At only seven years old, pulling the starter rope on my older brother’s Boston Whaler is no easy task. After a dozen tries, I finally call for my dad who is on the other dock dealing with the fishing gear. In what seems to take hours, he walks over to me and shakes his head. Before we had even gotten to the Marina, Dad asked if I needed him to start the engine, and of course I declined, wanting to feel like a “big kid.” With one simple tug from my father’s strong arm, the old Briggs & Stratton engine purred to life, as if brand new. Switching into the forward gear, I roared off the dock in search of circling birds, a clear indicator that fish were nearby.
My great- grandfather, Stephen Foster Briggs, was born on December 4th 1885, in Watertown, South Dakota. At South Dakota State University, he majored in engineering, which was a passion of his as long as he could remember. There, his ideas for building engines and other inventions came to life. Throughout his college years, my great-grandfather developed a simple 6-cylinder engine that was revolutionary during the early 20th century. Eager to get into the rapidly growing automobile and engine industry, my great-grandfather was introduced to investor, Harold M. Stratton. The two hit it off, and went on to start the Briggs & Stratton Motor Company in 1908.
Originally, the intentions of these men were to create affordable cars, like “The Flyer.” The Guinnes Book of Records lists the Flyer is the most inexpensive car of all time at $125-150. Released in 1922, the Flyer is a small, simple, lightweight, two-seat vehicle with a wooden frame that doubles as the body and as the suspension. A small gasoline engine is mounted on a fifth wheel, or motor wheel, to drive it. Though not t...
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...actly. He said that Briggs & Stratton purchased OMC, the Outboard Motor Company, for a period of time. Using the same engines in many other Briggs & Stratton mechanisms, the company was a success in creating outboard motors for boats, and today is known as Evinrude Motors. My father, in his early twenties and looking for adventure, was pleased to learn that OMC had an outboard boat racing team. It couldn’t have been a more perfect career for a man who grew up with the sea, and was not afraid of anything. These racing suits had been through collisions, full-on flips, and even fires. Now, they were the uniforms for a sisterly competition of ping-pong. Though Briggs & Stratton may not be a big part in my life as it was in my father’s, or even my grandfather’s, I still feel a part of Stephen Briggs’ legacy and have a sense of pride every time I think of “my damn roots.”
The first mate, the owner of the Sally Anne, dominated his life with his boat to the point of never being able to sleep right without the hum of its motors. This artificial connection made between mate and boat can have major complications. From the text we discover that this first mate has dedicated his life to sailing, ever since grade 10. At the finding of the Sally Anne, it becomes an unhealthy obsession of creating, but later not maintaining, the perfect boat. The text shows paragraphs of the first mate going on about the boat, and how he could not leave it for a day. The irony in this situation is that he spent so much recreating this boat, yet rejected the fact the eventual flaws that accompanied the years of use. It was always just another water pump and coat of perfect white paint away from sailing again. At this point it is clear that the boat has become a symbol for him and his insecurities. At the flooding of the boat and at the initial loss of life upon the Sally Anne's wreck the denial towards the destruction shows how he was using the boat as his only life line, now literally as he clings to last of his dream. At this point of the text, there is no survival, and no acceptance of the truth he must
Every so often a man or women has an idea that is innovative, amazing or in some cases far ahead of its time. Unfortunately it is far too common that these ideas are lost or stifled by people who are afraid of the change they may bring. Since people also tend to believe if something seems too good to be true it probably is, these ideas may not get enough good attention until it is too late. Preston Tucker was one of these innovative people with a great idea. In 1944 he began work on a car that was safe, reliable, and groundbreaking. So far ahead of its time it made the wrong people nervous. The car was first christened as the Tucker Torpedo but due to concerns over torpedo not sounding safe, it was changed to the Tucker 1948. These amazing cars turned out to be one of the most revolutionary automobiles ever made and would have remained so if it weren’t for a slander campaign by the United States government.
The 1920's were a time where North America became modernized. Whether it was the music, the culture or the growth in technology, this time era is known to most people as the point where America advanced itself to become a world renowned country. An advancement that will be focused on is the Ford Model T. During this time owning a car was a symbol of wealth. Henry Ford, the creator of the Model T, made a system that revolutionized the automobile industry as we know it today. Henry Ford made it possible for people with an average income to own a motor vehicle by creating the assembly line and the theory of mass production. "The horse, which had been the chief means of land transportation for 3,500 years, had given way to the automobile, and the country's largest industry had been born." (Gordon)
Starting in the late 1700's, European engineers began tinkering with motor powered vehicles. Steam, combustion, and electrical motors had all been attempted by the mid 1800's. By the 1900's, it was uncertain which type of engine would power the automobile. At first, the electric car was the most popular, but at the time a battery did not exist that would allow a car to move with much speed or over a long distance. Even though some of the earlier speed records were set by electric cars, they did not stay in production past the first decade of the 20th century. The steam-driven automobile lasted into 1920's. However, the price on steam powered engines, either to build or maintain was incomparable to the gas powered engines. Not only was the price a problem, but the risk of a boiler explosion also kept the steam engine from becoming popular. The combustion engine continually beat out the competition, and the early American automobile pioneers like Ransom E. Olds and Henry Ford built reliable combustion engines, rejecting the ideas of steam or electrical power from the start.
