Innovate Thinking

When we study the great inventions of the world, we find that they are either very simple, basic things like the wheel or very complex things like the computer. Some inventions were silly, some deadly serious, but even the inventions that were not successful were not all failures either. Each invention shed some light on the good intentions of the inventor and their quest to improve the quality of life. Here are some invention facts and myths meant to amaze, inspire and amuse you.

Hand-held Calculaors
In the early 1970s, the daily lives of people throughout the developed world were changed profoundly by the advent of a small electronic machine that could per-form basic mathematical problems much more quickly and more accurately than they could be worked out on paper. Calculators expanded the math capabilities of everyone from high school students to businessmen.

The original compact calculator was the abacus, developed in China in the ninth century. The young French mathematician Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) invented the first adding machine in 1642, a clever device driven by gears and capable of performing mechanical addition and subtraction. The first commercially successful adding machine was developed in 1886 by William Seward Burroughs (1855-1898). The “Millionaire,” a machine invented by Otto Steiger in 1894, was the first adding machine also capable of direct multiplication.

The hand-held pocket calculator was invented at Texas Instruments, Incorporated (TI) in 1966 by a development team which included Jerry D. Merryman, James H. Van Tassel and Jack St. Clair Kilby. In 1974 a basic patent for miniature electronic calculators has been issued to Texas Instruments Incorporated. The patent is for personal-sized, battery-operated calculators which have their main electronic circuitry in a single integrated semiconductor circuit array, such as the popular “one-chip” calculators.

This represents another in a series of landmark developments at Texas Instruments directly relating to miniature calculators. In 1958, Texas Instruments invented the first integrated circuit, subsequently patented in 1964. This key innovation resulted in dramatic change in virtually all areas of electronics equipment design, including calculators.

Hope that you will find interesting!
Cheers!
Patrick

Another simple optical illusion. Are you are to spot both young and old lady?

Drop me a comment if you are not able to spot it…
Cheers!
Patrick

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