The Electric Heater

Ingrid Maree Jager
3163332

An electric heater is a device used for heating rooms or spaces. This particular model of the electric heater was found amongst other treasures at the Mooreland Annex in Melbourne, Australia. This beautiful relic is reminiscent of the old broadcasting microphones that came to be the symbol of radio in the 1930s. It also resembles the traditional steel fans with their menacing metal grille tempting the fingers of the young with ghastly results. One of the most striking elements of this old electric heater is how dangerously unstable it looks, this little heater threatened to topple over and set the place alight.


Technically speaking the electric heater is an electrical appliance that converts electricity into heat utilising the principle of Joule heating. Joule heating is the process in which electric energy is converted into heat energy by an electric current flowing through a resistor. The process works as the resistors become hot when an electrical current is sent through them and meets resistance. Resistors may be composed of metal-alloy wire, non-metallic carbon compounds, or printed circuits. Heating elements may have exposed resistor coils mounted on insulators, metallic resistors embedded in refractory insulation and encased in protective metal, or a printed circuit encased in glass. Fins may also be used to increase the area that dissipates the heat. This particular early model of heater has a porcelain cone that contains a heating coil positioned in the middle of a metal disc.

All electric heaters utilise the same physical principal to generate heat, however there are several different methods by which the heat may be delivered.

Radiant heaters, or “space heaters”, contain a heating element that reaches a high temperature and a reflector to direct the heat away from the body of the heater. The heating element is generally packaged inside a glass envelope resembling a light bulb that emits infrared radiation. The infrared radiation travels through the air until it reaches an absorbing surface at which point the energy is partially converted to heat and partially reflected. Radiant heaters directly warm people and objects as oppose to heating the actual air itself, this is known as ‘direct heating’ or ‘spot heating’. Due to this method of direct heating radiant heaters are used efficiently in areas of higher airflow. This style of heating is an excellent choice for task specific heating and is used for industrial purpose. However due to the focused intensity of their output and general lack of overheat protection, this direct heating poses great potential danger to nearby furnishings.

A convection heater delivers the heat energy via conduction. The process of conduction is based on the principal that hot air is less dense than cold air. The heat energy is transferred to the air surrounding the heater thus decreasing the density of the air causing the hot air to rise. The cool air replaces the rising hot air and is in turn heated. As the hot air rises it becomes distanced from the heat source and eventually cools and falls. This heating and cooling creates a constant current of hot air that leaves the appliance through vent holes and heats up the surrounding space. Convection heaters therefore work best in a closed space and are very safe posing a low risk of fire hazard. In the United Kingdom, these appliances are sometimes called electric fires, because they were originally used to replace open fires.

A fan heater is essentially a convection heater with an electric fan which speeds up the airflow. This reduces the thermal resistance between the heating element and the surroundings, allowing heat to be transferred faster. However they are considerably noisy due to the fan and do pose a higher risk of fire hazard, although the risk is moderate.

A storage heating system utilises cheaper electricity sold during low demand periods. The heater stores the heat in clay bricks and releases it when required during the day.

The most consistent room temperature is achieved by a home radiant heat system works by running an electric current through a conductive heating material which then heats the flooring to the temperature set by the thermostat. The flooring then heats the adjacent air which, as it rises, heats the room and its objects by convection.

Electric heaters are utilised in materials processing in industry and the joule principle is adapted for many of our day-to-day appliances including the hairdryer and toaster both which employ the use of resistors to create heat. The electric heater is a source of direct heating as the conversion of energy into heat occurs at the site to be heated. Due to this they are generally used as a domestic or personal heater often small and easily transportable as central heating is a much more cost effective and consistent method of heating large spaces and home.

