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1. X-Rays are the classic accidental scientific discoveryWhilst studying cathode ray tubes, one German physicist, Wilhelem Roengten, managed to discover X-Rays inadvertently. He noticed that when the tube was on some nearby crystals omitted a strange fluorescent glow.He experimented with some shielded of the tube to see if it would have any effect on the phenomenon. He correctly surmised that the tube must be omitting some kind of new ray and set out to see if he could block it.He first tried some heavy black paper, but this was utterly ineffectual. Wilhelm then worked a series of other thicker and denser materials and found, to his surprise, that these too had no effect.He quickly noted that the rays appeared to be able to pass through most objects but left a telltale shadow from more solid things, like bones and metal. In a famous experiment in 1895, he used his wife's hand to produce the very first X-Ray Image of the human skeleton.His discovery would set the scientific world alight and chance medical diagnosis forever. And all this by pure chance - and a little ingenuity on Wilhelm's part, of course.SPONSORED VIDEO2. Velcro was not an intentional discoveryIn 1941, one Swiss engineer, George De Mestrelhad gone for a walk and made an exciting find. He wondered why Burdock seeds seem to cling so easily to his coat and his dog's fir.Taking a close look at the seeds, he noted that they had tiny burrs. These little structures were the secret behind there incredible sticky ability.Although he hadn't intentional set out to design a new kind of fastening system he decided to attempt to replicate the effect himself. This would lead to the invention of what we now know as Velcro.After some trial and error, he settled on the use of nylon and polyester and patented his design in 1955.ADVERTISEMENTThe name itself is derived from the words velour ("velvet") and crochet ("hook") in French. It would become the name for the product and the company he would found that still makes it today.3. The Microwave was a complete accidentThe Humble Microwave was actually discovered by pure chance. A Raytheon engineer, Percy Spencer, was working on some radar-related technology when he noticed something interesting.In 1946, whilst conducting work on a new kind of vacuum tube, he noticed the chocolate bar in his pocket melted quicker than one might expect.This clearly intrigued him, and he soon realized it must be something to do with the tube he was working on. He played around with the tube by aiming it at other objects like eggs and popcorn kernels and noticed they seemed to become heated.ADVERTISEMENTPercy quickly realized it must be something to do with microwave energy the tube emitted. Soon after, Raytheon filed a patent for the first "Microwave" in 1945.This led to the development of the first functional Microwave oven which weighed 340 kg. Called the "RadaRange" it stood at almost 1.8 meters tall.The first countertop ones were later introduced in 1965.4. Penicillin was a complete flukePenicillin is probably the most famous example of an accidental scientific discovery. The great Sir Alexander Fleming noticed, in 1928, a strange growth on one of his Petri dishes.The venerable Professor of Bacteriology had been growing cultures of Staphylococcus bacteria at the time. This curious growth appeared to prevent the bacteria from developing in its immediate vicinity.ADVERTISEMENTHe later made a pure culture of the strange substance and found it was actually a form of Penicillium mold.Fleming would later coin the term "Penicillin" to describe the filtrate of a broth culture of the mold. After some further work, it was soon realized that this could have some vital disinfectant applications.The first official use of Penicillin as a cure was performed in 1930 by Cecil George Paine. Penicillin would quickly open up the era of antibiotics and save countless lives.5. Super glue is another famous unintentional scientific discoverySuper Glue, or rather Cyanoacrylate, was an accidental discovery during the Second World War. Its discoverer, Harry Coover Junior, was actually trying to find a way of making clear plastic gun sights.Whilst experimenting with a class of chemicals, called acrylates, he noticed his formula was far too sticky for the intended application. He subsequently abandoned his research and moved on.A few years later, Coover was attempting to find another solution to produce heat-resistant coatings for jet cockpits. He and his team decided to take another look at acrylates.During the research one of his team colleagues, Fred Joyner spread the compound between two lenses for later examination under a refractometer.To their dismay the noticed the lenses were firmly bonded together. This time, however, Coover immediately realized the commercial potential for it.ADVERTISEMENTIt was sold under the name Eastman #910 as an adhesive. The rest is history.6. Play-Doh was another famous accidentPlay Doh wasn't originally intended as a child's toy. In fact, it was initially developed as a wallpaper cleaner back in the 1930s.The clay was first created by Noah McVicker and his brother for a soap company. Back then coal fires tended to coat the walls, and well everything, in soot.The clay, when rolled over a surface, was excellent at removing it. Later the rise of vinyl wallpaper made cleaning up soot relatively easy by using just a wet sponge.This practically rendered the cleaning clay useless overnight. But a nursery teacher heard that children liked to model things using the same material.ADVERTISEMENTAfter experimenting with her class she noticed that her students loved it. She told her brother-in-law, Joe McVicker, who happened to work with his uncle, the inventor, Noah.The soap company quickly realized the potential, pulled it as a cleaning product and began marketing it as a child's toy.7. Vulcanized rubber was an accidental findEarly work on rubber had been somewhat underwhelming. It had the annoying tendency to either freeze rock hard in winter or melt in the summer sun.One man, Charles Goodyears, had been experimenting with this material for some time and was struggling to overcome this