Renaissance Inventions
By: Angel (Yinchou) Zhou & Lexi Onifer
By: Angel (Yinchou) Zhou & Lexi Onifer
In the Renaissance time period there were many new inventions. For example there was the horse collar and harness, Galileo’s telescope, the mechanical compass, the printing press, compound microscope, and the water mills.
Printing press
The printing press is a device for printing the words on the paper. It helps people can faster copy and use some information from other place. The first people invented printing press in the world was a Chinese inventor whose name is Bi Sheng. He invented the printing press between 1041 to 1048. But the steps are very hard to use the printing press and the words in the paper not very clearly. About a couple years later, in 1450 a German inventor whose name is Johannes Gutenberg simplified the printing press that is Bi Sheng invented.
His printing press can easier let people to control it. Then he set up a shop which name is Gutenberg’s shop to popularize the printing press. Then the printing press spread to the West European. Not a long time the printing press was popular around the world. And Johannes Gutenberg use his printing press to produces the first large printing book---a Bible which is still regarded as a masterpiece of the printer’s Art. When every glory comes to him the problems also appeared. The printing press took book copying out of the hands of the Church and made it much harder for the Church to control or censor what was being written. It was hard enough to control what Wycliffe and Hus wrote with just a few hundred copies of their works in circulation. But anyway the printing press is still the most important invention during the middle ages. Because it spreads information quickly and accurately. This helped create a wider literate reading public.
Source from: < World Book- p> printing press, http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/press.html
His printing press can easier let people to control it. Then he set up a shop which name is Gutenberg’s shop to popularize the printing press. Then the printing press spread to the West European. Not a long time the printing press was popular around the world. And Johannes Gutenberg use his printing press to produces the first large printing book---a Bible which is still regarded as a masterpiece of the printer’s Art. When every glory comes to him the problems also appeared. The printing press took book copying out of the hands of the Church and made it much harder for the Church to control or censor what was being written. It was hard enough to control what Wycliffe and Hus wrote with just a few hundred copies of their works in circulation. But anyway the printing press is still the most important invention during the middle ages. Because it spreads information quickly and accurately. This helped create a wider literate reading public.
Source from: < World Book- p> printing press, http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/press.html
Horse collar and harness
Before it would take 8 oxen to pull the plow. Peasants would combine oxen to make teams because they couldn’t afford to own 8 oxen. The design of the more advanced collar began in China. Yet later other types were invented in Europe. Though each all had the same basic parts, like the coulter that cut through the soil, the plowshare that also cut through the soil, the difference between the two is that the coulter cut vertically and the plowshare cut horizontally, the last part was the mouldboard which turned the soil to one side.
With the new invention peasants needed a new way to pull. They used draft horses in place oxen because first they wouldn’t have to borrow oxen from each other and second the horses were more efficiently. The horse collar and harness allowed horses to pull up to 5000 lbs. Also it increased the farming process by 30% and horses could pull for 2 hours longer a day. With more food they were able to make a larger population. Horse collars also were useful for transportation and trade because horses could pull larger loads.
With the new invention peasants needed a new way to pull. They used draft horses in place oxen because first they wouldn’t have to borrow oxen from each other and second the horses were more efficiently. The horse collar and harness allowed horses to pull up to 5000 lbs. Also it increased the farming process by 30% and horses could pull for 2 hours longer a day. With more food they were able to make a larger population. Horse collars also were useful for transportation and trade because horses could pull larger loads.
Compound microscope
Compound microscopes provide several objective lenses with different levels of magnification and a light source for illuminating specimens. Just during 1590-1609 a Dutch inventor who name is Zacharias Janssen and his son Hans Janssen invented the first compound microscope at the Netherlands in the world. Then it popularize from Italy and England to the whole Europe and then the whole world. It just like a giant hurricane blew to every country in the world.
