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Inventors of transport

The inventors from the wheel to the aeroplane, the bicycle through time, and fossil fuels. Read one part at a time and tap “I know this”. Then test yourself in the quiz.

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On a timeline

±3500 BCThe wheel1783The first hot-air balloonwith people1817Drais’s running machine (nopedals)1829Stephenson’s steamlocomotive, the Rocket1885Benz’s three-wheeled petrolcar1888Dunlop’s air-filled tyres1903The Wright brothers fly for12 seconds1908Ford’s Model T
Order: wheel, steam train, car, aeroplane. The ox-wagon came even before the train.
  • The car: people could travel further on their own. The train: heavy goods far and fast over land. The aeroplane: other countries in hours.
  • Exhaust fumes (carbon monoxide, soot and other gases) pollute the air, and their carbon dioxide adds to global warming; a bicycle doesn’t pollute at all.
  • BC means “before Christ”: those years are counted backwards from the year 1, so 3500 BC was about 5 500 years ago. Years after that are AD, or have no letters.
From the ox wagon to the aeroplane.
From the ox wagon to the aeroplane.
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The bicycle

Runningmachine(1817)Boneshaker(1860s)Penny-farthing(1870s)Safetybicycle(1885)
The chain carries the power from the pedals to the back wheel.
  • Karl Drais (Germany, 1817): a running machine with no pedals; the rider pushed with his feet.
  • The 1860s “boneshakers” were the first bicycles with pedals (on the front wheel); their wooden wheels bumped a lot. The penny-farthing (1870s) had a huge front wheel.
  • John Kemp Starley’s safety bicycle (1885) had two wheels of the same size and a chain to the back wheel; John Dunlop’s air-filled tyres (1888) made cycling more comfortable. In the 1890s ordinary people could travel further cheaply.
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The steam engine and the train

  • James Watt improved the steam engine in the 1770s so that it could power machines.
  • Richard Trevithick built the first steam locomotive on rails in 1804. George Stephenson’s Rocket won a famous competition for locomotives in 1829.
  • South Africa’s first railway opened in Durban in 1860; Cape Town’s followed in 1862.
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Remember this and test yourself

Remember this: your summary
  • The wheel was invented more than 5 000 years ago to move heavy loads more easily.
  • George Stephenson: steam locomotives like the Rocket. Karl Benz: a three-wheeled petrol car (1885).
  • Henry Ford’s Model T was built on an assembly line, so it was cheaper.
  • The Wright brothers made the first powered flight in 1903 (about 12 seconds).
  • Fossil fuels (coal, oil) took millions of years to form; petrol comes from oil.

Write these points in your book. Read them again the night before the test.

Memory trick

W-T-C-P: Wheel, Train, Car, Plane — “We Travel Country Places.”

Flash cards · Tap to turn over

Important words

First say what the word means, then turn the card over.

Test yourself · Part 2

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