How Did The Pilgrims Get Their Name?

The term “pilgrim” was used by William Bradford to describe the first Plymouth settlers.

A long time ago, people we now call the Pilgrims came to America and settled the first permanent colony of people from the Old World.

Pilgrim

They named their little New England village Plymouth in honor of Plymouth, England—the harbor from which they had sailed on the Mayflower in 1620.

The term “Pilgrim” may come from Gov. William Bradford’s early accounts of the Philgrims’ life.

He wrote that “they knew they were pilgrims” when they left their old homes, seeking freedom to follow their own religious beliefs and way of life in the New World.

But it wasn’t until two centuries after their arrival that these first settlers popularly became known in American history as the Pilgrims.

The Pilgrims knew themselves as the “Old Comers,” since they were the first to colonize the New World, while later generations referred to the Pilgrims as the “Forefathers.”–Dick Rogers

What Is The Meaning Of A 21-gun Salute?

Gun salutes are often used to mark special occasions.

Gun or cannon salutes sometimes honor distinguished persons or mark special occasions.  This custom began long ago, when guns and cannons were loaded by hand.

Upon the approach of a friendly ship, all the guns of the fort or ship were fired as a token of disarming them, for early guns could not be speedily reloaded.

Modern salutes are fired with blank charges.

21 Gun Salute

The number of shots is determined by the rank of the person being honored.  A 21-gun salute is fired for heads of governments, member of a royal family and others of similar rank.

19 guns are fired for officers above the rank of admiral or general, state governors and ambassadors.

Salutes of 17, 15, 13, 11, 7 and 5 guns are fired for lesser ranks.  Firing an odd number of shots is believed to come from an old naval superstition that an even number of shots is unlucky or causes misfortune.–Dick Rogers

What Is Patent?

Patent

A patent is a government grant which gives an inventor, and no one else, the right to make and sell his invention for a certain number of years.

Perhaps you have seen the words “Patent Pending,” “Patent Applied For,” or “Patent No. 123456,” for example, marked on many of the things you buy and use.

These are patent signs that tell us that the inventor of the product, and no one else, has the right to make and sell his invention without paying to do so.

Patents are granted and protected by the government for a certain number of years.

The inventor who wants to patent a new invention must submit a description of it to the Patent Office.

He must also claim that the invention is his own idea as well as pay an application fee.

If the idea is judged to be brand new and useful, the Patent Office issues a patent.

Just at patents protect inventors, copyright protect the literary, musical, and artistic works of authors, composers, and artists from those who would copy their work or claim to have created it.–Dick Rogers

Where does mercury come from?

Mercury

Mercury is usually found in rust-colored rocks called cinnabar.  The ore is crushed, then heated to release the mercury.

Mercury is perhaps the strangest of all metals.  It is the only metal that liquid at ordinary temperatures.

In nature, mercury is most often found in rust-colored rocks called cinnabar, although pure mercury can be mined.

To get the mercury from its ore, the cinnabar is crushed then heated to release and vaporize the mercury.  The mercury vapor then is caught and cooled.

Cooled, the vapors condense into a silvery liquid such as you see going up and down in a thermometer.

Because of its fluid quality and color, mercury is sometimes called “quicksilver.”  Anyone who has ever tried to pick up some spilled quicksilver will agree that the name is a good one.

When spilled, it  “breaks” into tiny balls that are hard to gather up.

Today, mercury’s unusual properties make it useful not only in thermometers, but in making thousands of products – from barometers and lights switches to pesticides. – Dick Rogers

Why Does a Firemen's Helmet Have A Big Brim?

Firemen's Helmet

The big brim is designed to shed water so it won’t run down the fireman’s neck when he’s fighting a fire.

Nothing causes quite so much excitement in our everyday lives as the wall of a fire-engine siren.  It screams a warning to people to get out of the way of a fire truck as it roars through the streets on its way to a fire.

A fireman works around lots of water when he’s fighting a fire.  He wears a large, sturdy helmet to protect his head from falling debris and to keep from being drenched by water spray.

The broad brim on his helmet turns up on the sides and down at the back.  It catches the water.

Then, the water runs down and off the big brim to the rear, instead of down the fireman’s neck.

On each helmet is a shield with the fireman’s number.  A fireman also wears a heavy canvas or rubber coat and thick rubber boots.  His coat and boots help keep him from getting cold and wet but they do more than this.