However, the concept of central heating is not a new one. The earliest methods of indoor heating appeared when man discovered fire, the humble campfire has provided man with warmth for millions of years. Many Asian and Mediterranean countries with milder climates also used fire to heat spaces but they tended to use charcoal, made from burnt timber, for fuel as oppose to wood as it created less smoke. The problem of the excesses of smoke from burning materials in a confined space was virtually eliminated by the 13th century after the introduction of the chimney to Europe. Initially a simple hole or aperture in the ceiling the chimney soon found its home directly above the fireplace.

The ancient Greeks on the other hand are believed to have invented and utilised an ingenious method of central heating not dissimilar to that employed today. But it was the Romans who engineered the heating system known as hypocaust. The system was essentially a collection of air spaces or ducts that were located beneath the mosaic floors. Brushwood, charcoal or coal was burned at a central location and the hot air travelled beneath the floor heating it. This system of heating disappeared with the Roman Empire, emerging 1500 years later.

The experimentation and development of the light bulb in the late 1700s revealed that heat was created when electrical current was passed through resistors. This creation of heat was a great obstacle in the development of the light bulb but allowed for the development of many other appliances and industrial methods. The electric heater was created around 1822, the year the French mathematician Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Fourier published a mathematical description of the laws of conduction that were formulated by French physicist Jean-Baptiste Biot in 1804.

The original electric heaters were similar to the one pictured in that they were small and unsteady looking appliances that whilst getting very hot themselves did not deliver much heat to the surrounding areas. This posed a big problem as the only way to attain warmth from the heater was to sit as close to the heater as possible which in turn resulted in innumerable house fires and burns, in particular in the 1950s. However, although the design and safety of the electric heater has been developed over the years and central heating has become extremely common the fire hazard posed by electric heaters has not disappeared.

In a modern day setting the risk posed by electric heaters is generally due to misuse. A common misuse of the electric heater is when small space heaters are employed to heat large spaces and are left unattended or are consistently used for prolonged periods. This is a particular issue in places that experience extreme cold, such as Europe. Many of the modern hazards posed by the electric heater are the same as any other electric appliance which requires maintenance of electric cords. Other hazards are posed by inadequate vacant space surrounding the heater causing ignition of furnishings or papers. Drying clothes or hanging things over heaters also creates a potential hazard.

As the design and efficiency of the electric heater increased the modern home saw a steady decline in the use of the messy old fireplace and even the aesthetic value of the traditional was traded in for the removal of the chimney draught. However nowadays we are seeing a return of the aesthetic value and sensory comfort of the humble fire. Electric fires and gas fires are becoming an increasingly popular addition to the modern home in combination with a hidden central heating system.

With a strong social focus nowadays on sustainability and energy efficiency society has seen a rapid decline in the presence of the electric heater. The trend has shifted to building houses that require minimal heating due to effective insulation among other things. However the basic principle upon which the electric heater works will remain in other appliances for a long time to come but one day we will have to return to the campfire for that familiar feeling of being so close to direct heat that you feel as though you are burning but when you step back being overcome with a rush of coldness. This is what electric heaters mean to most of us when they evoke those memories of cold nights and warm pyjamas from our childhood.

The Penny Farthing and its place in the bicycle revolution

Ben Hurt 3163292


Photo courtesy of Museum Victoria, Moreland Annexe

Statement of Significance

The Penny Farthing

The penny-farthing or high wheel cycle as it was also known, was first built in 1869 by a Frenchman named Eugene Meyer. It marked the beginning of a new age for cycling, offering an efficient mode of transport with regards to the speed and distance that could be travelled. Not only does this machine represent an important development in bicycle design, it was a part of cycling becoming a social activity and a sport. This is demonstrated by the fact that it brought with it clothing fashions for riding, and more importantly, ushered in the dawn of cycle racing. The ‘ordinary bicycle’ as it was named was essentially enjoyed by the affluent that had the money to purchase such an item, and the time to devote to using it in a social and sporting context. Considering this makes the notion of a child’s penny-farthing even more significant. This would have been an expensive toy, and perhaps an indicator of the importance given to learning to ride such a machine by a father.
Ridden sitting virtually on top of the front wheel, it is a direct drive design, with the pedals directly connected to the hub of the drive wheel. In the pursuit of performance the wheel was made larger to increase speed and reached a size of 60”, halted only by the limitation of the riders inside leg measurement. The result was a machine whose aesthetic looks would be instantly recognisable against proceeding bicycle designs. This golden period for the penny-farthing lasted only 16 years until the development of the Rover Safety Bicycle in 1885 that utilised a drive chain and gear, and the now common diamond shaped frame. After this the penny-farthing quickly faded from general use, but has remained as a novelty bicycle and a special interest to enthusiasts.

