Today in History – September 1, 1873 – the world’s first cable-powered railroad in San Francisco is put into operation. The inventor of the cable car was Andrew S. Hallidie (center image above) and contracted by the Clay Street Hill Railroad Company in San Francisco. Hallidie’s system used a continuous looped wire rope that was placed in a tube below the surface of the ground. A motor kept the rope in continuous motion (first image below) and the rope was grasped and released by a griping device on the passenger car and controlled by the “driver”. Bells were used to warn other cars and pedestrians that a cable car was on its way. A code was developed so that the bell could be used to communicate between cable car drivers as well.

Legend has it that Hallidie’s inspiration for the cable car came in 1869 after witnessing horses being whipped while they struggled on the wet cobblestones to pull a horsecar up Jackson Street. When a horse slipped, it was sometimes dragged to its death.

Hallidie’s design was described in the Scientific American Supplement, September 17, 1881 with the title: The Wire Rope Street Railways of San Francisco, California. Hallidie describes how his cable car system operates and the various San Francisco companies (at that time) that had successfully adapted the cable car for their street railway company.

Andrew Smith Hallidie tested the first cable car at 4 o’clock in the morning, August 2nd, 1873, on Clay Street, in San Francisco. For more information, see the San Francisco Cable Car Museum and find out more about how cable cars work, their history and where they operate today. Or check out the Engineering Pathway’s educational resources on cable cars and mass transportation systems.

Cable cars are a great example of the application of simple machines and mechanical advantage. For more information see the Engineering Pathway’s curricular resources and the Mechanical Engineering Education disciplinary community.

Today in History – August 31, 1921 – Lt. John A. Macready performed the first crop dusting flight on a surplus World War I Curtiss JN-6H (Jenny), taking off from McCook Field near Dayton, Ohio. The goal was to attack the Catalpa sphinx moth by dusting an orchard with a load of lead-arsenate from a makeshift metal hopper attached to the Jenny’s fuselage. The maneuver was successful and the moths had been wiped out on that orchard.

Recently, the broad use of pesticides is coming into question due to issues with wildlife, water contamination, energy usage and farm worker exposure. See the February 3 blog on the publication of Rachel Carsons book the Silent Spring.

The Engineering Pathway has a number of resources on pesticides, agricultural engineering, Rachel Carson and environmental ethics. For more educational resources, see our agricultural engineering education community site. The Engineering Pathway also hosts Engineering Education communities in all ABET-accredited disciplines.

Today in history- Aug 30, 1983- Guion “Guy” Bluford became the first African America to travel to space , 22 years after the first American traveled to space. This twenty plus year’s gap makes his accomplishment an important milestone in African American history. Born November 22,1942 with a mother for a teacher and an engineer for a father, Bluford was destined for success. Recognizing that 1942 is well before Brown vs. Board, their academic accomplishments, technically, were prior to school integration. Despite the obstacles to access and success for African Americans, his parents obtained higher level of education. With their examples and achievements you can only imagine their expectations for their children were high. They encouraged their children to strive for the best in life.

It seems as if Bluford did just that: receiving his bachelors of science at Pennsylvania State University in Aerospace Engineering and then going on to be a pilot for the air force and earning a Defense Service medal while serving in the Vietnam War. After the war, Bluford attained his Masters Degree in Aerospace Engineering, then his PhD in Aerospace Engineering with a minor in Laser Physics. Bluford then went on to join NASA in 1979 and four years later became the first African American in space as a mission specialist on the STS-8 flight of the Challenger Space Shuttle. His life and this accomplishment are truly worth being showcased today in history.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s related resources on Guy Bluford or NASA. Or visit the Aerospace Engineering Education community site.