materials shortcoming. After some more trial and error, he decided to add some nitric acid that had been colored gold.The substance turned black, and he threw it away, presuming it was yet another failure. But after rescuing it later, Goodyear realized it had turned had on the outside.It was also smooth and a lot drier than any previous attempt he'd tried. Despite this, it still melted under exposure to high temperature.He experimented further and added some sulfur. What happened after is a little murky, but somehow some sulfur treated rubber landed on a stove.It didn't melt and instead charred and became an almost leathery, heat-resistant, and waterproof, material. Vulcanized rubber was born, and completely (well almost) by accident.8. The Slinky was meant to be Battleship techBack during the Second World War, one Naval Engineer, Richard James, was working on some tech for warships. He was attempting to figure out a way of using springs to prevent sensitive instruments from being damaged by intense vibrations.Whilst working on some prototypes, he accidentally knocked one off a shelf. Instead of falling ungracefully to the floor, it "stepped" down in a series of objects before re-coiling and standing upright.He was astonished and somewhat amused. Richard later told his wife that "I think if I got the right property of steel and the right tension; I could make it walk."He experimented with different types of steel wire and eventually developed a prototype that neighborhood children adored playing with. His wife dubbed it the "Slinky" and the rest is, as they say, history.This wasn't something incredibly ground-breaking, it was an exciting and unexpected effect.9. Gunpowder was originally intended to extend lifeIn perhaps the purest definition of irony, the Discover of Gunpowder had the opposite effect to its intent. It was intended to be an elixir for endless life but has since been used to relieve many of theirs.In fact, the Chinese name for gunpowder is Huǒyào, which can be roughly translated to "fire medicine" in English.Chinese alchemists in around the 9th Century AD were experimenting with ways to develop a potion for immortality. During one attempt they mixed saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal but the result was very unexpected indeed.They soon found out that their new creation was pretty explosive, to say the least. It was quickly realized that this new substance could be pretty useful indeed.Gunpowder was initially used in fireworks and it would not be long before it was employed on the battlefield in about 1000 AD. It has since changed the face of warfare beyond all recognition.Hope you liked it!!Thanks for Scrolling and reading.“Have a nice day.CREDIT-FAUZAN FAHAD

MWF’s expected first flight is 2022 and induction from 2025: HTLet’s look at other medium-weight fighter’s “same class as MWF” which will be serving till 2050 and laterSwedish SAAB Gripen-E/NG variantsDesign:- Gripen having delta wing, canard configuration with relaxed stability design coupled with a digital fly-by-wire system The Gripen is a multirole fighter aircraft, intended as a lightweight and agile aerial platform with advanced, highly adaptable avionics. It has canard control surfaces that contribute a positive lift force at all speeds, while the generous lift from the delta wing compensates for the rear stabilizer producing negative lift at high speeds, increasing induced drag.Being intentionally unstable and employing digital fly-by-wire system controls to maintain stability removes many flight restrictions, improves maneuverability, and reduces dragIn picture Gripen using her airbrake along canard to reduce speed faster.Avionics and Weapon system:- Raven ES-05 AESAR (Active Electronically Scanned Array Radar) coupled with Skywards IRST (Infrared Search & Track) for Air to Air, Ground, Sea searching, tracking & engagements and capable of carryingBAE Systems Cobra HMD Helmet Mounted DisplayRepresentative Image of Striker II HMD by BAESimulator Training of Target Lock & TrackingCannon: Mauser BK-27 single-barrel revolver cannon capable of firing 27x145mm rounds at 1000–1700 RPM (Variable rate of fire) internal cannonAir-To-Air Missiles: US-made AIM-9X, German-made IRIS-T, South African A-Darter for WVR/CCM A2A engagements and US-made AIM120C7, European Meteor for BVR A2A engagementsAir-To-Ground/Ship Weaponry: US-made laser-guided bombs like Paveway 2, various unguided bombs, ALCM like Swedish RBS-15 which can be used as anti-ship missions as wellVarious other weapons, SPJ, Fuel Tanks (To increase the range further without refueling) I didn’t mention, you can find those in the picture below, and future weapons Swedish or export partners like Brazil, South Africa, and future customers want to integrate.Complete Weapon Package along with various pods of Gripen-E in 2018Specifications:-Gripen E KEY DATALength overall 15.2 mWidth overall 8.6 mBasic mass empty 8000 kgInternal fuel 3400 kgMax takeoff weight 16500 kgMax thrust 98 kNMin takeoff distance 500 mLanding distance 600 mMax speed at sea level > 1400 km/hMax speed at high altitude Mach 2Supercruise capability: YesMax service altitude > 52.500 ftG-limits -3G / +9GHardpoints 10Engine General Electric 414GCredit: Saab, BAE SystemsAmerican Lockheed Martin F16 Block 70Design: The F-16 incorporated a number of advanced technologies that had not been used in previous operational fighters and, when coupled with design innovations, produced significant payoffs in terms of combat performance and cost.The blended wing-body, or lifting body concept, was achieved through a smooth fairing between the wing and fuselage rather than the conventional angular intersection. This blending provided lift at high angles of attack. The thickening of the wing at the fuselage joint actually resulted in a weight savings of about 250 pounds.The blending also results in high volumetric efficiency. A conventional wing-body would require a foot-longer fuselage to get the same volume, adding to the structural weight.In addition, blending made up for the cola-bottle effect of transonic drag area-rule by removing volume around the center of gravity right in the area where it is desirable to have volume for