Inventors and Their Inventions

New  inventions   appear  every  day  to  make  our  lives  easier , longer , warmer , speedier  and  so  on . But  only  a  few  inventors  design  a  new  machine  or  product  that  becomes  so  well-known  that  the  invention , named  after  its  creator , becomes  a  household  word . Here  are  ten  famous  inventors  and  the  inventions that are named after them:

1. Ladislao  Biro , a  Hungarian  artist  who  emigrated  to  Argentina . In  about  1943 he  invented  the  ball-point  pen  or  biro .

2. John  Bowler , who  designed  the  hard  round  hat  known  as  the  bowler¹  in  about  1850. It  has  become  the  symbol  of  British  male  respectability . And  you  can  still  see  businessmen  wearing  bowlers  in  the  City , the centre of London’s commerce. 3. Louis  Braille  (1809 – 1852), born  at  Couvray , France . He  became  blind²  as  a  child . In  1824 he  developed  his  own  alphabet  patterns  known  as  Braille  by  which  the  blind  could  read  by  touch , based  on  a  French  army  officer's  invention for reading messages in the dark.

4. Samuel  Colt  (1814 – 1862), an  American  gunsmith³ . He  designed  a  pistol , patented  in  1836, with  a  revolving  barrel⁴  that  could  fire  six  bullets , one  after  the  other . The  Colt  was  the  first  of  its  kind . Many  "six-shooters " came  later . 5. Rudolf  Diesel  (1858 – 1913), a  German  engineer  who  invented  a new internal combustion engine⁵ in 1897. This engine is known as  diesel   and  so  began  a  transport  revolution  in  cars , trains  and  ships . The main advantage of diesels is that they run on rather cheap fuel.

6. Hans  Wilhelm  Geiger  (1882 – 1945), a  German  nuclear  physicist . From  1906 – 1909 he  designed  a  counter  for  detecting  radioactivity . This  was  the beginning of modern geiger counters. 

7. Charles  Mackintosh  (1766 – 1843), a  Manchester  textile  chemist  who , in  1823, developed  a  rubber  solution⁶  to  coat  fabrics  later used in  the  production of waterproof⁷ raincoats or mackintoshes.

8. Samuel  Finley  Breeze  Morse  (1791 – 1872), an  American  portrait  painter. For 12 years he tried to perfect the telegraph. Later he invented    the  telegraphic  dot-dash  alphabet. 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 . 9. Louis  Pasteur  (1822 – 1895), a  Frenchman  who  was  both  a  chemist  and  a  biologist . Pasteurisation  is  a  method  of  sterilising  milk  by  heating  it . 10. Charles  Rolls was born in 1888 in Great Britain. He was a businessman and was especially interested in cars. Once he met Henry  Royce ,  a famous car engineer.  They decided to design the most comfortable and reliable car. At the beginning of the 20^th 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.

Notes to the text:

1. bowler – котелок

2. blind – слепой

3. gunsmith – оружейный мастер

4. revolving  barrel – вращающийся барабан

5. internal combustion engine – двигатель внутреннего сгорания

6. rubber  solution – резиновый раствор

7. waterproof – водонепроницаемый

XIII. Расскажите об изобретателе и его изобретении, пользуясь данным ниже планом:

a) the invention you consider to be one of the greatest;

b) the name of the inventor;

c) the country this invention was made in;

d) what the thing was made for;

e) how it is used now;

f) how it influenced our life.

Text 2

Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison was born in 1847. He went to school at the age of eight. But after three months his teacher called him "stupid" and he came home crying. From that time his mother taught (обучала) him at home and he read science books by himself. He got a job sending telegraph messages. At the age of 12 he began to sell newspapers. He made money in a clever but simple way. He checked the news stories first. When the news was interesting he took a lot of papers; when it was boring¹ he took only few.

In 1868 Edison built his first patented invention – an electromagnetic device. In 1877 he made a "phonograph" - the first ever sound recorder. The following year he invented the light bulb but there was still much work to do. No one knew how to use electricity outside of laboratory before Thomas Edison. He and his workers had to create a safe electric system. First they had to build a factory, then to build the dynamos to make the electricity, and next - to build electric lines. To show people that he was serious, Edison began his project in New York City. By 1887, most part of New York City was electrified. It was the first city in the world with electric lights. Edison founded the Edison Electric Light Company to supply electricity to other places. In 1889 he made a “kinetoscope”. He also made films for his new machine. In 1903 he made the world's longest film (it was ten minutes long!). He continued to invent all his life. Edison died at the age of eighty-four. In his honor² they switched off the lights all over America.

Notes to the text:

1. boring – скучный

2. in his honor – в его честь

Answer the questions.

1. What is Edison famous for?

2. What education did he get?

3. What was his first job?

4. How old was Edison when he patented his first invention?

5. What other facts about Edison’s life do you know?

XIV. Составьте план текста об Эдисоне и перескажите текст согласно своему плану.

XV. Прочитайте диалог и кратко передайте его содержание на английском языке:

For a long time Edison’s visitors wondered (удивлялись) why the gate (калитка) to his garden was so difficult to open. Once his friend said: “The gate to your garden is so heavy. I have to use all my strength to open it. I cannot understand this. You are such a brilliant man. You can invent something better.” “The gate seems to be all right”, Edison answered with a smile. “The fact is that it is a brilliant invention.” “You are laughing at me, sir!” “No, I am not. The gate is connected to a pump. Everybody who comes in pumps twenty liters of water out of the well (колодец).”

XVI. Какие изобретения ассоциируются у вас со следующими именами:

Colt	Hertz	Edison	Diesel
Benz	Gutenberg	Mackintosh	Singer
Biro	Gillette	Roentgen	Hoover

Text 3

Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla (1856 – 1943) was an inventor, mechanical engineer, and electrical engineer. He was an important contributor to the birth of commercial electricity, and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC)¹ electric power systems, including (включая) the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor. Tesla’s AC induction motor² is widely used throughout the world in industry and household appliances³. Electricity today is generated, transmitted and converted to mechanical power by means of⁴ his inventions.

Before going to America, Tesla joined Continental Edison Company in Paris where he designed dynamos. While in Strasbourg in 1883, he built a prototype of the induction motor and ran it successfully. Unable to interest anyone in Europe in promoting this device, Tesla accepted an offer⁴ to work for Thomas Edison in New York and spent the next 59 years of his productive life living there. The street sign⁵ “Nikola Tesla Corner” was placed on the corner of the 40^th Street and 6^th Avenue in Manhattan. There is a large photo of Tesla in the Statue of Liberty Museum. The Liberty Science Center in Jersey City has a daily science demonstration of the Tesla Coil creating a million volts of electricity before the spectators’ eyes⁶.

Notes to the text:

1. alternating current (AC) – переменный ток

2. induction motor – асинхронный двигатель

3. household appliances – бытовые приборы

4. accepted an offer – принял предложение

5. sign – знак

6. before the spectators’ eyes – перед зрителями

XVII. Расспросите друг друга о Николе Тесла.

XVIII.  Сопоставьте даты изобретений и запишите эти данные в свою тетрадь:

Helicopter	1922
Blender	1901
Vacuumed-cleaner	1897
Radio	1945
Microwave oven	1895
X-ray	1908
Automatic washing machine	1980
Compact disc	1754