Today in History – August 28, 1883 – John J. Montgomery makes first controlled “heavier than air” glider flight at Wheeler Hill, California. He sails a distance of 603 feet at an altitude of about fifteen feet. He continued to perfect the design by making and testing modifications. In 1894, he published a summary of this work in Octave Chanute’s “Progress in Flying”; a book that the Wright Brothers are reported to have read. Montgomery was the first person to use the term “aeroplane” and was granted the first “aeroplane” patent in 1906. Montgomery died  testing one of his powered designs for Vicor Loughead (later Lockheed) in 1911. Norman Ward reconstructed the 1883 Montgomery Glider shown in the photograph above right.

It took close to another century later for the Gossamer Condor to be the first human powered flight around a figure eight. This team effort, under the leadership of Paul B. MacCready, Jr., won the $50,000 Kremer Prize and captured the world’s attention. Bryan Allen maintained a head-height during the 7 1/2 minute figure eight flight.

British millionaire Henry Kremer and the Royal Aeronautical Society offered the Kremer Prize to the “designer who could create a human-powered flying machine”. After 18 years of no winners,  MacCready’s Gossamer Condor made history in 1977 when it became the first human-powered vehicle to achieve a sustained flight, performing a complex maneuver.

The Gossamer Condor is now on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. MacCready went on to win a number of other flight firsts and also developed the solar-powered Sunraycer that competed in a race across Australia. His 1990 electric car, built in collaboration with General Motors, resulted in the Impact electric car that could accelerate from zero to 60 mph in eight seconds.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s resources on John Montgomery, Paul MacCready, Gossamer Condor and gliders. Or view curricular resources at the Aerospace Engineering Education Community site.

Today in History – August 27, 2003 – World’s largest battery is connected to provide emergency power to Fairbanks, Alaska’s second-largest city. Backup power is critical here as Alaska could become an “electrical island” when the power lines go down. In fact, environmental conditions cause a total city blackout every two or three years. In this $35 million rechargeable battery array, 13,760 large nickel-cadmium cells weigh a total of 1,300 tons and cover 2,000 square meters.

See the Engineering Pathway’s educational resources on batteries. For related curricular resources, visit the Electrical Engineering Education or the Mechanical Engineering Education disciplinary communities.

Also on this date in 1875, Gallium is discovered by P.E. Lecoq de Boisbaudran.  His first spectroscopic analysis of the tiny amount (he estimated 1/100 mg) an unknown violet line at 417.0, indicating a new element. Except for mercury, caesium, and rubidium, Gallium is the only metal which can be liquid near room temperatures. It is also used in semiconductor applications.  See the Engineering Pathway’s educational resources on Gallium or visit the Electrical Engineering Education, Materials Engineering Education or the Chemical Engineering Education disciplinary communities for curricular resources.

Today in History – August 23, 1977 – Gossamer Condor achieves first human powered flight around a figure eight. This team effort, under the leadership of Paul B. MacCready, Jr., won the $50,000 Kremer Prize and captured the world’s attention. Bryan Allen maintained a head-height during the 7 1/2 minute figure eight flight.

British millionaire Henry Kremer and the Royal Aeronautical Society offered the Kremer Prize to the “designer who could create a human-powered flying machine”. After 18 years of no winners,  MacCready’s Gossamer Condor made history in 1977 when it became the first human-powered vehicle to achieve a sustained flight, performing a complex maneuver.

The Gossamer Condor is now on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. MacCready went on to win a number of other flight firsts and also developed the solar-powered Sunraycer that competed in a race across Australia. His 1990 electric car, built in collaboration with General Motors, resulted in the Impact electric car that could accelerate from zero to 60 mph in eight seconds.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s resources on Paul MacCready and the Gossamer Condor. Or view curricular resources at the Aerospace Engineering Education Community site.

