Transport On The Move: Resource Book by Teacher Superstore

Transport r o e t s Bo r e p ok u S

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by Sandy Tasker

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o c . che e r o t r s super Richard Bartz

Library Activity Package: Transport on the Move Upper Primary Resource Book

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Acknowledgements:: i. Clip art has been obtained from Microsoft Design Gallery Live and is used under the terms of the End User License Agreement for Microsoft Word 2000. Please refer to www.microsoft.com/permission. ii. Wikimedia Commons. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU Free Documentation License” iii. IMSI’s Masterclips/MasterPhotos collection, 1895 Francisco Blvd, East San Rafael, CA 94901-5506 USA, website: www.imsisoft.com iv. Corel Corporation, 1600 Carling Ave, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1Z 8R7. v. © NASA, Great Images in NASA (GRIN) Sourced from: http://grin.hq.nasa.gov/ Photos from individuals and other sources are credited where applicable.

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Author: Sandy Tasker Design & Typesetting: Shay Howard

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Published by: Ready-Ed Publications PO Box 276 Greenwood WA 6023 www.readyed.com.au info@readyed.com.au

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Reproduction and Communication for educational purposes

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The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10% of the pages of this work, whichever is the greater, to be reproduced and/or communicated by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or the body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act.

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For details of the CAL licence for educational institutions contact: Copyright Agency Limited Level 15, 233 Castlereagh Street Sydney NSW 2000 Telephone: (02) 9394 7600 Facsimile: (02) 9394 7601 E-mail: info@copyright.com.au

Reproduction and Communication for other purposes

Except as permitted under the Act (for example a fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review) no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. All inquiries should be made to the publisher at the address above. 2

Library Activity Package: Transport

Contents A WHEELY GREAT INVENTION.............................................................. 4 THE RACE IS ON!.................................................................................. 5

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THE KING OF TRANSPORT................................................................... 6 SHIPSHAPE............................................................................................ 7 THE TITANIC – THE UNSINKABLE......................................................... 8 THE TITANIC – THE UNTHINKABLE...................................................... 9

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DRIVE TIME......................................................................................... 10

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A T- OP MODEL................................................................................... 11

BITS AND PIECES................................................................................ 12

A SAFE RIDE 1..................................................................................... 13

A SAFE RIDE 2..................................................................................... 14

GETTING ON TRACK.......................................................................... 15 UNDERGROUND, UNDERSEA............................................................. 16

© ReadyEdPubl i cat i ons SUPREME SUBMARINES 2................................................................... • f or r evi ew pur posesonl y19• TRAINING FOR THE FUTURE.............................................................. 17

SUPREME SUBMARINES 1................................................................... 18 COP A CHOPPER................................................................................. 20

THE WRIGHT STUFF........................................................................... 21

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MEET THE CREW................................................................................. 22

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CONCORDE - A SPECIAL PLANE......................................................... 23

BLIMP AND YOU’LL MISS IT................................................................ 24

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HOVERCRAFT HEAVEN....................................................................... 25

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MUSH-MUSH!..................................................................................... 26

WHEELS FOR ONE............................................................................... 27 LIKE IT OR BIKE IT............................................................................... 28 BLAST OFF!......................................................................................... 29 WEBSITE REFERENCES........................................................................ 30 INDEX........................................................................................... 31–32

Library Activity Package: Transport

A Wheely Great Invention without getting stuck in the mud. Crushed stone was used beneath roads to allow water to flow away, allowing the chariots that they drove to go faster.

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No-one is sure when the wheel was invented. Some sources say that a wheel, excavated from Mesopotamia, was thought to be over 5,500 years old. Others report that a picture from the same time shows a pottery wheel on a clay tablet. Another image, from about 300 years later, shows a wheeled cart being used.

The saying “to re-invent the wheel” means to waste time doing something which has already been done by someone else. What do you think these phrases mean?

Tyre safety is important in driving...talk to a car owner and see if they know about:

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One of the most significant “inventions”, which is a major influence on the world of transport today, is the wheel.

“The wheel has come full circle.” “A wheeler-dealer.” “That person is like a fifth wheel.” “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.”

and how tyres © Read• yWhen E d P u bl i cat i ons need to be refilled with air. •f orr evi e w pur posesonl y• • Why tread is

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important and how to read tread wear markers on a car tyre. • How to stop a car from “skidding” in wet weather. • How to avoid getting bogged in soft sand.

An Eye for Safety

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Over time, improvements to the wheel have been made. Eventually a system was developed with a fixed axle attached to a cart, with spinning wheels attached through a hole in the centre where the axle fitted. This meant that the wheel did all of the turning and the cart remained stable, even when turning corners.

In 1933, Percy Shaw was driving along a dark road on a foggy night. He suddenly saw a cat, whose eyes were reflected in the headlights of the car and it prevented him from going off the side of a hill. This led to the invention of a simple glass and rubber reflector that is placed along the road at regular intervals, allowing the driver to see the curve of the road ahead. Shaw received a special honour from the Queen for his invention that has since saved many lives by making the roads a lot safer.

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It is hard to think about wheels without considering the roads that they travel on. Originally tracks were made of dirt, but as travel become more frequent, roads were flattened and widened. The ancient Romans built great roads for their armies, as they needed to travel quickly 4

• Why it is dangerous to drive on a flat tyre.

