Week 2 Inventions

I learned about three inventions this week: Vapor-compression, Percussion Ignition, and the Canning Process.  

Vapor-compression is what is used in refrigerators.  It works not by blowing in cold air, but by removing the heat in the air.  Then it blows it out into the room.  So without the vapor-compression theory we would not have refrigerators.  

Percussion Ignition is how a gun is fired.  When you pull the trigger, the hammer strikes the cone which leads to the gunpowder.  The vibration sets the gunpowder which causes the bullet to fire.  This version was faster than the flintlock system.  Because it smoked before going off which was a problem in duck hunting.  So with the Percussion Ignition system that problem was solved.

The Canning Process when done at home is a lot simpler than in factories.  The jars and lids are placed in boiling water for about ten minutes.  Then remove the jars and add whatever is being canned.  Put the lids and the screw tops on, and submerge them in boiling water.  After ten minutes remove them and let them cool.  The first time the jars and lids are boiled is to remove the bacteria.  The second time they are boiled some steam escapes because the lid is not all the way tight.  When it cools, the steam inside the jar turns back into liquid, and that creates a vacuum seal.  The benefits of the canning process is that as long as the vacuum seal is not broken, the food will remain fresh for a very long time.

So in the end, the benefits of all three inventions have helped make life easier and more efficient. 

If you want to know all the details on canning at home click here (1) Canning Garden Vegetables | At Home With P. Allen Smith – YouTube