Innholdsfortegnelse for Amazing Inventions i Amazing Inventions

What is it to be human? That question is hard to answer, but one thing that most would agree plays a large part in it is our creativity. Machines – even revolutionary ones – lack the ability to think outside the box, or to add two and two together and make five. They can often outperform us in many tasks, both physically and mentally. However, the creative element that led to their own existence still remains elusive. And so it has been throughout time. Human ingenuity has led to the creation of thousands upon thousands of tools, machines, systems, processes and materials that have made our lives easier and helped us better understand the world. From the wheel to the refrigerator, printing press to magnetic compass, humanity has always pushed…

Aqueducts weren’t invented by Romans but were popularised by them. These structures were the life stream of a city. 1,300 drinking fountains and 144 public toilets were located in Rome and they were all fed by the complex system of aqueducts, which brought in fresh drinking water from rural areas. The system was accompanied by an elaborate network of sewers. Rome’s main sewer was known as Cloaca Maxima, and it carried dirty water out of the city and into the River Tiber. The first-ever aqueduct was the Aqua Appia, built in 312 BCE. It helped relieve the demand for water in a rapidly growing Rome. Where possible, the majority of an aqueduct was built underground to protect it from enemies. The iconic raised arches were only required when the structures…

On both land and sea, the Romans dominated warfare for centuries, invading large portions of Europe and making significant inroads into Africa and Asia Minor. The Romans outwitted their opponents using expert battle tactics like the testudo, or tortoise, shield formation, and they also had perfectly engineered weapons and armour. Soldiers were divided into legions of about 4,500 men, and each legion served in different territories and swore an oath of loyalty to the centurions. One of the main reasons why the Romans consistently beat their enemies (and what links them to today’s military) is the fact that the army was a professional conscripted force. A full-time operation, a soldier was one of the highest-paid and most-respected occupations in the empire. ROMANS ON THE BATTLEFIELD WHAT A BATTLE BETWEEN THE…

AERIAL SCREW Scribbling in his notebook around 1489, da Vinci envisioned a spiral-shaped contraption that could take to the skies. Possibly powered by hand cranks turned by four people, his writings suggested that the aerial screw could achieve flight by rotating quickly around a central shaft. Da Vinci believed that air could be compressed, so just as a screw bores into the ground below, his machine could bore into the air above to lift his machine up off the ground. Unfortunately, materials that were strong and light enough for the device to work were not available at the time. What’s more, it would not have been able to fly for long, as once it was off the ground, the screw would no longer have a support structure to press against…

Before the invention of the pen, most people used quills to write with. These were stripped bird feathers, usually from geese. In particular, swan feathers were very sought after but geese, crow, owl and turkey feathers were simpler to obtain. Quills were easy to supply, comfortable to hold and tapered down to a point so the writer could create all the subtle curves and lines of fine handwriting. The first record of their use was around the 6th century by European monks, replacing the reeds they had been using up until then. Feathers were stripped, buried in hot sand to harden, hollowed out and then filled with ink. They were time-consuming to make and had to be refilled and reshaped regularly, but continued to be the main writing implement until…

The Colossus computer was a machine used by the British intelligence service during World War II to analyse and decrypt teleprinter orders and messages enciphered with a Lorenz SZ40/42 encryption machine by the Nazi Germany High Command. The contents of the messages were of incredible value to the Allies, as they often contained key orders for German generals, including troop movements and tactics. Prior to the German use of the Lorenz cipher, the Allies had successfully cracked their Enigma code and had for years held the ability to decode messages thanks to Alan Turing’s incredible electromechanical Bombe machine. The Lorenz cipher was much more complex, however, with the SZ40/42 enciphering a message by combining its characters with a keystream of characters generated by 12 mechanical pinwheels. As such, without knowing…

A rack-and-pinion railway (also known as a cog railway) was one that employed a toothed track. The addition of the toothed rail – which was usually located centrally between the two running rails – enabled locomotives to traverse steep gradients of over 7 per cent, which remains to this day the maximum limit for standard adhesion-based railways. Core to the operation of each rack-and-pinion system was the engagement of the locomotive’s circular gears onto the linear rack. The rack and pinion therefore was essentially a means of converting the rotational energy generated by the train’s powerplant into linear motion on the rack. As both the rack-and-pinion gears had teeth, the system also acted as an additional form of adhesion to the track, with the inter-meshing teeth holding the vehicle in…