fuel, payload, and the main landing gear. Wind tunnel tests verified that wing-body blending did indeed provide increased lift with increasing angle of attack.Controlled vortex flow proved to be the key to attaining maximum usable lift and excellent handling qualities for the YF-16. Sharp-edge forebody strakes, located on the forward fuselage ahead of the wing, generated strong vortices with increased angle of attack.To generate the same amounts of lift, an equivalent wing without a strake would need both a higher aspect ratio and more area. Wind tunnel testing verified additional lift and a significant improvement in pitching moment. Similarly, the wind tunnel results verified the directional stability improvement and maneuvering at the maximum lift with only mild buffet effects.Automatic variable camber was the key to defining a wing planform that provided a balance between subsonic and supersonic maneuver conditions and acceleration while maintaining outstanding handling qualities and tracking precision throughout the Mach 0.8 to Mach 1.6 combat arena.The use of leading-edge flaps is not new. In this instance, plain, single in-chord flaps were selected instead of slotted types because of their simplicity and because this flap could be used throughout the flight envelope and could be scheduled to provide the best flap position (camber) for the desired flight condition. The flaps were automatically programmed for best position/deflection as a function of Mach number and angle of attack.Leading-edge-flap deflection reduced the pitching moment at high-lift coefficients, yielding much higher trimmed lift and lower trim drag for increased turn rates. For supersonic flight, the leading and trailing flaps were deflected up two degrees to reduce camber drag penalties. The flap control was tied-in with the gear retract handle so that the flaps were fixed in the takeoff and landing position when the gear was down and set to the automatic mode when the gear was retracted.Perhaps the biggest step made in the application of advanced technology was the decision to use an all-electronic fly-by-wire flight control system instead of a conventional hydromechanical system with linkages and cables. The reduced lags and overshoots afforded by the better kinematics inherent in the fly-by-wire system resulted in greatly improved and expanded flying qualities.The flight control system was a high-authority command and stability augmentation system. A roll-rate and g-command maximized response in the pitch and roll axes throughout the flight envelope. The g-command also provided constant stick force per g in the pitch axis. Static and dynamic stability augmentation was provided in the pitch and yaw axes, with damping augmentation in the roll and yaw axes. Spin/stall prevention was achieved through angle-of-attack limiting.Turn coordination was provided through an aileron-rudder interconnect and a roll rate-to-rudder feedback. This arrangement improved turn performance at high angles of attack and reduced the risk of departures.The high reliability and redundant features of the fly-by-wire flight control system’s stability augmentation made a relaxed static stability design possible. In a conventional configuration design approach, the center of gravity, or c.g., is generally located forward of the aerodynamic center, or a.c., to provide positive static stability. The horizontal tail deflection required to balance the moment resulting from this relationship causes trim drag and creates a down-load on the horizontal tail. The technique used in the YF-16 of locating c.g. aft of the a.c. allowed a reduced or negative static margin (relaxed static stability) in the longitudinal axis.The advantage of this technique was that the horizontal tail size or the tail deflection angles required for high-g maneuvers and supersonic flight were reduced, with a resulting reduction in trim drag. In a highly maneuverable fighter, trim drag at high-g is a significant parameter.Avionics and Weapon system:- Northrop Grumman AN/APG-80 for Air to Air, Ground, Sea searching, tracking & engagements and capable of carryinginternal cannon: General Electric M61-Vulcan A2 six-barrel hydraulically operated cannon capable of firing 20x102mm rounds at 6600 RPM with 1050 m/s muzzle velocity.Air-To-Air Missiles: American AIM-9X, German IRIS-T, Isreali Python 4,5 for WVR/CCM and US-made AIM120C, D, BVR A2A engagementsAir-To-Ground Weaponry: US-made laser-guided bombs like Paveway 2, Maverick, Harm, Harpoon, various unguided bombs, ALCM like AGM-158 JASSM which can be used as anti-ship missions as wellVarious other weapons, SPJ, Fuel Tanks (To increase the range further without refueling) I didn’t mention, you can find those in the picture below, and future weapons US, export partners and future customers want to integrate.F-16 BLOCK 70/72 Length 49.3 ft/15.027 mHeight 16.7 ft/5.090 mSpeed 2,414 kmph (Mach 2+)Wingspan 31.0 ft/9.449 m EmptyWeight 9,207 kgEngine Thrust Class 127 knMaximum TOGW 21,772 kgDesign Load Factor 9 gChinese Chengdu J10CDesign:- Chengdu J-10 was the pinnacle of indigenous Chinese fighter design. It is a single-engine delta-canard agile multirole fighter which was alleged to be a clone of the IAI Lavi design, enhanced through alleged access to Pakistani F-16A examples. Even cursory comparison of the J-10 and Lavi indicates that 'Lavi-cloning' is not the case, even if the fighters share the same general configuration. The nose and vertical tail shape are however near enough to the F-16 to raise serious questions.Development of the J-10 commenced in 1988, with the first prototype flying in 1996, and production planned to commence in 2005. The J-10 occupies the same niche as the F-16C/D/E/F and the Rafale, being smaller than the F/A-18E/F and Eurofighter. It is to form the low end of a hi-lo mix with the Su-27SK/J-11/Su-30MKK and be used for air combat and strike roles, replacing the J-6, Q-5, and J-7 in frontline combat regiments.Early models are powered by the Russian AL-31F common to the Su-27/30, with Chinse sources claiming the indigenous WS-10 fan introduced later. The design is claimed to use a quadruplex digital fly-by-wire control system, a glass