Cameras

It is believed that the camera was invented during the early 1500’s. This first unsophisticated camera was called the camera obscura, which meant dark chamber. Artists were the only people who used the camera as a tool to help them sketch scenery. They would trace the shapes and lines, and then color the picture.

The camera worked by light entering a tiny hole on one side of the dark box that was big enough to fit a grown human being. The light formed an image on the opposite wall. The picture was an upside-down image of the scenery outside the box.

     

During the 1660’s the length of the camera was reduced to around two feet. A lens placed over the holes made the image larger and sharper. A mirror inside the camera reflected the image onto a piece of ground glass at the top of the camera. The camera obscura provided a way to project an image on a wall or a screen, but this procedure wasn’t permanent. Artists still had to trace the image to preserve it.

In 1727, a German physicist named Johann H. Schulze proved that light darkens silver salts, because he discovered that silver salts are sensitive to light. Even though he used sunlight to make images on silver salts, he didn’t try to make the images permanent.

In 1900, George R. Lawrence built this mammoth 900 lb. camera, then the world’s largest, for $5,000 (enough to purchase a large house at that time!) It took 15 men to move and operate the gigantic camera. The photographer was commissioned by the Chicago & Alton Railway to make the largest photograph (the plate was 8 x 4.5 ft in size!) of its train for the company’s pamphlet "The Largest Photograph in the World of the Handsomest Train in the World."

The first camera that could actually produce a picture is credited to have been built by Charles and Vincent Chevalier, while the first photograph developed using this camera was by Joseph Nicephore Niepce in 1826. He exposed a light-sensitive metal plate in the camera and then used an engraving process to make the image permanent. The prototype of the modern camera was invented by George Eastman (1884) when he built a model using paper based photographic film and named his invention as Kodak. Before this, Photography involved complicated chemical processes involving glass plates and the development procedure was quite tedious.

     

Steam Powered Tractors

Steam engines were invented in the late 1700's and applied to moving vehicles by the early 1800's. Later, it's application was put to farming equipment. The application of steam engines was limited because of the enormous weight that was required in the machine. The introduction of high-pressure boilers in the 1850's did much to lighten engines. The steam engine enjoyed it's largest amount of use between 1885 and 1914.

The steam engine was first applied in Europe to the threshing process and to drainage pumps. It was not until the 1850 that the Steam Engine first was used in plowing in Europe. e steam plough, although able to plough ten times the area that horses could plough in a day, was cumbersome and costly, and had only a limited impact on farming in either Europe or the United States. Thus the horse remained the mains source of power until the early twentieth century.

The most successful early application of steam in farming was to plowing. Before steam engines were self-propelling, and had to be hauled into position by horses, chemes for using them to haul ploughs across fields by cables had been devised.

Steam engines had their drawbacks. First, boiler explosions were frequently caused by low water and other factors. he Steam engine was also very heavy and often would collapse bridges originally designed for simple horse and carriage. (Historylink101)


Sourced: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ryan_roxx/3827726129/

An antique steam-powered tractor built by the Advance Thresher Co. (Battle Creek, MI) on display at The American Thresherman Association 50th Annual Horse Power, Steam, Gas & Threshing Show. Pinckneyville, Illinois. August 15, 2009.


Sourced: http://www.art.com/products/p13817629-sa-i2753926/dennis-macdonald-antique-steam-tractor-michigan.htm


Sourced: http://nellspics.blogspot.com/2009/03/i-found-this-old-house-and-steam-engine.html


Sourced: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kozloski/3623926222/

Riding a Steam Train

The Kingston Flyer is a historic steam train that runs from the township of Kingston, south of Lake Wakatipu, to the small nowhere town of Fairlight. It is an inspiring experience thundering through rolling hills in the heart of New Zealand's mountain and lake country.


The Kingston Flyer stationed at Fairlight, waiting to depart. The Ab795 was a class of 4-6-2 (4 leading wheels, 6 coupled driving wheels and 2 trailing wheels) Pacific tender steam locomotive. The Ab class were the largest class of steam locomotives to ever run in New Zealand. The Ab engine class was versatile and efficient, and reputedly was the first engine to generate one horsepower for every 100 pounds of weight. The rolling stock used on the line consists of seven wooden passenger carriages that date as far back as 1898

      

The luxuriant interior of the private booths was a contrast to the already comfortable and lavish carriages. The seats are a faded plush leather and the room was walled with beautiful polished wood panelling. Brass latches, hooks, screws and fasteners adorn the coach the way a noble women is adorned with gold earrings and necklaces. A train designed for comfort, the seats were well spaced and padded with soft leather. Brass trimmings decorate the interior of the train.


A brief video of the Steam Train passing by, with a zoom in on the wheels showing the moving parts. It is easy to identify the 4-6-2 engine style of the Pacific class. Riding on a steam train is noisey and travelling is uneven. There is a rhthymic swaying as the pistons lurch the train forwards and metal chains and couplings crash and rattle. Standing on the rear of the train there is a constant rain of embers and ash from the trail of sulphurous smoke overhead. The train wears a thin layer of soot, dampened by the steam, and your hands come away from railings with smudged stains. Shrubs and grass either side of the track is blackened by sparks igniting small bushfires. Thistle seeds get sucked under the train and spat out at the rear, where they rise up in a vortex of motes and follow the train until the breeze carries them elsewhere.

Links to Sites about Steam Trains and steam engines:

http://www.steamlocomotive.com/
This website has an enormous amount of information with links to websites and museums and organisations all around the world.

BBC Archive of TV and radio programs about steam trains.

How Steam Trains work
A useful site illustrating the parts of a steam train and how they interact.