|
|
| Author |
Message |
clan chieftain
Joined: 05 Apr 2008
Posts: 2041
Location: Motherwell
|
 Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 3:11 pm Post subject: How we invented the world...cars |
 |
|
Recorded it off the Discovery channel last night and watched it today...Great programme about inventors from Dunlop to Benz right through to the present day.  Did you English invent anything 
_________________
The Clan Chieftain |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Bitumen Boy
Joined: 26 Jan 2012
Posts: 1763
Location: Above the snow line in old Monmouthshire
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 4:31 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Just off the top of my head, SU carbs, tarmac and electric light (whatever the Americans may try to tell you otherwise). Where would you Scots be in winter without electric light?  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Roger-hatchy
Joined: 07 Dec 2007
Posts: 2135
Location: Tiptree, Essex
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 5:30 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Bitumen Boy wrote: | | Where would you Scots be in winter without electric light? |
Snuggled up in a warm bed,
thinks to self - 'must get rid of them light bulb' |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
peter scott
Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 7215
Location: Edinburgh
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 8:02 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Bitumen Boy wrote: | | Just off the top of my head, tarmac and |
Well the tar must have come from Trinidad but surely Mr McAdam was a Scotsman!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Loudon_McAdam
Peter 
Oh BTW: Thomas Carlyle Skinner (n.b. His mother was Scottish)
Thomas Carlisle Skinner (c.1882-1958) of S. U. Co
Known as Carl
1901 Living at Sutton Dene, Great Clacton, Essex (age 19 born Hampstead), a Tanning Worker. Living with his parents William B. (age 53 born Rushden), a Leather Merchant and Employer and Isabella (age 42 born Scotland).
Oh, and it looks as if Mr Swan's parents were of Scottish decent too:
Joseph Wilson Swan was born on October 31, 1828, in Sunderland, Durham, England. His parents, John and Isabella Cameron Swan, were both descended from Scottish families that had settled in England in the middle of the eighteenth century.
_________________
https://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Bitumen Boy
Joined: 26 Jan 2012
Posts: 1763
Location: Above the snow line in old Monmouthshire
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 8:35 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I believe Mr McAdam was indeed a Scot but a macadamised road surface is an unsealed surface of graded stone, not the same thing as tarmacadam which was first used on roads in Nottinghamshire way back in 1845. This could have been premixed, as is generally the case today, but was more likely the more old fashioned surface dressing process - published details seem to be rare, maybe the Notts county records office could help if I ever had the time! This would have been made with coal tar from the gas works, cheap and readily available locally; nowadays bitumen from the oil refinery is the usual thing, but works in much the same way. The stuff from Trinidad is a natural asphalt and if you want to be pedantic about it slightly different again.
I love this thing the Scots have for drawing attention to the Scots parents of famous people born elsewhere, the Welsh do it too - Rolf Harris, by their logic, is some kind of Welsh, but he doesn't sound like anyone round here...  As far as I'm aware the country that the inventor was born in and actually did his inventing in is what generally counts, assuming the same country on both counts!
Last edited by Bitumen Boy on Tue Nov 27, 2012 10:02 pm; edited 1 time in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
colwyn500
Joined: 21 Oct 2012
Posts: 1745
Location: Nairn, Scotland
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 9:04 pm Post subject: Re: How we invented the world...cars |
|
|
| marina estate wrote: | | Recorded it off the Discovery channel last night and watched it today...Great programme about inventors from Dunlop to Benz right through to the present day. Did you English invent anything |
Yes we did Larry; or more specifically, one of us Lancastrians did. THE KILT (If you believe Wikipedia!!!
The philibeg or small kilt, also known as the walking kilt (similar to the modern kilt) was invented by an English Quaker from Lancashire called Thomas Rawlinson sometime in the 1720s for the use of the Highlanders he and Iain MacDonnell, chief of the MacDonnells of Inverness employed in logging, charcoal manufacture and iron smelting, for which the belted plaid was "cumbrous and unwieldy"
Take that!!! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
V8 Nutter
Joined: 27 Aug 2012
Posts: 601
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 9:05 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| The Scots have always been very good at inventing things, but not very good as business men. Enter the English. At least that was the way it was until the 1960's when making a quick buck became the business norm instead of working for the future. Is that attitude why the new director general of the Bank of England is a Canadian? They couldn't find an honest banker in this country |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
clan chieftain
Joined: 05 Apr 2008
Posts: 2041
Location: Motherwell
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 9:10 pm Post subject: |
|
|
What have I started here Just got bitten by a dog....must go for my PENICILLIN jag
_________________
The Clan Chieftain |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Bitumen Boy
Joined: 26 Jan 2012
Posts: 1763
Location: Above the snow line in old Monmouthshire
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 10:06 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Just be careful, guys. Going on recent events, we could all end up on the most wanted list for some "ism" or other if a lazy copper is reading this... so much easier than catching criminals... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
colwyn500
Joined: 21 Oct 2012
Posts: 1745
Location: Nairn, Scotland
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 10:15 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Inventions..."Cats' Eyes...Yorkshireman; never stop amazing me re:simplicity/effectiveness. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
clan chieftain
Joined: 05 Apr 2008
Posts: 2041
Location: Motherwell
|
| Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 12:39 am Post subject: |
|
|
So did anyone watch the programme,?
_________________
The Clan Chieftain |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Bitumen Boy
Joined: 26 Jan 2012
Posts: 1763
Location: Above the snow line in old Monmouthshire
|
| Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 1:00 am Post subject: |
|
|
| colwyn500 wrote: | | Inventions..."Cats' Eyes...Yorkshireman; never stop amazing me re:simplicity/effectiveness. |
I agree, Percy Shaw's invention is probably the most effective road safety device ever. Especially compared to their modern replacement, nasty stick on plastic studs that are vulnerable to dirt (proper catseyes self-clean) and soon break up, break off and disappear. My dad worked on highways for many years and will tell anyone that proper catseyes - an iron casing fixed into the road surface, with a tough, replaceable rubber insert - are much better value in the long run than the modern plastic studs, though they be more expensive in the first instance. Maybe some councils are beginning to realise this, as the genuine article seems to be making a limited comeback on the roads  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
peter scott
Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 7215
Location: Edinburgh
|
| Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 1:14 am Post subject: |
|
|
| V8 Nutter wrote: | | The Scots have always been very good at inventing things, but not very good as business men. |
Regrettably, I have to agree with you regarding Fred Goodwin but we have quite a few business successes in the past.
Peter
_________________
https://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
