#23 - "Rusted Out"

#24 was the Telephone - as if you didn't know! 

Peyton, Milt, Joani, Michelle, and Mike all answered the call!

"Rusted Out"

Could have spent several days at the Haul of Fame! I did want to return when there was a dusting of snow to give the rusting vehicles a different look - perhaps by the end of December?

This metal identification label was affixed to the side of a large steam shovel. The colors came together for this shot. Rust is always a fun photographic subject.


Greatest Inventions of All Time!
Recently I came across an article about the greatest inventions as determined by a large group of scientists, philosophers, educators, and other professions. Their task was to create a list of "the Greatest Inventions of All Time." Conveniently, the final list numbered fifty! so, I'm starting with #50 and working my way down to Numero Uno in December.

Fear not as I will offer you some hints as to what the invention was.

#23 made maps out of stars.

It is a doubly reflecting navigation instrument  that measures the angular distance between two visible objects. The primary use of a sextant is to measure the angle between an astronomical object and the horizon for the purposes of celestial navigation. The estimation of this angle, the altitude, is known as sighting or shooting the object, or taking a sight. The angle, and the time when it was measured, can be used to calculate a position line on a nautical or aeronautical chart. The principle of the instrument was first implemented around 1731 by John Hadley and Thomas Godfrey, but it was also found later in the unpublished writings of Issac Newton.

Murphy's Laws

Johnson's Second Law. . .

If, in the course of several months, 

only three worthwhile social events take place, 

they will all fall on the same evening.

Leaving You with a Laugh, I Hope. . .

"New Arrivals"

#24 - "Screwing Around. . ."

#25 was Alphabetization or the Alphabet! Tony, Mike, Elaine, Peyton, and Joani found time to check in.

"Screwing Around"

This bucket of screws and bolts were left behind after the East Bridgewater factory had been totally disassembled. Was it the time spent in the bucket that caused them to rust or were they already in that state when they were taken off the various pieces of equipment throughout the facility. Guess we'll never know!


Greatest Inventions of All Time!
Recently I came across an article about the greatest inventions as determined by a large group of scientists, philosophers, educators, and other professions. Their task was to create a list of "the Greatest Inventions of All Time." Conveniently, the final list numbered fifty! so, I'm starting with #50 and working my way down to Numero Uno in December.

Fear not as I will offer you some hints as to what the invention was.

#24

is a device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be heard directly. It converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into electronic signals that are transmitted via cables and other communication channels to similar device which reproduces the sound to the receiving user.

In 1876, Scottish emigrant Alexander Graham Bell was the first to be granted a United States patent for a device that produced clearly intelligible replication of the human voice. This instrument was further developed by many others. #24 was the first device in history that enabled people to talk directly with each other across large distances. They rapidly became indispensable to businesses, government, and households, and are today some of the most widely used small appliances!

This is the easiest one so far - no excuses for missing #24!

Murphy's Laws

Kensington's Observation. . .

The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity!

Leaving You with a Laugh, I Hope. . .

"Time Well Spent?"

#25 - "Shut-off Valve"

#26 was the Telegraph! Odd that the telegraph was rated higher than the radio - but that's why they had a panel of experts pick these. Speaking of picking - Milt, Peyton, Michelle, Mike, Joani, Elaine and Kathy B. Kathy and I first met on a photo shoot in NH. I visited her and Doug in NC before they moved to Idaho. Great to know she is still following along. .  .

"Shut-off Valve"

Boston Waterworks Museum here! This valve caught my attention due to its location on the gray wall. The red handwheel against the gray popped this industrial device. And, there there was the brass fittings the gave this a three-dimensional look! One of my favorite of my Industrial Collection.


Greatest Inventions of All Time!
Recently I came across an article about the greatest inventions as determined by a large group of scientists, philosophers, educators, and other professions. Their task was to create a list of "the Greatest Inventions of All Time." Conveniently, the final list numbered fifty! so, I'm starting with #50 and working my way down to Numero Uno in December.

Fear not as I will offer you some hints as to what the invention was.

#25 comes to us from the first millennium b.c.!

 May have contributed to the rise of societies that used phonetic ones over those that used ideographic ones

The first dates back to the Middle Bronze Age (1500–1200 B.C.). Egyptians were already using hieroglyphs. However, hieroglyphs consisted of picture representations. Hieroglyphs were commonly used in depicting aspects found in sacred writings.

Here are a few known facts about #25:

• Historians do not know who invented it.
• Ancient civilizations eventually produced a universal one.
• Technology enables people to compile lists in this particular order.

Basically it is a system whereby strings of characters are placed in order based on the position of the characters in the conventional ordering. 

Murphy's Laws

 Kovac's Conundrum. . .

When you dial a wrong number, 

you never get a busy signal.

Leaving You with a Laugh, I Hope. . .

"If at first. . ."

#26 - "Nuts and Bolts"

#27 was the Mechanized Clock - and right on time were Michelle, Peyton, Joani, Mike, and Elaine!

"Nuts and Bolts"

Back at the Boston Waterworks Museum! As I had mentioned there was a lot to focus upon and in the few hours, I had to determine which objects would get my full attention! 
 This one was all about the lining up of the nuts and bolts and the color. There were several other shots within this one area that I managed to capture.

Greatest Inventions of All Time!
Recently I came across an article about the greatest inventions as determined by a large group of scientists, philosophers, educators, and other professions. Their task was to create a list of "the Greatest Inventions of All Time." Conveniently, the final list numbered fifty! so, I'm starting with #50 and working my way down to Numero Uno in December.

Fear not as I will offer you some hints as to what the invention was.

#26

Before it, Joel Mokyr says, “information could move no faster than a man on horseback!”

