464 Items Tagged

Technology

William Beebe in the bathysphere.

The Hollow Steel Ball That Changed Ocean Exploration Forever

In the 1930s, the bathysphere propelled scientists deeper into the sea than they had ever been before.

Lida Tunesi August 16, 2017

Kiosks on display.

Stoke Heath, England

National Telephone Kiosk Collection

An ode to the classic piece of British street furniture.

Chasseneuil-du-Poitou, France

Futuroscope

France's high-tech, future-themed amusement park.

Washington, D.C.

U.S. Naval Observatory Library

A hoard of sky catalogs, astrophysical journals, even the works of Galileo and Copernicus.

The Georgetown Steam Plant.

Seattle, Washington

Georgetown Steam Plant

A frozen relic of Seattle's hydroelectric boom is now a teaching facility for future engineers.

The memorial at Foilhommerum Cliff.

Telegraph Field Valentia Island

This beautiful site is where the first transatlantic telegraph was sent from.

Nye County, Nevada

Atomic Bank Vault

The contents of this safe survived a 37-kiloton nuclear bomb.

Vancouver, British Columbia

9 O'Clock Gun

This quirky piece of naval artillery has been deafening Canadians for over a century.

High Rock Tower against a blue sky

Lynn, Massachusetts

High Rock Tower

At the supposed instruction of Ben Franklin and Socrates, a Spiritualist believer intended to birth a mechanical messiah here.

Automat on 977 Eighth Avenue in Manhattan, 1936.

The Anti-Waiter Sentiment That Made Automat Restaurants Go Mainstream

The "waiterless" restaurants that weren't.

Michael Waters July 21, 2017

The nozzle of a bottle of Toilet Duck.

The Surprisingly Recent Innovation of the Toilet Duck

It wasn't with us until the '80s.

Ernie Smith July 21, 2017

Aerosol cans of Windex were introduced in the late '50s.

A Brief History of Window Cleaning

Windex has been with us for a very long time.

Ernie Smith July 17, 2017

Bolivia's Salar de Uyuni, from high above.

From Space, Bolivia's Salt Flats Look Like a Glitch

The geological feature is home to the largest lithium reserve in the world.

Kelsey Kennedy July 11, 2017

Autogyro tested to deliver the mail in Washington, D.C., 1938

When the U.S. Postal Service Used Gyrocopters to Deliver the Mail

The flying machines hopped from roof to roof of post offices.

Michael Waters July 10, 2017

An estimated 500 million plastic straws are used by Americans every day.

A Brief History of the Modern-Day Straw, the World’s Most Wasteful Commodity

Americans use 500 million of them every single day.

Ernie Smith July 7, 2017

A statue of the the U.K.'s first jet aeroplane in Lutterworth where it was produced.

Coventry, England

Frank Whittle Memorials

Monuments and plaques commemorate the local man whose invention shrunk the world.

A plane from the movie "The Dambusters," based on the true story of Operation Chastise, flies over Coventry Airport.

For Sale: A Button That Helped Change World War II

Bomber release buttons were the final push—literally—in the 1943 Dambusters raid.

Cara Giaimo June 27, 2017

Advertisement for the Bennie Railplane, c. 1928

The 1929 Plane-Train Hybrid That Almost Was

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a... railplane?

Michael Waters June 26, 2017