They help project him from burning embers and other hazards, too. – Dick Rogers

How Does A foghorn Work?

Foghorn

The greatest diaphone foghorns are worked by blasts of air.

When log closes in, the foghorns begin.  They warn ships of dangerous rocks and shoals.  Perhaps the most familiar kind of foghorn, is the deep, horse bellow of the foghorn called it “diaphone.”

Diaphone foghorns are worked by blasts of air, and often sound two-toned blasts.  First high, then low, then loud “BUUUOOOoooo” can be heard up to nine miles away.

Electric foghorns work much like a horn does on a car.  They make low, honking sounds.

Still others produce siren, whistle and chime signals.  The motion of the waves rock the bell buoy back and forth to make the bell ring.

The different kinds of fog signals help us to tell them apart.  Each lighthouse or fog signal station is known by the sound and number of its blasts and by the silences in between.  Some foghorns operate automatically, switching on and off during bad weather. – Dick Rogers

How Is Lumber Made?

Lumber

The chair you are sitting on was perhaps once part of a tree that grew in a forest.

Lumber, as we know, is the wood of trees that has been sawed into planks, boards, etc.

Before tree can be sawed into lumber, it must be cut down and transported to the sawmill.

The logs are sent through the sawmill on a moving belt.  When a log first enters the sawmill, jets of water give it a stinging bath to remove the sand and dirt that might dull the teeth of the saw.

After washing, the log is then rolled onto a carriage that carries it into the teeth of the head saw that saws it into rough boards.

When the log has been reduced to boards, the boards travel to other saws that trim off the rough edges and cut them to the right length.

Then they are sorted and planed smooth.  Finally, the lumber must be seasoned, or dried, so the woods will not warp or rot. – Dick Rogers

What is sago flour?

Lumber

Sago flour is a starchy flour made from the pithy center of the sago palm.  It is used mainly in making soups and puddings.

Have you ever eaten a palm tree?  You have, if you have ever eaten a soup or a pudding made with sago flour!  Sago (pronounced SAY goh) is a starch found in the soft, pith-like center of the sago palm which grows in such tropical lands as Malaya and the East Indies.

The sago palm grows to a height of 30 feet or more.

To make sago flour, the trees are cut down as soon as the flowers appear.  If the fruit is allowed to form the starchy pith it is used up by the developing fruit, leaving the trunk a more hollow shell and causing the tree to die.

The starchy pith is chopped out and ground to a powder.  A single tree may yield 700 or more pounds of pith.

The powder is then kneaded with water over a strainer.  The water carried off the starch and leaves the woody fiber behind.

After a few washings, the sago flour is ready to use.  It is shipped to food processing plants and is put in pudding and soups. – Dick Rogers

How Is Cotton Womern Into Cloth?

Cotton

The long cotton fibers are spun into strong treads which are then woven into cloth.

Many of the towels, sheets, shirts and clothing we enjoy using and wearing are made of cotton.  The cotton plant at harvest time looks like it has a cluster of flurry snowballs made of silky white cotton fibers.

After the cotton has been picked it is carried to a machine called a “gin” which separates the fibers from the seeds.

When the cotton arrives at the textile mill, spinning machines spin and twin the loose fibers into strong threads and wind them on bobbins for weaving.

After the thread has been spun, a machine called a “loom” automatically weaves hundreds of threads into cloth in much the same way we might weave a reed basket.

After the cloth has been woven it goes through many other steps in which it is bleached, dyed, and printed.

Chemicals are added to printed cloth to make sure that the colors remain bright. – Dick Rogers

How Did The Idea Of Birthstone Start?

Birthstone

Many people wear a birthstone to show which month they were born in.

From very early times there have been superstitions about gems.  Ancient people thought that certain gems had magical powers and could protect them from harm and bring good luck.

Some gems were supposed to have an influence on love and marriage.  Others were supposed to strengthen such personal traits as courage, sincerity and loyalty.

The idea of birthstones came from old superstitions that certain gems brought good luck and good health to people, defending on their birth dates.  Each month was given a stone.

The birthstone for the month of May, for example, is the emerald.  Wearing this stone, people thought, would bring love and success to anyone whose birthday was in the month.

Not many people still believe that birthstones affect the wearer’s life.

But many do enjoy wearing their birthstones set in rings, brooches, and other jewelry.

