When was television invented?

Television was invented much earlier than you might think. The first electrical transmission of television images was the work of JL Baird, who built his first television system in 1926. JL Baird was born in Helensburgh, Scotland.

The first person to appear on television was a young office boy from the building where Baird worked. The boy was paid about 60 cents for his appearance.

The first transmission of television images did not begin until 1935, in Germany. The first television broadcast in the United States did not occur until six years later, in 1941.

In 1949, there were one million television sets in this country, and by 1959, there were 50 million sets. During the 1960s, color television became popular. And by 1980, about half of all television sets in the United States were in color.

SOME FACTS ABOUT TELEVISION

• The first couple seen on TV together in a bed was Mary Kay and Johnny Steen.
• The first toilet ever seen on TV was in "Leave It To Beaver".
• One in four Americans has appeared on television.
• In every episode of Seinfeld there is a representation of Superman somewhere.
• Scottish inventor John Logie Baird made the first public television show in 1926 in Soho, London. Ten years later there were only 100 television sets in the world.
• In the U.S. there are more television sets than landlines.
• The first television newscast was started by the BBC in November 1936.
• Number of hours a day an average American spends watching television: 4 hours
• Percent of U.S. households with at least one television set: 98%

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What was the biggest bicycle in history?

During the 1890s, a group of artists traveled through Europe and America with a giant bicycle they proclaimed was the largest ever built.

This bicycle was about 7 m long and had ten seats. But 20 years earlier, a Danish bicycle manufacturer had already built what was the largest bicycle in history: 21.6 m long and 34 seats!

The largest three-wheeled vehicle, a tricycle, was built in 1897. It weighed 1,360 kilograms, was 5 m long, and supported eight men. The rear wheels were 3.30 m apart.

Compare these giants with the smallest bicycle ever built - a bicycle of a little less than a kg that could fit in the palm of the hand. The wheels of this bicycle were about 5 cm apart, and the small device could be driven by an adult man.

The unicycle, or vehicle with only one larger wheel built, was 9.60 m high!

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Is Fiberglass Really Glass?

The substance called fiberglass is used for a wide range of things: boats, bodies, skates, curtains, and even yo-yos.

One may wonder why it is called this way, since it doesn't look like glass.

But fiberglass is made from the same substances as ordinary glass. Glass is heated, and with the molten material fine yarns are made, which can be woven together to make fiberglass fabrics. Fiberglass threads are often used to reinforce plastics, making them stronger without adding extra weight.

This reinforced plastic is what many people call "fiberglass.

Known fiberglass was originally a brand, FIBERGLASS, and could only be used by the company that first made it. But in the United States today, anyone who makes fiberglass can call it that.

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How does a plane take off from an aircraft carrier?

 Despite the fact that aircraft carriers are huge military ships, which act as floating airports, their runway is not long enough for an aircraft to take off normally. Extra' help is needed.

It is thanks to steam catapults that sophisticated modern aircraft can take off from an aircraft carrier.

Once in operation, the aircraft is placed in position and connected by the stern to a strong point on the deck, by means of a retainer or wire loop that has a weak section in the centre.

A pole near the front wheel of the landing gear lowers to fit a kind of shuttle that connects the plane to the catapult with a hook mechanism.

In front of the aircraft, but below deck, there are two parallel cylinders, not less than 45 meters long, which house two pistons fixed to the shuttle. The ship's boilers provide the steam that reaches the cylinders through a pressure accumulator, which varies according to the weight of the aircraft being launched.

When the catapult is triggered, the combined force of the engines and the pressurized steam breaks the weak section and the apparatus is released, reaching about 250 km per hour in a stretch of 45 meters.

At the end of the launch the plane is released from the shuttle. The probes on the front of the pistons end up in a water container, where they are submerged at rest. The shuttle is put back into position for the next launch: aircraft carriers can catapult one aircraft every two minutes; US carriers with 4 catapults can launch one aircraft every 30 seconds.

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How does the "black box" of an airplane work?

 When a plane crash occurs the most important part that is recovered is the so-called "black box" or Flight recorder. There are two of these in each aircraft, with a special recorder in each box.

One of the recorders is responsible for retaining flight data, providing a record of the movements of key instruments, such as wind speed and altitude indicators, and the position of the rudders and spoilers. The information, in the form of electronic pulses, is recorded on a tape. In this flight data recorder (logbook) up to 200 flight hours are recorded. This black box is located at the rear of the aircraft.

The other box contains the cockpit voice recorder, which records the crew's conversations and sounds. It works with a continuous tape that lasts 30 minutes (although the latest digital models record up to 120 minutes), so that the last half hour is recorded. This black box is located at the top of the cockpit.

The boxes that protect these recorders consist of two stainless steel plates, between which there is material that allows them to withstand temperatures of more than 1,000 degrees Celsius for half an hour.

Despite its name, the black box is not dark but a phosphorescent orange, easier to see in the rubble of an air disaster.

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Who invented ice cream?

 Four thousand years ago, the Chinese were already making a kind of blanduce paste from iced milk. This dessert was reserved for the affluent class and was a symbol of great wealth.

In Europe, ice cream made from milk and fruit suddenly appeared in Italy in the 14th century, and the credit for these desserts was wrongly attributed to Marco Polo and a Tuscan pastry cook, Bernardo Buontalenti.

In 1533, when Catherine de Medici married the son of Francis I, the future Henry II, King of France, used Italian fruit ice cream to show the rest of the world the culinary qualities of his country.

In the 1920s, the American confectioner Harry Burt of Youngs-town, Ohio, devised the first ice cream supported by a stick.

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