cockpit similar in layout to the Gripen is employed, and a Helmet Mounted Sight is expected to be used. Chinese sources claim indigenous JL-10 to be the likely candidate radars for production.The J-10 represents an important milestone for China's industry - it is modern combat aircraft competitive in cardinal parameters with current EU production technology and is clearly a unique indigenous design despite the comments of Western critics. Just like the Su-27/MiG-29 blended the best ideas in the teen series types, the J-10 blends the best ideas from the Eurocanard series and the F-16, to produce a high-performance low-cost mass production fighter.Later variants such as J10C has improved WS10B engine with improved thrust and 2 dimensional Thrust Vectoring Nozzle (TVC) for super maneuverability, locally made AESA radar which is evidently superior to Zhuk radar used in early J10s, Divertless intake to mask engine blades, Stealth coating (thanks to experience learned from J20), better electronics, avionics, weapon package.Avionics and Weapon system:- Unknown AESAR coupled with IRST for Air to Air, Ground, Sea searching, tracking & engagements and capable of carryingInternal Cannon: Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-23 twin-barrel gast principle cannon capable of firing 23x115mm rounds at 3000–3400 RPM internal cannon with 715m/s muzzle velocity.Air-to-Air Missiles: Chinese PL-8, PL-10 for WVR/CCM A2A engagements and Chineses PL12, PL-15 for BVR A2A engagementsAir-to-Ground/Ship Weaponry: Chinese laser-guided bombs like LT-2, General Purpose Bombs, NGARM YJ81 (Anti Radiation Missile) ALCM like KD88 and YJ83K as an anti-ship missileVarious other weapons, SPJ, Fuel Tanks, future weapons Chinese or future customers want to integrate.Credit: Sinodefence, AusairpowerIndian ADA Designed & HAL produced MWF aka Tejas Mark 2Design:- MWF having delta wing, canard configuration with unstable design coupled with an advanced fly-by-wire system Canards add lift ahead of the CG, increasing the requirement for trim force, which in the case of statically unstable tailless delta wings, is achieved by increased downward deflection of the elevons. But this also increases the lift produced by the wings, as the elevons act as flaps in this case. Consequently, with the addition of lift from the canard, increased lift by the wing due to favorable wing-canard interaction and an increase in lift on account of downward elevator deflection at trim, there is a significant increase in the total trim lift produced at any given angle of attack (AoA). As a result, a close-coupled canard delta aircraft can be trimmed at a lower AoA for an equivalent amount of lift as compared to a tailless delta without canards. This leads to lower trim drag and better Lift to drag ratio across the flight envelope. It has canard control surfaces that contribute a positive lift force at all speeds, while the generous lift from the delta wing compensates for the rear stabilizer producing negative lift at high speeds, increasing induced drag.S-duct intake to mask engine blades, stealth coating, composite material airframe to make it stealthier and lightweight at the same time.Avionics and Weapon system:- Uttam AESAR coupled with IRST for Air to Air, Ground, Sea searching, tracking & engagements and capable of carryingInternal Cannon: Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-23 twin-barrel gast principle cannon capable of firing 23x115mm rounds at 3000–3400 RPM internal cannon with 715m/s muzzle velocity.Air-to-Air Missiles: Russian R74E (E for export variant), British ASRAAM aka AIM132, Israeli Python-5 for WVR/CCM A2A engagements and Indian ASTRA, ASTRA-2, SFDR (Solid Fuel Ducted Rocket), European Meteor, Israel made I-derby ER (ER for extended range) for BVR A2A engagementsAir-to-Ground/Ship Weaponry: American laser-guided bombs like Paveway 2, SDB (Small Diameter Bomb), Israeli Spice Series, Indian Sudarshan, SAAW (Smart anti airfield bomb), NGARM (NextGen Anti Radiation Missile) various unguided bombs, ALCM like Russian KH59, Indo-Russian Brahmos-NG which can be used as anti-ship missions as wellVarious other weapons, SPJ, Fuel Tanks (To increase the range further without refueling) I didn’t mention and future weapons Indian or future customers want to integrate.BonusT/W Ratio of the following fightersJ10A: With full fuel 0.96, With max take offload 0.65JF17B: With full fuel 0.93, With max take offload 0.65LCA MK1: With full fuel 0.96, With max take offload 0.69

Look within yourself, my friend.Indians are simply not inventive enough!India lacked, and still lacks, the material infrastructure so necessary for spurring industrial growth.By “inventive”, I do not only mean engineers with degrees and doctorates. I mean people like Julien Charles Tournier.How many Tourniers did we have? And even when we had a couple, what was the chance they would be recognized by this IAS-worshipping nation?Leaving aside jet engines, which very, very few countries have managed to bring to the present levels of efficiency and fuel consumption, and nuclear weapons which are under strict watch by the superpowers, everything else was developed by individual inventors, some slaving away despite disappointment.Take the story of the Sperry family.Yes, an entire family of inventors.Dr. Elmer Ambrose Sperry was born in Cortland, New York, in 1860, and at the age of twenty founded the Sperry Electric Company in Chicago, to manufacture arc-lamps.Dr. Elmer Ambrose Sperry▲This was the time of the transformation from steam trains to electricity; and the then young Sperry followed the trend of the age soon after when he founded the Sperry Electric Railway Company in Cleveland, Ohio, to manufacture electric cars.This business was sold in 1894 to the General Electric Company.The Sperry mind was inventive rather than business-like, as with his contemporary, Thomas Edison, who also started his career in the midwest.He then turned his face east to Brooklyn, where in 1910 he founded the Sperry Gyroscope Company in that city.The Sperry searchlight, culmination of forty years and more of one man's life work, giving a light that is actually brighter, unit for unit of radiating surface, than the sunlight which reaches the earth, would have been enough in itself to stamp Elmer Ambrose Sperry as one of the world's great inventors.