The Penny Farthing and its place in the Bicycle Revolution

Case Study


photo courtesy of author

The penny-farthing bicycle is an icon of cycling history. Its golden age only lasted fifteen years or so from 1869 to 1885, yet its impact on cycling as a pastime and sport, and on the society of the time is undeniable. The example shown above is held in the Museum Victoria Collection, donated by Matthew Matheou and was built by his father, a blacksmith in Fiztroy, Melbourne in 1913. The image of the penny-farthing, so unique in its design, still captures peoples imagination and more than many other objects, contains a slice of history in itself perhaps because of the fact it reigned for a relatively short time. Looking at it, it is a quirky, captivating object with enough similarities to a modern day bicycle for us to relate to it, and enough eccentricities to marvel at it. Had it existed simply as an offshoot of bicycle design, it would perhaps only be known to those interested in specific histories, but the penny-farthing was a pivotal development in the bicycle that eventually brought cycling to the masses.

The origin of the bicycle is not uncommonly rather obscure. However, it is known that in the late eighteen hundreds around 1791, Frenchman the Comte de Sivrac became the centre of attention in the Palais Royal when he appeared riding a ‘wooden horse’ with two wheels. With no steering and powered by pushing the ground alternately with the feet, the celerifere as it was called, was the rudimentary beginning of the bicycles’ evolution. It is interesting to note that before the Comte de Sivrac had brought it to the attention of the aristocracy, it had probably existed as a child’s toy (McGonagle, 1968). And a toy it remained for those with wealth, plenty of time and lots of energy, used as a source of pleasure and amusement for the next 100 years or more. This was the first of two major social booms in the popular history of the bicycle. Further major developments were made including steering in 1817, which is attributed to Baron von Drais from Mannheim. Kirkpatrick Macmillan, a blacksmith from Scotland, has claim to what could be considered the predecessor to the modern bicycle, when around 1840 he designed a machine where the rear axle was driven by foot treadles. These were essentially pedals pushed forwards and backwards driving the rear axle to rotate by the use of levers. This allowed the rider to stay on the bicycle without the need to make contact with the ground.

The next big evolution was the one that would give birth to the penny-farthing. Another Frenchman, Pierre Michaux in 1861 attached cranks to the front wheel and while he may not have been the first to do this, he was an astute businessman and was able to capitalise on the growing industrial and consumer climate of the day. The second cycling boom was underway, and cyclists or ‘velocipedes’ as they were called, were gaining in numbers and commitment to the ‘sport’. There was a growing desire for performance from the velocipede. Then, in 1869 in an effort to make the machine faster yet another Frenchman, Eugene Meyer, increased the size of the front wheel, the average size becoming 54 inches. The penny-farthing or 'ordinary' as it would ironically become known, was born. A gentleman called Mr Turner, who was working in Paris for the Coventry Sewing Machine Company, returned to England with a ‘high-wheeler’ and convinced the manager of the company to turn his attention to manufacturing bicycles instead. It was here that James Starley, the companies’ foreman and a keen designer pioneered the penny-farthing into its golden age of the 1870’s.

These design features of being crank driven and an oversized front wheel, gave the bicycle a new level of performance. Coming at the height of the industrial revolution in Britain, manufacturing companies were already established and eager to build, market and make money from machines. This resulted in a bicycle that captured the attention of society, raising excitement in some and horror in others.

