxygen-free bulb glowed, but did not burn up for 40 hours. Edison eventually created a bulb that could glow for over 1500 hours.

Lewis Howard Latimer(1848-1928), a member of Edison's research team--"Edison's Pioneers"--developed and patented a method of manufacturing carbon filaments in 1882.

In 1903, Willis R. Whitney invented a treatment for the filament so that it wouldn't darken the inside of the bulb as it glowed. In 1910, William David Coolidge(1873-1975) invented a tungsten filament which lasted even longer than the older filaments. The incandescent bulb revolutionized the world. The light bulb's invention allowed electricity to bring indoor lighting to our homes. (Light Bulbs)

Electric Motors

Without electric motors many, if not most of our modern machines would not exist. Electric motors power rotating machines such as fans, turbines, drills, the wheels on electric cars, locomotives and conveyor belts, vibrating or oscillating machines, robotics. Electric motors turn the wheels of vehicular robots, and servo motors turn arms and legs in humanoid robots. In flying robots, along with helicopters, a motor causes a propeller or wide, flat blades to spin and create lift force, allowing vertical motion

Hydraulic cylinders in airplanes and military equipment are being replaced with electric motors.

Electric motors turn saws and blades in cutting and slicing processes, and spin gears and mixers--such as in food manufacturing. Linear motors push products into containers horizontally.

Food processors and grinders spin blades, powered by electric motors, to chop and break up foods. Electric motors are used in blenders, microwave ovens, and toaster ovens. (Electric Motor)

Air Conditioning

Can't stand humid weather? Then, you will agree that air conditioning ranks right at the top for one of the best inventions ever. But, air conditioning does more than help us be more comfortable-it prevents illness and death. Before air conditioning, patients died from heat or infections, which proliferated in extreme heat and humidity. Now you know why hospitals keep surgical rooms so cold.

Give proper thanks and respect to the man who invented modern day air conditioning--Willis Haviland Carrier (November 26, 1876 - October 7, 1950) an engineer and inventor. (Air Conditioning)

Automobile

What would we do without automobiles? Walk, bike ride, or ride horses or donkeys, that's what! People would be unable to travel long distances to visit relatives and/or friends. Vacations to places out of the area would be impossible. Commuting back and forth for work everyday outside of communities would not be feasible.

As early as 1771, inventors began creating the basis for the mass production of the modern automobile, and the invention of the modern industrial assembly line, credited to Henry Ford of Detroit, Michigan.

Ford, who built his first gasoline-powered car in 1896, began producing his Model T in 1908.By 1927, when it was discontinued in favor of a more up-to-date model, Ford produced and sold about 15 million cars. The automotive industry now integrates computers into automobiles to make them safer, more comfortable and easier to navigate. (Automobile)

Washing Machine

Life without washing machines would be drudgery. Hauling water, heating water, lugging wet clothes. There's a reason the term "laundry day" came into existence--it used to take a whole day to wash clothes. Thanks to the invention of electric motors, which allowed the modern process of water removal by spinning, a load of laundry can be finished in 20 to 30 minutes. An improved front loading automatic model, the Bendix Deluxe (which retailed at $249.50) was introduced in 1947. General Electric introduced the first top loading automatic also in 1947. This machine had many of the features that are incorporated into modern machines. (Washing Machine)

Thank you Bendix and General Electric. I love you.

Microchips

Many inventions are a two-edged sword. So it is with the microchip.

A microchip is a small semiconductor used to relay information through specific electrical characteristics. In some cases, the words microchip and integrated circuit are used interchangeably.

The microchip is at the heart of many electronics known today, including computers, cell phones and even microwave ovens. (What are microchips and what are their uses?)

