Wednesday, August 10, 2016

History: Yhe Year is 1846

I've uploaded year 1846 to the TSP Wiki...

http://tspwiki.com/index.php?title=1846

Here are some one liners...


Nothing Plows Like a Deere -- John Deere is a blacksmith who moves to Moline and makes history with his steel plow.

Two Horses' Backsides Produce a Standard Gage Rail -- Selecting the width between the rails means doing what the Romans do.

In Other News -- Kerosene, hypnotism and the saxophone.





Nothing Plows Like a Deere

John Deere is a blacksmith living in Grand Detour, Illinois. A few years ago he found a broken saw blade made of Scottish steel and turned it into a self-scouring plow blade. Prairie land requires a different kind of plowshare or cutting blade. The prairie grasses form a tight-knit barrier against the wood and iron plowshares of the 1840s. The soil is sticky and farmers must stop frequently to clean the primitive wooden blades. Iron plowshares are heavy and brittle and often break. Four to six oxen are used to pull the heavy plows through the prairie soil just to break it up followed by smaller plows to do the fine work. Steel is stronger and more flexible. It can cut straight furrows without having to plow it twice and John Deere plows are small enough to be pulled by one horse. Importing steel from overseas makes the plows more expensive, so John is making use of local steel when available. (It really is available in the Midwest in the 1840s.) Sales are good but now he wants to open a factory. The town of Moline is positioned close to the larger cities for more sales opportunities and the Mississippi river will lower shipping costs. He moves his family to Moline and starts a full-blown factory operation. Nothing plows like a Deere. [1] [2]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
I am poking fun at the slogan, "Nothing Runs Like a Deere" but don't take my ribbing too seriously. John Deere did not invent the steel plow, but the soils of the Midwest are difficult to plow, so people were moving to Oregon and California on the promise of easier farming. John Deere filled the market need for a more efficient plow. He was also a heck of a self-promoter. The accounts of his beginnings are legendary... like when John came to Grand Detour with $73 dollars and a dream. Or when he beat that broken saw blade into a plowshare, and propped it up by the door of his shop as if it didn't matter. Then a farmer asked to test the new plow. Two weeks later he returned to buy two more. It might have happened, but the stories are too neat, too homespun... too much like a hundred sales pitches I've heard.... mostly trying to sell me a timeshare in San Juan Capistrano. Granted, John Deere was filling a real need and he turned a 5-man operation into an international industry. You don't do that by sitting on the porch, chewing on a corn pipe and watching the day go by. [3]

Two Horses' Backsides Produce a Standard Gage Rail

Trains need a standard gauge. A wider gauge means more stability but requires wider curves to safely turn and more work on the underlying base below the tracks. A narrow gauge allows for quicker turns in tight situations. That is why you see mining cars that look like toy trains at the park. Also when a train follows a curve, a corner of the train cab always swings out beyond the rail. Too tight a curve means that the corner swings out a lot. If a light pole is set too close to the tracks, it is toast. Standardization also makes expansion through acquisition easier. If I own a successful railway route and I want to expand, I can lay more track or I can buy out my competitor on that same route and use their existing track for my own trains... if they are using the same gauge. Different gauges means work converting the rails or time transferring cargo and passengers from one train to another. So what is the solution? Early trollies were pulled by horse teams, usually two horses pulling side by side. Thus the rails gauge was measured as the width across the backside of two horses which is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. This becomes the standard gauge for train tracks. [4] [5]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
Hey. Don't laugh. That is what the Romans did for chariots. Today there are different gauges in use where there are special needs, but generally speaking, standard gauge is the standard. FYI, Tom Clancy used rail gauge as a plot element in his thriller "Debt of Honor". I don't want to give anything away, but Japan uses a narrow gauge of 3 ft 6 inches for their trains because of the tight corners their trains must make. [6]

In Other News

  • Kerosene is discovered while distilling coal. Until this time, whale oil had been used for clean-burning illumination or coal gas in the cities. Unfortunately, kerosene lighting is delayed due to various patent lawsuits. [7] [8]
  • Animal magnetism or mesmerism is offered as a medical treatment. It's hypnosis, people! This method will remain popular until more methodical systems are developed such as psychotherapy. [9] [10]
  • The saxophone is patented in Belgium. Music has just become slow, sweet and silky. A population explosion is near at hand. All hail Adolphe Sax! [11]

This Year in Wikipedia

Year 1846, Wikipedia.

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