“How fast those new bicycles travelled and how dangerous they looked! Pedestrians backed almost into the hedges when they met one of them… it was thrilling to see a man hurtling through space on one high wheel with another tiny wheel wobbling helplessly behind.”(Thompson, 1941).

This quote is telling of the reactions the penny farthing generated. Those who embraced it and rode, found it exhilarating, described in 1869 as an ‘easy and rapid locomotion as an enjoyment which is positively intense’ (The velocipede: Its history and practical hints how to use it). Those who didn’t often abhorred it, such as a London journalist who commented, “We think they ought to be excluded from London Parks. Surely a sufficient infliction is placed upon the irate mortality by the introduction of the perambulator, without endangering life and limb still more by allowing velocipeditation” (McGonagle, 1968). The physical danger of the machines was ultimately felt most by the riders. Notoriously dangerous, due to the fact the rider was placed so high and forward on the wheel, with the only braking mechanism a spoon shaped lever that pressed down on the front wheel, riders were frequently sent over the handle bars, referred to as ‘taking a header’.

Bicycling, in its first boom of the 1790’s was dominated by the wealthy, and this was still the case with the second boom of the 1870’s led by the penny-farthing. A Starley bicycle for example was a prized possession, a highly crafted elegant machine, which cost about a years wages for a factory worker, thereby excluding all but the wealthiest people. One also needed plenty of time to dedicate to its pursuit. The cycle clubs that formed were snobbish, with Britain's Amateur Bicycle Club stating that the club’s goal was to promote cycling among the middle, upper and higher classes of society. To join a club you had to be recommended by an existing club member and wear a uniform. In this sort of social climate, without necessarily having rules against such things, most clubs would not accept tradesmen, workers or non-Caucasian people. There was an elitist and ‘gentlemens’ club’ attitude to the penny-farthing. Specific clothing was invented for riding such as the knickerbockers, and men would wear the crest or badge of their club with pride. Women were essentially excluded from riding the penny-farthing on a practical level, as the bicycle required some effort and a running start to mount it, not to mention the exertion to turn the pedals and stay on the bike, and the dangers once riding. The wearing of a dress whilst riding was out of the question. All together it was not a particularly ‘lady-like’ pursuit. The supposedly noble, exciting and dangerous nature of riding a penny-farthing is comically described in Banjo Paterson’s poem ‘Mulga Bills Bicycle’. It tells of Mulga Bill who is caught by the cycling craze, dresses in all the accompanying clothes, and with ‘an air of lordly pride’ announces how masterful he is of the new machine. He proceeds to race down a hill, very dangerous on a penny-farthing, only to end up in Dead Man’s creek. He survives, vowing to return to riding a horse!


Photo courtesy of author

However, there was no turning back to horses, and the issues associated with the design of the ‘high wheeler’ were solved by 1885 with the introduction of the 'safety' bicycle. It would take a few years for it to truly gain a lead over the penny-farthing, but the safety, with its diamond shaped frame, wheels of equal size and drive chain and gear combination was the beginning of the modern design. The shift from one design to the other was marked by searches for improvements and new and important technological developments such as the ball bearing and pneumatic tyres were found. The child’s penny farthing held in the Museum Victoria Collection is interesting from this point of view. It would have been a rare sight in the late nineteenth century due to their high cost, but by 1913 when the bike was built, elements such as the leather saddle (which was made by Dunlop), the pedals, hubs and even perhaps wheels, may well have been relatively easily sourced. Compared to the elaborate detail and fine quality finish of a Starley ‘Areil’ high-wheeler, this child’s’ bike is quite straightforward. The blacksmith father has used the skills of his trade to lovingly build the iron frame from a range of processes. The arched body is forged, the rear forks cast, and the front forks made from drawn half round bar. The wooden handle grips, leather seat and solid rubber tyres are typical of the early penny farthings, but it also shows more developed components such as an oil well in the front hub and rubber grips on the pedals. The ‘safety’ would have been more commonplace by 1913, but the simplified design of the ‘ordinary’ would have made it an easier proposition for our blacksmith to build.