• And most importantly – how to change a tyre.

Library Activity Package: Transport

The Race is On!

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Chariots were one of the earliest forms of wheeled transportation. In ancient Egypt they were used mainly in battle. They consisted of two horses pulling a wheeled platform on which there was a driver and an archer with a bow and arrow. The Egyptian chariot, used from around 1500 BC, was designed so that the rider stood directly over the wheels. This made the weight for the horse to pull somewhat lighter.

meant if they fell off, they often got dragged along the ground. They carried knives with them to cut the reins in emergencies. Unlike the Greek slaves who received no recognition for their wins, the Romans gave the lowly winning drivers a small prize. Those who won many races could save up their loot and buy their freedom.

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The emperors would come to watch the chariot races, along with ordinary citizens and even slaves. It was a place where people could see their leader sitting in the best viewing position. In Rome, the most famous arena was called the Circus Maximums. It held up to 150,000 spectators (some sources even say that 250,000 could squeeze in) - more than the number of seats in Telstra Stadium, used for the Sydney 2000 Olympics 

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Chariot racing was one of the most popular sports in ancient Greece. One of the first recorded races was around the stump of a tree. The winner took home a slave and a cauldron as his prize. Chariot racing was added to the early Olympic Games in Greece around 680 BC. Contestants had to make twelve laps around an arena called a Hippodrome. There were very sharp turns at either end, which made it a very exciting and dangerous event.

A Squeaky Signal

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Wikimedia Commons

Initially, the wheels of chariots were quite squeaky...everyone could hear them coming! Then the axles were covered with copper and bronze to stop the wheels from making so much noise.

There were teams developed in chariot racing, such as the Reds, Blues, Greens and Whites. Just like today’s sporting teams, drivers were traded from team to team! Cheating became more common as time went on, including the practice of placing curses on the opposing teams.

Library Activity Package: Transport

The King of Transport “Leo” was very talented at sketching his ideas and he drew plans for an aeroplane, a helicopter, a parachute and a submarine. He used his knowledge of mechanics to show how these machines would work and many of his concepts were used in inventions some hundreds of years later. What a guy! Many of Leonardo’s designs had flaws in them that prevented them from “getting off the ground”, but for the knowledge that was available to him at the time, he did remarkably well.

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Self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci, circa 1512-1515. Wikimedia Commons

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Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian man who lived between 1452 and 1519. He had an incredible range of skills and in his lifetime he was an inventor, architect, engineer, astronomer, artist and a musician. At a time called the “Renaissance” when many people were moving for ward with new ideas in science and art, Leonardo was a cut above the rest (especially since he invented a version of the scissors). You may have heard of the famous painting “The Mona Lisa” – this was one of Leonardo’s many achievements.

© R e a d y E d P u b l i c a t i o n s Check out some of da Vinci’s contributions to the world of transport below •f or evi ew pur ptoo es o n l y •for the Leonardo’s early flyingr machine designs focused hiss design, but he laid the groundwork

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development of this method of transport.

One idea that he had was an armoured car - an early version of a tank that was moved by men inside it operating cranks to turn the wheels. Showing that he was a lover of animals, he changed his original idea which was to have the tank led by horses as he thought that they would get frightened in a close up battle encounter.

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heavily on flapping mechanisms which were impractical and heavy. They relied on the power of a person moving their arms and legs to control the flapping - exhausting work! After further studies of bird’s wings and the effect of air and wind on flight, Leonardo devised some more workable designs which showed a good understanding of the concepts of flight.

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A platform with wheels included the idea of springs that drove vehicles forward. Again, his design required quite a lot of human effort to power it, but it paved the way for later developments towards a working car.

A tent-like parachute drawn by Leonardo worked quite well when the design was tested over 500 years later! Modern parachutes are quite different

Many of Leonardo’s designs were useful in miliary warfare, however Leonardo was a peaceful man and many people think that he deliberately included faults in some of his designs so they could not be used in wars. He also worked to create defence mechanisms for some of his own inventions, just in case someone else from an enemy country had the same ideas as him.

Want to know more? There are many sites dedicated to this incredible man who many say was centuries ahead of his time and one of the greatest thinkers who ever lived. Visit www.mos.org/leonardo/ and compare his designs to today’s transport machines.

Library Activity Package: Transport

Shipshape

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Cargo ships have been used for centuries to transport goods from one place to another. International trade keeps the cargo ship industry booming, as countries all over the world export goods that they have in abundance and import the things that their country needs more of.

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• Carry on •

Just Cruisin’

As people began to make more money (partly due to the success of trade with other nations), they developed a desire to explore a new means of travel, exploring other lands that they had only read about.

© ReadyEdPubl i cat i ons •f orr evi ew pur posesonl y• Tankers carr y things like oil, chemicals, liquefied natural gas or petroleum. Some of these tankers are so huge that the crew use bikes to get around the decks of the ship!

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Some cargo ships take a few passengers who are keen to experience something different from the glitz and glamour of the fancy cruise ships. These trips allow tourists to experience a journey from one place to another, eating and mixing with the captain and crew. Accommodation is basic but comfortable and it is certainly a different way of getting across the sea.

