 |
| Rufus Porter |
The first issue of Scientific American magazine was published on the 28th
August 1845. Many
famous scientists, including Albert Einstein, have contributed articles in the
past 167 years. It is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the
United States. Scientific American was founded by inventor and publisher Rufus
M. Porter in 1845 as a four page weekly newspaper. It reported on a broad range
of inventions including perpetual motion machines machines, an 1860 device for
buoying vessels by Abraham Lincoln, and the universal joint, which now finds
place in nearly every automobile manufactured.
 |
| DiChristina |
Porter sold the newspaper to
Alfred Ely Beach and Orson Desaix Munn a mere ten months after founding it.
Until 1948 it remained owned by Munn & Company. In
1948, three partners who were planning on starting a new popular science
magazine, to be called The Sciences, purchased the assets of the old Scientific
American instead and put its name on the designs they had created for their
new magazine. Circulation had grown fifteen-fold since 1948. In 1986, it was
sold to the Holtzbrinck group of Germany, which has owned it since. Mariette
DiChristina is the current editor-in-chief.
It originally styled itself
"The Advocate of Industry and Enterprise" and "Journal of
Mechanical and other Improvements". On the front page of the first issue
was the engraving of "Improved Rail-Road Cars". The masthead had a
commentary as follows:
Scientific American
published every Thursday morning at No. 11 Spruce Street, New York, No. 16
State Street, Boston, and No. 21 Arcade Philadelphia, (The principal office
being in New York) by Rufus Porter. Each number will be furnished with from two
to five original Engravings, many of them elegant, and illustrative of New
Inventions, Scientific Principles, and Curious Works; and will contain, in high
addition to the most interesting news of passing events, general notices of
progress of Mechanical and other Scientific Improvements; American and Foreign.
Improvements and Inventions; Catalogues of American Patents; Scientific Essays,
illustrative of the principles of the sciences of Mechanics, Chemistry, and
Architecture: useful information and instruction in various Arts and Trades;
Curious Philosophical Experiments; Miscellaneous Intelligence, Music and
Poetry. This paper is especially entitled to the patronage of Mechanics and
Manufactures, being the only paper in America, devoted to the interest of those
classes; but is particularly useful to farmers, as it will not only appraise
them of improvements in agriculture implements, But instruct them in various
mechanical trades, and guard them against impositions. As a family newspaper,
it will convey more useful intelligence to children and young people, than five
times its cost in school instruction. Another important argument in favour of
this paper, is that it will be worth two dollars at the end of the year when
the volume is complete, (Old volumes of the New York Mechanic, being now worth
double the original cost, in cash.) Terms: The "Scientific American"
will be furnished to subscribers at $2.00 per annum, - one dollar in advance,
and the balance in six months. Five copies will be sent to one address six
months for four dollars in advance. Any person procuring two or more
subscribers will be entitled to a commission of 25 cents each.
The commentary under the
illustration gives the flavour of its style at the time:
There
is perhaps no mechanical subject, in which improvement has advanced so rapidly,
within the last ten years, as that of railroad passenger cars. Let any person
contrast the awkward and uncouth cars of '35 with the superbly splendid long
cars now running on several of the eastern roads, and he will find it difficult
to convey to a third party, a correct idea of the vast extent of improvement.
Some of the most elegant cars of this class, and which are of a capacity to
accommodate from sixty to eighty passengers, and run with a steadiness hardly equalled
by a steamboat in still water, are manufactured by Davenport & Bridges, at
their establishment in Cambridgeport, Mass. The manufacturers have recently
introduced a variety of excellent improvements in the construction of trucks,
springs, and connections, which are calculated to avoid atmospheric resistance,
secure safety and convenience, and contribute ease and comfort to passengers,
while flying at the rate of 30 or 40 miles per hour.
It continued to be fascinated with rail
travel. This article appeared on the from page of the 23rd September
1848 edition;
Rail travel doesn't seem to have changed much.
As to general stuff got to;
http://www.youtube.com/user/sciamerican?feature=results_main
No comments:
Post a Comment