About the Pony Express
The Pony Express was founded by William H. Russell, William B. Waddell, and Alexander Majors all three who were stagecoach riders before they took on creating the Pony Express. The Pony Express was created shortly before the start of the Civil War because people needed news faster about the threat of a war. The Pony Express was also created because of the Gold Rush. More people moved out west and therefore, more people needed mail from the east. The benefit was that instead of the usual 20 days that it took for mail to travel from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California, after the creation of the Pony Express, it took an unprecedented 10 days. Overall, the entire trip was 1,600 miles and the riders rode on what is now known as the Pony Express National Historic Trail.
Horses, or Broncos were chosen and bought based on fleetness, toughness and endurance; overall, 600 broncos were purchased. Furthermore, 75 men were hired to ride the horses across the country; none weighed over one hundred and ten pounds. Although they had a strict weight requirement, the men were also chosen based upon their bravery, riding skills, shooting abilities and their knowledge of craft when it came to dealing with the Native Americans.
The first westbound trip was made in 9 days and 23 hours and the eastbound journey in 11 days and 12 hours. The pony riders covered 250 miles in a 24-hour day. As the Pony Express got more established, a rider would leave St. Joseph everyday at noon, while another rider would leave Sacramento at 8 o’clock in the morning, except on Sundays. There were 100 stations along the way that riders could stop at to change horses or get something to eat. For two years, or more specifically 19 months; the pony express was used to get letters from Missouri to Sacramento. The cost of carrying the letter was 5 dollars. Ten weeks after the start of the Pony Express, Congress passed a bill in which started the construction of telegraph lines to the west. Therefore, after the telegraph finally reaching California, there was no longer a need for the Pony Express and therefore, it was over. The first mail to reach California was on April 13, 1860 and in its two year span, only one mail delivery was ever lost.

http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist1/pxpress.html
http://www.ponyexpress.org/index.php?page=History
http://www.nps.gov/poex/historyculture/index.htm

The Cotton Gin1972-Sophia Diakoloukas

WHAT: A Machine that automated the separation of cotton seed from short staple cotton fiber.

-This cotton engine consisted of spiked teeth mounted on a box revolving cylinder which, when turned by a crank, pulled the cotton through small slotted openings to separate the seeds from lint. A rotating brush, operated via a belt and pulleys, removed the link from projecting spikes.

WHO INVENTED IT:

-Eli Whitney was the inventor of the cotton gin and a pioneer in mass production of cotton.

-Whitney was born in Westboro, Mass on December 8th 1765.

-He graduated from Yale College in 1792

-In 1793, Whitney had designed and constructed the Gin.

WHERE:

-It was invented in the state of Georgia

-Eli Whitney was a native to Mass, but immigrated south to make his fortune just as many other New Englanders were doing at the time.

WHEN: 1972

ADVANTAGES:

-This machine was created to ease the tremendous burdens of those who labored and picked the seeds from the cotton.

-This machine could clean as much cotton as 50 men working by hand

-It projected America into a world, where machines were making it much easier for an average slave worker.

-The economy and many individuals had benefited from the Gin and its increase in production

-Increased production at lower costs

-The cotton Gin started an American Industrial Revolution

DISADVANTAGES:

-A disastrous fire in the factory didn't provide enough Gins to meet demand, and manufacturers throughout the South then copied the invention.

-Increased Slavery tremendously

-Cotton became the cheapest and most widely used textile fabric in the world which caused the a demand for much more slaves.

-Capital had been invested in slaves rather than more transportation and factories.

-Slavery

YouTube on History of the Cotton Gin: http://youtube.com/watch?v=8C_3RYmKggw

1890's Dirigibles

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The first rigid airship to fly was built in the 1890s. Its skeleton and outer cover were made of aluminum, and it was powered by a 12-horsepower Daimler gas engine connected to three propellers. Designed by David Schwarz, a timber merchant from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it lifted off successfully in a tethered test at Templehof near Berlin, Germany, on November 3, 1897. But its propeller belts broke, the pilot lost control, and the airship crashed.