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By 1912, luxury sea travel was in full swing with the maiden voyage of the Titanic. The horrifying disaster of the Titanic sinking did not stop progress in cruise ship travel. Cruise ships that had been built during the First and Second World Wars were used to transport soldiers and war refugees. After the wars, some governments assisted in the building of cruise ships as they realised that they could be used again for emergency purposes if needed.

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Some Cargo Categories

Food: grains, fruit and vegetables, frozen meats and packaged goods. Livestock: cows, sheep and chickens. Fuel and raw materials: oil, iron ore and coal. Products: cars, computers, electrical appliances, toys and clothes.

In 1818, the Black Ball Line opened up the first regular sea travel for passengers between England and America.

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Container ships have large containers designed to carry cargo inside. Some of these containers may be refrigerated for goods that need to be kept cold.

With the onset of more regular international flights from the 1960s, ocean cruises flourished as passengers could fly to a certain destination then take a short cruise to another. Cruise liners today provide plenty of on-board entertainment, scrumptious menus at a variety of restaurants, swimming pools, leisure activities and a high level of service. Some of today’s cruise ships take more than 3,000 passengers. There are options that provide luxury, fun and adventure, awesome sightseeing of glaciers and even themed family cruise ships that offer magical entertainment and exciting activities for children of all ages. 7

Library Activity Package: Transport

Titanic-The Unsinkable A Glorious Ship

There were six messages from nearby ships warning of an abundance of floating ice in the area. For one reason or another, all of these warnings were ignored or did not reach the appropriate people. One ship, that had actually stopped overnight to avoid the dangers of the ice was even able to see the Titanic as it sank, but they were unsure what they were looking at, and did not go to investigate the distress signals sent out later in the night by the Titanic.

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The liner had all of the latest luxuries including new features such as Turkish baths, squash courts, a gym and a swimming pool. Dining rooms were decked out in the most opulent décor and orchestras played as passengers dined on sumptuous feasts. Some of the passengers of the Titanic were amongst the wealthiest people in the world, although many of the passengers were everyday people travelling in third class accommodation.

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The Titanic was one of the most well-known cruise liners of all time. Built in 1911 with ten decks, it catered for 2,000 passengers of all classes. The Titanic was hailed by the press as “unsinkable”, due to it having a new system of watertight compartments that were designed to close at the flick of a switch, sealing off damaged sections of the ship.

Early Warnings

On April 14, 1912, the night was clear and dark and the ocean was very calm and flat. The low light and the lack of waves breaking against the edges of the ice made it harder for icebergs to be spotted. The peace was broken at 11.40 pm, when a message came down from the obser vation mast, “Iceberg, right ahead!”

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T ita n ic Facts

Wikimedia Commons

Because of its size, the ship took a while to turn and a hidden spur of ice under the water hit the starboard and scraped 75 metres along the side of the boat, creating a series of holes in the ship’s compartments. The “unsinkable” ship was about to be put to a cruel and dramatic test.

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The maiden voyage of the Titanic took place in 1912, leaving from England, via France and Ireland, bound for New York. April 14, a few days into the first voyage of the Titanic, seemed to be a day like any others – however there were a few things that went unnoticed that could have saved the Titanic.

• Passenger and crew capacity: 3,547 • Length: 268 metres • Cost of one way tickets in US $: First Class: $4,350 or $69,600 today. Third Class: $40 or $640 today. • Special facilities: Two barber shops with automated shampooing and drying appliances. A operating room with two doctors on call. A darkroom for amateur photographers. • On-board: 40,000 fresh eggs, 3,000 tea cups, 5,500 ice-cream plates, 1,500 grape scissors (presumably an elegant way to cut grapes from their stalks). • Sunk and lost: 3,364 bags of mail and more than 700 parcels, one car, a marmalade machine, ancient models destined for an American museum, 50 cases of toothpaste and five grand pianos.

Library Activity Package: Transport

Titanic-The Unsinkable A Sinking Feeling

The sinking ship began to tilt and the passengers started to load into the lifeboats more frantically. At about 2.18am, the ship broke in two and while half of it sank under, the other half levelled out again. By this time, there were 1,500 people tr ying to stay afloat in the freezing water. There were many lifeboats with more room on them but they refused to come back to rescue people as they were afraid of becoming overcrowded. Only one or two lifeboats returned to pick up any more passengers.

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Straight after the Titanic struck the iceberg, an officer was asked to conduct a full inspection of the ship, but at this stage, no damage was reported. Minutes later, however, water was flooding into the boiler room, the mailroom and the squash court. It was soon clear that if there were more than four compartments filling with water, the ship WOULD sink. The realisation of the disaster slowly began to sink in, and the Titanic began to go under. Distress Wikimedia Commons signals were sent around midnight, and were answered by two other ships, including Carpathia, which was about 93 km away.

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There had been no safety drills on the ship and the crew seemed to be unsure of the lifeboat capacity, so the loading of the lifeboats was confusing. Some lifeboats with room for 65 people were loaded with as few as 28 people! Even if all the lifeboats were filled to full capacity, there would still not have been enough - the ship had only 20 lifeboats and it needed 32 to evacuate all of the passengers. The ship’s management decided that 32 lifeboats would clutter the ship so extra lifeboats were never taken on the voyage.