Do you know your birthstone? – Dick Rogers

How Did Bands Originate?

There were bands as far back as early Egyptian times, when groups of musicians banded together to play harps, drums, and other musical instruments.

Everyone likes to hear a band!  People march to the music of marching n\bands in parades. And almost every high school and college has one.

Band

The first bands were nothing like our bands today.  As far back as early Egyptian times, small groups of musicians banded together to play tambourines, harps, drums and reed instruments.  Roman soldiers marched into battle to the sound of trumpet bands.

As interest in bands grew, little bands of musicians wandered from town to town. In time, hands became so popular that every Europeans town had its own band.

Until about the 1700s, any group of instrumental musicians that played together called a band.

Today, we usually think of a band as a group that plays chiefly wind and percussion instruments, such as clarinets, trumpets and drums.  An orchestra is made up of stringed instruments, as well as band instruments. – Dick Rogers

How Does An Altimeter Work?

Altimeter

An aneroid (barometric) altimeter shows a plane’s altitude above the earth by measuring the atmospheric pressure, which lessens as the altitude increases.

An altimeter is an instrument that shows a pilot just how high his airplane is above the earth.  Most altimeters are aneroid (without air) barometers, made to read in feet of altitude instead of inches of mercury.

Like all barometers, the aneroid altimeter shows changes in air pressure, which lessens as the altitude increases.

Behind the dial is a small metal can called a diaphragm from which most of the air has been removed.  As the airplane goes up, the air pressing against the diaphragm lessens, allowing the diaphragm to expand.

The movement of the sides of the diaphragm move the hands on the face of the altimeter.

Still another kind of altimeter is called a radio or radar altimeter.  It measures altitude by sending radio signals to the ground.

It tells the altitude by measuring the time needed for the radio signals to reach the ground and bounce back to the plane. – Dick Rogers

How Does A Barometer Work?

Barometer

A barometer tells us what the weather may be like by measuring changes in air pressure.A barometer is an instrument that measure the pressure of air.

The ocean of air above us pushes down on the earth with a great deal of force.   Just as a scale measures the pressure of your weight, so the barometer tells the weight of the air above it.There are different kinds of barometers. 

Barometers called “aneroid barometers” record changes in air pressure by using an air light box from which most of the air has been removed.

Changes in air pressure causes the box to expand or contract.  These changes controls a pointer on a dial.

When we read a mercury barometer, we read the height of mercury in a glass tube.  Changes in air pressure causes the mercury to rise or fall.

Barometer are very useful to the weatherman.

When the mercury falls rapidly, he knows a storm is quite likely to follow.  A “rising barometer” often foretells better weather – Dick Rogers

How Does A Speedometer Work?

 Speedometer

 

A spinning magnet in a speedometer acts with magnetic force that pulls the pointer and causes it to register the auto’s speed.The speedometer in an automobile tells how fast the car is going.

A speedometer operates by magnetic force.  Inside a speedometer there is a magnet that is connected directly to the car’s transmission by a flexible cable.

When the car moves, gears inside the transmission turn the cable which spins the magnet.

Fitting over the magnet is a special metal drum called a “speedup.”  The speedup is attached to the pointer in the speedometer’s dial.

The spinning magnet acts with magnetic force that pulls the speed cup and it causes the pointer to revolve against the restraint of a spring.

When the car speeds up, the faster the magnet spins and the greater is the force exerted against the spring.

At the magnetic pull gradually overcomes the resistance of the spring, it causes the speedometer to register a higher speed.

When the car stops, the spring pulls the pointer back to zero. – Dick Rogers

Why do men wear buttons on their coat sleeves?

Buttons

Some buttons now used as ornaments once served a useful purpose.  The buttons on men’s coat sleeves were once used to fasten the cuffs back over the long lace frills that decorated shirt sleeves.

The word “button” comes from an old French word which means “to push out.”

This is exactly what the button does.  It sticks out from whatever it is attached to, ready to be pushed out through a buttonhole to fasten a garment together.

Buttons were used as ornaments thousands of years ago, but for a long time it did not occur to people that they could use them to fasten their clothing.

At one time, both men’s and women’s clothes had buttons on the left side.  During the Middles Ages the buttons on a man’s garment were changed to the right side so that he could quickly unbutton his coat with his left hand and at the same time pull out his sword with his right hand. – Dick Rogers