Cobblestone articles from January 2005

Cobblestone archives from January 2005

Editor's Note.(industrial revolution)(Editorial)
January 1, 2005... Nineteenth-century America witnessed remarkable changes. In less than one hundred years, the country was transformed from a young, mostly rural and agricultural society into a strong urban and industrial nation. Americans from all walks of...

Patent procedures.
January 1, 2005... A patent grants an inventor the "property rights" to his or her creation. And a creation means an actual thing, not simply a concept or idea. Patent applications must include a description of the invention, and the invention must prove to be...

Off to a good start.
January 1, 2005... Every school day at 6:35 A.M., Leslie awakens to the loud noise of her radio/alarm clock. She rolls over and hits the snooze button, buying herself ten more minutes of sleep until the alarm sounds again and blasts her out of bed at 6:45. Leslie...

American on the move.(inventors and travel)
January 1, 2005... In 1800, travel in the United States was limited. To get from one place to another on land, people walked, rode horseback, or journeyed by stagecoaches pulled by horses over unpaved roads. Water travelers could choose various types of vessels,...

The information age ... in 1830.
January 1, 2005... At the start of the nineteenth century, communication revolved around printing on paper. The "information age" really began in 1827 when Isaac Adams (1803-1883) of Boston, Massachusetts, created a steam-powered printing press. After working to...

International invention in the 1800s.
January 1, 2005... Americans were not the only inventors and new product/technology creators in the 1800s. Can you imagine life without the following important inventions from around the world? 1800 Italian physicist Alessandro Volta builds the first electric...

Efficiency on the rise.(agricultural revolution)
January 1, 2005... Imagine a baseball game with no peanuts, a fifty-story building with no elevator, or your day with no computers. Nineteenth-century American innovators paved the way for making life in the twenty-first century much more efficient. ...

They were inventors, tool.
January 1, 2005... So you know that Thomas Edison invented the light bulb and Alexander Graham Bell spoke into the first telephone. But have you ever heard of African American inventor Jan E. Matzeliger, who built the shoe-lasting machine (which helped cobblers...

Did you know?
January 1, 2005... In 1896, Leo Hirshfield's chewy chocolate became the first penny candy to be wrapped in paper. He called it a Tootsie Roll after his 6-year-old daughter, Clara, whose nickname was "Tootsie." In 1897, William Morrison and John Wharton...

Home improvements.
January 1, 2005... We don't think twice today when we switch on the lights in a dark house, or turn on a dishwasher full of dirty dishes, or play some CDs on the stereo. But the following inventions made a big difference in the home lives of nineteenth-century...

Make a movie machine.
January 1, 2005... did you know that a children's toy inspired Thomas Edison to make movies? The "phenakistoscope," or spindle viewer, was a popular toy during the mid- to late 1800s. It shows a movie by letting the viewer see a series of quickly moving pictures....

Picturing a new age.
January 1, 2005... Want to capture the moment? Take a picture! It is easy with today's cameras. But there was a lot of work involved in taking a photograph in 1880. Back then, cameras were big, heavy, wooden boxes. To take each picture, a photographer had to drag...

'To show the world'.(The International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures, and Products of the Soil and Mine)
January 1, 2005... Thousands of fairgoers watched while U.S. president Ulysses S. Grant and Brazil's emperor Dom Pedro II cranked the levers of George Corliss's seven-hundred-ton steam engine in Philadelphia's Machinery Hall. Countless belts and pulleys began to...

21st-century inventors.(The Past Is Present)
January 1, 2005... What's the big idea?" Can you imagine starting every day with that question? At DEKA Research & Development in Manchester, New Hampshire, the company philosophy is to think big and "outside the box." To the engineers, technicians, designers,...

Different strokes.(Going Global)
January 1, 2005... Inventions aren't merely objects or devices. They're also ideas, given physical shape by their creators, that change the way people do things. In addition to the great inventors, there were other kinds of innovators as well, all over the world,...

Music in the air.(Going Global)(music composer)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... People often say that inventors seem to create "out of thin air." In other words, almost like magic, they thin" ideas into existence, but what about composers? Their magic may be even more impressive, because from the ideas and feelings within...

The liberator.(Going Global)(Simon Bolivar )(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Simon Bolivar was neither scientist nor mathematician, but more than any other individual, he helped "invent" the idea and the reality of an independent Latin America in the nineteenth century. When he was born in 1783 in Venezuela, almost...