The major designer and manufacturer of rigid airships in the early part of the twentieth century was the German company Luftschiffbau Zeppelin, owned by Count Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin. Zeppelins were used as offensive weapons by Germany during World War I, dropping bombs on both Paris and London until the Allies became more effective at attacking them.

The United States also used an observation balloon during World War I, the Caquot Type R, named for its designer, Lieutenant Albert Caquot of France. It measured 92 feet long and 32 feet in diameter, could stay aloft in winds as high as 70 miles per hour, and held 32,200 cubic feet (912 cubic meters) of hydrogen. It was used on the Western Front in France during the war. Nearly a thousand Caquot balloons were manufactured in the United States during 1918-1919. The British also used this balloon in limited quantity during World War II.

BY JAKE BAUER

References:

Dirigibles online

Dirigible images library

The history of dirigibles

Timeline of Toys By Katherine Slattery

4000 B.C. -2000 B.C. A Babylonian board game is played that was probably an ancestor of chess and checkers. First game resembling backgammon is played in Ancient Sumeria.

1000 B.C. Kites appear in China.

200 A.D. The first iron skates are used in Scandinavia.

969 Playing cards are first used in Asia.

1686-1705 In seventeenth-century Europe, dollhouses first gain popularity not as a children's toy but as a hobby for well-to-do ladies. After the Industrial Revolution, factories began mass-producing toys, and dollhouses become cheaper and more accessible to children.

1759 Roller skates are invented by Joseph Merlin.

1760 English mapmaker John Spilsbury pastes one of his maps to a board and cuts it in pieces along its borders, creating the earliest version of the jigsaw puzzle.

1800s Playgrounds begin to appear in American cities.

1840 The first American dollmaker is granted a patent and dolls begin to be mass-produced in America for the first time.

1870 German immigrant Frederick August Otto Schwarz and his three brothers open a modest toy shop in New York City; it will eventually grow into the enormously successful F.A.O. Schwarz.

1887 The speaking doll, which had first been invented by Johann Maelzel in 1820, is improved when Thomas Edison combines his phonograph technology with a doll, allowing it to speak.

1901 At just 22 years old, Joshua Lionel Cowen creates a battery-powered train engine.

1902 In America, toy bears begin to be called Teddy Bears" after President Theodore Roosevelt.

1903 Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith produce the first box of Crayola crayons.

1915 Johnny Gruellebegins to sell Raggedy Ann dolls.

1916 John Lloyd Wright invents Lincoln Logs.

1929 The yo-yo is popularized in the United States.

1935 Parker Brothers introduces Monopoly. By offering a way to "get rich quick" to Americans struggling through the Great Depression.

Early 1940s Affordable, detailed model airplanes begin to be mass-produced.

1947 A group of Minnesota teachers create Tonka Trucks.

1949 Ole Christiansen, a Danish toy maker creates Legos.

1950 Silly Putty.

1952 Hasbro introduces Mr. Potato Head.

1959 The Barbie doll is introduced at the American Toy Fair in New York City by Elliot Handler, founder of Mattel Toys, and his wife, Ruth.

1965 Stanley Weston creates a doll for boys, G.I. Joe.

1972 Magnavox introduces Odyssey, the first video game machine.

1983 A Japanese company, Nintendo, brings the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), a home video game system, to the United States.

1993 Toy inventor H. Ty Warner begins to market understuffed plush bean bag toys called Beanie Babies.

1996 Tickle Me Elmo.

1999 The collectible card trading game Pokemon becomes extremely popular in America.

2000 Selling for around $100 retail, the Razor Scooter becomes the top-selling toy of the year.

2005 The Ganz company releases a new line of plush toys called Webkinz.

2006 The next generation of video game consoles is represented by Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's Playstation 3, and Nintendo's Wii. sources:http://www.history.com/content/toys/timeline

Plastic - By: Kaitlyn Apollo

Plastic
The first man-made plastic was created by Alexander Parkes who publicly demonstrated it at the 1862 Great International Exhibition in London. The material called Parkesine was an organic material derived from cellulose that once heated could be molded, and retained its shape when cooled.