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passengers and crew that were on the ship. The ship had travelled at full speed to meet the wreck in just four hours - too late for those who were trying to stay afloat in the water. Titanic’s wreck is now located about four kilometres beneath the surface of the water. The wreck was discovered in 1985 and explored in 1986. Many stories and myths have emerged out of the wreckage of this great ship, including a movie made in 1997, which inspired a whole new wave of intrigue about the ghostly vessel.

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Chaos and Confusion

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Did You Know? The Titanic was one of the first ships in history to use the “SOS” distress signal. The ship’s musicians continued to play music as the ship began to sink, including some popular hymns. Whether this was to calm the frightened passengers or they felt it was their duty to do their job, it was thought to be a very heroic gesture.

Wikimedia Commons

Library Activity Package: Transport

Drive Time It would have been amazing if someone had just woken up one morning and said, “I have a great idea for an new invention – I think I will call it the car”. But that’s not how it happened. The automobile slowly evolved over many years, with many people contributing ideas that have led to the vehicles that we drive today.

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In 1769, Nicholas Cugnot developed a steam-powered vehicle, which was used by the French army to transport heavy weapons. It had three wheels and had to stop every 15 minutes to regenerate the steam-power. It could reach a speed of four kilometres per hour. You could easily walk faster than this!

In the late 1800s, many inventors were making advances with the inter nal combustion engine. This is an engine that works by using fuel such as petrol, diesel or kerosene, causing an explosive-type reaction that powers a piston to make a wheel turn through a set-up known as a crankshaft system.

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In the late 1400s Leonardo da Vinci, the incredible inventor, artist and all-round genius who we met earlier in this book, drew plans for transport machines, including ideas for a motorised road vehicle.

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In the 1830s, Robert Anderson, a Scotsman, invented the first electric car, based on a rechargeable battery. These vehicles were also heavy, slow and required frequent stops for recharging.

Two men, Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz, used gasoline as a fuel to build engines that powered early automobiles. By the early 1900s, the new gasoline automobiles were booming on the vehicle market, and production was powering ahead.

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In 1771, Cugnot dr ove one of his experimental vehicles into a stone wall – he was the first person ever to have a car accident! In these early vehicles, steam was made by burning fuel that heated water in a boiler. The steam expanded and pushed parts called pistons that turned the mechanisms to make the wheels turn. Although steam was a great idea for trains, the parts were too heavy to use effectively on a small road vehicle. However, experiments using early steam vehicles led to the development of other components of the early automobile.

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The four strokes of a piston engine . © www.istock.com/johnwoodcock

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A piston is like a solid tube inside a cylinder. Imagine if you put a cork in a bottle of soft drink and then shook it. The gas in the soft drink would make the area expand inside the bottle until the pressure pushed the cork out of the top of the bottle. A piston is similar – when steam or gases inside the cylinder expand, the piston is forced to move, which works the components that drive the car forward.

You might recognise Benz’ name from the Mercedes Benz. The original Mercedes Benz was named after Mercedes, the daughter of a well-known businessman who purchased several of the cars and gave them the publicity they needed. 10

Library Activity Package: Transport

A T-op Model So what was the Model T like?

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Henry Ford paid good wages to his factory workers and even introduced an English school for foreign employees. He was considered a good and generous man.

1910 Model T Ford. Wikimedia Commons

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Henry Ford (1863 - 1947) was an influential man in the world of automobiles. He developed a production method called assembly line production which enabled many vehicles to be produced in a short amount of time. His most famous creation was the Model T Ford. By 1927, there had been 15 million of these Model T s manufactured. By this stage, a Model T was being produced about every 20 seconds!

• The first Model T sold for $850 when other automobiles were selling for about $5,000. Later the price was dropped even more so that the everyday person could afford to buy a car.

• The Model T was only available in black for quite a few years, as black paint dried the fastest, thus more cars could be produced. Later, a variety of colours were available.

• The original lights were not electric, but ran on oil and gas.

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• The steering wheel of the Model T could be removed quite easily. • There were three pedals on the floor of a Model T. The one on the left was first and second gear, the middle one was reverse and the right one was the brake.

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c. 1919 Hartsook photo. Courtesy of the National Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division [LC-USZ62-1112278]

Ford named his models of cars after letters of the alphabet. Many were not a huge success. Strangely, the car that Ford developed after the Model T was called the Model A!

• The Model T came with no luxuries. Even things such as gas gauges (to show how much gas fuel was left), a speedometer and windshield wipers had to be bought as extras from other companies.

• Other unusual accessories that could be purchased in the 1920s included a car bed, a tilting steering wheel to make more room when getting in and out, and a side luggage carrier (like a roof rack on the side of the vehicle). • The fuel tank was under the driver’s seat to refuel the car and the hose had to be passed through the driver’s window!

Library Activity Package: Transport

Bits and Pieces Swish-swish The windscreen wiper was invented by Mary Anderson in 1903, allowing the driver to operate the screen wipers from inside the car. Ten years later, the wipers became standard on most cars.

Car horns have developed from a rubber bulb that was squeezed (like you might still see on some toys or bikes) to sophisticated systems that play musical tunes or sound off when the car alarm is activated. What was once a simple warning system is now often used to express annoyance at another driver, or even to toot hello or goodbye.

