Disney engineers designed this monorail system based on the system developed by Axel Wenner-Gren of the Alweg Company in Cologne, West Germany. Wenner-Gren ran his experimental monorail in 1952 on a level track, and when adopted by Disney in 1959, it was designed to simulate the terrain typical of urban transit. Opening in 1959, the system has been in continuous operation as a passenger service carrying an average of 340,000 passengers a year and logging 10,000 miles. The original trains were replaced in 1969 and a new fleet introduced in 1987 to upgrade the existing chassis.
Mechanical
YearAdded:
Image Credit:
Courtesy Flickr/prayitno (CC BY 2.0)
Image Caption:
Disneyland Monorail System
Era_date_from:
1959
1986
The Digital Micromirror Device (DMD) was recognized as an ASME Mechanical Engineering Historic Landmark in 2008. Its development began in 1977 with the forming of a small team at Texas Instruments headed by noted physicist Larry Hornbeck. Texas Instruments was given a project from the Department of Defense to create a device that could modulate light.
YearAdded:
Image Credit:
Courtesy Wikipedia/Adpowers (CC BY-SA 1.0)
Image Caption:
Picture of DLP chip used in a digital projector at the Cinerama in Seattle
Era_date_from:
1996
2008
The concept of heating a number of buildings in the core area of a city from a single heating plant was introduced into the United States by Birdsill Holly at Lockport, New York, in 1877. The gain in thermal efficiency of a single large steam plant over a series of small isolated boilers led to widespread commercial installation of district heating. Organized by the Detroit Edison Company, the Central Heating Company began service here in 1903, supplying twelve customers with steam piped from the Edison Company's Willis Avenue Plant. Today's greatly enlarged system continues in operation.
YearAdded:
Image Credit:
Courtesy ASME
Image Caption:
Detroit Edison District Heating System
Era_date_from:
1903
1985
B Bethesda State: MD Zip: 20817 Country: USA Website: http://www.asme.org/about-asme/history/landmarks/topics-m-z/research-and-development/-197-david-taylor-model-basin-%281939%29 Creator: Taylor, David
The David Taylor Model Basin is among the largest facilities of its kind in the world, containing a shallow water basin, a deep water basin and a high-speed basin. Using its sophisticated combination of towing carriages, wave makers, and measuring equipment, engineers are able to determine the sea-keeping qualities and propulsion characteristics of ship and craft models up to 40 feet in length. Since it became operational, the facility has provided key support in the development of naval architecture for the Navy, the Coast Guard, the Maritime Administration, and the maritime industry.
YearAdded:
Image Credit:
Public Domain (United States Navy)
Image Caption:
David Taylor Model Basin
Era_date_from:
1939
1998
Haarlemmermeer State: Zip: Country: Netherlands Website: http://www.asme.org/about-asme/history/landmarks/topics-m-z/pumping/-153-cruquius-pumping-station-%281849%29 Creator: Cruquius, Nicolaus Samuel , Beijerinck, Jan Anne
This is one of three nearly identical pumping stations that drained the Haarlemmermeer (Haarlem Lake), 1849- 52, then continued to maintain the polder's water table for more than 80 years. The Haarlemmermeer area covers 45,000 acres (about 70 square miles) in a triangular region between the cities of Amsterdam, Haarlem, and Leiden.
YearAdded:
Image Credit:
Courtesy Flickr/Mirko Junge (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Image Caption:
Cruquius Pumping Station
Era_date_from:
1849
1991
Although bottled carbonated beverages were popular by the 1880s, sealing the bottle was a constant problem. Most "stoppers" were of metal and intended for reuse. None sealed adequately, and contact with the cap often contaminated the drink.
In 1892 (Feb 2), William Painter (1838-1906) patented a cheap, single-use metallic cap, crimped over a lip formed on the bottle neck and lined with a thin cork wafer that both formed a leakproof seal and separated drink and metal.
YearAdded:
Image Credit:
Courtesy Wikipedia/KMJ (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Image Caption:
Crown Cork and Soda Filling Machine
Era_date_from:
1892
1994
The introduction of steam-powered forging hammers by French and British engineers of the 1830s led to the building of this impressive hammer at Creusot that delivered blows to shape and strengthen iron and steel objects before forging. It was for years the most powerful steam hammer in the world. Yet in 1878 a writer observed that "this formidable mass is capable of ... corking a bottle without breakage."
With a striking capacity of 100 tons and a stroke of 5 meters, it worked massive iron and steel shafts, piston rods, and other forgings for fifty-four years, until its retirement in 1930.
YearAdded:
Image Credit:
Courtesy Wikipedia/Christophe Finot (CC BY-SA 2.5)
Image Caption:
Creusot Steam Hammer
Era_date_from:
1876
1981
When erected by Peter Grubb to smelt the rich iron ore of the nearby Cornwall ore banks, this stone-built blast furnace was typical for its time, producing about 20 tons of pig-iron and cast-iron products a week. A major reconstruction in 1856 to 1857 produced important changes: the furnace itself was enlarged; the blast-air bellows were replaced by a pair of wooden cylinder "blowing tubs"; the waterwheel that had powered them was replaced by a 20-horsepower steam engine; and a pair of waste-heat boilers to supply the engine was built into the open stack of the furnace.
YearAdded:
Image Credit:
Courtesy Wikipedia/Wherring (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Image Caption:
Cornwall Iron Furnace
Era_date_from:
1742
1985
While Thomas Edison perfected the first practical and durable filament in 1879, it was not until much later that electricity left the laboratory to become the universal source of light. This required a tremendous number of glass envelopes for light bulbs. In the 1890s the top speed of the finest glass-blowing team produced two bulbs a minute.
YearAdded:
Image Credit:
Original Image: Courtesy Flickr/ellenm1 (CC BY 2.0)
Image Caption:
Corning Ribbon Machine
Era_date_from:
1926
1983
The Cooperative Fuel Research (CFR) engine is used extensively throughout the world for testing, research, and instruction in the performance of fuels and lubricants for the internal combustion engine. Principal design work on this prototype engine was accomplished by engineers of Waukesha Motor Company, now a division of Dresser Industries, who served on a Cooperative Fuel Research Committee with representatives of the American Petroleum Institute, Society of Automotive Engineers, Automobile Manufacturers Association, and the National Bureau of Standards.
YearAdded:
Image Credit:
Courtesy Colorado State University
Image Caption:
Cooperative Fuel Research Engine
Era_date_from:
1928
1980
Innovations
