How familiar things evolved

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

A modern person gets so used to everyday things that he does not even think about what path one or another device, equipment or technique had to go through so that they become constant helpers in every home. Literally 80-100 years ago, our great-grandmothers and great-grandfathers did not even know about the existence of many things, while others were so awkward and even frightening that it was more difficult to use them than to do something the old fashioned way.

1. From barrels filled with ice to a household refrigerator

Since ancient times, people have tried to preserve food as long as possible, so they constantly came up with ways to extend their "life". This issue was especially relevant in countries with hot climates.

In ancient Rome, for example, perishable foodstuffs were stored in deep cellars and in barrels filled with ice, and in Russia they dug special cellars - glaciers. Then inventive people came up with primitive lockers / barrels, wooden on the outside, galvanized and insulated on the inside with an ice bin. And this happened back in the 19th century. But such devices could only be used by rich people, as a rule, living in cities or traders in butter, milk, meat.

The first electric compression refrigerators were assembled in 1913, but they were so expensive that 2 Ford cars could be bought for that money. In a more practical and familiar version, the unit appeared in 1926, thanks to the efforts of the Danish engineer Christian Steenstrup.

He managed to create a home version of the refrigerator, which was practically silent, durable and harmless to human health. But the serial production in the USSR began only in 1939, although the batch was only a few thousand items and it was made at the Kharkov Tractor Plant.

2. Way of evolution of the washing machine

The importance of washing machines in the life of women can hardly be overestimated, because for millennia they had to wash their hands in blood to put things in order. Therefore, it is no wonder that any inventive person tried to facilitate this process by inventing fantastic devices (the washing board does not count).

But the first model with a rotating drum was invented by the American engineer James Kingy back in 1851, although it is unlikely that it will be possible to recognize a modern automatic machine in it, but it became the impetus for new developments and improvements.

Literally 10 years later, a multifunctional option was proposed, which made it possible not only to wash clothes, but also to wring them using rubber rollers. A more improved model has been produced by the Soviet industry for more than a decade, and many of us still remember the semiautomatic lumbering washers.

To this day, no one can say with certainty who and when invented the first washing machine, because the history of the emergence and evolution of this technology has passed more than one century and the country, while a bunch of inventors, entrepreneurs and even housewives fought over this issue.

Interesting fact:Thanks to the efforts of the mechanic Lee Maxwell, a museum was opened in Eton (Colorado, USA), which contains a unique collection of washing machines produced in the XX century.

Today, it houses more than 600 exhibits that work properly, so everyone can clearly see how this or that unit coped with washing and spinning the laundry.

3. From a unit that had to be transported on a horse-drawn carriage to a tiny robot vacuum cleaner

Another unit that a modern man cannot do without is a vacuum cleaner. A wonderful invention that not only makes housework easier, but also allows you to maintain the health of households. This household item has also come a long way to become what it is now, with its dimensions and functionality. Despite the statement "laziness is the engine of progress", in the case of this household appliance, it did not work out very well.

Back in 1860, Daniel Hess (USA) patented a unit unique for those times, which he called - Carpet Sweeper, also known as "Carpet Sweeper". A useful device consisting of rotating brushes, a fur system (it allowed to suck in dust particles without a motor) and water chambers, it was a real "wet" vacuum cleaner that did an excellent job of cleaning the premises. But it did not work out, the manufacturers were not interested in the invention and things did not go beyond the experimental copy.

Until 1901, several mechanics and simply inventive people came up with their own models of manual mechanical "sweepers", until the British Huber Cecil Booth developed a generator vacuum cleaner called Puffing Billy "Snorting Bill". True, this miracle of technology had to be carried on a horse-drawn carriage with a team of 4 people, but the work of the cleaners finally became automated.

Inventor Booth and his "Snorting Bill" were in great demand, especially after using the unique capabilities of the unit, it was possible to perfectly clean out the barracks, which contained sailors sick with the plague. It is believed that it was this couple who stopped the spread of the epidemic. The "royal" cleaning of the giant blue carpet, which could not be taken out of the main hall of Westminian Abbey, to adequately carry out the coronation of Edward VII, also added fame.

After that, engineers, mechanics and even a simple cleaner improved and reduced the dimensions of vacuum cleaners. But it was not until 1921 that the Swedish company Electrolux introduced a household vacuum cleaner, which was copied for several decades in a row. Until the 80s. last century, this model was popular in the USSR. Well, who was not happy in those days when you managed to get a Raketa vacuum cleaner?

4. From stone prototype to modern ironing systems

People tend to keep in order not only the house, but also the clothes, which after washing had to be brought into proper form. Since ancient times, people have tried to be neat, and therefore came up with a lot of devices. And if before our era a perfectly smooth stone, heated in the sun, acted as an iron, then over time it was replaced by metal, which was both lighter and better coped with its task.

In the old days, specially trained and strong people were engaged in this difficult occupation, who used blacksmith's tools and fire. Only a physically strong person could roll clothes wound on a hot rod or use a hammer and an anvil to iron fabric.

In the Middle Ages, this process was greatly simplified, cast-iron irons with a chamber for heated coals inside had already appeared, but its weight was colossal, as for women's hands - 20 kg. Over time, it was improved and made easier several times, but the ironing process was still exhausting and difficult.

Only thanks to the American inventor Henry Seeley, who replaced a kerosene burner with an electric arc in 1882, was it possible to create a prototype more or less similar to modern irons. Of course, the first devices were imperfect and constantly broke, but they served as an impetus for all kinds of experiments that made it possible to create not only light and efficient irons with steam generators, but also entire ironing systems.

5. The path of television technology from a static image the size of a postage stamp to giant multimedia systems

Despite the fact that people have dreamed of transmitting images at a distance since ancient times (recall the tale of a silver saucer with a pouring apple or a magic mirror), the opportunity to bring fantasies to life appeared only towards the end of the 19th century, after the invention of radio. This was the impetus for the development of new technology, which was demonstrated in 1907 by Max Dieckmann.

He created a receiver with a postage stamp-sized screen (3x3 cm) and a scan rate of 10 frames / s (for comparison, now the optimal scan rates are 100-120 Hz or frames per second). And only in 1931 the Russian scientist V. K. Zvorykin (who had emigrated to the United States by that time) developed the "iconoscope", which marked the beginning of the development of electronic television, and eventually the mass production of televisions.

Once upon a time, more than half of humanity could only dream of such TVs.

Remarkable: The first Soviet TV of the B-2 brand was developed and assembled on the basis of the Leningrad plant "Comintern" in 1932. It was not a model we were used to, but a radio receiver with a separate lamp attachment with a built-in 3x4 cm screen. Television broadcasting itself appeared on a permanent basis in the USSR March 10, 1939.