Did You Know? Today ’s windscr een wipers ar e made to perform over a million wipes in their lifetime.

Horsing Around

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Early motor cars would often frighten horses that were still common means of transport on the roads. One man in America devised an interesting solution his motor car came with a large wooden horse head on the front!

str eaks lef t by © ReadThe y E dleftP bl i cat i ons wipers are byu dirt or small nicks in the rubber wiper blade or by •f orr evi e w p u r p osesonl y• uneven pressure across

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Word Play

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Did you know that the word “automobile” comes from the Greek word “auto” which means self, and the latin word “mobilis,” which means moving.

the arm of the wiper. New technology is being investigated to create a rain-sensing wiper which uses infra-red sensors. One method senses how much light is being reflected. A dry screen will reflect a lot of light, but water droplets will scatter the light and reflect less, sending a message to wipe faster.

Personal Plates

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In 1983, Wendy Mae Chambers invented a car horn organ, a musical instrument that used a keyboard replaced with the sounds from real car horns. It was powered by a car battery charger.

In the early 1900s, licence plates were displayed on cars to show who the owner was. Different combinations of letters and numbers were used to cope with the increasing number of vehicles on the road.

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The word “car” comes from the Celtic word “carrus”, meaning cart or wagon.

Personalised number plates are now readily available and may show meaningful combinations of numbers (like a birthday) or letters, like IMGR8 (I am great).

Find Out More... Conduct a library or Internet search to find out more about these latest car innovations: • Fuel cells • Electric Cars 12

• Solar-powered cars • Cruise control

• Voice-activated car technology

Library Activity Package: Transport

A Safe Ride 1 When a car hits something, the front and back of the car crumple, like a soft drink can does when you crush it. Although this looks like it is doing more damage to the car, the crumpling is actually absorbing some of the impact. What other developments have reduced the risk of injury in car accidents?

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The humble seat belt – how can it save so many lives? Why are they needed in the first place?

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As the body keeps going, it becomes apparent that something needs to stop it from moving. Two of the most harmful “stoppers” are the windscreen and the steering wheel. These are both hard objects and they stop the body very quickly, and they also hit vulnerable parts of the body, like the head or stomach.

Air bags are another invention that are fitted to most cars. The bags are folded into the steering wheel, front dashboard or, more recently, the panels on the side doors. When a crash occurs, sensors detect the massive force from the impact. This sets off chemicals that combine to produce a hot gas that rapidly inflates the airbags in a split second time.

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One of the main causes of serious injury is when a car, moving at a certain speed, suddenly stops. Because your body does not have brakes like the car, it keeps moving – sometimes straight towards the windscreen! This is known as inertia.

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When you put a seatbelt on, you slide the belt across slowly and smoothly, and it lets the right length of belt out as you pull it. But try to pull the belt in a fast, jerky movement, like what would happen in a crash, and the belt feels like it is snagging on something. This is because of a special mechanism designed to stop the belt moving when it is pulled quickly.

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Seatbelts are designed so that the force that stops the body is spread over a larger area across the body. Seatbelts are also placed across sturdy parts of the body, such as the ribcage and pelvis. The more spread out a force is, the less damage it can do. The flexibility of seatbelts means that you don’t stop so suddenly. In the amount of “give” that it has, the stopping force becomes reduced.

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The bags also have tiny holes in them, so that after the crash, the gas starts to seep out of the airbags, allowing you to move again after the crash has occurred. Although there is some risk from injury from airbags, this can be reduced by the wearing seatbelts, and by making sure that the driver is not too close to the steering wheel. The risks from airbags are very minimal compared to their potential to save lives.

Library Activity Package: Transport

A Safe Ride 2

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Crash test dummies are used to carry out extensive tests on cars that are being developed for sale. Dummies are made with materials designed to respond like the human body. They also contain sensors that measure the acceleration, (or the speed at which parts of the body move in a crash), load sensors that indicate the amount of force on each part of the body (for example, researchers can work out if a leg will break or not, based on the amount of force placed on the leg) and movement sensors to see how much compression takes place in the chest (where the important internal organs are).

Dummies are painted different colours so that after the crash, testers can see which parts of the body have hit which parts of the car by looking at the coloured paint smears. There are little target stickers on the sides of dummies that can help testers, watching slow-motion films of accidents, work out how the body is moving.

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Thy HybridIII crash test dummy family. Wikimedia Commons

I’m No Dummy!

Unlike humans, dummies are made to survive many crashes, as new ones are expensive. Some dummies cost over $100,000 to build.

Dummies are often pulled apart and tested before a crash tests, so that results can be compared more accurately. There are several different types of dummies – a dummy family, if you like, is made to represent adult males and females, children and infants.

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They wear clothes, not to protect their dignity or to look more human, but to simulate the slide factor that clothes have on car seats.

Open Wide! co

. che The “Jaws of r Life” are a series of e o tools that are hydraulic (fluid-based) t r s supe International Dummies r used to help get trapped accident

crash test dummies have no nationality – they are the same worldwide so that international standards are kept constant.

victims out of their crushed cars. A special kind of fluid is used to compress mechanisms that can create a large amount of power to spread parts of the car apart or to cut parts open to get to the victim.

