This week in History 5 I learned about the combine harvester, the solar compass, the propeller, and the mechanical calculator.
On Monday I learned about the combine harvester. The Second Great Awakening led to Christian conflict with the Freemasons in New York. John Hascall left Freemasonry combine to solve Hastcall’s harvesting problems. The combine could harvest 30 acers a day at an 80% reduction in the cost of threshing. Moore wasn’t commercially successful, but his combine helped influence others who would be. The modern combine led to drastic declines in food prices and economic expansion.
On Tuesday I learned about the solar compass. Surveying is an ancient profession dedicated to accurately determining property boundaries. Willeam Austin Burt devised the magnetic fields and develop accurate readings. The solar compass was a complex device that did not suffer from magnetic field interference. It became the US government’s standard surveying tool after its patent expired. Michigan became a leading producer of the iron ore as a a result of Burt’s invention.
On Wednesday, I learned about the propeller. Steamboat propulsion was dominated by paddlewheel technology in the early 1800s. Francis Pettit Smith invented a successful screw propeller in 1835. It was lighter, increased fuel efficiency, made the boat advertised his propeller to the British Navy, through a series of trials he conducted. Steamship technology improved, tickets got cheaper, immigration increased, and propeller design improved.
The most interesting thing I learned about this week was the combine harvester because it fed all the people in the Us and left a surplus for selling to other countries!
The inventions I learned about this week helped keep people fed in the US and keep the economy going in the US.
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