Alexander Parkes
Born: 29 December 1813, Birmingham, Warwickshire, England
Died: 29 June 1890, West Dulwich, nr London, England

Plastic is the general common term for a wide range of synthetic or semisynthetic organic amorphous solid materials suitable for the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce costs.

The word derives from the Greek πλαστικός (plastikos) meaning fit for molding, and πλαστός (plastos) meaning molded.

Timeline - Beginning of the Plastic Era with Semi Synthetics
· 1839 - Polystyrene or PS discovered - Eduard Simon
· 1862 - Parkesine - Alexander Parkes
· 1863 - Cellulose Nitrate or Celluloid - John Wesley Hyatt
· 1872 - Polyvinyl Chloride or PVC - first created by Eugen Baumann
· 1894 - Viscose Rayon - Charles Frederick Cross, Edward John Bevan

Timeline - Thermosetting Plastics and Thermoplastics
· 1908 - Cellophane ® - Jacques E. Brandenberger
· 1909 - First true plastic Phenol-Formaldehyde tradenamed Bakelite - Leo Hendrik Baekeland
· 1926 - Vinyl or PVC - Walter Semon invented a plasticized PVC.
· 1927 - Cellulose Acetate
· 1933 - Polyvinylidene chloride or Saran also called PVDC - accidentally discovered by Ralph Wiley, a Dow Chemical lab worker.
· 1935 - Low-density polyethylene or LDPE - Reginald Gibson and Eric Fawcett
· 1936 - Acrylic or Polymethyl Methacrylate
· 1937 - Polyurethanes tradenamed Igamid for plastics materials and Perlon for fibers. - Otto Bayer and co-workers discovered and patented the chemistry of polyurethanes
· 1938 - Polystyrene made practical
· 1938 - Polytetrafluoroethylene or PTFE tradenamed Teflon - Roy Plunkett
· 1939 - Nylon and Neoprene considered a replacement for silk and a synthetic rubber respectively Wallace Hume Carothers
· 1941 - Polyethylene Terephthalate or Pet - Whinfield and Dickson
· 1942 - Low Density Polyethylene
· 1942 - Unsaturated Polyester also called PET patented by John Rex Whinfield and James Tennant Dickson
· 1951 - High-density polyethylene or HDPE tradenamed Marlex - Paul Hogan and Robert Banks
· 1951 - Polypropylene or PP - Paul Hogan and Robert Banks
· 1953 - Saran Wrap introduced by Dow Chemicals.
· 1954 - Styrofoam a type of foamed polystyrene foam was invented by Ray McIntire for Dow Chemicals
· 1964 - Polyimide
· 1970 - Thermoplastic Polyester this includes trademarked Dacron, Mylar, Melinex, Teijin, and Tetoron
· 1978 - Linear Low Density Polyethylene
· 1985 - Liquid Crystal Polymers

How Plastic is Made

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T01i_vp2mJE

Work Cited:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic#History_of_plastics
http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventions/a/plastics.htm
http://www.makingthemodernworld.org.uk/people/BG.0018/

Motion Film

History
Ø -Preceded by plays and dances with similar concepts to film

Ø -First motion picture…Roundhay Garden Scene 1888
o -no techniques (editing)
o -one time shots, very static

Ø -Silent films emerge in the World War I era
o -Birth of a Nation 1914, most famous film of era
o -Prepared lists of orchestras were used for music

Ø -Color starts to emerge during the World War II era
o -Color became the same cost as black and white
o -By the 1960s, color was the norm in the motion picture industry

Ø -Digital, animation, and the rise of film schools shape what we know movies as today
o -Emergence of HD and Blu Ray discs
o -Digital screens
o -IMAX is a 3-D style for movies