Library Activity Package: Transport

Getting On Track Rail history first emerged in the 1550s in Germany when horse-drawn carts were pulled over wooden rails. The rails made it easier for the carts to move across the dirt. These rails were called Wagonways.

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In 1804, the first steam engine or locomotive was built. It took about two hours for it to take 10 tons of iron, 70 men and five wagons a distance of 14 kilometres.

In 1824, an Englishman named David Gordon designed a steam driven machine which had LEGS! It was intended to imitate the legs of a horse but was not a success. Other experiments in 1827 in America included placing sails on the carriage to be powered by the wind, or using a horse on a treadmill inside the front carriage to move it forward.

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By 1776, the wooden rails and wheels were replaced by iron. These horse drawn wagons moved more easily with the 1789 invention of the flange, which was a groove in the wheels that gave it a better grip on the rail.

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Off The Track

the early 1900’s, diesel power © ReadyEdPDuring u b l i ca t i on replaced steam engines. By s 1934, a dieselelectric train could reach a top speed of 180 kilometres per hour. In 1938, a record speed •f orr evi ew pur p o s e s o n l y • was set by a steam train at 203 kilometres per hour.

A steam engine works by converting the pressure in steam to a mechanical force that creates movement.

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In the 1980s, trains became more popular again as people learned that cars were not good for the environment. Also, increasing populations led to traffic jams, something that could be avoided by train travel. Today, trains are a good form of travel for tourists, as they are an easy way to cross countries whilst taking in the scenery in a relaxed and comfortable environment.

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Passengers travelled by rail from 1821. In 1825, locomotives began taking cargo and passengers on the same trip.

One of the first locomotives was called the “Locomotion”.

In 1831, an English locomotive was disassembled and shipped over to America. A mechanic named Isaac Dripps was no drip at all – he had never seen a steam locomotive before and had no instruction book to work by, yet he managed to put the machine back together so well that it ran for another 30 years or so.

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Steaming Ahead

Electricity was used to power trains from 1933, however, less people used trains after World War II as cars became more popular.

Find out about these railroad pioneers: • James Watt • William Jessup • Matthew Murray • Richard Trevithick • George Stephenson 15

Library Activity Package: Transport

Underground, Undersea This seems like quite a feat but the technology to build this tunnel has actually been around for over 200 years! Many events prevented the building of the tunnel, such as threats of invasion from other countries, the uncertainty of what kind of rock lay beneath the seabed and the problem of ventilating the tunnel for steam trains used at that time.

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Today, the invention of electric trains and technology that assesses the quality of the seabed have solved two of the problems, and the number of people crossing the English Channel from England to France has managed to keep the ferry business above and the train business below both alive.

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In 1836, the first railway line was built in London. At that time it would have been hard to believe that just over 20 years later, the first underground system would also be successfully built. With little experience to guide them, workers changed gas, water and sewer lines, and created tunnels by digging huge trenches, bricking up the walls and roofing them over so that traffic could still operate above the tunnels. In 1863, there was a celebration as the first underground train began operating in central London, with 40,000 passengers travelling on its first day of operation. At this stage, steam trains were still being used, and “blowholes” had to be placed along the line so that the steam could escape to the streets above. The sudden bursts of steam from down below startled horses as they led carriages in the traffic above. However in the early 1900s, the lines changed to electric-powered trains, which increased the success of the system. Soon after the London Underground began, other major cities all over the world began to develop underground systems too, such as the Subway in New York and the Metro in Paris.

Fun channel facts

Spooky Stations

There are many abandoned stations (called “ghost stations”) in the London Underground train system. During the Second World War, some of these stations were used as bomb shelters, control centres and as places for secret meetings. The tunnels were also used to hide British Museum treasures. Today, some abandoned stations are used as movie sets.

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In 1994, the Channel Tunnel (also known as the Chunnel) was opened under the water between England and France. The tunnel goes through the chalky rock under the seabed for 38 kilometres (50 kilometres in total) from Dover in England to Calais in France and extends from London to Paris.

• • • •

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Illustration of the construction of London’s first underground railway. Public domain. Wikimedia Commons

The Channel Tunnel cost $US 15 billion to build. Geologists believe that in the Ice Age, France and England were actually joined together. The average depth of the tunnel is 40 metres under the seabed. The rubble removed from the tunnel has been dumped in England and made into a huge park, the size of over 60 football fields.

Library Activity Package: Transport

Training for the Future Maglev Trains

Track Records

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A new type of train is set to make train travel even faster in the future. Magnetic Levitation or Maglev trains use magnets to make the train actually float above the track. These trains have no wheels. Instead of an engine, special magnetic coils inside the tracks propel the train along by repelling and attracting magnets in Mount Pilatus. Wikimedia Commons. the undercarriage of the train. The • The steepest railway in the world is in Switzerland. It travels up Mount Pilatus at way that the magnetic fields keep the a maximum gradient (slope) of 48 degrees train floating above the track means (check this out on a protactor). that friction is reduced (the train is not dragging against anything) and the • The longest stretch of railway without any curves is in Australia. It runs for 478 train can travel much faster. kilometres across the Nullabor plain. (Look © R e a d y E d P ubl i cat i ons in an atlas to see where this line would go). Trains like this have already been built in Germany and Japan, and reach speeds of up •f or ev w that pur posesonl y• to 552 kilometres per r hour. It i ise thought

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Another idea that scientists are thinking about for Maglev trains, is the use of a vacuum tube - a tube without any air in it. Having no air to resist the movement of the train would mean that trains could travel up to 3,000 kilometres per hour. If a vacuum tunnel was built under the ocean, people could travel from England to America in less than two hours. This journey takes six or seven hours by plane!

