"For 273 years, the little stone bridge that carries Frankford Ave. across Pennypack Creek has been doing its humble job with a minimum of attention..."
- Gerald McKelvey, The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 16, 1970
USA
YearAdded:
Image Credit:
Public Domain (National Park Service)
Image Caption:
Frankford Avenue Bridge
Era_date_from:
1697
1970
The Fort Peck Dam was a cornerstone project of the Works Progress Administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. It required the largest construction plant and workforce since the construction of the Panama Canal and peaked at 11,000 workers. It was the largest dam of any type in the world for over 30 years.
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Image Credit:
Courtesy U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Image Caption:
Fort Peck Dam
Era_date_from:
1940
1990
The historic Folsom Power House #1 marks one of the first successful uses of hydroelectric power in the world and the first successful transmission of power long distance (twenty-two miles to Sacramento). The old Folsom Power House still shelters the machinery generated to drive streetcars and illuminate the city of Sacramento.
YearAdded:
Image Credit:
Public Domain (Author's Choice)
Image Caption:
Folsom Powerhouse on the American River, at Folsom Powerhouse State Historic Park, California, USA
Era_date_from:
1895
"The State [of California] agreed to construct the dam using convict labor for which consideration the State received a grant of land for the construction of a prison and water power rights from the impounded water ...; The work progressed slowly during the dry season by disinterested convict labor using hand tools since the use of machinery was forbidden ...;"
- Historic Landmark Nomination Form, 1974
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Image Credit:
Public Domain (Author's Choice)
Image Caption:
Folsom Hydroelectric Power System
Era_date_from:
1895
1975
Squeezing an orange for juice is part of the concept of this machine, only on a much larger scale. The extractor revolutionized the juice industry. The twenty-four head rotary action simultaneously extracts juice from the interior of the fruit and citrus oil from the peel surface. The first unit was operated experimentally on grapefruit at the Sunkist Exchange plant in Tempe, Arizona, during late May of 1946. Tests on citrus fruits continued in California, Texas, and Florida.
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Image Credit:
Courtesy ASME
Image Caption:
FMC Citrus Juice Extractor
Era_date_from:
1947
1983
The Fink Deck Truss Bridge is thought to have been originally used on the Norfolk and Western mainline railway. It was moved to its present location and converted to a vehicular bridge over a railroad spur in 1893 when the Norfolk and Western mainline was moved. It was relocated again in 1985 to Lynchburg's Riverside Park to serve as a pedestrian bridge.
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Image Credit:
Image Caption:
Modified Fink trussed Girder bridge
Era_date_from:
1870
1979
The F&CH Cable Railway, which opened in 1887, was designed and built by civil engineer Howard C. Holmes (1852-1921). The line is an amalgamation of the Powell Street Railway and the Park and Cliff House Railway. It was one of the most complicated cable-car systems to run from a single station and had been under construction two years prior to its opening.
Andrew Hallidie, a wire rope manufacturer, devised the first operating cable car in the United States in 1873, which ran on Clay Street hill.
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Image Credit:
Courtesy Wikipedia/Caroline Culler (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Image Caption:
Ferries & Cliffhouse Cable Railway Power House
Era_date_from:
1887
1973
At a time when steam power was finding its first uses in America, Philadelphia opened two steam pumping stations, January 1801, to lift water from the Schuylkill River and distribute it through the city's wooden pipes and mains. By 1811 a new water power works was begun on the river near Morris Hill, and the Fairmount Water Works opened September 7, 1815. These water works represented the first large-scale application of steam pumping to water service in the country.
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Image Credit:
Public Domain (National Park Service)
Image Caption:
Fairmount Waterworks, East bank of Schuylkill River, Aquarium Drive, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA View looking northeast at waterworks from across Schuylkill River. Photo taken December, 1984.
1977
Era_date_from: 1815
This outboard motor, designed and built by Ole Evinrude (1877-1934) at the Evinrude Motor Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was quickly accepted by the boating public of the United States. Bess Evinrude called the prototype a "coffee grinder," but it moved a boat through water better than the huge steam- or foot-driven motors available in 1907. She encouraged him to build and sell ten, then twenty, soon resulting in the redirection of their automotive equipment business to outboard motors.
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Image Credit:
Courtesy Flickr/Mr. T in DC (CC BY-ND 2.0)
Image Caption:
Evinrude Outboard Motor
Era_date_from:
1909
1981
In its day, the famous Erie Canal was the world's longest canal and America's greatest engineering feat. It was the principal route for emigrants from the East and agricultural products from the West. Before construction of the canal, New York City was the nation's fifth largest seaport, behind Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New Orleans. Within 15 years of its opening, New York was the busiest port in America, moving tonnages greater than Boston, Baltimore and New Orleans combined.
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Image Credit:
Courtesy Flickr/Doug Kerr (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Image Caption:
Erie Canal - Waterford, NY
Era_date_from:
1825
1967
Innovations