Economy/Cultural/Social of Movies

Ø -1.3 americans employed

Ø -200,000 a day for where they are shot

Ø -9.5 billion trade surplus

Ø -1920’s 2/3 of neighborhoods go every week

Ø -1940’s 90 million stop going because of television

Ø -1980’s 4.6 billion to 1 billion

Ø -Today..DVD’s, piracy and on demand lessens the movie go-ers

Fun Facts of Movies

Highest Grossing Projects
Titantic $600,788,188

Lowest Grossing Project
Zyzzyz Road $30.00

Longest Movie
The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple 27 hours

Most Expensive Movie
Pirates of the Carribbean $300,000,000

Highest Paid Actor
Johnny Depp 56 million for Pirates 4

History of Movies Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CDyjMouQyc

Sources
http://www.mpaa.org/press_releases/mpa%20us%20economic%20impact%20report_final.pdf
http://my.spill.com/profiles/blog/show?id=947994:BlogPost:816018#

Television---- By: Jennifer Higgins

Television was not invented by a single inventor, instead many people working together and alone over the years, contributed to the evolution of television.

Broadcasting Pioneers: The Many Innovators Behind Television HistoryAt the dawn of television history there were two distinct paths of technology experimented with by researchers.
Early inventors attempted to either build a mechanical television system based on the technology of Paul Nipkow's rotating disks; or they attempted to build an electronic television system using a cathode ray tube developed independently in 1907 by English inventor A.A. Campbell-Swinton and Russian scientist Boris Rosing.
Electronic television systems worked better and eventual replaced mechanical systems.

Mechanical T.V. History:
-German, Paul Nipkow developed a rotating-disc technology to transmit pictures over wire in 1884 called the Nipkow disk. Paul Nipkow was the first person to discover television's scanning principle, in which the light intensities of small portions of an image are successively analyzed and transmitted.

-In the 1920's, John Logie Baird patented the idea of using arrays of transparent rods to transmit images for television. Baird's 30 line images were the first demonstrations of television by reflected light rather than back-lit silhouettes. John Logie Baird based his technology on Paul Nipkow's scanning disc idea and later developments in electronics.

-Charles Jenkins invented a mechanical television system called radiovision and claimed to have transmitted the earliest moving silhouette images on June 14, 1923.

Electronic T.V. History:
-Electronic television is based on the development of the cathode ray tube, which is the picture tube found in modern TV sets. German scientist, Karl Braun invented the cathode ray tube oscilloscope (CRT) in 1897.

-Russian inventor, Vladimir Zworykin invented an improved cathode-ray tube called the kinescope in 1929. The kinescope tube was sorely needed for television. Zworykin was one of the first to demonstrate a television system with all the features of modern picture tubes.

-In 1927, Philo Farnsworth was the first inventor to transmit a television image comprised of 60 horizontal lines. The image transmitted was a dollar sign. Farnsworth developed the dissector tube, the basis of all current electronic televisions. He filed for his first television patent in 1927 (#1,773,980).

-Louis Parker invented the modern changeable television receiver. The patent was issued to Louis Parker in 1948.
Rabbit Ears - AntennaeMarvin Middlemark invented "rabbit ears", the "V" shaped TV antennae. Among Middlemark's other inventions were a water-powered potato peeler and rejuvenating tennis ball machine.

Color T.V.:
-Color TV was by no means a new idea, a German patent in 1904 contained the earliest proposal, while in 1925 Zworykin filed a patent disclosure for an all-electronic color television system. A successful color television system began commercial broadcasting, first authorized by the FCC on December 17, 1953 based on a system invented by RCA.

Cable T.V.:
-Cable television, formerly known as Community Antenna Television or CATV, was born in the mountains of Pennsylvania in the late 1940's. The first successful color television system began commercial broadcasting on December 17, 1953 based on a system designed by RCA.

Remote Control:
-It was in June of 1956, that the TV remote controller first entered the American home. The first TV remote control called "Lazy Bones," was developed in 1950 by Zenith Electronics Corporation (then known as Zenith Radio Corporation).

Children's Programming:
-The American Broadcasting Company first aired Saturday morning TV shows for children on August 19, 1950.

Plasma T.V.:
-The very first prototype for a plasma display monitor was invented in 1964 by Donald Bitzer, Gene Slottow, and Robert Willson.

