List of Figures

1.1.

James and David Billington at the 1939 New York World’s Fair   2

1.2.

The Futurama ride at the 1939 General Motors pavilion   3

1.3.

The Corliss engine at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Fair   5

1.4.

Baldwin locomotive at the Centennial Fair   7

1.5.

Keystone Bridge Company exhibit at the Centennial Fair   9

2.1.

Thomas Alva Edison in 1881   18

2.2.

Menlo Park laboratory, 1880   18

2.3.

Replica of 1879 Edison light bulb   23

2.4.

Pearl Street station dynamo room   26

2.5.

George Westinghouse   27

2.6a.

Nikola Tesla   32

2.6b.

Charles Steinmetz   32

3.1a.

Alexander Melville Bell   36

3.1b.

Title page of Bell’s book on visible speech   36

3.2.

Alexander Graham Bell, circa 1875   38

3.3a.

Gardiner Hubbard   42

3.3b.

Mabel Hubbard   42

3.4.

Bell’s 1877 lecture in Salem, Massachusetts   46

3.5.

Elisha Gray   47

3.6.

Telephone operators, circa 1895   51

3.7.

George Campbell   52

3.8.

King Harris (age three) and his brother Lawrence (age five) in San Francisco speaking with their parents in Washington, D.C., in 1916   55

4.1.

Edwin Drake (in top hat) at his oil well   59

4.2.

John D. Rockefeller, circa 1884   62

4.3.

Standard Oil companies after the 1911 breakup   64

4.4.

William M. Burton   66

4.5.

Robert Humphreys in the Whiting laboratory, circa 1908   67

4.6.

Burton stills in operation   73

4.7.

Trend in output of crude oil, 1899–1920   74

4.8.

Eugene J. Houdry   76

5.1.

Otto engine at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Fair   80

5.2.

Jane Newkirk (grandmother of senior author) in an early car   82

5.3.

Henry Ford, circa 1904   85

5.4.

Henry Ford and Barney Oldfield next to Ford’s 999 racer   86

5.5.

A 1908 Ford Model T   87

5.6.

Model T chassis   89

5.7a.

Ford production: static assembly   96

5.7b.

Ford production: moving assembly line   97

5.8.

One day’s production of Model T cars, 1913   98

5.9a.

William C. Durant   99

5.9b.

Alfred P. Sloan Jr.   99

6.1.

Otto Lilienthal (gliding)   104

6.2.

Samuel P. Langley   106

6.3.

Langley model aerodrome in 1896   107

6.4.

Wilbur and Orville Wright in 1909   109

6.5.

The Wright 1900 glider flying as a kite   111

6.6.

The Wright 1901 glider upended   112

6.7.

Wilbur Wright flying the 1901 glider   113

6.8.

Wilbur Wright banking the 1902 glider   117

6.9.

Orville Wright making the first powered flight, December 17, 1903   123

6.10.

Wilbur Wright circling the Statue of Liberty, 1909   125

7.1.

Guglielmo Marconi   134

7.2.

Reginald Fessenden   136

7.3.

Lee de Forest   140

7.4.

Edwin Howard Armstrong   145

7.5.

David Sarnoff as a radio telegrapher in 1908   148

7.6.

John and Kenneth Coolbaugh (uncles of senior author) with radio set   149

7.7.

David Sarnoff in later life   151

7.8.

Edwin Howard Armstrong in later life   152

8.1.

Othmar Ammann in 1930   161

8.2.

Artist’s conception of the George Washington Bridge, with masonry   170

8.3.

Artist’s conception of the George Washington Bridge, with a single deck   171

8.4.

Collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, November 7, 1940   172

8.5.

The George Washington Bridge today   174

9.1.

John Eastwood   179

9.2.

Hume Lake Dam, near Fresno, California   182

9.3.

The Big Bear Dam   184

9.4.

Anton Tedesko in 1936   188

9.5.

The Hayden Planetarium   189

9.6.

Hershey chocolate workers casting concrete   193

9.7.

Hershey Arena arch, half cross section   194

9.8.

Completed Hershey Arena in use   195

10.1.

Walter P. Chrysler   202

10.2.

The Chrysler Airflow   205

10.3.

The Ford Lincoln Zephyr and the Douglas DC-3   206

10.4.

Donald W. Douglas   207

10.5.

Douglas World Cruisers   209

10.6.

The Boeing Monomail airplane   211

10.7a.

The Douglas DC-1: front view   212

10.7b.

The Douglas DC-1: rear view   213

10.8.

A DC-3 over Chicago   216

10.9.

The Chrysler Building in New York City   217

10.10.

The Trylon and Perisphere at the 1939–40 New York World’s Fair   218