Doctor: "I've got some bad news and some really bad news. The bad news is you only have a week to live."
Patient: "What could be worse news than that?"
Doctor: "I've been trying to contact you for the last 6 days."
Steam shovelIn 1839, Mr. William Smith Otis, civil engineer of Philadelphia, Penn., was issued a U.S. patent for the steam shovel (No. 1,089) for excavating and removing earth from railroads or canals. The patent drawing showed the crane mounted on a carriage or railroad car. A load of earth could be taken up by the scraper, raised by the crane and turned to be dumped, such as in railcars, and released. The patent described how a steam engine of a kind already in ordinary use, was installed with a power control mechanism for the crane, and a system of pulleys to move its arms and bucket. It could move about 380 cubic metres of earth a day, with its 1.1 cubic metre capacity shovel and 180° slewing wooden jib. It was first used on the Western Railroad in Mass.[Image: Steam shovel built by John Souther in his Globe Locomotive Works in South Boston, Mass. shown behind railcars it is loading with gravel (1857).] |
