How to be a successful inventor

What do you need for an invention to be a success?

Well, good timing for a start. You can have a great idea which the public simply doesn’t want ... yet. Take the Italian priest, Giovanni Caselli, who invented the first fax machine using an enormous pendulum in the 1860s. Despite the excellent quality of the reproductions, his invention quickly died a commercial death. It was not until the 1980s that the fax became an essential piece of equipment in every office ... too late for Signor Caselli.

Money also helps. The Frenchman Denis Papin (1647 — 1712) had the idea for a steam engine almost a hundred years before the better- remembered Scotsman James Watt was even born ... but he never had enough money to build one.

You also need to be patient (it took scientists nearly eighty years to develop a light bulb which actually worked) ... but not too patient. In the 1870s, Elisha Gray, a professional inventor from Chicago, developed plans for a telephone. Gray saw it as no more than ‘a beautiful toy’, however. When he finally sent details of his invention to the Patent Office on February 14th 1876, it was too late; almost identical designs had arrived just two hours earlier ... and the young man who sent them, Alexander Graham Bell, will always be remembered as the inventor of the telephone.

Sarah Curringham, Peter Moor, Cutting Edge, Longman.

Reading comprehension

I. Try to explain the meaning of the following words from the text:

Simply, quickly, actually, finally, nearly, however, despite.

II. Answer the following questions in pairs:

- Did Caselli’s “fax machine” actually work?

- Who designed the first steam engine?

- Who built the first steam engine?

- Who invented the first telephone?

III.Discussthe following questions in pairs:

1. Which information in the article did you already know?

2. Which information did you find more surprising?

IV. Discuss with your partner the following statement: “So, what do you need for an invention to be a success?” and make a conclusion to your groupmates.

On/offline activity

Divide into groups of 3 or 4 people and find the information from the Internet about different inventions (for ex., e-mail, ballpoint, personal computer, video recorder, dishwasher, etc.) and present the information on:

- the name of the inventor;

- the country this invention was made in;

- what the thing was made for;

- how it is used now;

- how it influenced our life.

Recommended resources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail#Origin;

http://www.cosmopolis.ch/english/cosmo30/history_ballpoint_pen.htm

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E05EEDC1530F93BA35752C0A9619C8B

http://talkback.zdnet.com/5208-11475-0.html?forumID=1&threadID=40652&messageID=751218

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/07/yourmoney/mobile.php

http://philip.greenspun.com/business/mobile-phone-as-home-computer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betamax

Online activity

Writing an e-mail (to a friend)

Work in pairs

There are no fixed rules about composing e-mails, especially to friends. But a friend will be surprised if you write in a formal style. An e-mail is rather like a conversation without the pauses and hesitations.

Read this e-mail from your friend Alex:

Leo Jones, Making progress, Cambridge University Press

Before you write a reply, decide what you will say to Alex.

Write your reply to Alex.

Show your reply to a partner, and read his or her reply.

Homework

Write an adventure story about the invention which plays an important part in your life now in the Past Simple Tense and using new words from the lesson:

simply, quickly, actually, finally, nearly, however, despite, really, however.

Reply to your friend about your day, study, life...

Lesson 5

Lexical exercises

Match the words and their suitable definitions given below:

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 2064