▲Lower Manhattan bathed in a billion and a quarter candlepower of light from a Sperry searchlight in Brooklyn—illumination of efficiency greater than the sun's. Left; The machine that casts the lightOn August 30, 1927, the steam tanker Pulpit Paint cleared from San Francisco for Auckland, New Zealand. Captain Owens set his great circle course true South 38 degrees West by his gyroscopic compass and turned the wheel over to “Metal Mike.” For twenty-one days, except for an hour in detouring the Savage Islands, no human hand touched the helm. There were cobwebs on her steering wheel when the Auckland pilot clambered aboard.The Sperry gyrocompass and gyro-steering ,device, applications to useful work of what was merely a physicist's toy, would alone mark their inventor as one of the world's most original thinkers.But the acclaim of the scientific world for Elmer Ambrose Sperry was not based upon those achievements alone.Some called him the greatest living inventor; others, second only to Edison.There were men with more patents to their credit—he has only four hundred or a few more—but no other man has covered such a variety of fields, and certainly not more than one or two others had made inventions so fundamental and revolutionary.Most inventions were adaptations or improvements. Sperry's were basic.ONCE in a while the public heard of Elmer Sperry, as a vague figure behind some demonstration of a new light or a new application of the gyroscope (soft "g," please), or when his professional associates honored him with the Collier medal for aviation, or the John Fritz Medal, the highest honor that could be paid an American engineer by his fellows, which was awarded to him for 1927.But the public never saw him. It is not of record that he ever presided at a public dinner or made a public speech. He would head the commission of seventy engineers, representing the United States' at the International World Congress of Engineers at Tokio in 1929. In Chicago there was a fourteen-acre plant devoted to the manufacture of electric coal-mining machinery invented by Sperry.The General Electric Company bought the Sperry patents on electric street cars capable of climbing steep grades.▲One of the early Sperry street cars,first that could climb street grades, built around 1894.In Brooklyn the Sperry Gyroscope Company, which made the gyro-compass, the gyrosteerer and the gyro-stabilizer for ships, and built the Sperry searchlights, occupied a twelve-story building at the end of the Manhattan Bridge.Every navy and great merchant fleet in the world used these Sperry inventions for navigation. Every navy and most of the armies used Sperry searchlights. The Sperry aerial torpedo and a dozen other war machines, some of them among the US Government's most carefully guarded secrets then, stood to his credit.WHEN Prof. A. A. Michelson, the great physicist whose investigations of light were of extreme importance in scientific research, needed a light equal to sunlight for his experiments, Elmer Sperry alone could furnish it. And when Professor Michelson's work called for flywheels with the incredible speed of 40,000 revolutions a minute, Sperry alone could design and build them.The night flyers of the air mail found their airports by the aid of Sperry searchlights, their beams visible as far as 140 miles from their source, shooting a billion and a quarter candlepower into the sky.Practically all motion pictures began to be made in windowless studios, for the Sperry carbide arc light made possible better lighting effects, even for supposedly outdoor scenes, than the sun itself.Why, you wonder, with such achievements to his credit, doesn't the public know more about Elmer Sperry the man?The ever busy Sperry mind, which accounted for 400 patents in the United States, and Europe up to the time of his death, started to work.It produced the gyro-compass, airplane and ship stabilizers of such value in marine circles.The highest intensity searchlight (1% billion candlepower), a compound internal combustion engine, erection of the highest electric beacon in the world in Chicago, a design of an electric automobile, and a track fault finder were other products of his mind.Dr. Elmer Ambrose Sperry died in June, 1930, after fifty years of inventive service to the safety of mankind.However, a startling announcement followed the shock of Dr. Sperry's death. Elmer Ambrose Sperry, Jr., had taken to the air to follow on in the dual footsteps of his father and brother. He would be a demonstrator-inventor just as his father before him.At thirty-five years of age, Ambrose Sperry, Jr. had secured a pilot's license in the record instruction time of three hours. Next followed the news of a six thousand mile test cross country of his robot gyro, sixty-five pounds of metal that operated the controls of a huge Curtiss Condor by simply pressing one of two buttons.He accepted the successful results of the test in these words of his own style, “It reminded me of my brief experience on the farm where I saw men drive oxen by calling `Gee' or 'Haw' to them.” No clamor nor desire for publicity or photograph to mark the occasion — typical Sperry action was displayed by the younger Sperry.It was a further perfection of gyro stabilizer with which his brother Lawrence had won first prize in France in 1914 for the most perfect automatically controlled plane.Sperry, one of the indisputable architects of the time, is scarcely known beyond science circles.Yet mark the mere highlights of his usefulness.As an inventor he was granted some 400 patents.Developments which he authored gave substance to many great corporations.He set up central lighting for metropolitan centers.He made possible the power tool mining of coal.He manufactured the first electric automobile.He developed the first heavy-duty battery.He engineered the most successful streetcar and outsold Westinghouse in its own home town of Pittsburgh.He developed the process of salvaging tin from scrap metal.He lifted aviation from the status of barnstorming to its role in transportation.He assured