Whilst the penny-farthing created the interest and brought attention to cycling, albeit dominated by specific areas of society, the safety bicycle brought the activity to all people. The competitiveness and efficiency of manufacture made it a machine that could be afforded by many, and the bicycle truly came of age as a mode of transport for everyone. It became a ubiquitous object in people’s lives, providing cheap and efficient transport. But with the arrival the car, its perception and what it meant in society shifted again. Particularly in Britain after the Second World War, it was viewed as a sign of lack of achievement, lack of financial standing and unfashionableness, owned by the poor and the needy, superseded by the new technological advancement in personal transport. One could argue that this is where it has remained for some time, though perhaps it is in the process of another revolution, this time not through invention, but through its benefits of clean, sustainable transport.

Without a doubt there is something endearing and enduring about the bicycle. There is purity about it. A simplicity and efficiency that has evolved over time but ultimately by its definition of a two-wheeled machine to be powered by the human body, has not radically changed. The satisfaction and exhilaration of riding is perhaps derived from the feeling that you and the machine become one. It is a balance of human and machine, the rotary motion of the legs, the spinning wheels, motion and stillness. Perhaps it is this Zen-like quality that keeps us enamoured with the bicycle (Watson 1978). I would suggest it is this feeling that the first riders of the penny-farthing experienced, and which led to people becoming ‘hooked’ on cycling. The further developments in the ‘safety’ allowed more people to experience it. However, the commonplace nature of the bicycle we are all so familiar with now is in stark contrast to the era of the ‘high wheeler’ where it was something of a spectacle. The penny-farthing was at the introduction of the bicycle to the general public and when people first saw and experienced the feeling of self powered transport. Perhaps this is one of the reasons the penny-farthing remains such an iconic object. Its sense of spectacle has never left it.



References


Thompson, Flora, (1941) Over to Candleford, Faber and Faber.

McGonagle, S. (1968) The Bicycle in Life Love War and Literature, Pelham Books, London.

Woodforde, J. (1970) The Story of the Bicycle, Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd, London.

Watson, R., Gray M. (1978) The Penguin Book of the Bicycle, Penguin Books, Middlesex, England.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny-farthing accessed April 2007

http://www.thewheelmen.org/ Accessed April 2007

http://www.wuk.at/hochrad/index_eng.php Accessed June 2007

http://www.middlemiss.org/lit/authors/patersonab/poetry/mulgab.html Accessed June 2007

WHEELCHAIR

WHEEL CHAIR
BY SHA HAKER
S3126012


In February 1942, an invasion of the Australian continent appeared imminent. Just ten weeks after Japan’s whirlwind invasion of Sout-East Asia, Australia itself became the target of air and sea attacks. Attacks on Australia continued into 1943 and it was until September that year that Prime Minster John Curtin finally announced to his cabinet that the danger of invasion had passed. There was still victory to be won, but that was elsewhere and Australia was no longer threatened. It was during this period of Australian History that this piece of domestic technology was constructed. This explains the use of recycled goods in the manufacture of this product, in times of war enginuity as well as resources are stretched and so we are left with these more excentric inventions.

The wheelchair was used for 39 years from 1943 untill 1982. It was used solely in Albert park and Oakleigh, Victoria. The wheelchair has been changed several times, originally the handle was black and wooden. The tyres have been re-placed many times, the seat was originally sprung with coil springs and canvas and the back of the
chair has been shortend to it’s current state. The entire chair is wooden.There is also a small rectangular shelf located behind the seat to cart small personal items.

