The Electric Clock, Blueprints, the Stapler, and the Grain Elevator.

This essay is about the electric clock, blueprints, the stapler, and the grain elevator.

Alexander Baine invented the electric clock in 1840.  Instead of weight moving the pendulum, the pendulum is moved by electricity.  Most of the time the pendulum is replaced by a battery.  The main benefit of the electric clock is that it is smaller, it is more portable, and it lasts longer.

Blueprints were invented in 1842 by John Herschel.   To make a blueprint, a piece of paper is coated with a chemical mix of potassium ferrocyanide and ferric ammonium citrate. When the chemical soaks into the piece of paper the original drawing is placed on top of the piece of paper that was soaked in the chemical mixture and UV light is applied.  The chemical mixture reacts to the UV light and leaves a blue dye that cannot be erased.  The lines of the original drawing block the UV light and leave a white line.  Blueprints made it easy to quickly make copies of pictures and drawings.

The stapler was invented by Samuel Slocum in 1841.  Staplers bind multiple sheets of paper together.  U-shaped staples are driven through paper and the staple’s ends are bent.  The stapler is used in many places like offices, homes and even construction sites.  Construction staplers use nails instead of staples.  The stapler has made binding things together much easier.

Joseph Dart invented the grain elevator in 1842.  Grain elevators lift grain up into a silo.  The grain elevator is steam powered.  It is essentially just a vertical conveyor belt that has buckets attached to it.  The grain elevator is about 8 times faster than manual unloading of grain.  It quickly unloades, stores, and dispenses grain.  The grain elevator transformed Buffalo and spurred global trade.

The most interesting thing I learned about this week is that the grain elevator and blueprints were both invented in 1842.