Patent Pending Blog - Patents and the History of Technology

The Ship Railroad of Corinth

Southern Greece consists of a body of land called the Peloponnese, which is connected to the rest of Greece by a narrow isthmus, the Isthmus of Corinth, near the ancient city of Corinth.  Corinth was a major center of trade and culture in ancient Greece, at times exceeding the influence of Athens and Sparta.  If  a ship wanted to go to a port city east of the Peloponnese, it had to go all the way around the Peloponnese. 

This was a 195 mile journey, and exposed the ship to dangerous coastal rocks and weather.  It would be much shorter to cut across the Isthmus of Corinth, but of course this was not possible.  This would take a canal, which would be a huge undertaking. 

In the mid sixth century BC, Periander, the ruler of Corinth, did the next best thing to building a canal.  He built a road paved with stone from one side of the isthmus to the other, called the Diolkos.  There were two deep gooves carved into the stone of the road, and a vehicle called the olkos was built to travel over the road.  The olkos was on wheels, and was large enough to carry an entire ship, without cargo.  Loaded with the ship, the olkos would be towed across the 4 mile wide Isthmus of Corinth to the other side.  If a ship was too big for the overland journey, its cargo would be transported from a ship on one side to a waiting ship on the other side. 

The Diolkos was 10 meters wide at the harbor, and narrowed to 3 to 4 meters wide in places on its route.  The Diolkos and the olkos, though repaired and restored many times, were used until the 9th century AD, for a useful life of 1500 years.  Enough revenue was generated by operation of the Diolkos that taxation of the residents was abolished. 

The Tupperware Story

Michele Miller has written a nice story about the early history of the Tupperware company at her site WonderBranding: Marketing to Women.  Her site has many interesting items related to branding, which is a field in which she is obviously expert.

The First Tanks

Leonardo da Vinci designed an armored car or tank in about 1487.  His design was covered by wood, had 4 wheels, which were powered by hand cranks from within the vehicle.  There were firing ports so that the occupants could fire in a 360 degree range, without moving the vehicle. Like most of his other ideas, this was never published, and a prototype was never built.  Perhaps he realized that his vehicle would be far too heavy to be powered by hand operated cranks.

However, in 1512 a Spanish army in Italy used 200 battle cars against a French army, but the armored cars were not sufficient to win the battle for the Spanish.

The Apple Parer

Moses Coates is reputed to have obtained the first American patent on a apple parer, in 1803.  The patent shown here is a much later one, to J. D. Browne, from 1865.  Apple parers and other kitchen appliances were among the first mass produced items, and there were dozens if not hundreds of them.  Eli Whitney began his inventing career by inventing an apple peeler. 

 

The only kind of apple peelers one sees today are called lathe type peelers, in which the apple is skewered on prongs, and spins as a stationary blade removes the peel, and a corer removes the core.  There are 117 apple peelers on ebay today, all of the lathe type.  Don Thornton's article titled Apple Parers, A Slice of American History, has much more information on apple parers.

The Kayak, High Tech Craft of the Arctic

The early arctic explorers were amazed to see the light and seaworthy boats that the Inuit and Aleut Indians paddled into the ocean.  These crafts were kayaks, and are traditionally made by Arctic peoples from Greenland to Siberia.  They are made of a wooden framework covered by a skin.  Traditionally, the skin was animal hide, but kayaks with a frame and skin are now made with a skin of fabric, dacron, neoprene, or some other modern equivalent of hide.  Modern boatbuilders still build these craft, and the wood and skin versions are reputed to perform better than wood strips kayaks, because they bend with the waves.

Kayaks were typically made in treeless areas, so the wood for these craft were scrounged from driftwood on the beach.  Kayaks typically have a sturdy gunwale, which is the top edge of the craft, and no keel, unlike boats of European design.  Made entirely without metal, the wooden pieces were connected to each other by wooden or bone pegs, mortise and tenon joints, and by rawhide or sinew cord.

The view at left is of the interior of a traditional kayak, showing the wooden frame and how it is interconnected.  A hide covering is stretched over the frame, and the top deck has a peak to shed water.  Some traditional kayaks have a floor, made by wooden slats that the paddler sits on.

