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 and met Hiram Moore in Michigan, where Moore built his combine to solve Hastcall’s harvesting problems. The combine could harvest 30 acres 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 boundries. Willeam Austin Burt devised the solar compass to remove interference effects from local 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 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 easier to steer, and was cheaper to install. Smith 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 har because it fed all the people in the US and left a surpuls 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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