Inventions during the Revloiutionary Era

The submarine was invented in 1776 by a Yale graduate in New York. New York was under a navel blockade by the British and needed supplies. The graduate was David Bushnell. The submarine was named the Turtle and was 6 feet tall and 7 feet wide. It only had 1 weapon on it the mine. This simple peace of technology was made of wood and iron loops. This vital invention helped with the British blockade and revolutionized the way that war was fought. Today the submarine is still used but is much more complex using nuclear energy to power their massive engines.

Another creation by David Bushnell is the practical and working water mine. It was also a simple idea that helped modernize the way war was fought. It was a keg of powder that had a length of fuse and a time detonator. The first use of this weapon was when the Turtle submarine tried but failed to blowup a British ship the attack failed and the mine was abandoned and 1 hour later exploded. Modern mines can cost less than 1,000$ and get up to 1,000,000 with sensitive technology.

An invention that wasn't meant to kill anybody and help the world was the bifocals. Invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1780 they were a half piece of regular lens and half piece of very convex lens. They were placed together and a frame was put around them at first it created a lot of problems then was fixed later on.

Sources:

http://inventors.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=inventors&cdn=money&tm=12&gps=170_839_1020_560&f=

11&su=p554.2.150.ip_&tt=2&bt=0&bts=0&zu=http%3A//www.usna.edu/NAOE/new/turtle.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_mine