Starting in the late 1700’s, European engineers began messing with motor powered vehicles. By the mid 1800’s, steam, combustion, and electrical motors had all been attempted. By the 1900’s it wasn’t very clear on which type of engine would really power the automobile. At that time, electric cars were the most popular but there were no batteries at that time that would allow a car to move very fast or a long distance. Commercial production in the United States began at the beginning of the 1900’s. In the early 1900’s, the United States had about two thousand firms producing one or more cars.
grew up to create an automobile Tucker that was years ahead of its time. He was
Throughout his young life, Joe shows hard work, “Joe feasted on salmon that night, alone in the house. Then he set about turning the poaching of salmon into a business. Each Saturday afternoon Joe hiked the three miles into town with one or more enormous salmon sung of his shoulder,” (61). When fishing you need to patient, Joe’s hard work in fishing allows him to persevere his hunger situation as well as getting cash by selling the fish. Joe hard work allows him to overcome his obstacle of hunger and survival by taking the time to catch the fish, carry the fish three miles into town every Saturday by himself. Joe shows hard work in everything he does, he bettered his education by going Seattle for a year. Living with his brother Fred and Thula’s twin sister for schooling at Roosevelt High School. Joe worked hard to earn good grades so he could surmount the odds of attending a four year college. Joe received a card from the head crew coach at the University of Washington. This was Joe’s ticket into college, all his hard work from physical labor and grades constructed him to go against the odds of being hopeless to attending college. Later in the fall, he attended the University Washington and worked hard to stay in shape and make the row team. He was announced first-boat third seat. In chapter five Joe’s significant other’s mother read the paper stating “Joe Rantz Makes First Crew” (80). All of the hard work Joe Rantz did since
As demand for automobiles grew to unexpected heights in the 1920s, General Motors set the pace of production, design, and marketing innovation for others to follow. During their success in the 20’s GM added overseas operations, “ including
Crane, Stephen. “The Open Boat.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Eighth Edition, volume C. Ed. Mary Loeffelholz. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. 2012. 990-1006. Print
Theodore Alfred Peterman was the founder of Peterbilt Motors Company in 1937. Theodore had a problem. He couldn’t get logs from the forest to the lumber mill quickly or efficiently. The first truck Peterman and his employees helped rebuild was an old army truck. The army truck helped solve his problem. He figured out that if he placed the battery on the starter instead of the crank, it would work. Peterman did not live to long after starting his business and selling his invention for six years. His wife Ida Peterman sold the business to seven individuals within the Peterbilt organization a year after Theodore died. He did in 1945. When it was sold to those seven individuals, it was expanded into a serious producer of heavy duty trucks. The shareholders eventually sold it to PACCAR (Pacific Car & Foundry Co.) They had already acquired the assets of Kenworth in 1945 and was planning on becoming a player in the heavy truck market. Pacific Car made Peterbilt Motors a wholly owned subsidiary. Peterbilt finally carried its own tradition while retaining its ...
Henry Ford originally intended the Model T to be the “farmer’s car.” But in order to make a car that was financially available to the common man, Ford needed an industrial revolution that would allow him to produce numerous automobiles at an inexpensive price. He succeeded in doing so by implementing his innovative assembly line and specialized labor for the production of the Ford Model T. By the 1920s, car manufacturing exploded due to Ford’s cheap and simplistic methods of production causing prices to drop significantly and allowing the Model T to fit within the average ...
Since the development of the steam engine people had been interested in creating self-powered vehicles, this manifested during the industrial revolution as the train. However, as time went on people became interested in creating a vehicle that wasn’t confined to tracks. The earliest attempts were moderately successful but served little practical purpose. Automobiles first began to truly spread with the invention of the electric motor which created cheaper, more powerful, and safer automobiles. Still the automobile still had numerous problems and were mainly in the hands of the rich. It was the development of the internal combustion engine and the assembly line that was truly able to create a practical vehicle that could be used by all and propelled the automobile into the heart of American culture and made it one of the most significant inventions of the post-industrial revolution era, resulting in a complete revolution of society.
Transportation became a huge contributor to the industries of the 1800’s and 1900’s. “Steam boat experiments as early as 1780s both in England and America, but the need was greater in America.’ The steamboat uses a water and and a boiler that is powered by a fuel, which can be wood, coal, or other combustible entity. “The first successful steamboat may have been built by French engineer and inventor Claude-François-Dorothée, in 1783.” As years went by, engineers such as John Fitch and Robert Fulton began building and deploying steamships, with American inventor Fitch in the Mississippi, and English engineer Fulton on the Hudson River of New York. With the steamboat being the first mechanically powered vessel known to humans, it provided a faster new forme of transportation for traders in Americas and Europe. The steam-powered boats could travel at the astonishing speed of up to five miles per hour.
The struggle for survival by mankind can be found in many different settings. It can be seen on a battlefield, a hospital room or at sea as related in “The Open Boat”, written in 1897 by Stephen Crane. The story is based on his actual experiences when he survived the sinking of the SS Commodore off the coast of Florida in early 1897. “The Open Boat” is Stephen Crane’s account of life and death at sea told through the use of themes and devices to emphasize the indifference of nature to man’s struggles and the development of mankind’s compassion.
A fire engine was enshrined in his heart as an appealing thing that he loves with a distant dog-like devotion. They had been known to overturn street-cars. Those leaping horses, striking sparks from the cobbles in their forward lunge, were creatures to be ineffably admired. The clang of the going pierced his