Closed Captioning T.V.:
-TV closed captions are captions that are hidden in the television video signal, invisible without a special decoder.

Web T.V.:
-Web TV was rolled out in 1996.

Timeline:
1894-
Charles Francis Jenkins patents the phantascope, one of the first practical motion picture projection machines

1895-
Louis and Auguste Lumière patent the cinematograph capable of projecting moving pictures and on December 28 show the first motion pictures at the Grand Cafe on the Boulevard Des Capucines

1896-
Louis and Auguste Lumière patent the cinematograph capable of projecting moving pictures and on December 28 show the first motion pictures at the Grand Cafe on the Boulevard Des Capucines
April 23: Thomas Edison shows the first motion pictures in the USA in Koster and Bial's Music Hall in New York
September 2: Guglielmo Marconi granted the worlds first radio patent

1897-
Heinrich Rudolph Hertz produces radio waves
K.F. Braun invents the cathode-ray tube
Thomas Edison continues experiments with motion pictures

1899-
Thomas Edison and William Kennedy Laurie Dickson patent the Kinetoscope
Julius Elster and Hans Friedrich Geitel successfully transmit static or luminous imagery

1900-
Congress of Electricity held at the 1900 World's Fair in Paris
Constantin Perskyi made the first known use of the word "television."Scientists were looking at two methods - Mechanical television and Electronic television

1906-
Lee de Forest invented the "Audion" vacuum tube with the ablity to amplify signals
Boris Rosing combines Paul Nipkow's disk and a cathode ray tube and builds the first working mechanical TV system.
Reginald Fessenden invents wireless telephony, a means for radio waves to carry signals a significant distance.

1907-
1907: Campbell Swinton and Boris Rosing suggest using cathode ray tubes to transmit images via Electronic television
Charles Jenkins and Scotsman John Baird experiment with the mechanical television model
Philo Farnsworth experiment with the the electronic television model.

1909-
1909 Nobel Prize awarded to Karl Ferdinand Braun and Guglielmo Marconi for the development of radio

1912-
The Radio Act of 1912 limits broadcasting on radio stations to the 360m wavelength, which jams signals.

1922-
Vladimir Kosma Zworykin patents his iconscope television transmission tube leading the way for further advancement in the television

1924-
1924 - 1925: American Charles Jenkins and John Baird from Scotland, each demonstrate the mechanical transmissions of images over wire circuits. Photo Left: Jenkin's Radiovisor Model 100 circa 1931, sold as a kit. Baird becomes the first person to transmit moving silhouette images using a mechanical system based on Nipkow's disk. Vladimir Zworykin patents a color television system.
1924 l "Broadcast Listeners" Year Book forecasts 'The Wireless Musical Cinema' within two to three years.

1925-
Vladimir Kosma Zworykin patents the first television color tube
October 30: The first moving image was transmitted (the famous grainy image of a ventriloquists dummy's head)

1927-
April 9: Bell Laboratories and the Department of Commerce held the 1st long-distance transmission of a live picture and voice simultaneously.
Philo Farnsworth patents the Image Dissector, the first complete electronic television system and transmits the first all-electronic television image
John Logie Baird set up the Baird Television Development Company Ltd making the first television programmes for the BBC

1928-
Television is introduced in the United States
The Federal Radio Commission issues the first television license (W3XK) to Charles Jenkins
John Logie Baird beams a television image from England to the United States
The first television set is sold. The Daven television cost $75.
RCA begins work on large-screen television.