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by the year 2020, Maglev trains may reach speeds of 800 kilometres per hour!

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Mount Vesuvius. Wikimedia Commons. (GFDL ©Pastorius)

• In Italy, in 1880 there was a railway built that went to the top of Mount Vesuvius, an active volcano! Eruptions in 1906, 1911, and 1944 covered parts of the system in ash, posing an obvious safety risk, and the railway was closed down. • The heaviest train in the world was a freight train in Australia in 2001. It was 7.3 kilometres long and weighed 95,000 tonnes, about as much as 27,000 elephants!

Wow!

A Maglev train. Wikimedia Commons.

Library Activity Package: Transport

Supreme Submarines 1 Although submarines are mainly used in secretive underwater fleet, employed in the armed forces, there are also submarines built for deep-sea explorations, or even as an unusual form of luxury travel across the sea.

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Sophisticated tracking systems are used to help a submerged submarine locate its position. SONAR (Sound Navigation and Ranging) uses sound waves to reflect off targets and inform the submarine how far away the target is. This is similar to a tracking system used by dolphins and bats, called echolocation. Find out more about this by checking out books and websites on these animals. People sometimes use a very simple version of echolocation. Have you ever played the game “Marco Polo”? One blindfolded person calls out “Marco” and the other players reply “Polo”. The blindfolded person has to find the others by locating them through sound.

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The first known practical underwater vessel was invented in 1620 by a Dutchman. It was a rowboat, covered in greased leather, with air tubes like snorkels.

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Submarines have special tanks, called ballast tanks that can be filled with air to make the submarines less dense than the water they are in, so they float. When these tanks are filled with water, the density of submarines increase and they begin to sink. Imagine holding a plastic drink bottle sideways in a bath and observing it sink as you fill it with water.

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Wing-like structures called hydroplanes tilt so that water moves over the submarine to control the angle of the dive. When the submarine reaches the desired depth, the hydroplanes level out and the water / air ratio in the ballast tanks are balanced so that the density of the submarine is equal to the surrounding water, therefore, it neither sinks nor rises. 18

• A pressurised tank or chemical generator that releases oxygen. • A device called a “scrubber” that removes carbon dioxide (that is breathed out by humans) from the air by a chemical reaction. • A dehumidifier that removes excess moisture from the air (we breathe out moisture). Submarines use a range of power sources to help them operate: • Nuclear power to provide the driving force of the submarine. • Diesel engines to supply the equipment on-board. • Batteries to supply electrical power. Nuclear power needs no oxygen, so nuclear powered submarines can stay underwater for weeks at a time.

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How a Submarine Works

The air that we normally breathe contains enough oxygen for our body’s needs. Submarines use the following to help keep the air fresh:

Find out about DENSITY – your teacher may even know of some density experiments. This will help you to understand the workings of a submarine.

Library Activity Package: Transport

Supreme Submarines 2 Super Sub Facts • Instead of bringing loads of fresh water down in the submarine, submariners make their own! Seawater is distilled, by a special process that removes the salt, to produce fresh water for drinking, cooking and washing.

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• There are several stories of submarines being “caught” by fishing nets. One story describes how a submarine towed a runaway blimp to safety. • New drivers get a car licence, pilots earn their “wings” when trained to fly, and submariners earn their “dolphins”.

• Submersibles are small submarines that are specifically designed for deep-sea projects such as finding “black box” recorders from aeroplanes that have gone down over the ocean, investigating shipwrecks, making ocean floor maps, studying marine life and other features of the ocean depths. The submersibles often have cameras, lights and “arms” that can move or manipulate objects.

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• A submarine gives off a faint electrical charge. This may have led to sharks mistaking subs for their prey. Shark bites have been found on the bodies of submarines.

Periscopes

Periscopes, which can be up to 18 metres long, are used to see above the surface of the submarine whilst the vessel is still submerged. A simple periscope uses angled mirrors at the top and bottom of the tube to reflect the images down to the observer. Current periscopes are much more complex and use prisms and lenses instead of mirrors.

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Make your own periscope:

 www.exploratorium.

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edu/science_explorer/ periscope.html

Wikimedia Commons (GFDL ©Zinkova)

Library Activity Package: Transport

Cop A Chopper Who invented the helicopter? Well, would you believe that the idea of the helicopter dates back 1,500 years to a Chinese toy that uses a spinning action to launch the toy into the air.

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catch up to da Vinci’s ideas. Helicopter is Greek for “spiralling wing”. This name was given to a series of experimental machines designed by a Frenchman named Viscount Gustave de Ponton d’Amecourt in the 1860s. The main problem at this stage was getting enough power to carry a craft containing a human passenger. In 1907, a few inventors were able to get craft off the ground using a spiralling blade, however they were unable to control the vehicles, so they never got more than a few metres high.

