Text 2. Inventors and their inventions
Active vocabulary to remember
| achievement experimenter perspiration electromagnetic device inspiration theoretician revolving barrel bullet internal combustion engine fuel lorry dot-and-dash alphabet chemist rubber solution raincoat to penetrate comfortable reliable ghost independent stockholder difficulty | – достижение – экспериментатор – испарина, пот – электромагнитное (пусковое) устройство – вдохновение – теоретик – вращающийся барабан – пуля – двигатель внутреннего сгорания – топливо – грузовик – алфавит точка – тире – химик – раствор каучука, латекс – плащ – проникать, проходить сквозь – удобный, комфортный – надежный – привидение, призрак – независимый – акционер, пайщик – трудность, затруднение |
Edison is known as one of the greatest inventors of his time. He invented so much that it is difficult to say which of his achievements is the greatest. He was an experimenter and a practical man more than a theoretician. In 1868 Edison built his first patented invention - an electromagnetic device. All his inventions were the result of hard work. He sometimes made thousands of experiments. According to his words the idea that a genius works only by inspiration was absurd. “Genius is 2 per cent inspiration and 98 per cent perspiration,” he often said.
Samuel Colt was an American. He lived in the 19th century. In 1836 he designed and patented a pistol. It was a pistol with a revolving barrel that could fire 6 bullets one after the other. It was the first pistol of its kind. Later there came many other pistols with 6 bullets.
Rudolf Diesel was a German engineer. He was born in 1858 and died in 1913. In 1897 he invented a new internal combustion engine. This engine is known as a diesel and it began a transport revolution in cars, lorries, trains and ships. The main advantage of diesels is that they run on rather cheap fuel.
Samuel Finley Morse was born in 1791. He died in 1872. He was a portrait painter. Then he became the inventor. For 12 years he tried to perfect the telegraph and he was a success. Later he invented the telegraphic dot-and-dash alphabet. Now it is known as Morse code. Morse code was not only one in America of that time. There were some others. But now we use Morse code all over the world.
Charles Makintosh lived from 1766 to 1843. He lived in Scotland and was a chemist by profession. He worked in a textile industry. In 1823 he developed a rubber solution. This rubber solution was used for raincoat production. Raincoats with this rubber solution didn’t allow water to penetrate. These raincoats were called makintoshes. Now people all over the world use them in spring and in autumn.
Charles Rolls was born in 1881 in Great Britain. He died in 1910. He was an aristocrat and businessman. He was especially interested in cars. Once he met another enthusiast of cars Henry Royce. Henry Royce was a famous car engineer. They decided to design the most comfortable and reliable car. At the beginning of the 20th century it seemed to be a fantasy. But they worked hard and at last in 1907 they created the world-famous Rolls-Royce car. It was so comfortable and reliable that one of the models of Rolls-Royce cars “Silver Ghost” hadn’t changed greatly for 20 years since 1907.
Gotlif Daimler and Charles Benz were two inventors. They lived in Germany. They were both interested in car production. At the end of the 19th century each of them designed a car. At the same time they organized two independent firms to produce them. All the cars produced by the firm of Daimler were called “Mercedes”. Mercedes was a daughter’s name of one of the stockholders of the firm. This man saved the firm of Daimler from the financial crisis at the beginning of the 20th century. But after the World War I the firm of Daimler met financial difficulties again. This time it had to join the firm of Benz. Since that time all the cars produced by the firm “Daimler-Benz” have been called “Mercedes-Benz”.
Practice:
Find the names of the inventors who gave their names to the things they created using different sources of information. Put them down in the table.
| Inventor | Invention | Year of invention | Country |
Find in the text the famous words of Edison proving his idea of a genius. Do you agree with him ?
What inventions, electronic and other devices would you call the most sophisticated ones that were invented in the 20th century? Try to find the information about the inventors. Suggest your own variants.
Radar: It is an electronic device for locating objects by means of shoft-wave radio echoes. It is very useful at war-time to know the position of aircrafts or ships engaged by enemy.
Radio: It is an instrument for wireless communication. It was invented in 1895 by Mr. Marcony, an Italian scientist.
Television: It is a kind of wireless machine on which we can see the distant objects with the help of its radio-action.
Transistor: It is an instrument which is fitted to radio-sets to make them workable.
X-Ray machine: It is quite useful for medical and surgical purposes. Because it can photograph the inside of the body.
Chloroform: It is kind of anesthetic. It is used in surgery for conducting painless operation. It is a thing which puts a person into a kind of sleep so that he feels nothing at the time of the surgical operation going on.
Rocket: It is the engine of the space-craft. The first rocket could travel round the earth at a speed of 18000 miles per hour.
Atomic power: Atomic power was used in making bombs for large-scale destruction in the world war II. Atomic power is now experimented to be used for peaceful purposes.
Use the plan below:
1) the invention you consider to be one of the greatest in the world; 2) the name of the person it was designed by; 3) the country this invention was made in; 4) what this thing was made for; 5) how it is used now; 6) how it influenced our life.