Archived edition
Published 2026-09-18 · Magazines & journals beyond the daily press · 7 stories
Scientific American · January 19, 1867
The Whittingham Moist Warm Air Portable Furnace
A description of a Victorian-era furnace design meant to solve the perennial complaint of dry, arid heated air by adding moisture back into the warmed atmosphere of a house.
Scientific American · January 19, 1867
A look at an early American attempt to build a self-propelling steam road carriage adaptable to farm work, at a time when traction engines were common in England but rare in the U.S.
Scientific American · August 4, 1877
A dry but telling glimpse into 1870s patent law, as the Patent Office ruled against a street railway ticket redemption scheme as unoriginal.
Scientific American · January 19, 1867
An 1867 survey of the borax trade explains how a newly discovered California lake deposit was poised to break a longstanding European monopoly on this essential chemical used in soldering and metalworking.
Scientific American · July 3, 1886
A look back at how gas manufacturing transformed from a stodgy monopoly into a cutthroat, innovation-driven business over twelve years, as water gas and naphtha upended old coal-gas practices in American cities.
Scientific American · August 4, 1877
A period editorial on the growing menace of torpedo warfare, calling for American inventors to devise defenses against these new naval weapons—an early glimpse of the arms race that would define modern sea warfare.
Scientific American · August 4, 1877
A detailed technical account of how the giant steel cables of the still-unfinished Brooklyn Bridge were spun and anchored, offering a rare inside look at one of the era's most ambitious engineering projects.
