Otis celebrates 170 years in the elevator industry. Learn when, why, and how the elevator became what it is today with facts throughout the decades.
From Galvani's twitching frog legs to Maxwell's equations and Edison's first light bulb patent in 1880 was roughly a 100-year age of electricity. From Galileo to William Rowan Hamilton is roughly a 200-year age of mechanics. Add on a few decades for Heaviside and Gibbs to develop vector...
Wilson notes that Faure’s French patent was filed almost simultaneously with a similar invention by the American inventor Charles Bush, proof that people around the world were eagerly pursuing innovations in electricity and motorization. 1883: First Automobile Electric? Related Stories 19th Century The...
The big chill: air conditioning Meanwhile, however, Carrier (1876-1950) was perfecting the invention that would leave Wheeler’s humble electric fan in the dust of history. Inspiration struck Carrier while he waited for a train on a cold, foggy night; by the time his train arrived, he’d...
The Rex Bicycle was the invention of Bohn C. Hicks of Chicago, Illinois, who assigned his rights to the Rex Cycle Company. Mr Hicks submitted the reason for his unusual design was so that the bicycle was ‘particularly adapted to absorb or minimize the shocks incident to riding over obstruct...
Holmes of Boston begins to sell electric burglar alarms. Later, his workshop will be used by Alexander Graham Bell as the young Bell pursues his invention of the telephone. Holmes will be the first person to have a home telephone. *[Note 1]...
The Second Industrial Revolution included many technological revolutions, including the use of electricity, oil, and the advancement of transportation with the railroad, automobile, and aircraft. The Second Industrial Revolution changed transportation, communication, and work. The invention of the lightbulb...
In December of 1833, Thomas Davenport purchased a large, battery-powered, electromagnet at the Penfield Iron Works at Crown Point, New York, where this newly developed invention was being used to separate iron ore. For the next several months, he and Orange Smalley worked together in Smalley'...
To survive in the agrarian era, people burned wood for warmth and cooking. In addition to use as a building material, wood remained the chief global fuel for centuries. The invention of the first modern steam engine, at the beginning of the 18th century, heralded the transformation from an ...
board soaked in brine between the metals, the Voltaic Pile produced electrical current. The metallic conducting arc was used to carry the electricity over a greater distance. Alessandro Volta's voltaic pile was the first "wet cell battery" that produced a reliable, steady current of electricity....