Today in History – August 19, 1934 – First All-American Soap Box Derby.  This youth competition was inspired by photographer Myron Scott while he was covering a story on the soap box cars built by local boys for the Dayton Daily News. He was motivated to develop a similar program at a national scale. Not a whole lot has changed since then except that the event draws both girls and boys over a wider range of ages. The Derby has run nationally since 1934 and the World Championship finals are held each summer at Derby Downs in Akron, Ohio. The goal is to teach young people craft skills, the spirit of competition and perseverance to complete a complex project. The gravity-powered cars are required to use standardized wheels with precision ball bearings. Today, the rules allow a lot of freedom in the look of the car and its fairing. Modern cars can achieve speeds over 35 miles per hour, thus safety is a primary consideration in the design. Starting in 1993, the Derby went international with the Rally World Championship using a grand prix style competition. Laura Shepherd’s 1995 Soap Box Derby car is in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History (photo, upper right).

I don’t believe that I have ever seen a wooden soap box, but they must have been an icon of the American scene at one time. Until the middle of the 20th century they were made of sturdy wood and were used after shipping for a wide range of reuse applications. I recall that politicians and preachers used to stand on a soap box as a makeshift speaking platform. A number of American inventions used them for early prototypes. For example, James Spangler made the first effective vacuum cleaner from an old fan motor attached it to a soap box stapled to a broom handle, using a pillow case as a dust collector. See my blog on the prototyping and the  first vacuum cleaner patent on February 18, 1901.

I’d love it if the Soap Box Derby competition challenges today’s youth to make more sustainable automobiles for future generations. Hybrids and automobiles using alternate fuels such as solar, biofuels or hydrogen are promising directions for research and development. The solar car, human powered vehicle and supermileage vehicle engineering student competitions at universities today help students develop integrative design and team skills, as well as provide engaging examples for the next generation of engineering students.

See the Engineering Pathway’s educational resources in automotive engineering and design or prototyping. For curricular resources, visit the Mechanical Engineering Education or the Design Engineering Education community sites .

Today in History – August 17, 1807- Robert Fulton’s North River Steam Boat, called the Clermont, began its first voyage up New York’s Hudson River to complete a successful round-trip from New York City to Albany, traveling 150 miles in 32 hours.

Although Robert Fulton did not invent the steamboat, he is credited with making it a commercial success. Robert Fulton was born in Little Britain township (now Fulton), Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1765 and died in New York, 24 February 1815. His father came from Kilkenny, Ireland, and immigrated to the United States early in the 18th century. Robert Fulton was a motivated artist and tinkerer. He was constructing paddlewheels at the age of thirteen, which he successfully applied to a fishing boat. He also supported himself through painting miniature portraits and landscapes, as well as mechanical and architectural drawing. He traveled to London to study under Benjamin West to improve his artistic skills and also visited artists in Paris. But he was drawn further into experiments in mechanics and engines. In 1798 Fulton worked on a project for the improvement of canal navigation and obtained a British patent for a double inclined plane for raising or lowering boats from one level to another on a system of small canals.

Fulton returned to the U.S. and completed the boat that was to navigate the Hudson in Spring of 1807. The Clermont’s steam-power trip up the Hudson to Albany was subject to much jealousy and rivalry, depriving him from most of the profits from his innovation. Yet few challenge his claim to have been the major influence behind the rapid multiplication and commercial success of steamboats in the U.S. and elsewhere. Robert Fulton is also well known for his role in a number of other innovations, including the submarine.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s resources on Robert Fulton, steam engines and thermodynamics. For related educational resources, visit the Mechanical Engineering Education disciplinary community.

Today in History – August 15, 1914 – First ship through the Panama Canal. Ever since Europeans discovered the new world, sailors dreamed of linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans across the Isthmus of Panama, a narrow neck of land connecting North and South America in what is now the country of Panama. The construction of the Panama Canal meant that ships no longer needed to take the long and arduous route around the tip of South America and could shorten that voyage by weeks and thousands of miles.

The United States built the original canal at a cost of about $380 million, employing thousands of laborers over 10 years. Using steam shovels and dredges they cut through jungles, hills and swamps, removed 211 million cubic yards of earth and rock and workers suffered from malaria and yellow fever.