Modern kayaks take the traditional kayak shape, and apply modern materials to the design, such as composite materials instead of wood structural pieces, metal for the frame, and wood with fiberglass for a skin.  The photos below are of an ocean going tandem built by my good friend, Marc Dilley of Wenatchee Washington. It has a carbon fiber rudder, steerable by foot pedals, and wonderful patterns formed by different colored strips of wood. 

This took Marc about a year to build, spending 5 hours a week, and has given him and his wife Margareta many hours of peaceful paddling.  It was built from a design by One Ocean Kayaks, and is the Cape Ann Double model.  It weighs about 70 pounds, and in addition to Marc and Margareta, will hold about 200 pounds of gear.  This boat is made using the same technique as wood strip canoes, in which thin strips of wood are attached to forms on a strongback, and glued side to side.   The interior forms are then removed, and the inside and outside are coated with fiberglass and resin, which add to the strength.  Although built from plans, building this boat required Marc to do an incredible amount of design and fabrication of the component parts.  Nice job, Marc! 

    

Old Technology v New

When that fancy electronic alarm system fails, you can always revert to a tried and true mechanical lock.  This baby will not fail when the battery runs down!

The Kentucky Rifle

The Americans had a secret weapon in the Revolutionary War, the Kentucky Rifle, or the Pennsylvania rifle, as it was known then. It was generally made in Pennsylvania by German immigrant gunsmiths, and only later became known as the Kentucky rifle. The Kentucky rifle was an American refinement of existing rifle technology, and was used with a tactic that the British found to be unchivalrous and rude. The American forces developed the habit of shooting specifically at officers, from great distances, and the Kentucky rifle was known by the British as the widow maker.

The Kentucky rifle modified the standard musket of the day by having a longer barrel, being lighter, shooting a smaller caliber, using rifling, and using a ball that was smaller than the barrel, with a greased patch. Rifling refers to spiral grooves in the gun’s barrel, which cause the bullet to spin, thus greatly increasing accuracy. Since a greased patch was used to seal the ball in the barrel, a patch box was provided in the stock, to keep the patches clean. These were all modifications that made the Kentucky rifle perfect for hunting game in the woods of the colonies. It also made it the first long range sniper rifle.

The British made a point of capturing some American riflemen and their rifles, and they were sent to England. There they were forced to demonstrate their marksmanship, much to the amazement of the British. While a musket such as the Brown Bess was innacurate at 100 yards, the Kentucky rifle was highly accurate at 200 yards, and many shots were made at 300 and even 400 yards.

A British officer, Colonel George Hanger, made this observation of the accuracy of a frontiersman with a Kentucky rifle and an incident in South Carolina.

I never in my life saw better rifles (or men who shot better) than those made in America: they are chiefly made in Lancaster, and two or three neighboring towns in that vicinity, in Pennsylvania. The barrels weigh about six pounds two or three ounces, and carry a ball no larger than thirty-six to the pound; at least I never saw one of a larger caliber, and I have seen many hundreds and hundreds. I am not going to relate any thing respecting the American war; but to mention one instance, as a proof of most excellent skill of an American rifleman. If any man shew me an instance of better shooting, I will stand corrected.

Colonel, now General Tartleton, and myself, were standing a few yards out of a wood, observing the situation of a part of the enemy which we intended to attack. There was a rivulet in the enemy's front, and a mill on it, to which we stood directly with our horses' heads fronting, observing their motions. It was an absolute plain field between us and the mill; not so much as a single bush on it. Our orderly-bugle stood behind us, about three yards, but with his horse's side to our horses' tails. A rifle-man passed over the mill-dam, evidently observing two officers, and laid himself down on his belly; for, in such positions, they always lie, to take a good shot at a long distance. He took a deliberate and cool shot at my friend, at me, and the bugle-horn man. (I have passed several times over this ground, and ever observed it with the greatest attention; and I can positively assert that the distance he fired from, at us, was full four hundred yards). Now, observe how well this fellow shot. It was in the month of August, and not a breath of wind was stirring. Colonel Tartleton's horse and mine, I am certain, were not anything like two feet apart; for we were in close consultation, how we should attack with our troops, which laid 300 yards in the wood, and could not be perceived by the enemy. A rifle-ball passed between him and me; looking directly to the mill, I observed the flash of the powder. l said to my friend, "I think we had better move, or we shall have two or three of these gentlemen, shortly, amusing themselves at our expence. "The words were hardly out of my mouth, when the bugle horn man, behind us, and directly central, jumped off his horse, and said, "Sir, my horse is shot." The horse staggered, fell down, and died. He was shot directly behind the fore-leg, near to the heart, at least where the great blood-vessels lie, which lead to the heart. He took the saddle and bridle off, went into the wood, and got another horse. We had a number of spare horses, led by negro lads.