An electrical #26 was independently developed and patented in the U.S.  in 1837 by Samuel Morse. With his assistant, Alfred Vail  they developed a signaling alphabet. 

The first message in the United States was sent by Morse on 11 January 1838, across two miles (3 km) of wire “What hath God Wrought” "from the Capitol in Washington to the old Mt. Clare Depot in Baltimore. 

The overland device connected the west coast of the continent to the east coast by 24 October 1861, bringing an end to the Pony Express.

Murphy's Laws

New Theory of Relativity. . .

How long a minute is depends

 on which side of the bathroom door you are on!

Leaving You with a Laugh, I Hope. . .

"Updating One's Avatar"

#27 - "Stamp Mill Machinery"

#28 was the radio! Heard from Milt, Elaine, Peyton, Joani, and Mike!

"Stamp Mill Machinery"

Bodie Ghost Town did not have much from the Industrial Genre but it was a wealth of photo ops for those of us who were there. This was one of several massive engines that drove the smashing equipment. I wondered just how noisy this place was? Add in the amount of dust they inhaled and you have a major health disaster! Of note, the place from which this machine was built - Fitchburg, MA!


Greatest Inventions of All Time!
Recently I came across an article about the greatest inventions as determined by a large group of scientists, philosophers, educators, and other professions. Their task was to create a list of "the Greatest Inventions of All Time." Conveniently, the final list numbered fifty! so, I'm starting with #50 and working my way down to Numero Uno in December.

Fear not as I will offer you some hints as to what the invention was.

#27

In Europe, between 1280 and 1320, there was an increase in the number of references to these devices in church records, and this probably indicates that a new type had been devised. Existing ones used water power and were being adapted to take their driving power from falling weights.

#27 was intended for two main purposes: for signaling and notification and for modeling the solar system. The former purpose is administrative, the latter arises naturally given the scholarly interests in astronomy, science, astrology, and how these subjects integrated with the religious philosophy of the time. 

In 1283, a large one was installed at Dunstable Priory - its location suggests that it was not a water driven.

It quantified time.

Murphy's Laws

Klipstein's Lament. . .

All warranty and guarantee clauses are

voided by payment of the invoice.

Leaving You with a Laugh, I Hope. . .

"So much better..."

#28 - "Disconnected. . ."

#29 was Photography! Easy one, er no? Peyton, Michelle, Mike, Elaine, and Joani all knew it was photography!

"Disconnected

Boston Waterworks Museum was a plethora (love throwing that word in every so often) of things to photograph. The museum was a challenge for your camera eye. Overwhelming at first but once you walked around and began to find a theme (smalls, gauges, plumbing, etc.) the entire place opened anew for you. I could have come home with close to several hundred images but focused on a few themes to get my take home load to about three hundred!

This piece got me wondering as to what it might have shut off or fed fluids into? Just how many more pieces of pipe were joined here??? 


Greatest Inventions of All Time!
Recently I came across an article about the greatest inventions as determined by a large group of scientists, philosophers, educators, and other professions. Their task was to create a list of "the Greatest Inventions of All Time." Conveniently, the final list numbered fifty! so, I'm starting with #50 and working my way down to Numero Uno in December.

Fear not as I will offer you some hints as to what the invention was.

#28

The first demonstration of electronic mass media’s power to spread ideas and homogenize culture!

As early as 1864 James Clerk Maxwell showed mathematically that electromagnetic waves could propagate through free space. The effects of electromagnetic waves were actually observed before and after Maxwell's work by many inventors and experimenters including George Adams (1780-1784), Luigi Galvani(1791), Peter Samuel Munk (1835), Joseph Henry, (1842), Thomas Edison (1875).

Edison gave the effect the name “etheric force” and Hughes detected a spark impulse up to 500 yards with a portable receiver, but none could identify what caused the phenomenon and it was usually written off as electromagnetic induction. In 1886 Rudolf Heinrich Hertz noticed the same sparking phenomenon and, in published experiments (1887-1888), was able to demonstrate the existence of electromagnetic waves in an experiment confirming Maxwell's theory of electromagnetism! 

Murphy's Laws

Rule of Radio Reception. . .
(dated)

Your walkman radio won't pick up

 the station you want to hear most!

Leaving You with a Laugh, I Hope. . .

"Ain't It the Truth. . ."

#29 - "Control Panel"

#30 was the moldboard plow! My Esteemed Panel of Judges was very lenient on submitted responses - approved were Peyton, Elaine, Michelle, Joani, Tony, Milt, and Mike.

"Control Panel"

Boston Waterworks Museum was the setting for this week's industrial shot. This set of gauges kept calling me over to take their picture. They were patiently lined up but by the time I got there one was called away - hence the open space second from the right. He never came back as I worked my way back over there several more times. Not sure what their function was on the machine at the BWM but they were all shined up and ready to pose!


Greatest Inventions of All Time!
Recently I came across an article about the greatest inventions as determined by a large group of scientists, philosophers, educators, and other professions. Their task was to create a list of "the Greatest Inventions of All Time." Conveniently, the final list numbered fifty! so, I'm starting with #50 and working my way down to Numero Uno in December.

Fear not as I will offer you some hints as to what the invention was.

#29

From the early 19th century this one is my personal favorite as it changed journalism, art, culture, and how we see ourselves forever!

#29 is employed in many fields of science, manufacturing, and business, as well as its more direct uses for art, film and video production, recreational purposes, hobby, and mass communication.

Names like Daguerre and Eastman were pioneers of good old #29

Murphy's Laws

The N-1 Law. . .

If you need four screws for the job, 

the first three are easy to find.

Leaving You with a Laugh, I Hope. . .

"Musical Direction"