Communicatio-ns Revolution
Who is Alexander Graham Bell ?
The Scottish-born inventor received the first successful patent for the telephone in 1876
What is Direct Current (DC)?
This is the current type, championed by Thomas Edison, where the electrical flow is steady in one direction.
What is the Bessemer Process?
This process, named for its English inventor, allowed for the inexpensive mass production of steel by blowing air through molten pig iron.
What is a horsecar (or horse-drawn streetcar)?
Before electric cars, this animal-powered railway car was the most common form of urban transit, though it was slow and messy.
What is the phonograph?
This Thomas Edison invention, patented in 1878, was the first machine to record and play back sound, launching the music recording industry.
What is Western Union ?
The vast majority of the U.S. telegraph lines during the Gilded Age were controlled by this powerful company.
Who is George Westinghouse?
The 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, powered entirely by alternating current, was a major victory for this industrialist over Edison.
What are Interchangeable Parts?
A manufacturing concept popularized by Eli Whitney that greatly sped up production and simplified repairs by creating standardized parts.
What is the electric streetcar (or trolley)?
This new form of city transportation, first successfully demonstrated by Frank J. Sprague in Richmond, Virginia, replaced horsecars with electric power.
What is the incandescent light bulb?
Edison's ultimate refinement of this invention—which had a carbon filament—was the first commercially practical way to bring safe, bright light into the home.
What is the Linotype machine?
Ottmar Mergenthaler invented this "line-casting" machine in 1884, which drastically sped up the process of typesetting for newspapers.
What is Pearl Street (Station)?
Edison established the world's first central power station using DC current in September 1882 in this area of Manhattan.
What is the refrigerated railcar (or refrigerator car)?
The meatpacking industry, centralized in Chicago, was revolutionized by this invention which allowed fresh meat to be shipped long distances without spoilage.
What is a cable car?
A cable car system, perfected by Andrew Hallidie, was necessary for cities like San Francisco due to their extremely steep hills.
What is the sewing machine?
Widely available after 1851 with Isaac Singer's improvements, this appliance moved clothing production from a tedious chore into a practical domestic and factory task.
Who is Cyrus Field?
In 1866, this American financier successfully oversaw the laying of the permanent transatlantic cable, allowing messages to travel between North America and Europe in minutes instead of weeks.
What is the War of the Currents?
The famous rivalry between AC and DC was dubbed this, a literal battle over which system would electrify the nation.
What is the Linotype Machine?
This invention, used in the printing industry, mechanized the process of setting type, enabling newspapers to vastly increase in size and circulation.
What is an elevated railway (or elevated train)?
Built above city streets, like New York's "El", this elevated form of rapid transit was a cheaper alternative to subways but was loud and blocked out light.
What is toilet paper?
Invented in 1873, the mass production of pre-rolled toilet paper by the Scott Paper Company made this household necessity a commercially successful product.
What is the Typewriter?
Patented in 1868, this invention drastically changed the American office landscape and was manufactured by a gun-making company, Remington.
Who is Nikola Tesla?
This Serbian-American inventor worked for both Edison and Westinghouse, but his polyphase system made Alternating Current (AC) viable for long-distance transmission.
What is the skyscraper?
The development of steel-frame construction made this new form of city architecture, first designed by William LeBaron Jenney in Chicago, possible.
What is the subway?
Frank J. Sprague's later invention, the multiple-unit control system (MU), was critical for this underground rail transit to operate long trains with a single engineer.
What is the washing machine?
Though versions existed earlier, the electric motor made this device a true time-saver, significantly reducing the most physically demanding chore of the American homemaker.