Inventions of the 1840s
During the 1840s many new inventions were being created to make life in that time more easier. With such inventions, people were able to do certain things with them. A few inventions of this era were the rotary printing press, ice cream maker, an update on the sewing machine, and anesthesia. These inventions seem very simple in today’s time but bac
k then they helped a lot. Even without the simple inventions our lives today would change dramatically.
Richard March Hoe was the inventor of the rotary printing press, a better update of the flat-bed printing press. His new design of the printing press was much faster than the standard printing press. Because main type cylinders could be placed in the main cylinder which moved much faster and was able to press up to 20,000 impressions per hour. At the time this was very fast working process for the newspaper companies which made it faster to produce and sell paper.
r called the hand-cranked churn. In the pot-freezer method, the temperature of the ingredients is reduced by the mixture of crushed ice and salt. The salt water is cooled by the ice, and the action of the salt on the ice causes it to partially melt, absorbing latent heat and bringing the mixture below the freezing point of pure water. Her hand-cranked churn also used the salt and ice for cooling but made the ice cream process faster and smoother.
Elias Howe was not the inventor of the sewing machine but improved the machine by upgrading the chain stitch to a lockstitch, which was more durable. The lockstitch add on is a eye pointed needle that carried the upper thread and a shuttle carrying the lower thread. His idea of improving the sewing machine might not be much but if you think about it modern sewing machines still use the lockstitch today for most of our clothing today.
Crawford Long was a physician and a pharmacist that was the first doctor to use ether-based anesthesia in a surgical operation. Anesthesia is mainly used today in operations, given to patients that undergo surgery without feeling any pain or distress during the procedure. Crawford first used anesthesia on an operation of a tumor removal on a boy and was successful. This was a important discovery because it let doctors know that anesthesia was the best way to operate on patients without them feeling any pain and discomfort during the time and without that discovery many people of this era might of died.
Even though most inventions were just better upgrades, it still made a big difference in that time and helped all around when needed to. To the simple to the complicated all inventions of this time were admired and greatly thankful for them.
Resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotary_printing_press
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sewing_machine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anesthesia