Stories of Useful InventionsForman, S. E. (Samuel Eagle)
History
Stories of Useful Inventions
Forman, S. E. (Samuel Eagle)
Inventions
Man's only carriage at first was of course his own feet. When he wanted
to go to any place he had to take "Walker's hack," if a playful
expression may be pardoned. As a traveler on foot, man soon surpassed
all other animals. He could walk down the deer and wear out the horse.
When it came to carrying things from place to place, in the beginning he
had to rely upon his own limbs and muscles. It was not long, however,
before he learned that there were good ways and bad ways of carrying
things, and he soon set about finding the best way. We may believe that
he began by making a snug bundle and carrying it on his shoulder. Then
he found that he could carry a heavier burden upon his back, and he
invented a pack or frame on which he could carry things on his back
(Fig. 1) after the manner of one of our modern pack peddlers.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--A HUMAN BURDEN BEARER.
(From a Model in National Museum.)]
In the course of time man tamed one or more of the wild beasts which
roamed near him. Then the burden was shifted from the back of a man to
the back of a beast. The first beast of burden in South America was the
llama; in India it was the elephant; in Arabia it was the camel (Fig.
2). In Europe and in parts of Asia and in Egypt the horse first became
man's burden bearer and the nations which had the services of this swift
and strong animal outstripped the other nations of the world. "Which is
the most useful of animals?" asked one Egyptian god of another. "The
horse," was the reply, "because the horse enables a man to overtake and
slay his enemy."
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--A SHIP OF THE DESERT.]
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--A CART WITHOUT WHEELS.
(From a Model in the National Museum.)]
It is often easier to drag a thing along than it is to carry it. This
fact led to the invention of what we may call the first and simplest
form of carriage. This was the drag or travail (tra-vay´), a cart
without wheels (Fig. 3). Two long saplings were fastened at the large
end to the strap across the horse's breast and the small end upon which
the burden was placed dragged upon the ground. Mr. Arthur Mitchell in
his delightful book, "The Past in the Present," tells us that he saw
carts of this kind in actual use in the highlands of Scotland as late as
1864! An improvement upon the travail was the sledge made of the forked
limb of a tree (Fig. 4). This primitive sledge was really a travail
consisting of one piece.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--A PRIMITIVE SLEDGE.
(From a Model in National Museum.)]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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