In 2020, 400 years after the original Mayflower embarked on its historic journey from Plymouth, Britain, to Plymouth, US, another groundbreaking vessel will follow in its wake. The Mayflower Autonomous Research Ship (MARS) is a multimillion pound project being developed by the UK’s Plymouth University, autonomous craft specialists MSubs, and yacht designers Shuttleworth Design. Unlike its namesake, it will be captained remotely so there will be no crew on board, and in addition to wind power it will also be propelled by energy from the Sun. As well as marking an important maritime anniversary, MARS will serve as a state-of-the-art research platform capable of conducting numerous experiments at sea. Its cargo will include a variety of drones and scientific instruments that will gather meteorological, oceanographic and climate data that can…

While our written records of the disastrous effects of the smallpox disease only extend back to the 15th century, there is compelling evidence that the disease emerged in human populations as far back as 10,000 years ago. Indeed, upon close examination of the mummified remains of Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Rameses V (who ruled c.1150-45 BCE), tell-tale pustular rashes can be seen, indicating that he most likely died from the disease. Since its emergence, both strains of the smallpox – variola major and variola minor – were left unchecked, leading up to an estimated 400,000 Europeans dying each year throughout the 18th century. In 1796, however, the game changed. English physician Edward Jenner realised that individuals who caught the cowpox virus (an incredibly mild and non-deadly variant of the vaccinia virus)…

On the big screen, Hollywood siren Hedy Lamarr captivated audiences with her stunning beauty and acting talent, but when the cameras weren’t rolling she could be found developing a technology that would go on to change the world. Born in 1914 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, young Hedwig Kiesler (her original name) dropped out of school to pursue acting, first in Czechoslovakia and then Hollywood, where she changed her name to Hedy Lamarr. Despite not completing her education, she retained a passion for knowledge and loved to tinker with contraptions in her trailer. She came up with an idea for an improved traffic stoplight, a tablet that would dissolve in water to create a carbonated drink, and, while dating aviation tycoon Howard Hughes, she helped him develop a racing airplane to sell…

An inkjet printer is really just a collection of motors, rollers and drive belts that move the paper around. Almost all of the complicated technology is in the print heads. These can either be fixed within the printer, or incorporated in the replaceable ink cartridge. A single print head contains hundreds or even thousands of microscopic nozzles, each one about ten times thinner than a human hair. These nozzles are far too thin to be made from ordinary piping. Instead, tiny channels are etched directly into the same material used to make the circuitry that fires the ink droplets. Thermal inkjet printers incorporate tiny resistive heater elements about 15 microns (thousandths of a millimetre) across. To fire the ink, the heater is switched on for a millionth of a second…

Several mobile headsets that require your smartphone to work are already available, but it’s the high-end connected kits that will really show off what VR can do. Oculus and HTC Vive are the current frontrunners, with the former gearing up to release their latest version, Oculus Quest, in Spring 2019. These headsets feature built-in displays, are powered via a cable and require external sensor systems to track your movements. “A SPLIT-SCREEN DISPLAY PUTS A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT IMAGE IN FRONT OF EACH EYE” OPENING THE RIFT HOW DOES THE OCULUS HEADSET PUT YOU INSIDE THE GAME?…

The design of the Space Shuttle incorporated a number of key demands that needed to be met. These included making it highly reliable, able to carry a large variety of cargo and making it as versatile in orbit as possible. Most of these conditions were indeed met, making the large majority of Shuttle flights a success. One of the Shuttle's key successes was its cargo bay. Using swinging bay doors it was able to accommodate lots of different payloads, from satellites to experiments. The doors were designed to not only be sturdy at launch but also to be opened in space. Crucially, they had to close tightly for re-entry to prevent any hot gases getting inside the vehicle. A zipper-like system ensured that the doors would close even if they…