The Good--Microchips, surgically inserted under the skin, are used to track pets and children. One of the latest developments by MIT researchers involves using a microchip to enable a blind person to recognize faces and navigate a room without assistance, helping the blind to regain partial eyesight. The chip, which is encased in titanium to prevent water damage, will be implanted onto a patient's eyeball. Users are required to wear special glasses fitted with a small camera that transmits images to the titanium-encased chip, which fires an electrode array under the retina that stimulates the optic nerve. The glasses will help to power the coils surrounding the eyeball. (MIT Research)

The Bad-Lack of privacy. Cell phones can be tracked, GPS systems can not only track, but be tracked.

The Ugly Some believe that a element of global civilization, termed the "global elite," plan on eliminating much of society (due to lack of natural resources). The fear regarding microchips is that there may come a time in the not too distant future, when all of society will be required to have a microchip inserted under the skin as a means of identification to buy food, housing, etc. Once inserted, people could be easily tracked. If determined by the powers-that-be that certain people had no value to society, they would be tracked down and destroyed. (Terrible Microchip Insertion)

The jury is out-will microchips continue to improve our lives or bring mass destruction?

Whoever Invents a System/Machine/Product to Clean Up Massive Oil Spills

Kilgore was here--er, I mean, there. According to a news report in a Texas newspaper, the Kilgore News Herald, Jimmy Jones, an inventor from Kilgore, Texas, has been recruited to build a skimming device capable of cleaning up the horrendous amounts of oil spilled in the Gulf of Mexico. Jones received the call for help on May 21, and within six days, he had devised a plan, ordered parts and built a skimming device capable of collecting up to 7,000 barrels of oil per day. The system uses a pair of pumps and a separator tank mounted on a 60-foot barge. Jones designed a large scoop - similar to a giant dustpan - mounted to the front of the barge to skim the oil off the water surface.

The oil and water mixture will then be separated and the oil will be stored in a rotating series of barges, which will float alongside the pump barge. Jones said his device is capable of operating 24-hours a day since the oil can be directed to two different barges, eliminating the need to stop and unload the oil.

A central component to Jones' design is a large separator tank, which sucks in a mixture of oil and water. As the heavier water settles to the bottom, it is released through a valve on the bottom and the lighter oil is released through a valve on the top of the tank.

While Jones worked in his pumps at his Kilgore home, a team of workers built his oil scoop and arranged for barges and tug boats to begin work Friday morning.

Jones originally planned to arrive in Slidell, La. to deliver his device, but due to the amount of oil in the harbor, he was relocated to Mississippi.

"They say this oil is three and four-foot deep in places. They don't show that on the news. This is what the people standing on the barge is telling me," he said. "When I get there, they got cranes, they got a hundred men waiting on me ... They'll unload my pumps and place them on the barge ... Within three hours after I'm there we'll be pumping."

Jones said his job is to deliver the machine and make sure it is working properly.

"I will teach somebody how to run this and if this works like they said, I have a contract to build a hundred more," he said.(Kilgore Inventor Helps with Oil Spill)

Sources:

Air Conditioning--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_conditioning

Automobile--http://library.thinkquest.org/C002942/home.shtml

Electric Motors--http://science.discovery.com/convergence/100discoveries/big100/medicine.html

Kilgore Inventor Helps with Oil Spill, Aaron May, http://www.kilgorenewsherald.com/news/2010-05-29/Front_Page/Kilgore_inventor_helps_with_oil_spill.html

Light Bulb--The Invention of the Light Bulb: Davy, Swan and Edison,
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/inventors/edison/lightbulb.shtml

Penicillin Discovery--http://science.discovery.com/convergence/100discoveries/big100/medicine.html

Software: Just Plumbing or Mad Science?--http://www.lessonsoffailure.com/developers/software-plumbing-mad-science/

Terrible Microchip Insertion--http://www.truth-it.net/microchip_insert.html

Washing Machine--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washing_machine

What are microchips and what are their uses?--http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_microchips_and_what_are_their_uses

Vaccines--http://science.discovery.com/convergence/100discoveries/big100/medicine.html