What are the real stories behind some of the most significant inventions in history? Well thanks to me I've gathered bit by bit of little known facts that may surprise you. I hope to add more in time. But for now here's what I've found...
1) The Wright Brothers (American) were first in flight with their plane in 1903 at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. But they actually spent more years perfecting the paper airplane (the “papoplane”) which they proudly boasted could fly “from one end of the parlor to the other!” Unfortunately converting the plane to a size that could hold Orville’s weight meant constructing a paper plane almost 2 miles long. Although they managed to clear a field for a runway and build a rather impressive 80 foot tower within 15 months time, and had designs for a rather smart pilot and copilot outfit, they failed to find a paper mill that could manufacturer paper this wide. Plans for Orville to lose 40 pounds, wear a bodysuit, and shave his head and mustache would cut off about a 1/2 of a mile of paper, which was still not enough. Then a stroke of luck when a fellow glider enthusiast inquired about the detailed sketches Wilbur was showing him asking, “What would you use to make this plane?” Wilbur heard it as “What wood d’you use to make this plane?” Ecstatic at the suggestion, Wilbur scraped the papoplane, and the rest is history.
2) Johannes Gutenberg (German) invented the movable type printing press in the 1400’s. Although the oldest printed material appears to be of the Bible, his actual first printed work was 100 copies of “Modern Monastery Tunes” which he distributed to the monks in the hopes of adding a more contemporary and lively sound to the weekly church services. Unfortunately the monks continued to stand in silence although most later wrote thanking Gutenberg for having something upbeat and chipper to sing in their heads.
3) Ben Franklin (American) is well known for such inventions as the bifocal lens, the Franklin stove, and the lightning rod. Still he couldn’t have foreseen the unpleasant turn of events when one day, while bragging to his wife about how efficiently he could now boil water for tea, he leaned over the steaming pot, clouded his bifocals and put his hand directly onto the hot stove. Reeling in pain, he ran outside to cool his hand in a rain barrel and, bifocals still clouded, steadied himself on his newly constructed yet still ungrounded 40 foot lightening rod. As fate would have it, a storm was brewing and a bolt of lightening suddenly struck it. Flames leapt from his coat up the side of the house to his thatched roof and set it ablaze. Still the Franklin “luck” was on his side as he sustained only singed shoulder hairs and a scorched neck. And the fire department, which he had just recently established, managed to save most of the interior wall of his sitting room, the upper half of his staircase, and his favorite 3-cornered hat.
4) The catapult, invented approx 200 B.C by the Greek mathematician Archimedes, revolutionized the way nations fought. But apparently he was only struck with the concept after a minor argument during dinner with the Egyptian King Ptolemy III who didn’t agree with the principles of geometry and physics that Archimedes was currently founding. A bit peeved at Ptolemy’s insistence that the principles were all “a load of moldy cheese”, Archimedes shouted, “perhaps his majesty needs a demonstration of the shortest distance between two points!” and began pelting pitted olives at him. This lead to a massive food fight between Archimedes and several dozen of Ptolemy’s guards. Archimedes was given a thorough pummeling and was forced to take refuge under a large fruit bowl until he had surrendered. Days later, at another dinner, determined to be prepared, Archimedes wheeled in a catapult with a 15 foot arm on it and proceeded to load and shoot great bunches of grapes at a time exclaiming, “notice the principles of the arc, your highness!”. Initially caught off guard but not one to lose a fight, Ptolemy dispatched the head of his army on Archimedes who seized and catapulted him in his own contraption across the dining area into the large stone bath. As the story goes, the dazed and drenched Archimedes stood up and was applauded by Ptolemy who shouted, “I must apologize and thank you for educating me. I see your theories on water displacement are in fact correct.” Those were only the beginning of what were to become many interesting and dangerous meals that the two shared.
5) George Stephenson (English) invented the steam engine in 1815, used his engine “the Locomotion” to pull the first train in 1825, and then built the first steam locomotive train called “the Rocket” in 1829. Finally he went a bit too far with the steam concept when he created the first steam sauna bathcar. He miscalculated the bathtowel to passenger ratio and by chance the governor and his wife who chose to arrive fashionably late were forced to use handtowels. The car was immediately shutdown for indecency.