The citizens of Rome had to be properly housed to ensure that the vast urban sprawl could operate as an organised society. Prior to the Romans, impressive structures had been built by the Egyptians and the Greeks, but never on the scale of the Romans. Roman building techniques owed a lot to Greek and Etruscan influences. Houses were one or two storeys high and included lots of different sections. Ideally adapted to the Mediterranean heat, the typical house often had no windows, instead fitted with an atrium to act as an open-air courtyard in the middle of the building. Life in a house was boosted by a fully functioning public welfare system that provided grain to 300,000 of Rome’s families every year. If you wanted some retail therapy, Trajan’s Market…

On the high seas of the Mediterranean, the Romans enjoyed even more dominance than on land. Using triremes and galleys propelled by teams of over 100 men, ships attacked either by ramming the opposition or boarding their ships. Owing a lot of their strategies to reverse-engineering methods learnt from the Greeks and Carthaginians, maritime superiority was essential to win Roman victories in the Punic Wars and Egypt campaigns. The senior arm of the Roman navy was known as the Classis Misenensis, and except for internal civil wars, it achieved total marine dominance for Rome after the Punic Wars.…

ARMOURED CAR Incorporating past designs for armoured weapons, da Vinci’s tortoise-like cannon system had the ability to move over flat terrain and would have been powered by an eight-man team. Oxen and horses were initially intended to provide the power, but space inside the car was limited. The operators were protected by a slanted and sturdy covering, and a turret on top was used as a viewpoint to help the drivers navigate. The armoured car was a good idea on paper, but a number of issues meant it could never have worked. Like the aerial screw, the human body simply didn’t have the muscle power to move it, and the thin wheels meant the tank would easily sink in mud. “HIS IDEAS WERE AMBITIOUS, BUT THEY WERE GROUNDED IN LOGICAL…

“TESLA BEGAN TO BUILD A 57-METRE TALL TOWER THAT COULD WIRELESSLY TRANSMIT ENERGY” After inventing the groundbreaking alternating current (AC) motor in 1887 – the device that is used to power many of the electrical gadgets that we use in the modern day – Nikola Tesla set his sights on a different and more challenging dream: a world without wires. Tesla envisioned a series of giant transmission towers that could provide the entire globe with an endless supply of wireless electricity, and his first step towards achieving this dream was the eponymous Tesla coil. This revolutionary device was capable of producing high-voltage, high-frequency AC electricity that could be sent through the air. The Tesla coil consisted of two main parts: a flat primary coil and a taller secondary coil, both…

Although they may look like something out of a cartoon, ear trumpets were used frequently throughout the early 19th century. The first type of hearing aid had a large surface area that amplified sound that was directed toward the ear. They were made of metal, silver, wood or animal horns, and were incredibly bulky. However, as their use became more widespread, they featured a collapsible design so the ear trumpet could be carried in pockets and removed when necessary. Horns were so popular that even midwives would use a similar instrument to the ear trumpet for listening to pregnant ladies’ wombs.…

From the wheel to the World Wide Web, we have invented some truly ground-breaking things during our time on Earth. Yet throughout history, inventors have also been known to put their skills to use in horrifying ways, creating contraptions that have caused unimaginable suffering. In the past, if you committed a terrible crime, a punishment much worse than a long prison sentence awaited you. From boiling people alive to sawing them in half, execution methods were often developed to be as cruel as possible. These gruesome events were usually carried out in public to deter others from following in the footsteps of the accused. Even if you weren’t sentenced to death, there were plenty of ghastly implements that could be used to torture you instead. Typically used to extract a…

CHEMICAL WEAPONS On 22 April 1915, Germany shocked the world by launching the first large-scale gas attack in war. After waiting several weeks for the wind to blow in the right direction, German soldiers released clouds of chlorine gas near the enemy trenches in Ypres, suffocating the unprepared Allied troops. Although The Hague Convention of 1899 prohibited the use of poisonous weapons, Germany justified its actions by claiming that France had already broken the ban by deploying tear gas grenades in 1914. The chlorine gas attack kick-started a chemical arms race and by the end of World War around 50 different chemicals had been used on the battlefield. The most prevalent were chlorine, phosgene and mustard gas, which would result in slow and painful deaths if soldiers were exposed to…