It was not until the 1660s and 1670s that the microscope was used extensively for research in Italy, The Netherlands and England. It affect lots of scientist and inventions in the future that It made visible the fascinating details of worlds within worlds. That’s a big progress in the industry during the middle ages. When the time past, the compound microscope is change to easier to control and can see the stuff bigger and clear, the steps to use it is also simplify. Now the compound microscope use at least two convex lenses placed on opposite ends of a tube. As the top portion of the tube-the eyepiece-is raised or lowered, the image placed under the bottom of the tube is focused upon and magnified. Today, it can still significant because Compound microscopes allow scientists to see microorganisms and cells. And Without these microscopes, we would not know about the existence of cells and therefore would not be able to study DNA or make medical advances based on our knowledge of how different diseases or conditions attack cells.
Source from: http://inventors.about.com/od/mstartinventions/a/microscope.htm
It was not until the 1660s and 1670s that the microscope was used extensively for research in Italy, The Netherlands and England. It affect lots of scientist and inventions in the future that It made visible the fascinating details of worlds within worlds. That’s a big progress in the industry during the middle ages. When the time past, the compound microscope is change to easier to control and can see the stuff bigger and clear, the steps to use it is also simplify. Now the compound microscope use at least two convex lenses placed on opposite ends of a tube. As the top portion of the tube-the eyepiece-is raised or lowered, the image placed under the bottom of the tube is focused upon and magnified. Today, it can still significant because Compound microscopes allow scientists to see microorganisms and cells. And Without these microscopes, we would not know about the existence of cells and therefore would not be able to study DNA or make medical advances based on our knowledge of how different diseases or conditions attack cells.
Source from: http://inventors.about.com/od/mstartinventions/a/microscope.htm
Galileo’s telescope
Galileo's discovery of the 'handles' of Saturn was encoded in 'Smaismrmilmepoetaleumibunenugttaviras', which could be unscrambled as 'Altissimum planetam tergeminum observavi. Which means “I have observed the highest planet tri-form?" He also discovered that Jupiter has 4 moons, which are the Galilean moons, and there are stars apart of the Milky Way. In 1616 he tried to make it easier to determine longitude at sea by using the satellites of Jupiter.
The mechanical compass was originally invented in 200 C.E. by the Chinese and was used for fortune telling. The Europeans were the first to use it for navigation in 1182 however. The Europeans just made a few modifications. “Compasses were originally developed when lodestones, a mineral that has naturally magnetized iron ore, were suspended above a board with the ability to pivot and turn.” They found that the lodestones would always stay pointed to north and south. Christopher Columbus replaced two of the letters with the letter T for tramontane which is the name of the north wind, and a cross replacing L for levanter for the east, which is the direction of the Holy Land.
The mechanical compass was originally invented in 200 C.E. by the Chinese and was used for fortune telling. The Europeans were the first to use it for navigation in 1182 however. The Europeans just made a few modifications. “Compasses were originally developed when lodestones, a mineral that has naturally magnetized iron ore, were suspended above a board with the ability to pivot and turn.” They found that the lodestones would always stay pointed to north and south. Christopher Columbus replaced two of the letters with the letter T for tramontane which is the name of the north wind, and a cross replacing L for levanter for the east, which is the direction of the Holy Land.
Water mills
Water mills are mills worked by a waterwheel. It use a turning wheel spooked with water-catching paddles to generate power to operate machines like grinders and saws. The first developed by the Greeks being used throughout the Roman Empire. By around 1000 A.D. there were tens of thousands of mills harnessing river and tidal power throughout England, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. This invention developed by the Greeks also causes the Greek geography, there are lots of big rivers pass through this country, so they can use this hydro source to help their agriculture development. The technology invented by the Greeks was further refined during the Middle Ages and was used to power tanneries, blast furnaces, forge mills, and paper mills which evolved into the machinery used in today's factories and facilities.
Source from: http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/research-innovations/blogs/6-important-things-that-were-invented-during-the-middle-ages
Source from: http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/research-innovations/blogs/6-important-things-that-were-invented-during-the-middle-ages