at a critical time the supremacy of United States sea power.He made a major break-through in railroad economy and safety.He exercised a unique influence in organization of international science.He was the father of the high-powered search-light. Even as a boy he helped build one of the first dynamos in America.Recognition of Mr. Sperry’s catholicity of interest inevitably leads you to comparison with others whose names have been mentioned in the roster of usefulness.The primary genius of the notable useful lay in their recognition of a need rather than in any specific bent of their minds.To fill a need, sometimes intimately human and sometimes nationally significant but always pressing and practical, was the motivation of their efforts.It was this consciousness and dedication that enabled the significantly useful ones to achieve notable inventions or originate far-sighted concepts, although they frequently lacked formal education or other background conducive to their achievements.It was this consciousness which kept their minds from running off into useless tangents—the occupational hazard of the pure scientist or of the theoretically highly educated.For example, Benjamin Franklin was not above inventing a stove or bifocal glasses or the lightning rod or the rocking chair.These were things people needed.That they also needed a plan of union for the Colonies ( which he was first to suggest), rural mail delivery, resistance to slavery, organized hospitals, circulating libraries, the backing of France to secure independence and other pertinent requirements which Franklin supplied, merely further illustrates his motivating philosophy.Robert Fulton once said that his fertility of invention stemmed from recognition of need which he found around him.Actually, he was a great painter, so great that Benjamin Franklin foresaw him as one of the masters, yet he gave up his art to concentrate on serving his times.Piracy was the international menace of the sea in his day.He invented the submarine and the torpedo to free the seas. Lack of transportation cursed the colonies.Fulton invented the steamboat to utilize the rivers. But he saw many needs of lesser magnitude—a machine to quarry marble, another to spin flax, a third to make rope, a fourth to bore rifles, and so on.Eli Whitney, exceptional among the most famed inventors as a college man, intended to be a lawyer but could never pass up the attraction of fixing anything he saw broken down or working ineffectively.Visiting in Georgia he saw why cotton was an unprofitable crop and set about to make it profitable.His notoriety today rests on his invention of the cotton gin.Actually, his fame should rest on the fact that he was the father of the production line—the concept which gave American industry its mighty stature.He never made a dime from the gin, although both it and his manufacturing techniques became vastly meaningful to the stream of history.Or, take the story of Charles Goodyear.Charles Goodyear was born in New Haven, Connecticut, December 29, 1800. He was the son of Amasa and Cynthia (Bateman) Goodyear, and a descendant of Stephen Goodyear, who was the associate of Governor Eaton, and after him head of the company of London merchants who founded the colony of New Haven in 1638. Amasa Goodyear was an inventor of important agricultural implements. The boy observed the good accomplished by some of his father's innovations, and this contributed to his inventive bias.His early years were passed in New Haven.From seventeen to twenty-one we find him apprenticed at hardware in Philadelphia. He then returned to Connecticut to become a partner in the business of his father.In 1826 he opened a store in Philadelphia for the sale of hardware, principally the products of their own factory. It was the first for the sale of domestic hardware in the country. Under his management the house acquired an ample fortune, but failed in 1830. It was a great trial to Goodyear, yet he submitted without regrets or loss of courage to what he considered providential.The next ten years he was repeatedly arrested for debt, not wishing to take the benefit of the bankrupt law. He strove to complete his inventions in hardware, and from the sale of one of them, completed in prison, obtained temporary subsistence.Soon after his reduction from affluence to poverty he decided to devote himself to invention; partly because he felt it would be difficult for him to get rid of the epithets " inventor " and "visionary," so often considered synonymous.As a schoolboy his attention was drawn to the mysterious property of India rubber. A thin pellicle peeled from a bottle attracted his notice, and suggested that it would be very useful as a fabric if it could be made uniformly so thin and so prepared as to prevent its adhering together and becoming a solid mass, as it soon did from the warmth and pressure of the hand. So his mind was dwelling upon the problem before Thomas Hancock in England made his first unsatisfactory solutions of rubber in oil of turpentine about 1819. The substance began to be known in the United States in 1820; its manufacture to attract attention about 1831.Hancock introduced the first mechanical processes (from 1818), molding, ink-erasers, etc.; Mackintosh his benzene solution and garments in 1828. The shoes made by the South American Indians had been favorably received in Europe; but, at the critical period in the United States, and likewise from deterioration of the gum, the public was abandoning them and many other articles of rubber fabrication.In the United States rubber became a subject of investigation, and Dr. Comstock obtained a patent in 1828 for its solution in oil of turpentine and its application to stuffs.Charles Goodyear read of the success of these companies and, in casting about to help himself, naturally turned to the substance which had earlier attracted his attention. He at once began his experiments, melting his first gum in the debtors' prison, Philadelphia. He continued them the winter of 1834—'35, making his mixtures with his own hands and rolling them with a rolling pin.He considers it fortunate that rubber is five cents per pound, for as long as he can command that