Born out of the Industrial Revolution, the automobile, for good or bad, is now the most popular form of transport on Earth, granting individuals the ability to travel a wide range of distances with unparalleled freedom. Today, the majority of cars are powered by internal combustion engines fed by fossil fuels – a factor that has led to new electric and hydrogen vehicles to be pioneered in the past decade. Today’s cars also feature a variety of complicated mechanical and electronic systems designed to maximise performance and enhance the driver’s experience and safety in the vehicle. However, the road to this motoring nirvana has been a long and, at times, painful process, with the evolution of the car leaving a number of technologies, products and companies by the roadside. How…

When Lexus unveiled its new invention, the futuristic Slide hoverboard, in 2015, the world was disappointed to discover that it could only hover over a special magnetic track, and would not be available to buy. A year later, however, the Back To The Future II vision finally became a reality when the ARCA Space Corporation unveiled a commercially available device that can hover above any terrain. The ArcaBoard uses 36 high-power electric ducted fans to create enough thrust to lift it up to 30 centimetres off the ground. The fans are driven by electric motors, with each one powered by its own lithium-ion polymer battery. This means that if multiple batteries or motors fail, the board will have enough working fans to keep it up. The outer frame is made…

Preventing the spread of disease, improving diagnosis and saving lives are just three of the many ways in which medical inventions have changed our world. With so much cutting-edge technology dominating the headlines, from stem cells to genome editing, it’s often easy to forget the impact that simple inventions like the wheelchair and the thermometer have had on our lives. We can’t always put our finger on the person responsible for each of them either – often they are the result of many minds working together, standing on the shoulders of their forefathers. Where patent records and other important documents have been lost to the abyss of time, so too has our memory of those great inventors of yore. But with a little bit of digging, we can attempt to…

The Difference Engine is the first automatic, mechanical calculator designed by British mathematician Charles Babbage, who proposed its construction in 1822 to the Royal Astronomical Society. He suggested the machine would employ the decimal number system and would be powered by turning a handle, as a method to calculate mathematical tables mechanically, therefore removing the high rate of human error. At first Babbage received financial backing from the British Government, but this was later pulled when no apparent progress had been made on constructing the device. The inventor went on to design a more general analytical engine and then later in 1847 an improved engine design – the Difference Engine No. 2. From 1989 to 1991, using the original plans of this second version, the London Science Museum constructed Babbage’s…

1. AIDING FARMERS A drone is a cheap and effective way to survey large areas of farmland. With a multi-band sensor on a drone, farmers can capture images of crop using non-visible light. This enables them to produce information about the growth of the crop, and deploy fertiliser precisely where it’s required. These sensors also reveal crop health, so pesticides can be applied strategically rather than universally. 2. FORECASTING THE WEATHER Hurricanes and storms often cause loss of life and damage property, but with advanced warning, the damage can be reduced and lives saved. UAVs, such as AeroVironment’s Global Observer, can keep an eye on developing weather conditions in real-time, and supply remote imagery and storm data to assist with life-saving measures. If terrestrial communications equipment, such as cell towers,…

Many tools, machines and facilities within your own home have their origins in research undertaken by NASA over the past 40 years. Technology originally designed to aid space exploration and to land a human on the moon – an endeavour instigated by US President John F Kennedy back in 1961, when he announced a series of exciting new missions including the Apollo Space Program – has been successfully and creatively spun-off to create some of the staple, day-to-day products we now take for granted. From golf balls to gamepads and computers to crash helmets, NASA’s technology has been picked up and adapted by specialist companies who have brought it into the public commercial sphere, delivering new and revolutionary products that have transformed how people live their lives and interact with…

There were 135 Space Shuttle missions that successfully made it to orbit. All of these performed some incredible science. The inaugural launch of Space Shuttle Columbia on 12 April 1981 was no doubt one of the most important, and it achieved a number of firsts. It was the first time solid rocket boosters (SRBs) were used on a manned vehicle, and it also marked the first time a manned spacecraft had returned on a runway landing. The launch of the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990 was of course pivotal, but perhaps equally so was the first servicing mission in 1993. This proved the Shuttle's capabilities as a reusable spacecraft that could repair satellites in orbit. STS-93 in 1999 was also important as it launched the Chandra X-ray Observatory, which has…

