Engineering Invention: Frank J. Sprague and the U.S. Electrical Industry

Over the course of a little less than twenty years, inventor Frank J. Sprague (1857-1934) achieved an astonishing series of technological breakthroughs—from pioneering work in self-governing motors to developing the first full-scale operational electric railway system—all while commercializing his inventions and promoting them (and himself as their inventor) to financial backers and the public.

The Way Things Work - Heat

 

In Heat, a visiting inventor discovers just how useful the island’s mammoth population is in keeping things warm one freezing winter day on Mammoth Island! The warm-blooded creatures help heat water, press clothes, warm beds and keep the village sauna hot and steamy. Heat is energy that comes from the movement of the atoms and molecules that make up everything around us. The inventor reveals that heat can travel from place to place in three ways: conduction, convection and radiation. And he also reveals his amazement at the islanders’ ingenious use of mammoths to keep warm!

 

Grades:  3 to 6