sum he will be able to continue experiments.And he soon discovers that chemists, physicians, and researchers have been baffled in all attempts to make the substance take on the qualities desired.He is thirty-five, bankrupt, and in poor health, yet does not shrink from what to the strongest might well have seemed a superhuman task; and is sustained by "the reflection that what is hidden and unknown, and can not be discovered by scientific research, will most likely be discovered by accident if at all, and by the man who applies himself most perseveringly to the subject "With a friendly loan he makes shoes of fine appearance, but summer finds them reduced to an offensive mass.He thinks there must be some substance to mix with the gum, and tries almost everything he can obtain.None of the learned men indicate the course to be taken; he is on an unknown sea. He has the best success with magnesia, producing the first white goods; but his beautiful book and piano covers began to ferment and soon turned brittle and hard.At New Haven he recommenced the work which was to occupy his attention to the end of his life, shoes being the first goods offered, as they were of easy manufacture.This was the beginning of the long-continued family employment with caoutchouc, his eldest daughter making the first pair of vulcanized shoes that were produced.The gum, dissolved in oil of turpentine, colored with lampblack, and hardened with magnesia, was spread upon flannel, and out of this material finely embossed shoes were made. But they proved to be a failure in the winter of 1835—'36."It was at this time," says his daughter, "that I remember beginning to see and hear about India rubber. It began to appear in little patches upon the window panes and on the dinner plates. Father took possession of our kitchen for a workshop. He would sit hour after hour, working the gum with his hands."Goodyear failed again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again.The increased attention excited by rubber at the time led to an order from the Government for mail bags, and he gave it the widest possible publicity. At last the world shall see what he can do! He hastened to gather his family around him to share in the beckoning prosperity, and his aged parents and two younger brothers, sufferers from his failure, joined him.What was his mortification to find his beautiful mail bags decomposing and dropping from their hooks! In late experiments he had been using coloring matters, white lead, vermilion, etc. Introduced freely into the bag composition, they had proved deleterious, as the gum was then " cured." After his final invention he was enabled to make use of them. He says, " Had it not been for this misfortune from the use of these articles, in all human probability the vulcanizing process would never have been discovered."So, in the spring of 1839, he is trying the effect of heat upon the mail-bag compound. While talking in the kitchen with persons familiar with India rubber, he makes a rapid gesture, and a piece of the gum he holds in his hand accidentally comes in contact with the hot stove. As the substance, in its natural state, melts at a low de-gree of heat, great was his surprise to find that it had charred with-out dissolving, and that no part of it was sticky. His daughter says: " As I was passing in and out of the room, I casually observed the little piece of gum which he was holding near the fire, and I noticed also that he was unusually animated by some discovery which he had made. He nailed the piece outside in the intense cold. In the morning he brought it in, holding it up exultingly. He had found it perfectly flexible, as it was when he put it out."When further experiments show that his process " cures " the rubber through, and that the new substance resists heat, cold, and the action of acids, and before he has convinced any one of the value of his invention, "I felt myself," he says, " amply repaid for the past, and quite indifferent as to the trials of the future."Two years passed before he was able to convince any one outside of his family of the importance of his discovery. The world had to be shown, by time and varying temperatures, that " metallization " (as the process was first called) was effective.This was a bitter period for the Goodyears.It seemed as if his important secret was to perish with him. A thousand failures were to discover defects. The operation required exactness and promptitude; one condition a failure, all was spoiled; and often he could not apply the heat soon enough.So he saw the necessity of reliable apparatus.Rattier and Guibal, of Paris, made him an offer for his " acid-gas " process, which would have immediately relieved his pressing wants; yet he refused, saying he was perfecting another which would render it worthless.The incident accords with the character of the man.When gloom hung low above the Goodyear cottage, a ray of sunlight came in means for the inventor to reach New York, where William Rider advanced a certain amount for experiments. His family was freed from want, and better conditions for success were obtained. Before the new firm was well under way Rider failed, and it lost its capital.Goodyear was also manufacturing, at Springfield, Massachusetts, sheets of vulcanized rubber and shined goods for suspenders and elastics. These were having a large sale.Now that success was attained, his brother-in-law advanced capital to continue the business. About to continue his enterprise in 1841, he has his last experience with the debtors' prison in the United States.Yielding to remonstrances,he took the bankrupt law; but, when fortune favored him, one of the first things he did. was to pay off thirty-five thousand dollars' worth of old claims. He was in no hurry to seek a patent, considering his invention safe, and was more intent on its perfection for the good of humanity than regardful of his personal interests.So Hancock, in England, scraping Goodyear's samples and smelling the sulphur, persevered until he rediscovered the process, and first obtained a patent, November 21, 1843. He and Brockedon (who secured the samples) named the operation " vulcanization."It was ten years after beginning