In its prime, Rome was one of the, if not the most, technologically advanced cities in the world. Containing huge, expansive buildings, revolutionary architecture and a housed, fed and watered population within its walls, the vast empire’s capital in Rome was well ahead of its time. The Colosseum became the cultural centre of Rome after its construction in 80 CE, but the capital also contained one of the largest sports stadiums of all time, the Circus Maximus, as well as other examples of stunning engineering, such as the Pantheon, the Arch of Septimius Severus and the Theatre of Pompey. THE COLOSSEUM HOW THE CENTREPIECE OF THE EMPIRE WAS BUILT…

PADDLEBOAT With the absence of internal combustion engines, boats and ships in the 15th century were powered either by wind or by oar. Writing between 1487 and 1489, da Vinci reasoned that a paddle-based mechanism that used reciprocating motion (repetitive back and forth movements) would be far more effective. By replacing the oars with paddle wheels, it would be easier for the boat to travel upstream. The paddleboat wasn’t an original da Vinci idea – Italian inventors Taccola and Francesco di Giorgio had both looked into the concept before – but this was the most realistic and workable proposal yet. The operators would push down on alternate foot pedals, which powered a reciprocating-motion system, which in turn was transformed into rotary motion to turn the paddle wheels and propel the…

Everything from selfies to sound systems, and iMacs to milkshakes owe their existence to the scientists and engineers of the 1800s. Motorcars, steam trains and even the humble bicycle enabled people to travel across vast distances quickly and cheaply for the first time. Studies of microbiology enhanced our understanding of diseases, leading the way to cures and immunisation, while the telephone, radio and telegraph revolutionised the way in which we communicate, connecting people across countries and continents. Here are just a few of the most important inventions and discoveries for which we can thank the geniuses of the 19th century. “THE RIDER WOULD SIMPLY RUN ON THE GROUND, THEN RAISE THEIR FEET” 1817-1880S BICYCLES Although there are designs for two-and four-wheeled human-powered vehicles dating back all the way to the…

Torture has been used as a method of punishment and interrogation for centuries, with the Ancient Greeks and Romans regularly torturing criminals as part of their justice system. However, by the Middle Ages torture had become particularly prevalent, especially in response to treason. If you had been disloyal to the sovereign and your country, a whole plethora of horrifying torture devices awaited you. Torture was usually conducted in secret, with most Medieval castles featuring an underground dungeon in which these diabolical deeds took place. A great deal of ingenuity and artistic skill went into developing instruments that would inflict the maximum amount of pain. Often simply threatening to use one on a person was enough to get them to confess, while others would quickly give in after seeing it used…

The Newcomen steam engine – which was named after its inventor Thomas Newcomen – was the world’s first practical device designed to harness the power of steam for mechanical work. The first one was built in 1712. The machine worked by combining the preexisting technologies of a steam cylinder with a steam-driven piston to raise and lower a pump rod via a balance beam. For a complete mechanical breakdown of the process, see the central diagram. The result of this combination enabled Newcomen to create a lifting engine that by simply burning coal could continuously pump large quantities of water out of wells, mines and other reservoirs without the need of manual labour (pumps were usually driven by horse prior to this invention). Indeed, the relative simplicity of the device…

The National Health Service in England treats over 1.4 million patients every 24 hours, so for doctors and nurses time is precious. Any way to make a process more efficient and less time consuming not only makes medical professionals’ work easier but could save someone’s life. Automation in healthcare is on the rise and providing the much-needed assistance that medical professionals require. Innovations such as automated robotic pharmacies can lend a helping hand to improve healthcare. Robotic pharmacies as a concept vary in their level of automation, from simply acting as a smart shelf or commonly seen vending machine-style dispensary to a high-tech sorting machine able to recognise and prioritise medicine for optimal efficiency. Their common goal is to act as a librarian of medicine. At the more advanced end…

