Canadian Technology and Inventions

[JackD]

Whilst surfing the net, I came a cross this item: http://www.unrealaircraft.com/wings/ccf_liftbody.php which got me wondering, why not start up in the history section a thread on Canadian military technology and inventions. As Canada, historically, has contrbuted to this field -witness the ram tank, the Arrow, radio technology, poison gasses, the Second World War Commonwealth truck, etc - I'm sure those of a historical bent will enjoy. What say you, moderators?



Modified by Vern to correct topic title.

 

[armyvern]

I'm the only one on-line right now!! (  )

But I say, good idea.

So I guess you want me to move this post of yours to the appropriate board? 

Oh...how can I forget to add the "Canadarm."

 

[JackD]

sorry, plse fix that spelling error in 'technology' - at the moment of writing that, the bloody cat fell off the monitor onto one of the dogs asleep near my feet. You can guess the subsequent brouhaha...

 

[JackD]

yes, being in Poland, I get to post early... Thought I'd run it by you all first...

 

[armyvern]

Actually,

I'm going to leave it sit right here for now. It's not really military history. It's Canadian History. I can't decide where the most appropriate place for it is at this point in time...must be lack of sleep, again.

If I don't figure it our soon though, I'm sure some other mod will come along and do it!! 

Also going to correct your topic title typo.

Vern

 

[armyvern]

sorry, plse fix that spelling error in 'technology' - at the moment of writing that, the bloody cat fell off the monitor onto one of the dogs asleep near my feet. You can guess the subsequent brouhaha...

Fixed,

I was going to fix it anyways. My pet peeve: "Topic Titles With Typos!!"

For future ref: just go to your your original post and hit the "modify" button, that will re-open your post for modification, including the title. Members can modify their posts for 24 hours after the original posting.

 

[Mike Bobbitt]

Sure... creating new threads is easy, and if the topic doesn't work out, they automatically slide down the list, so there's no harm in giving it a shot. I'd recommend starting with a couple of good solid examples (including some details if possible) to set the stage and get the conversation going.

 

[JackD]

Thanks, I'm also thinking here of as well as  ground breaking technology (if that is an appropriate word use for say, aircraft, or naval craft), modifications to equipment that has been adopted internationally - surely there had to be a great many... (in order to keep the near obselete - au courant...)

 

[eurowing]

I think it's a great idea.  I'll chime in with the light bulb!  Toronto in 1874  ... I'm pretty sure they are in use world wide. 

Edit...Invented by Henry Woodward who sold the patent to..... Edison who in 1879 made it more practical.  He obviously had a better publicist.  ;D

 

[JackD]

just found out in an article, that the brains behind Henry Ford was a Cannuck, he became mayor of Detroit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Couzens....  Then there's the avroplane; http://www.unrealaircraft.com/wings/avroplane.php, or the undoing of Roe aircraft: http://www.unrealaircraft.com/wings/avro_car.php... less spectacular, i seem to remember a piece of photogrammetric equipment used to extend 'control' - developed in Canada, sold to the Swiss, bought back by Canada... (umm... a familiar refrain..)

 

[Penny]

While on the topic of Canadian  Military inventions I think it interesting to mention Donald Hings, inventor of the Walkie Talkie and the DEW line.  Where would the military be today without the portable radio? !  :warstory:
One such story I am fond of:
. . .a solar storm after the war eliminated all communication between Alaska and the rest of the United States, panic of sneak attack set in within the U.S. Military. Don had the giant communications antenna at Cominco in Trail B.C. at his disposal and had them tip it on its side so as to utilize the low ionosphere reflection. This allowed the U.S. Military open communication with Alaska for the three day solar storm with Cominco as the go between.

Cheers.

 

[PMedMoe]

1889 - Frederick Creed invents the teletype, the precursor to all modern data communications. Born in 1871 in Mill Village, Nova Scotia, he learned Morse Code and telegraphy while working for Western Union in Canso, Nova Scotia. He soon came up with an idea to interface a typewriter to a telegraphy system to send Morse code, and then to receive the code using the telegraph system and a typewriter in reverse order. In 1889, he set up a company in Glasgow, Scotland, to start manufacturing his Creed Teleprinters, which came to be called the Teletype. In 1898, he demonstrated transmitting the Glasgow Herald newspaper to London via telegraphy at a rate of 60 words per minute and by 1913, his system was routinely used to transmit London newspapers to other major centres in Great Britain and Europe. Creed Teleprinters were sold around the world, and provided almost instant printed communications between heads of state. In 1923, he showed that his system could also be used for ship to shore distress calls, and it became a valuable life saving system. Frederick Creed died in London in 1957.

See Canadawiki: http://canadawiki.org/index.php/The_Greatest_Canadian_Inventions

 

[niner domestic]

Hydrofoil technology - Alexander Graham Bell and F. W. Baldwin. Tests for application in the then, RCN, began in the 1940s.  The prototypes resulted in the 1960s, FHE- 400 Bras D'Or.  (1964-69)

http://www.sciencetech.technomuses.ca/english/collection/innovation02.cfm

 

[eurowing]

1916 - The variable pitch propeller by Wallace Rupert Turnbull (born in St John NB) is one of the most important developments in aviation.

 

[3rd Herd]

A little more recent but the turret shielding on the G Wagon. It seems to me that this could be quite an interesting thread as we are all aware of the manner in which Parliament treats the military. Members of the Canadian military are well renowned for their "inventiveness".

http://www.army.forces.gc.ca/lf/English/6_1_1.asp?id=669

 

[geo]

amaazing what you can do with bailing wire and duct tape.

 

[CrazyCanuck]

Does Peacekeeping count?

 

[PMedMoe]

Does Peacekeeping count?

Lester B. Pearson won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1957.  http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1957/pearson-bio.html
In the Suez crisis of 1956, when the United Kingdom, France, and Israel invaded Egyptian territory, Pearson proposed and sponsored the resolution which created a United Nations Emergency Force to police that area, thus permitting the invading nations to withdraw with a minimum loss of face.

 

[CrazyCanuck]

Sorry should have made that clearer, meant more along the lines of because it was an action and not a mechanical invention could it be counted here?

 

[PMedMoe]

Sure, why not?  It still took someone to think about it, right?