The United States controlled the Panama Canal Zone from 1903-1999. Now owned by Panama, the Canal operates as an international enterprise in character. For example, the Panama Canal is the one place in the world where a Captain must surrender command of his or her ship to go through the canal.

The Panama Canal is an amazing feat of engineering and is sometimes called the Eighth Wonder of the World. The canal operates as a ship elevator using three sets of water-filled chambers (locks) to raise and lower ships from one level to another. The ships must move between sea level (the Pacific or the Atlantic) to the level of Gatun Lake in Panama (26 meters above sea level) and then sail the channel through the Continental Divide. Per command of the canal authority, ships move through the locks slowly. Since the clearance between the ship and lock walls are very small, ships are tethered-pulled and controlled by locomotives on the port (below left) and starboard (below right) sides of the ship in a highly synchronized manner (below center, video clip).

For nearly a century, the Panama Canal has accommodated a wide range of ship types and sizes and is reported to handle nearly 5% of global trade. In the same period, ship design and design-objectives have also gone through major evolution: thousands of deadweight tons (DWT) vessels have grown to hundreds of thousands of DWT giants. In recent times, ships have been designed with a beam (width) restriction of “Panamax” (that is, it cannot exceed the maximum width of the canal locks). Now larger container ships cannot pass through and in July 2006 Panama voted to widen its Canal. This large-scale expansion project will have many challenges and will definitely be a feat of Extreme Engineering.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s educational resources on the Panama Canal and extreme engineering. For related curricula, visit the Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering Education, Ocean Engineering Education, Civil Engineering Education and Construction Engineering Education disciplinary communities.

Today in History – August 13, 1913 – English metallurgist, Harry Brearley cast the first true stainless steel in Sheffield, England. This steel alloy was composed of 0.24% carbon and 12.8% chromium. Brearley (upper left photo) was trying to develop a more erosion-resistant steel for rifle barrels. He etched samples with acid before examining the steel’s grain structure under the microscope. The etching reagents he used were based on nitric acid. He was surprised to find that this new steel strongly resisted chemical attack.

Of course much depends on how true stainless steel is defined. It wasn’t defined as 10.5% chromium until 1911. Prior to this, Stoddard, Farraday and Berthier circa 1820 appear to have discovered that iron-chromium alloys were more resistant to chemical attack. Woods and Clark filed for a patent in 1872 for an acid- and weather-resistant iron composed of 30-35% chromium and 2% tungsten. Brustein in 1875 identified the importance of keeping the carbon content low, but there were no known processing techniques at the time to develop the concept further. Hans Goldschmidt of Germany broke through this barrier in 1895 with the development of the aluminothermic reduction process for producing carbon-free chromium. Researchers that followed documented experiments with low carbon steel and its properties (e.g., Gulliet, Giesen, Monnartz, Borchers).

It is not clear that Brearley built on any of this prior research or not? Was his discovery entirely serendipitous? We may never know. But many others laid claim to the discovery of stainless steel following Brearley’s announcement, including researchers from the U.S., Germany, Poland and Sweden. I like the story of Elwood Haynes (upper right photo) who was motivated to replace his rusty razor with a corrosion resistant version. He, Becket and Dantsizen worked on ferritic stainless steels, containing 14-16% chromium and 0.07-0.15% carbon, in the years 1911-1914. Haynes was awarded a U.S. patent in 1919. Haynes was a graduate of WPI, who makes the claim that Haynes should be credited as the inventor of stainless steel. Haynes had many other inventions, including the metallurgical invention of Stellite that was manufactured by his company, now called Haynes International, located in Kokomo, IN.

Regardless of who you accept as the inventor of stainless steel, there is no question about its impact on modern technology and products. In addition to the stainless razor and cutlery that motivated its development, stainless steel is used for high strength applications in the aerospace, automotive, consumer products, manufacturing, biomedical, chemical, petroleum, construction, railroad and naval industries.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s educational resources on stainless steel or view our Materials Engineering Education, Manufacturing Engineering Education or our Engineering Mechanics Education community sites.