In the most famous use of the Kentucky rifle, American rifleman Timothy Murphy shot British General Simon Fraser from his horse at a distance of 500 yards, which is a respectable distance for a sniper in modern times with an advanced scope.

Although the Kentucky rifle made some spectacular shots, and kept the British officer corp in turmoil and distracted, the Kentucky rifle was not fitted with a bayonet, so the rank and file American soldiers used the Brown Bess  musket with its bayonet and poor accuracy.  Riflemen were attached to the main army as special details, such as skirmishers, scouts, and snipers. The Brits had their own long range rifle, in the Ferguson breech loading rifle but it was not used extensively.

Other Revolutionary War era technology is posted at:

The Brown Bess Musket

Franklin's Jet Boat

The Turtle Submarine

Read this Only If You Are Illiterate

This sign is for illiterate people who can read and write.  In other words, a lot of my friends. 

The Butt Kicking Machine

This is a machine we all could use at certain times, and some people could use daily.  I could see possibilities for a franchise of these, set up in shopping malls.  Your friends would buy you a "ride" after you did something really stupid.  Or you could treat yourself to a session, as a reminder to never do "that" again. This is US Patent # 6,293,874.   

The British Secret Weapon of the Revolutionary War

The British in the American Revolutionary War had their own secret weapon, the Ferguson breech loading rifle. This was designed by Patrick Ferguson, then a Captain in the British army, and patented in England in 1777. It had a threaded cylinder attached to the trigger guard, with steeply pitched threads that allowed one twist of the trigger guard to open the breech for insertion of a ball and powder. In tests conducted before the Army officials, the rifle proved that it could shoot 6 shots per minute and reliably hit a target 200 yards away. This was far superior to the standard issue smooth bore musket, the Brown Bess. The barrel of the Ferguson rifle was rifled, which contributed greatly to its accuracy.

Following conservative advice, only 200 of the rifles were commissioned. These were used by troops personally trained and commanded by Captain Ferguson. He was wounded at Brandywine, and his core of riflemen was disbanded, and their remarkable weapons stored in a warehouse.

After recovering from his wound, Major Ferguson was put in command of British and Tory forces in South Carolina, where his forces developed a reputation for killing civilians and prisoners. Under Major Ferguson’s command, a force of 1100 British regulars and Tories trained in British field tactics traveled the frontier of South Carolina fighting militias, and forcing settlers to join the Tory army and swear allegiance. When Ferguson threatened to go over the Blue Ridge Mountains to eradicate the refuges of fleeing militiamen there, the leaders of remote “over mountain” settlements decided to mount a force to confront Ferguson, and many small groups of frontiersmen headed for Ferguson’s last known position for a battle.

From a force of 1400 men, the backwoodsmen sent their fastest 900 men, some mounted and some on foot, to catch up to Ferguson as he headed back to Cornwallis' main force. The frontiersmen were all armed with the Pennsylvania rifle, later called the Kentucky rifle. Hearing of the approaching force, Ferguson’s force of 1100 took position on King’s Mountain, and dug in for a fight. 

The Whig riflemen and their Kentucky rifles were not equipped for a bayonet charge, and whenever faced with one they fell back. However, shooting from behind rocks and trees, they poured murderous fire from long distance into the British and Tory positions. Some British positions were found with a pile of several men each with a bullet hole in his forehead, killed when they peered around the same rock one after another.  Ferguson was killed in the fight, and had seven bullets in him. In an hour of fighting, 225 British were killed and 28 frontiersmen were killed.

Shooting downhill, it is thought that the British over shot their targets. Shooting uphill, the frontiersmen and their Kentucky rifles carried the day, and ended the British efforts in the South.  Although the Ferguson rifle was not used on King's Mountain, the death of Ferguson ended its use and further development, and a breech loading rifle was not successful for another 80 years, in the U.S. Civil War.

Other Revolutionary War era technology is posted at:

The Kentucky Rifle

The Brown Bess Musket

Franklin's Jet Boat

The Turtle Submarine