Glashieburn Inventions

Visiting the Travelling Museum of British Invention Primary 6 Glashieburn School

ATM Machine In term 2 our class had a visit from the author Alan Burnett. He told the class all about different Scottish inventors and inventions. He told us a story about the first ever light bulb and how it was dropped! We found this story extraordinary!

After his visit our class went on a trip to the ‘Inventions Bus’. We were able to see a large selection of British inventions and interact with them. Many of these were invented in Scotland. We found out who the inventors were and the reasons for their particular invention.

On return to school we were put into groups to research one of the inventions we had seen. Our group research project was the ATM machine.

When Alan came back for his second visit he had a look at our research and tested our knowledge!

We found out lots of interesting facts and information about the ATM Machine.

1. The oldest ATM cost only £33 and the newest is £2, 015, 000.

2. They were first used in 1939.

3. Nowadays about twelve million are installed worldwide.

4. ATM customers spend an average of 20 to 25% more than non ATM customers.

5. The ATM machine was made by John Shepherd Barron.

by Adam Duncan, Stuart Fraser, Thomas Singer P6A Glashieburn School

Hovercraft For our project Scottish inventors and inventions our class enjoyed a visit from the author Allan Burnett. He taught us a bit about the war and the inventions they made during that period. He also showed us a few of his books. We were lucky enough to get to meet him as he is an inspiration to us all!

Our class was also extremely lucky to take part in a visit to the Inventions Bus which was touring Scotland. Inside there were things like… ! !

dart boards, amplifiers, a surgery video, a magnifying glass and a poster about the body.

Our teacher put us in groups of three and selected an invention for us to find out about. After we had completed our research we presented our findings to the class.

Our group found out all about the Hovercraft.

Some of the things that we found out were …

It was invented by Christopher Cockerell.

His idea was to build a vehicle that would move over the water’s surface floating on a large layer of air.

It was made in 1956.

It’s not the same as a boat.

They have two propellers.

By Isla Davidson, Kara Gillan and Kyla Law P6A, Glashieburn School

Cats’ Eyes The author Allan Burnet came to our class and gave us a talk on Scottish inventions. He also showed us some of his books. We went on a visit to the inventions bus. There were a lot of British inventions on it and admission was free! We found out lots about a range of exciting inventions!

For our project, ‘Inventions and Inventors’ we were put into a group to find out about ‘Cats’ Eyes’.

These were the questions we wanted answered about Cats Eyes – Where were they made?

Why were they made?

Have they changed through the years?

What were they made out of?

Who invented them?

What was the company’s name?

What was the purpose of the invention?

Why were they called cats’ eyes?

Here are the fascinating facts that we found out…

They were made in Booth town.

The idea behind them was to help save people’s lives.

They have changed and developed over the years due to changes in materials and technology.

They are made from rubber, springs, steel and retro reflective material.

Percy Shaw invented them .

Cats eyes were given this name as they are reflective just like the eyes of an actual cat.

When Allan returned for a second visit he had a look at our research notes and he quizzed us on what we had found out. We think we managed to impress him with our knowledge!

We hope that you have learned something about ‘Cats’ Eyes’.

By Teagan Henderson, Emma Mitchell and Rory Greenhill P6A Glashieburn School

Lawnmowers First of all we got a talk from Allan Burnett who told us about many different Scottish inventions and who made them. He showed us some of the books that he has written linked to inventions and World Wars.

Then we went on a trip to the Inventions Bus to collect some information for our research projects.

We learned a lot of interesting facts about different inventions.

Next for our research project our group had to make a poster all about lawnmowers. We already knew that lawnmowers were for cutting and trimming grass but we learned much more.

We wanted to know when they were made, who they were made by and how much they cost a long time ago.

We found out that they were made by Edwin Budding in 1827. Edwin Budding was born in Thrupp in Stroud Gloucestershire. A long time ago they cost £20 but now they can cost anything up to £1,899.00.

What is a lawnmower? Well… a lawnmower is a blade (or blades) that cuts grass at an even height. All lawnmower designs are different.

They can be all different sizes too. Large lawnmowers are for large gardens. Tractor style ones are for golf courses, fields and parks. The small, normal ones are for your everyday gardens.

Now we’ve got a fab fact for you! Did you know that in the 1800s lawnmowers were used to finish carpets in the Wilton carpets factory?

Another fab fact - In the 1700s France thought the idea of a lawnmower was good and it spread to England and then the rest of the world.

After we found out this information we displayed it to the class by giving a short presentation and showed them our posters and hard work.

On Allan’s second talk we had to show him our posters and he asked us questions about our invention to make sure we knew what it meant and understood it properly.

By Beth Rattray, Kirsty Francis and Danny Massie.

P6A, Glashieburn School

The Reflective Telescope We had a visit from Allan Burnet who gave us an interesting talk about his books and different inventions. We also went to the inventions bus which helped us learn more about British invention and inventors. Following this, our group decided to learn about the reflective telescope.

The facts we wanted to learn were …

Where was it made?

What materials would they need?

What company first made it?

How much did it cost?

When was it made?

Why was it made?

Do we still use it today?

What did it look like?

How old was the inventor when he invented it?

When did they come to the market and how did he name it?

We already knew that Sir Isaac Newton invented the Reflective Telescope as well as having founded gravity. We also knew that it is different from a normal telescope.

We found out that the reflective telescope was invented in 1680. The largest reflective telescope with a single mirror is 6m in diameter. The reflective telescope image is formed by a reflection from a curved mirror which is then magnified by a second mirror. The reflective telescope now may look different but still works exactly the same as the old reflective telescope that Isaac Newton invented. Almost all of the major telescopes used in astronomy research are reflective telescopes. The Hubble space telescope is a reflective telescope. The cost of an every day using reflective telescope can cost anything from £30 to several hundreds of pounds. Some of the biggest reflective telescopes can cost up to £100,000.

By Emma Forbes, Emma Ross and Ellen Cowie P6A Glashieburn School

Amplifier We have been learning about inventions and inventors for our project. We had a visit from Allan Burnett, who talked to us about famous inventions in Scotland. Not long after that we had a trip to the Invention Bus that was located at ASDA and open for the whole community to enjoy and learn from. It was very interesting to see first hand the different British inventions from over the decade but particularly the ones that were invented in Scotland.

Once we came back from the Inventions Bus we were organised into groups. Our group has been finding out about the Amplifier. First we wrote down what we already knew and then we wrote down what we wanted to find out. These are some of the things we knew at the start…

Amplifiers project the noise of electric instruments.

They can be used for microphones.

You plug it into the things you want to use.

This is what we wanted to find out…

Who made the amplifier?

When was the amplifier made?

Where can you find an Amplifier?

Why do we need an Amplifier?

Here are some facts we found out…

Lee De Forest invented the Amplifier.

The first amplifier was used in 1906.

You can find an Amplifier in things like radios and televisions.

Basically everything electronic has an Amplifier in it.

If you didn’t have an Amplifier you would really struggle to hear things.

STAR FACTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DID YOU KNOW?… an amplifier can cost more than £2,000 pounds!!!!!

DID YOU KNOW?… we even use amplifiers in school!

DID YOU KNOW?… amplifiers are so small in iPods and iPhones, you don’t even realise that they are there!!!!!!

By Emma Forbes, Emma Ross and Ellen Cowie P6A Glashieburn School