Week 2 Summary Essay
This week in History class, I learned about more inventions that are important to history. I learned about vapor-compression theory and the refrigerator, Oliver Evans, the percussion ignition system, and the canning process. I will go over these inventions and inventors in the following paragraphs.
The first lesson of this week was about the vapor-compression theory, which is responsible for the air conditioner and the refrigerator. To get ice, people would have to get chunks of ice in the winter. After that, they would put the ice in a special house called an icehouse. The icehouse would keep the ice cold for several months. Some icehouses kept the ice cold until the next winter. This way of keeping food cold did not work for transporting food, though, because it would spoil quickly. William Cullen tried to make something like a refrigerator in 1755. Ben Franklin also tried in 1758, but it didn’t exactly work. Oliver Evans eventually developed the theory of vapor compression, but he didn’t make the device that used it. Finally, John Gorrie made a refrigerator using Evans’ theory for medical purposes, because he was a doctor in 1842. The first air conditioner was made by Willis Carrier in 1902. He was actually trying to make something for a printing company. Both the refrigerator and the air conditioner used Oliver Evans’ vapor-compression theory to move heat out of an area. These inventions helped people keep food longer in their refrigerators and keep cool in hot weather. This technology eventually led to freezers and the ice machine. People began to eat more and more frozen foods, because they were easier and faster than homemade meals. This also changed many other things during that time, like allowing women to focus more on careers than on work done at home like preparing and cooking meals.
As I said in the last paragraph, Oliver Evans developed the Vapor-Compression Theory. Although he is most known for his flour mills, he also designed the solar boiler, machine gun, steam-carriage gearshift, dough-kneading machine, perpetual effect evaporator, and finally, a scheme for urban gas lighting. His most well-known invention, though, was the automated flour mill, which was important in the Industrial Revolution and the development of mass production.
Next, I learned about the percussion ignition, and how the percussion cap was invented around 1820. The percussion cap is a small copper or brass cylinder inside the gun which holds the gun powder. When the trigger is pulled it releases the hammer, and hits the percussion cap, and causes the powder to explode! The momentum of the powder forces out the bullet. John Forsyth invented this very important invention, and this is the reason why: he loved duck hunting. Although, the gun that he used took forever to fire. By the time he was ready to aim, all the ducks would be out of site. He decided to find a solution for this and succeeded! Eventually, he opened a shop, selling guns that used his system. The business did not last forever. One reason why is because people bought more guns than he could make. I mean, I would to! They shoot automatically, and they will shoot in the rain! Also, if it wasn’t for Forsyth, Samuel Colt could not have made the “Colt” gun.
Now to one of my personal favorites, the “can.” So, let’s get started! France had a lot of enemies that tried to concur the country, so they made a huge army called the French Revolution. The biggest of their many problems was feeding all the soldiers. The commander of the army said that whoever found a solution for this would win a whole bunch of money. Nicolas Appert was a chef in France. He started storing food in champagne bottles and boiling them. This kept food good for a long time, but he wasn’t sure why. This helped the army, and he made a lot of money after showing other people this new way of storing food. His invention made a big impact on history, since food could be kept fresh for a long time. Later they replaced the glass champagne bottles with tin cans, which made them easier to transport without breaking. Even sailors and navy soldiers used them. One funny thing I learned is that they didn’t come up with the can opener until much later.
In conclusion, the theories, inventions, and inventors I learned about this week were very fascinating and exciting. I am so happy that inventors come up with these very important inventions to shape America and the rest of the world.
Answer this question: list two or three sources of motivation that you think are powerful enough to drive inventors to pursue their inventions, even in the face of adversity like bankruptcy and ridicule. Explain why.
1. I think one source of motivation could have been their parents, family, and friends. If you have people around you that love and support you, it makes it easier to overcome adversity.
2. I think another source of motivation could be how bad the problem is that the inventor is trying to solve. If it is something that is really needed, it could push the inventor even harder to keep working on the invention.