Stocking Frame (Mechanical Knitter)The first automated knitting machine; one of the key pieces of equipment that kicked off the Industrial Revolution. The Stocking Frame copies the hand movements of a tradesperson, knitting far faster than a person could. The machine worked with both wool, which tended to produce coarse but inexpensive fabric, and also silk. When cotton became … Continue reading "Stocking Frame (Mechanical Knitter)"
Metric SystemThe metric system standardized weights and measures enabling trade and improving communication. Before the metric system, every country and also countless regions, used different forms of measurement. This vastly complicated international trade. Metric The metric system derives from the natural world and uses a decimal counting system for simplicity. Length derives from the meter, a … Continue reading "Metric System"
Surgical AnesthesiaAnesthesia enables modern surgery, reducing pain and risk. Before anesthesia, patients were held down and surgeons would have to operate quickly. Amputations were common because surgeons did not have the time to do more complicated work before a patient went into shock from the pain. Ether is the first anesthesia. William Morton, a dentist, is … Continue reading "Surgical Anesthesia"
VirtualizationVirtualization enables the separation of an operating system and the physical device, the chips that it runs on. An imperfect but close enough metaphor is auto rental. Rather than purchasing a car, that may be too big for many tasks and too small for others, a user can rent just the right size car or … Continue reading "Virtualization"
RailroadRailroads vastly lowered the cost of moving people and goods over land. Richard Trevithick invented the locomotive engine. However, he never quite created a fully functioning railroad: Trevithick’s locomotive was a literal circus act, pulling children around a track at a circus. His core innovation was the idea of a high-pressure steam engine. Prior steam … Continue reading "Railroad"
Pneumatic Tires1845 Robert Thomson The wheel is a seminal invention, widely regarded as one of the most important in human history. However, early wooden and stone wheels were far less useful than their modern air-filled rubber counterparts, the pneumatic tire. Despite their ubiquity today, it’s amazing that the pneumatic (air-filled) tire initially went all but unnoticed. … Continue reading "Pneumatic Tires"
Protease InhibitorsHistory They first called it gay men’s cancer. Then announced it affected intravenous drug users. People became skeptical when they added Haitians as a risk factor. Being gay, a drug user, or black was a death sentence? My openly gay high school English teacher became sick and quickly died in the middle of a semester. … Continue reading "Protease Inhibitors"
Refrigerated Trucks1939 Frederick Jones Refrigerated trucks, invented by Frederick Jones, enable modern commerce. Jones is somewhat of an innowiki aberration in that he 1) invented something useful with enormous impact, 2) successfully commercialized it, 3) managed to keep the business and build it out, and 4) was a minority. We’d like to have a long list … Continue reading "Refrigerated Trucks"
Shareholder Value Theory: Milton Friedman ReduxOn September 13, 1970, Milton Friedman published one of the most arguably economically destructive articles in history, “The Social Responsibility Of Business Is to Increase Its Profits,” in the New York Times. The article is available, in PDF form, for subscribers from the New York Times website. Friedman advanced the idea that managers are agents … Continue reading "Shareholder Value Theory: Milton Friedman Redux"
Electronic Stock Exchange (NASDAQ)History In early stock markets, traders offered and accepted bids for stock prices to one another. People would stand in a stock exchange and literally yell out stock symbols and prices. Buyers would purchase blocks of stock. This system was slow and expensive. Only high-level bankers had access to the people on a stock trading … Continue reading "Electronic Stock Exchange (NASDAQ)"
Portland Cement1843 Joseph AspdinWilliam AspdinWilliam Beverley Portland cement is modern cement. It’s admittedly dull — unless being used on dilapidated ships by mobsters for shoes — but extremely useful with more mainstream uses. Portland cement is used to make buildings, stadiums, stairs, sidewalks, foundations, and shares the unfortunate honor of being the enabler of brutalist architecture. … Continue reading "Portland Cement"
Electric Arc WeldingElectric arc welding lowered the price of joining metal pieces, eventually enabling the construction of much larger structures. Russians love to build giant things, bolshoya as they say in Russian. Therefore, it makes sense that it was a Russian, Benardos Nikolai Nikolaevic, who realized in 1881 that two metal pieces can be tightly joined together … Continue reading "Electric Arc Welding"
Induction Motors“Intelligent people tend to have less friends than the average person.” Nikola Tesla There are two types of electricity, Direct Current (AC) and Alternating Current (AC). Vastly simplifying, in DC electrical systems the current flows in one direction, like current in a stream. This makes designing certain appliances easier; the motor turns in the direction … Continue reading "Induction Motors"
Synthetic DyeAs the Industrial Revolution gained steam (OK – bad pun), England’s population became denser. Eventually, the resulting pools of water bred mosquitos that eventually became a malaria epidemic. Perkin, a 15-year-old student, ran crude experiments to create lower-cost quinine, a malaria medicine. One of his processes accidentally produced a strong purple liquid. Useless as a … Continue reading "Synthetic Dye"
Niche MarketingWalker, daughter of freed slaves, is the first self-made millionaire woman and the first self-made millionaire African American (maybe – tax returns suggest it was $600K but she did very well for herself). She invented beauty products for Black people. Walker was born in a sharecropper’s cabin. She is orphaned at seven. A freelance launderer, … Continue reading "Niche Marketing"
