On April 21, 1949, a completely outdoor turbine-generator was placed into commercial operation at the Greens Bayou electric power plant--the first fully outdoor unit to operate in the United States. The demand for unprecedented quantities of electricity after World War II pressed utilities to provide addition power quickly. The outdoor design, unlike the traditional large turbine hall, resulted in significant reductions in the cost per kilowatt to build the plant.
Mechanical
YearAdded:
Image Credit:
Courtesy ASME
Image Caption:
Greens Bayou Generator Plant
Era_date_from:
1949
1991
A variety of mechanical feeders, including drag-chain conveyors and rotary pocket feeders, historically have been used to volumetrically control the flow of fuel to coal pulverizers on power generators. Most power generation in the United States has relied on burning fossil fuels in steam boilers, with coal as the fuel of choice. By the 1920s, pulverized-firing (the burning in suspension of finely ground coal particles) evolved as means to more complete fuel combustion and higher system efficiencies and facilitated the use of larger boilers.
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Image Credit:
Image Caption:
Drawing from patent documents for Gravimetric Coal Feeder.
Era_date_from:
1957
1995
Designed and built by Fred Graue, a German immigrant, together with William Asche, the Old Graue Mill began operating around 1852 and served the village of Brush Hill (Hinsdale) until World War I. Its undershot waterwheel, wooden gearing system, belt power transmission, bucket elevators, and related bolters and sifters were representative of an ancient technology that began with Roman engineer Vitruvius. It ground wheat, corn, oats, and buckwheat in an era that was on the threshold of the Industrial Revolution.
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Image Credit:
Public Domain (Historic American Buildings Survey)
Image Caption:
Graue Mill
Era_date_from:
1852
1981
Commercial pineapple production began in Hawaii about 1890. Fruit was hand-peeled and sliced to match can sizes for export. In 1911 James D. Dole hired Henry G. Ginaca to design a machine to automate the process. As fruit dropped through the Ginaca machine, a cylinder was cut to proper diameter, trimmed top and bottom, and cored. This machine more than tripled production, making pineapple Hawaii's second largest crop.
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Image Credit:
Public Domain (United States Patent)
Image Caption:
Ginaca Pineapple Processing Machine
Era_date_from:
1911
1993
The Georgetown Steam Plant, a surprisingly complete and operable steam power plant after a career of nearly seventy-five years, was built in the early 1900s when Seattle's inexpensive hydroelectric power attracted manufacturers. Much of the power produced at this plant operated the streetcars.
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Image Credit:
Courtesy Flickr/wneuetc (CC BY-ND 2.0)
Image Caption:
Georgetown Steam Plant
Era_date_from:
1906
1980
Between its opening in 1888 and the mid-1920s, Georgia Tech took a leading role in transforming mechanical engineering education from a shop-based, vocational program to a professional one built on rigorous academic and analytical methods.
Led by John Saylor Coon (1854-1938), a founding member of ASME, this curriculum merged theoretical understanding with practical experience. By bringing Coon on board so soon after the school's founding, Tech began this transition almost from day one, even though it took three decades to completely effect it.
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Image Credit:
Public Domain (Copyright Expired)
Image Caption:
On Left: Georgia Tech's shop building
2000
On Right: Tech Tower
Photo circa 1899 Era_date_from: 1888
The Garfield Thomas Water Tunnel is a unique experimental facility for hydrodynamic research and testing. The 48-inch (1.2-meter) diameter water tunnel enables the research staff to conduct basic and applied investigations in the fields of cavitation, hydroacoustics, turbulence, transition, hydrodynamic drag, and hydraulic and subsonic turbomachinery. Instrumentation and testing methods have been developed to study noise, vibration, vehicle dynamics, and the interaction between the propulsor and vehicle body.
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Image Credit:
Courtesy WikiCommons/CyberXRef (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Image Caption:
Entrance to the Garfield Thomas Water Tunnel
Era_date_from:
1949
1996
This fusion-welded drum, tested during 1930, was the first in a series tested at Combustion Engineering Inc. that led to the industrial acceptance of welding for the fabrication of boiler drums. Replacing riveting for steam power plants, electric arc fusion welding permitted increased efficiencies through higher working pressures and temperatures and fabrication of larger units of improved safety. Welding was then rapidly extended to fabrication using optimum alloys for pressure vessel and structural application.
Papers published by A. J.
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Image Credit:
Image source: Engrailhistory.info
Image Caption:
Fusion-welded Test Boiler Drum
Era_date_from:
1930
1980
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.
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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
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
Innovations
Although the origins of three-dimensional printing date back to the mid 19th century, and the first…
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