The wheelchair is propelled by the movement of a handle rotated by the passanger’s right hand. The handle on the right is linked to the right wheel with a bicycle chain to provide forward motion. There is a second handle on the left hand side which steers the chair as well as allowing brakeing power.

The wheelchair belonged to Lorraine Simpson, who caught polio in December 1937 aged 7. Polio or infantile paralysis, is an acute viral infectious disease which is spread from person to person via the fecal oral route. In about 1% of cases the virus enters the central nervous system via the bloodstream. The polio virus preferentially infects and destroys motor neurons, and causes muscle weakness.

Lorraine spent several years in hospitals. She lived in the Mallee, and was sent to Bendigo Base Hospital for treatment when she contracted the virus.
In 1940 her family moved to Melbourne. Until 1941 Lorraine stayed in Frankston Orthopaedic Hospital. When the children’s hospital was evacuated, her mother decided that she wanted her daughter at home.

The chair was made in 1943 by an invalid in Burnley who made this wheelchair from old and disused bicycle parts. The fact that he himself was disabled leads us to believe that he had a more intimate knowledge of what it is to be restrained and is perhaps why he created this once off piece.
Lorraine’s grandmother purchased it for her that year. Lorraine had to travel three miles along the roads to High School every day, the use of this wheelchair made it possible for her to regain some independance. Her younger sister often road along on a bike, with her hand resting on the back of the wheelchair.

The polio epidemics changed not only the lives of those who survived them, but also grassroots fund-raising affected profound cultural changes, by raising awareness about the disease. Organization estimates that there are 10 to 20 million polio survivors worldwide who had been paralyzed, 12,000 of those reside in Australia.

C286 Laser Printer

Ingenious Project
C286 Laser Printer, Hell Company, West Germany, 1970
By: Reo Santoso, 3116894



The history of printer is an integral part of the general history of civilization and its existence is crucial among the sphere of human activity. The idea began with a letterpress process into the implementation of a laser technology has brought changes to human life. It is evolves the way we see human experience and creativeness in a form of a well-designed, well-printed and well-bound edition of a manuscript. The ideas have been ambitiously developed during the past five hundred years and since that day it have been influenced on many aspects of human life; political, sociological, philosophical and economic events.

There are three main printing processes in the history of civilization. The beginning of printing history started with traditional letterpress process (Brewer, 1971). It is said that Johann Gensfleisch zum Gutenberg is the one who invented it, although it would be more accurate to say that Gutenberg was the first to use moveable type of printer – set of cast metal characters which can be set up and arranged to become a printing surface which then used to reproduce copies. The impression on the printing surface can be taken after process of inking which then transferred onto paper. This letterpress process is the basic principle of all commercial printing. The next development of printer technology is the offset lithography invented by Bavarian author Aloys Senefelder in 1796, it is a process of printing with the help of chemical processes to create an image (Corrigan, 1944). The principle is that there are two parts of images, the positive part would be a hydrophobic chemical, while the negative image would be water. Therefore, when the plate is introduced to an ink and water mixture, the ink will stick on to the positive image and the water will clean the negative image. This allows for a relatively flat print plate which allows for much longer runs than the older physical methods of imaging. The third of the three main printing processes is gravure. In gravure printing, reels of paper fed into an image engraved plate or cylinder that uses the rotary printing press system. It is produces fast presses and has widest presses in operation. As technology becoming more advance, the printing industries also evolved in a faster and more efficient engineering systems but still hold the old principles of printing processes. Now in this era of modern printing technology, the next generation printer is the inkjet printer and the laser printer.