1929-
Television is introduced in the United Kingdom and Germany
John Logie Baird opens the first TV studio
CBS was founded by William S. Paley

1930-
1930: Charles Jenkins broadcasts the first TV commercial
RCA demonstrate large screen television in New YorkUlysses A Sanabria gives a Cinema-television demonstration in ChicagoJuly 28: First UK public demonstration of large screen television given by John Logie Baird at the London Coliseum

1931-
January 4 John Logie Baird demonstrates ‘zone television’, showing full-length figures and a cricket lesson by Herbert Strudwick.
April 24: Lee De Forest files a US patent for a method of recording pictures, film or events Television is introduced in France and the USSR
By the end of 1931 there are nearly 40,000 television sets in the United States

1932-
June: John Logie Baird transmits pictures of the Derby horse race at Epsom to a large-screen television display at the Metropole Cinema in LondonNovember 8: John Logie Baird introduces a programme which is televised from Broadcasting House, London to the Arena Theatre, Copenhagen, Denmark (600 miles away)

1934-
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was established by the Communications Act of 1934

1936-
The firstexperimental" coaxial cable lines were laid by AT&T between New York and Philadelphia
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) debuts the world's first television service with three hours of programming a day.
August: Television at the Berlin Olympics. Television broadcasts from the Berlin Olympic Games are seen by 150,000 people in public television rooms in Berlin

1938-
February 4: First UK public demonstration of large-screen colour television at London’s Dominion theatre by John Logie Baird and is transmitted from the Baird studio at Crystal Palace in South London

1939-
January: Direct projection television with a 15ft x 12ft screen is installed at the 1,190-seat Marble Arch Pavilion by Baird Company.
Television was demonstrated by RCA at the New York World's Fair and the San Francisco Golden Gate International Exposition
Fritz Fischer patents the EidophorBaird Television Ltd goes into liquidation and is re-formed as Cinema-Television but without John Logie Baird on the board.
Television is introduced in Japan and Italy

1940-
1940: Peter Goldmark invents a 343 lines of resolution color television.

1941-
John Logie Baird, now working on his own, demonstrates a 600 line HDTV colour system for television

1943-
1943: Vladimir Zworykin develops a camera tube called the Orthicon

1944-
January 15: Patent is granted for the Eidophor television projection system.

1945-
June 14: John Logie Baird dies of pneumonia

1946-
Peter Goldmark, working for CBS, demonstrated his mechanical color television system to the FCC - the first to introduce a broadcasting color television system

1948-
1948: Cable television is introduced in Pennsylvania
Louis W. Parker patents a low-cost television receiver
One million homes in the United States have television sets

1949-
August: In a document entitled 'Television and the Cinema', prepared for the Beveridge Committee on the future of broadcasting, the BBC states that 'the place of television is in the home'

1950-
The FCC approves the first color television standard which is soon replaced by a second in 1953
Vladimir Zworykin develops the Vidicon
Phonevision, the first pay-per-view television service, becomes available

1951-
Color television introduced in the U.S.Philips experiments and produces projection television

1952-
Television is introduced in Canada

1956-
Robert Adler invents Zenith Space Commander which is the first practical remote control

1962-
AT&T launches Telstar, the first satellite to carry TV broadcasts and television broadcasts are relayed around the World.

1964-
Color television introduced in the U.S.

1969-
July 20: TV transmission from the moon watched by 600 million people

1972-
50% of home TVs are color television sets.

1973-
Giant screen projection television is first marketed.

1976-
Sony introduce Betamax, the first home video cassette recorder.

1980-
CNN, the first all-news network, is launched by Ted Turner

1981-
NHK demonstrate HDTV with 1,125 lines of resolution.
The Supreme Court rules to allow television cameras in the courtroom.
1982:
Dolby surround sound for home televisionsets is introduced.

1986-
Super VHS is introduced

1988-
98% of U.S. households have at least one television set.The first commercial Direct broadcast satellite DBS service, Sky Television plc (now BSkyB), was launched in the UK

1992-
There are 900 million television sets in use around the world
201 million television sets are in the United States.

2006-
Television signals in both analog and digital formats
The US switch-off of all analogue terrestrial TV broadcasts is scheduled to begin NO LATER THAN February 17, 2009
The UK switch-off of all analogue terrestrial TV broadcasts is scheduled to begin in 2008. The last regions will be switched off in 2012
A UK Digital Terrestrial replacement, called Freeview, enables analogue television sets to receive prrogrammes

Sources:
http://inventors.about.com/od/tstartinventions/a/Television.htm
http://www.history-timelines.org.uk/events-timelines/08-television-invention-timeline.htm