Great inventions.(Your Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2005... Roller skates have been known since 1760; Joseph Merlin, a violinist in Belgium; invented them. He put two wheels on shoes. Merlin was invited to a costume party, and he made his entrance by gliding in on the shoes with two wheels....

Bulb.(Your Letter)(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2005... The light bulb was a great invention. Thomas Edison invented it in 1879. Inside the bulb was a cotton thread turned to the mineral carbon. When electricity ran through the bulb and burned the thread, the bulb lit up with a bright white light....

Inventions.(Your Letter)(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2005... Why don't they invent on and off switches for your sister? Clothes that put themselves in the hamper? Leashes that walk your dog? Why don't they invent dishes that carry themselves to the sink? Books that...

Breakfast cereal.(Your Letter)(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2005... In 1894, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg was running a hospital in Michigan. All of his patients had vegetables on their diets. Kellogg wanted to serve them wheat in a new way. So, he and his brother Will put wheat kernels through rollers. Each wheat...

Imagination.(Your Letter)(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2005... Imagination is a thing that can take off with only one wing. It goes in your brain to keep the flow, and then once again, it will go. It drifts in your head and makes you dream. Then the next morning, you know what it means. So you take paper...

Dear cobblestonians.
January 1, 2005... The year 1776 was a pivotal one for our nation. In the October 2005 issue, we will take a close look at that year, get to know the men and women who emerged as American leaders, and try to grasp the enormity of their fateful decision to risk...

Books to read.(Digging Deeper)(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... Communication by Geraldine Gan and Industry and Business by Linda Leuzzi (Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 1997, www.chelseahouse.com) are two volumes in the Life in America 100 Years Ago series, which focuses on different industries and how their...

On the Web.(Digging Deeper)
January 1, 2005... Check out inventors.about.com/library/ weekly/aa111100a.htm for a time line of every invention that was produced between 1800 and 1899. (From this site, you also can go to other centuries to learn more about earlier and later inventions....

Places to visit.(Digging Deeper)(inventions)
January 1, 2005... George Westinghouse Museum, Wilmerding, Pennsylvania. Located in the "castle" that served as the offices of the Westinghouse Air Brake Company, the museum showcases various rooms that are filled with artifacts, memorabilia documents relating to...

Always Inventing: a Photobiography of Alexander Graham Bell.(Embry's Review)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2005... ALWAYS INVENTING: A PHOTOBIOGRAPHY OF ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL by Tom L. Matthews (Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 1999, www.nationalgeographic.com/books). Students and adults alike know Alexander Graham Bell for his invention of...

From the archives.
January 1, 2005... Throughout history, inventions have changed and improved our lives. For a closer look at some of America's most famous inventors and some remarkable inventions, we recommend: African American Inventors (COB9202), The History of the Automobile...

An electrifying genius.(Flashback ... To Cobblestone's African American Inventors Issue)(Lewis Howard Latimer)(Biography)
January 1, 2005... The son of fugitive slaves, Lewis Howard Latimer worked as a clerk for Crosby and Gould, a firm of patent lawyers after the Civil War. He became interested in the work of the draftsmen who prepared invention drawings. Saving enough money to buy...

Brain ticklers.
January 1, 2005... GIVE YOUR BRAIN A LITTLE TICKLE TO SEE HOW WELL YOU READ AND UNDERSTOOD THIS ISSUE ON IMPORTANT INVENTIONS OF THE 1800S. IF YOU BELIEVE THE ANSWER TO BE FALSE, GIVE YOURSELF THE ULTIMATE TEST AND SEE WHETHER YOU CAN EXPLAIN WHY IT IS FALSE....

A final word.
January 1, 2005... WHAT INVENTION(S) FROM THE 18000S WOULD YOU FIND THE MOST DIFFICULT TO LIVE WITHOUT TODAY, AND WHY? 70U MIGHT WANT TO REREAD THE ARTICLE BEGINNING ON PAGE 4 FOR SOME IDEAS!

Cartoon connection: with Ebenezer & the Colonel.(Comic)(Cartoon)
January 1, 2005... COLONEL?! What ARE You doing in there?? With all that RACKET I can't think straight! Ah! You're JUST IN TIME! I'M about to test my NEW DEVICE! It combines TEN inventions of the 1800s to perform a most ESSENTIAL TASK!! My Gracious!...