Just before midnight on 31 December 2016, the world gained an extra second to compensate for the fact that Earth’s rotation is ever so gradually slowing down. Modern atomic clocks are too accurate compared to Earth’s inconsistent spinning speed, and they tick away at the same rate for millions of years. To ensure our standard time continues to match our atomic clocks – which provide a stable timescale – 26 so-called ‘leap seconds’ have been added since 1972. Today, the human race can tell the time with ease and exceptional accuracy, but it wasn’t always that simple. At first the only way was to locate the Sun in the sky, and sundials were the first timepieces to appear in ancient civilisations like Egypt, China and Greece. Naturally, with the changing…

Own an electric toothbrush? Then you already have wireless electricity at home. Toothbrush chargers use inductive coupling to provide power without electrical contacts. When current from the mains runs through a coil of wire in the charger unit, it produces a fluctuating magnetic field that induces a current in a second coil embedded inside the toothbrush. This principle also underlies charging mats that power up phones and cameras at close range. The catch, however, is that inductive coupling is only effective over a very short range – indeed, stray by just a few millimetres and the magnetic field tails off rapidly. One solution is to throw resonance into the mix. Resonance is the phenomenon that enables an opera singer to shatter a wineglass with their voice alone. For this to…

After ushering in a new era of affordable consumer goods in the 1950s, plastic has conquered the world. Plastics are incredibly versatile. They can be hard or soft, opaque or transparent, flexible, stretchy or brittle, and much more. But all plastics share one defining property: they can be moulded into almost any shape. Synthetic plastics are manufactured by joining monomers – small carbon-containing molecules – into long chains called polymers. Most industrial plastics are made from monomers extracted from oil or gas. Combining different types of monomers into a variety of arrangements creates plastics with a wide range of properties. Inside a plastic, polymer chains entwine like a bowl of spaghetti, making plastic extremely durable. On the flipside, it takes centuries to break down. There are two main methods for…

The world’s most powerful particle accelerator is back, and it’s better than ever. After being shut for two years of planned repairs and maintenance, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is smashing particles together at a record-breaking 13 tera-electronvolts, almost double the energy it was using in 2013. Researchers at CERN hope this vastly improved energy output will allow more intricate studies of the Higgs boson – a particle that could explain why matter has mass – which was famously discovered in 2012. The increased energy should mean that Higgs boson particles are generated more frequently (it should be able to generate ten times as many as during the LHC’s first run), helping researchers measure them more accurately and probe their rare decays. Furthermore, researchers hope that a more powerful LHC…

On 12 April, 1981, the Space Shuttle launched into our skies for the first time as the orbiter Columbia lifted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida. This mission, STS-1, was the first in what would be 135 successful missions in 30 years of service. Two terrible tragedies – Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003, both of which lost their entire crews – overshadowed the programme in its later years, but the achievements of the Shuttle were many. The Space Shuttle was born from a desire to make space more accessible. Following on from the expensive race to the Moon with the Soviet Union, the Shuttle was NASA's attempt to get back on more steady footing. After the US emerged victorious by landing on the Moon in 1969, President Richard…

The word ‘spacecraft’ usually evokes an image of a ‘warp-speed’-travelling vessel of the future, but in the broadest definition, they’re any vehicle designed for travel in space, either piloted or unmanned. In the past few decades since we’ve learned how to escape Earth’s gravity, we’ve sent hundreds of spacecraft off to many of the major destinations in the Solar System, from our own Moon and the Sun, right out to dwarf planet Pluto and the very border of interstellar space. While the Vostok manned space programme and Apollo missions to the Moon required life-support systems for the astronauts on board, sending unmanned craft into space is far from simple by comparison. Depending on the mission type and the target destination, the challenges of deep space and hazards encountered can threaten…

Every issue of your subscription, delivered direct to your door. Print & digital editions available. NEAT STORAGE Store up to 13 issues of your magazine subscription in a coordinating slipcase or binder. DISCOVER GREAT GUIDES & SPECIALS From photography to music and technology to gaming, there’s something for everyone. A magazine subscription is the perfect gift they’ll love receiving month after month. Choose from over 55 magazines and make great savings off the shop price! Our guides & binders also make great gifts and we have a wide choice of gift vouchers too. No hidden costs Shipping included in all prices We deliver to over 100 countries Secure online payment…