his experiments before Goodyear felt able to produce perfectly vulcanized rubber with economy and certainty.After vulcanization was an established fact and patented in Europe and the United States, Goodyear worked on for sixteen years in the effort to apply rubber to new and especially humanitarian uses —life-saving appliances on water, sails, water beds, etc.Gail Borden, famous for his condensed-milk process, once said to one of Mr. Goodyear's sons: "After experimenting unsuccessfully so many years, I should have given up in despair if I had not read a sketch of your father's life."America had a thousand Goodyears.And now, on to industrial materials.Do you know there can be no jet engines without rubber?Let us take up just one item: rubber.Hancock (Britain) and Goodyear (USA) invented vulcanization. But control of rubber production was necessary for industrial growth.In this “treasure quest” America took the lead in 1928.And with reason. They were are using rubber in such enormously increasing quantities that experts warned of a serious shortage by 1929 or 1930. Theirr automobiles were shod with nearly 100,000,000 tires, and the number was mounting.At least 30,000 different articles of rubber were being made in a thousand factories.Moreover, while they were using more rubber than any other nation and supplying the rest of the world with manufactured goods, they were almost entirely at the mercy of other nations for supplies of the raw product.In 1927 the United States consumed 380,000 tons of crude rubber, nearly two thirds of the world's total production. Yet of this they controlled less than four percent. The other ninety-six percent was largely in the hands of the British and the Dutch.Thomas A. Edison told of his plans to produce substitute rubber from quick-growing shrubs and weeds, and of the belief he shared with Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone that a larger control of rubber supply was vital to the safety and peace of the nation.And then came Henry Ford with an announcement that he had received from the Brazilian Government a rubber concession of from 3,000,000 to 4,000,000 acres in the Amazon Valley of South America, the native home of the Para rubber tree.There he planned rubber production on a vast scale.Harvey Firestone, too, after preliminary experiments in various parts of the world, had since 1926, under lease in Liberia, Africa, 1,000,000 acres devoted to growing rubber trees. Production began in 1930, and Mr. Firestone’s African plantations became a factor in the world market by 1935.Meanwhile, America's pioneer in rubber - growing, the United States Rubber Company, after seventeen years of experiment in cultivation, enormously increased the yield from rubber trees.By 1928, its plantations, covering more than 184,000 acres in Sumatra and Malaya, had become the greatest single rubber estate in the world. These plantations were yielding 441 pounds an acre a year, as compared with the average yield of 350 pounds the world over. Estimated ultimate yield from the planted areas was a thousand pounds an acre annually.Still another Amerkan venturer was the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, which, since 1916, had been developing plantations in Sumatra that, in 1928, covered 5000 acres.It was a real race for high stakes in a billion-dollar industry.No rush for Klondike gold nor stampede for Transvaal diamonds ever offered richer rewards or a greater challenge to daring and skill.Never before had rubber prospecting been attempted on so vast a scale as that planned by Ford in his Brazilian concessions. Picture a wild, unknown land equal in area to the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined. Imagine fighting a way through the jungles, slashing trees and tangled undergrowth, and finally converting the wilderness into an immense, orderly farm of rubber. Here is a tract that is almost equal to the combined area of all the -rubber plantations in the world.Under entire cultivation, yielding a thousand pounds to an acre, it produced four billion pounds of rubber a year, enough for half a billion Ford tires!The region was perilous, almost trackless, ridden with fever and pestilence, infested with venomous reptiles and spiders and treacherous savages.To conquer it required thousands of men, elaborate plans of campaign, and millions of dollars.For months Ford had been carefully laying his plans.In 1926 he sent Professor Carl Larue of the University of Michigan to make preliminary surveys of the region, which lies on the Tapajos River, with the famed River of Doubt to the west and the lingo River to the east.The army was sent to fight the jungle ed by skilled technical men—engineers, foresters, botanists; soil experts, chemists, railway and marine experts. Every task was under-taken with scientific precision. First, settlements and supply bases were established. These were served by steamships of the, Ford fleet, which made regular trips to the district, and later by airplanes. Medical experts enforced a wide-spread campaign of sanitation to safeguard against the danger of pestilence.In the beginning of the 20th century, when the world's consumption of crude rubber was only 54,000 tons, most of it was still "wild rubber" from Brazil. Then the automobile entirely changed the picture. Tires required huge quantities of high quality rubber.The "wild rubber" gathered by South American natives who slashed the jungle trees haphazard was uneconomical and of uncertain quality.As a result, thousands of plantations covering millions of acres sprang up in later years in the Dutch and British East Indian colonies.By 1928, the world's consumption had increased tenfold: and of the 600,000 tons of crude rubber produced annually, at least nine tenths came from cultivated trees of the tropical East.And of this eighty percent went into automobile tires.Where was India in all this?Nowhere; we were slaves!There are about a hundred and fifty such strategic materials which build a nation. We never had the opportunity or wherewithal (we never were colonists and we never grew anything outside our own land) to acquire these industrial essentials, and so the Americans had a head start.