Rudolf Hell, founders of the Hell Company in West Germany is one of the leading telecommunications industries in Germany. According to IEC (2007), Rudolf Hell is one of the most creative and productive inventors of the modern age, he develop and improved the early technology of the telefax and the colour scanner. Also he invented facsimile transmission and pioneered key telecommunications technologies. He had showed great interest on natural sciences while he was still very young. He continued his studies at Munich Technical University and completed as a telecommunications technologist. In 1927, he in cooperation with his professor, Max Dieckmann presented the fist television transmission and reception station at the Trade Exposition in Munich. That was the same year he received the doctoral degree for describing a “directly indicating radio position-finding device”. Next progress of his career is the invention of “Hell writing telegraph system” or “Hell Recorder”. It is a device that electrically transmitting written characters and was used by many departments; post office, press agencies, the police and weather services. Then he developed the foundation or basis for today’s fax machines which remotely transmitting images. His idea was based on simple but clever advances of breaking down letters and characters into digital elements such as dots and lines. In 1954, he won victorious march into newspaper publishing house with his “Klischograph”, a device for electromechanical engraving of printing blocks that was to revolutionize the print media industry. The following success of Hell’s new inventions is the “Colorgraph” scanner in 1963, and in 1964 the “Digiset” for digital reproduction of text and pictures and the “Pressfax” for remote transmission of entire newspaper pages. In 1971, he began developing the world’s first fax machines for office applications and he also think of developing a new technology of printing called laser printer. In 1977, Hell Company started to commercially produce its own laser printers after the success of the IBM 3800, the first commercial implementation of a laser printer and the industry’s first high-speed laser printer.

C286 Laser Printer, one of the early developments of laser printer by Hell Company is basically a large commercial unit for professional level printing which it has two cylinder drums includes with 5 inch cathode ray oscilloscope on the control panel. The Printer also has many features such as; colour correction panels, gradation panel, and paper adjustment to help achieve the best result for the printing. The way this laser printer works is in a similar manner to a photocopier. A roller is charged with electricity, and then a laser removes the charge from portions of the roller. Powdered ink (toner) sticks to the parts of the roller that were hit by the laser, and this toner is transferred from the roller to the paper. Then the ink is baked into the paper using a heater. It produces high-quality output and is fast.

The impact of the invention and development of printer on society is inevitably huge. It has the same value to the development of writing and the invention of the alphabet or the internet on humanity. According to Brewer (1971), every time new printing technologies invented and discovered, demand for the printer’s product expanded. It is because printing have been took its place in a larger social, commercial and educational structure of nations and cultures. Brewer (1971) added civilized society uses print much as it uses water from a tap. Throughout history, demand has called forth the development of the technical means of production is the newspaper press. It is one of the most profited industries created from the invention. Printing is also one of the reasons in the establishment of a community of scientists who could easily share their discoveries and thinking through the establishment of widely dispersed scholarly journals, helping to bring on the scientific revolution (Corrigan, 1944). Because of the printing press, authorship became more meaningful and profitable. It was suddenly important who had said or written what. This allowed the exact citing of references, producing the rule, "One Author, one work (title), one piece of information" (Giesecke, 1989; 325). McLuhan (1962) comes up with many theories about the impact of print on human perceptions of space and time. He believed that printing has shortened human memories because of reliance that information will be stored more safely and secure in a book.

Printer is the tool to makes information available to a much larger segment of the population who were eager for information of any variety. Printer also facilitated the distribution and preservation of knowledge in standardized form -- this was most important in the advance of science, technology and scholarship.

Image courtesy of Annexxe Museum

Image courtesy of Annexxe Museum

References

Brewer, R. 1971, An Approach to Print, 1st edn, Blandford Press, London.

Corrigan A.J. 1944, Printer and His World, 2nd edn, Western Printing Services Limited, Bristol.


Elizabeth L. Eisenstein, The Printing Press as an Agent of Change, Cambridge University Press, September 1980, Paperback, 832 pages, ISBN 0-521-29955-1

IEC, 2007, Hell, Rudolf, IEC, viewed 15 may 2007,


Marshall McLuhan, The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man (1962) Univ. of Toronto Press (1st ed.); reissued by Routledge & Kegan Paul ISBN 0-7100-1818-5