inventions

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8 Amazing Automatons & the Minds Behind Them

Since the Greeks first told the myth of Pygmalion, who wished the statue he loved would come to life, it seems man has been trying to build a perfect replica of himself. Some would say we're getting closer to that possibility as computer technologies evolve and the first attempts at artificial intelligence are developed. However, the same thing was said centuries ago when clockmakers—using little more than gears, springs, cams, and levers—built complex machines, known as automatons, that could mimic... READ ON

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Steven Johnson on Where Good Ideas Come From (Hint: Coffee!)

"The English coffee house was crucial to the development and spread of ... The Englightenment, ... in part because of what people were drinking there." So begins author Steven Johnson's excellent TED Talk about ideas, and in part about how the rise of coffee changed the world. Another quote: "The water wasn't safe to drink. Effectively, until the rise of the coffee house, you had a population that was drunk all day." This is backed up by the real story of Johnny Appleseed, who was bringing a... READ ON

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Building the (Fictional) Car of the Future

Reading today about the Audi A2 concept car unveiled at the Frankfurt Auto Show provoked an invitingly distracting mid-day thought experiment about cars of the future. (At left, the Audio A2 Concept via Autoviva.com's Flickr) The car comes equipped with a new feature called "Semi-Autonomous Drive," which assumes driving responsibilities when motorists find themselves caught in traffic. No doubt a practical solution designed to tackle an annoyingly commonplace problem—and, in places as calamitously... READ ON

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The Flying Flivver: Henry Ford's Attempt to Make Us All Pilots

"Mark my words: a combination airplane and motorcar is coming. You may smile, but it will come." Auto magnate Henry Ford earned his fair share of ridicule in 1940 when he made that boisterous proclamation. The flying car may still be coming, but it's certainly taking its sweet time. Seven decades later, there's still no sign of it. What makes Ford's confidence so mystifying is that the mogul had already spearheaded one attempt to put the common man in the sky, and that project had failed miserably.... READ ON

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How Pencils are Made

Here's another gem from How It's Made -- an exploration of a German pencil factory, using Californian cedar. I've always found it curious how we still refer to pencil "lead" although it's primarily graphite these days; the video explains that for these pencils, the "lead" is graphite and clay. It's impressive to see how the process is heavily automated, except for spot-testing by workers who hand-sharpen pencils and test them. I wonder what that job is like? Best part: around 4:30, when the pencils... READ ON

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Retired Tires

What to do with old tires? Well, we can use them to make wonderful parks for our children, if you recall this post I wrote on unusual playgrounds. Or, if you're an inventive artist working with discarded materials, you can create awesome sculptures like the ones featured below. Tires sure have come a long way since they were constructed out of iron and steel in the horse and wagon era. Back in those days, workers known as wheelwrights forged the tires in a hot fire and then let them cool and contract... READ ON

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Everything is a Remix Part 3: Innovation and Creation

Today I'm pleased to point you to the third part of the Everything is a Remix series. This one is my favorite so far, as it demystifies a series of inventions and creative works, explaining how creators are performing a copy-transform-combine cycle, using existing ideas to build upon them and make something new. Perhaps the best example of this phenomenon in pop culture (briefly discussed in the documentary) is Bob Dylan. See the film Bob Dylan: No Direction Home for more on that. But today, enjoy... READ ON

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He Put the "Tupper" in Tupperware

Home parties are everywhere now - Longaberger, Avon, Mary Kay, Silpada, Pampered Chef - and those are just the ones my mom has had in the past year .(I kid. She'll kill me when she reads this.) But none of those companies would exist today if Earl Tupper hadn't patterned some polyethylene after a paint can lid. Tupper was working for the plastics division of DuPont during WWII, but became interested in finding a peacetime use for the company's polyethylene once the war was... READ ON

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The Late Movies: Inventors

Last week I pointed to a profile of Steven Sasson, Inventor of the Digital Camera. But his short interview is just the latest in a string of inventor profiles by David Friedman. I've collected some more of Friedman's videos below -- for the most part these are impressively humble people who have created very useful things. And the videos are bite-sized, so you can take a peek without committing to more than a few minutes. Enjoy! Jerry Ford: Safe-T-Chair "I invented an automatic brake system... READ ON

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Steven Sasson: Inventor of the Digital Camera

In this short video, Steven Sasson shows the original digital camera he invented at Kodak -- it's roughly the size of a toaster, has a (physically) huge memory card for temporary storage, and uses a surprising medium for permanent storage -- you'll have to watch and see. Let's just say things have gotten pretty advanced since this first device in 1975, which took 23 seconds to record the picture to the digital card, then 23 more seconds to save it off to "permanent" storage. Wow. It's been way too... READ ON