All About Inventions and Discoveries
The Romance of modern scientific and mechanical Achievements

______ _______________________ Contents _________________ ________________ ____ V CHAPTER VIII The Romance of the Typewriter . The Designing of a Machine for Writing in Braille Cha- racters leads to the Application of the Idea to Writing in Type for Commercial Purposes—Difficulties of Designing the Machine—The Story of the First Typewriter. CHAPTER IX The Steam Turbine_________________________ The Little Turbinia and Her Sensational Appearance at the Spithead Review—How the Attention of the Admiralty was Focused upon the Invention—Its Introduction into the Navy—The Revolution it has Wrought in Marine Naviga- tion—Application to the Battleship—Its Utilisation for the Propulsion of Vessels of the Mercantile Marine—The Coming of the Lusitania and Mauretania—Combination of the Reciprocating and Turbine Engines—Widespread Use upon Land. CHAPTER X The Coming of Electric Lighting . . . . Early Efforts to Produce Electric Light—The Electric Arc " Candles ”—First Application of the Discovery in England-- The Effort to Produce the Incandescent Gas Mantle — The Search for the Filament—How Swan in England Anticipated Edison—A Fight for Supremacy in Patents, which Ended in a Combination of the Opposing Interests — The Coming of the Metallic Filament Lamp—Turning Night into Day with the Nitrogen Lamp. CHAPTER XI The Dawn of Aerial Navigation . . . . The Struggle to Steer Balloons through the Air—From Krebs to Zeppelin—The Gliding Machine the Precursor of the Aeroplane—The Coming of the Aeroplane. CHAPTER XII Living on the Air............................ Extracting Nitrogen from the Air by the Electric Arc__ Converting the Nitrogen into a Fertilising Agent—The First Installation in Norway—Growth and Development of the Process—Competing with Nitrate Deposits. PAGE 172 I96 216 237 262