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CAN AND CAN OPENER The can opener was invented in 1858 by Ezra Warner of Waterbury, Connecticut, USA. Warner's device used a lever and chisel. Until then, cans were opened using a hammer and chisel; the can opener was invented 50 years after the metal can was invented. The can opener was improved in 1870 by William Lyman of West Meridian, Connecticut, USA. Lyman's device used a rotating wheel and a sharp edge. His can opener only fit one size of can, and first had to pierce the center of the can. The modern-day type of can opener (using a serrated wheel) was invented in 1925. |
CARAVEL For more information (and activities) about caravels, click here. |
CARLSON, CHESTER F. Chester Floyd Carlson (1906-1968) invented xerography (which means "dry writing" in Greek) in 1938. Xerography makes paper copies without using ink (hence its name). In this process, static electricity charges a lighted plate; a plastic powder (called toner) is applied to the areas of the page to remain white. Chester F. Carlson was born in Seattle, Washington, USA. As a teenager, Carlson supported his invalid parents by publishing a chemical journal. After attending Cal Tech in physics, Carlson worked at an electronics firm. Carlson later experimented at home to find an efficient way of copying pages. He succeeded in 1938, and marketed his revolutionary device to about 20 companies before he could interest any. The Haloid Company (later called the Xerox Corporation) marketed it, and photocopying eventually became common and inexpensive. |
CARVER, GEORGE WASHINGTON![]() For more information on Carver, click here. For a cloze (fill-in-the-blank) activity on Carver, click here. |
A Cassegrain telescope is a wide-angle reflecting telescope with a concave mirror that receives light and focuses an image. A second mirror reflects the light through a gap in the primary mirror, allowing the eyepiece or camera to be mounted at the back end of the tube. The Cassegrain reflecting telescope was developed in 1672 by the French sculptor Sieur Guillaume Cassegrain. A correcting plate (a lens) was added in 1930 by the Estonian astronomer and lens-maker Bernard Schmidt (1879-1935), creating the Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope which minimized the spherical aberration of the Cassegrain telescope. |
Anders Celsius (1701-1744) was a Swedish professor of astronomy who devised the Celsius thermometer. He also ventured to the far north of Sweden with an expedition in order to measure the length of a degree along a meridian, close to the pole, later comparing it with similar measurements made in the Southern Hemisphere. This confirmed that that the shape of the earth is an ellipsoid which is flattened at the poles. He also cataloged 300 stars. With his assistant Olof Hiorter, Celsius discovered the magnetic basis for auroras. |
CONTACT LENSES Contact lenses are tiny removable lenses that are worn in contact with the eye (they rest directly on the cornea of the eye). Like glasses, they improve the wearer's vision. This type of lens was envisioned (but not actually made) by Leonardo da Vinci (around 1508) and later by René Descartes (around 1636-1637). Contact lenses were invented and made in 1887 by the German physiologist Adolf Eugen Fick (1829-1901). He first fitted animals with the lenses, and later made them for people. These lenses were made from heavy brown glass and were 18-21mm in diameter. The lenses were improved by August Muller in 1889; he made lenses that corrected myopia (nearsightedness). Plastic contact lenses were first made by the California optician Kevin Tuohy in 1948. Soft contact lenses (hydrophilic lenses) and gas-permeable lenses (which let oxygen pass through the lens and to the cornea) were invented in the 1970s. |
COTTON GIN The cotton gin is a machine that cleans cotton, removing its many seeds. This device revolutionized the cotton industry. Previously, this tedious job had been done by hand, using two combs. Eli Whitney (1765-1825) was an American inventor and engineer who invented the cotton gin; he patented the cotton gin on March 14, 1794. The cotton gin made much of the southern United States very rich, but cotton plantation owners rarely paid Whitney for the use of his invention, and Whitney went out of business. |
CRUM, GEORGE The potato chip was invented in 1853 by George Crum. Crum was a Native American/African American chef at the Moon Lake Lodge resort in Saratoga Springs, New York, USA. French fries were popular at the restaurant and one day a diner complained that the fries were too thick. Although Crum made a thinner batch, the customer was still unsatisfied. Crum finally made fries that were too thin to eat with a fork, hoping to annoy the extremely fussy customer. The customer, surprisingly enough, was happy - and potato chips were invented! For more information on George Crum and potato chips, click here. |
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