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After the First World War, a flying machine was made that looked like a cross between a winged plane and a helicopter. Its inventor, Juan de la Cierva, made many advances in the field. These machines In 1483, Leonardo da were called autogyros, Vinci drew pictures of a and they solved many more advanced toy that of the problems that used the concept of a Da Vinci’s concept drawing of a rotary blade. Wikimedia Commons would allow the birth of rotary blade (a blade that spins at the top of . the helicopter as we know it today the structure) but technology had a long way to

Another Dimension

Helicopters are much more versatile than aeroplanes in the fact that planes can travel up and down, left and right, but only in a forwards direction. Unlike planes, helicopters can travel in reverse, they can spin around 360 degrees and they can hover in one place in the air. Both hands and feet are required to control all of these directions in a helicopter. These aspects have made them very useful in rescues, army situations, fire-fighting and getting into tight places where there is limited landing space.

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How Do They Work?

The helicopter works by the main rotor (the blades on top of the helicopter) spinning, to force air down and lift the vehicle up. Once off the ground, the body of the craft could spin in the opposite direction, so a smaller rotor on the tail of the helicopter produces an opposite force to stop this from happening. By adjusting the angles of the two rotors, the direction of the helicopter can be changed.

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In the first half of the 1900s, the focus was on aeroplanes as they had the better potential for advances at the time. Despite this, some inventors persevered with the idea of a helicopter, making a few breakthroughs in the 1920s and 30s with craft that covered short courses with some success.

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The first helicopter rescue using a hoist system to haul the person to safety was performed in November 1945, during a wild storm off the American coast that had trapped two men on a barge. The hoists were still in a very experimental stage, but were put to the test in a situation where the trapped men had nothing to lose. The rescue was captured by a camera, making worldwide news. Since then, the humble helicopter has reached thousands of heroic heights.

More recently, a specially designed American helicopter, nicknamed “Elvis”, is used in bushfires to drop 9, 000 litres of water at a time. Elvis has even travelled overseas, having been used in Australian bushfires to extinguish the massive blazes.

Library Activity Package: Transport

The Wright Stuff the wings of their next glider and its flight was much more graceful. The next step was to add power to the glider to create the first true aeroplane. They realised that a propeller was really just a wing that spun around, and they conducted more experiments on different shaped propellers. They also built a gasoline engine to power the propeller that they had developed. The first plane was ready to fly in December 1903.

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Wilbur Wright, Wikimedia Commons

Wilbur was hit in the face with a bat during an ice-skating game and it was believed this led to some minor heart problems that prevented his parents from sending him to college. He stayed at home instead and cared for his sick mother.

In 1900, the Wright brothers decided to try to build an aeroplane. Their first efforts involved a remote place in Kitty Hawk, where they could develop their ideas and practice away from the public eye. A glider was built, which was flown like a kite, held by ropes from the ground. The glider flew up to 120 metres at a time.

When the flying machine was ready, they flipped a coin to decide who would fly it. Wilbur won the toss, but the first attempt did not really get off the ground. The speed at which the plane had accelerated on the ground, however, showed that it would work.

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Brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright grew up in an American family in the late 1800s. Their parents encouraged them to read and explore their interests from a young age. When growing up, the Wright Brother’s house had two libraries! A helicopter-like toy given to the young Wright Brothers sparked an interest in flight.

Three days later, on December 17, it was Orville’s turn to try. This time, the take-off track was made flatter and the first successful flight, lasting 12 seconds over 37 metres, was launched. Four times that day the men flew in their new powered aircraft, the longest flight being 255 m in 59 seconds.

Wilbur toured France with his flying machines, and won great respect by the French, who were amazed by his inventions, but it was only many years later that people truly realised the incredible contribution that these men had made to the history of transport.

Orville Wright, Wikimedia Commons

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Unsuccessful experiments with a slightly larger glider in 1901 made the Wright brothers feel a bit despondent, and they almost gave up on their quest for flight.

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In 1902 however they pressed on to make a major breakthrough. By experimenting in a wind tunnel and looking closely at how the lift of the aircraft is affected by the shape of the wing, they re-designed

The Wright Flyer 1903, Wikimedia Commons

• That the wingspan of a Boeing 747 is longer than the length of the Wright Brother’s first flight! • Evidence is building that there were at least two men who had successfully flown powered planes before the Wright Brothers, including Gustave Whitehead in 1901 and New Zealander Richard Pearse in 1902. • The Wright Brothers owned a bicycle shop that helped them to earn enough money to pursue their flight experiments. They even designed and built their own bicycles. • Wilbur Wright was only 45 when he died.

Library Activity Package: Transport

Meet the Crew The Pilots

The Black Box

Black boxes were invented by Dr David Warren, an Australian. They collect flight data and audio information from flight crashes. The black box is designed to collect information on speed, altitude, temperature, pressure and engine performance. Microphones in the cockpit are used to record pilot conversations as well as other sounds which might give away some evidence of factors contributing to a crash.

The life of a pilot is often unpredictable, especially in the early years of flying when they are “on call” to fill in for other pilots who may be unable to fly at short notice.

The units are stored inside a rectangular box designed to withstand enormous heat and impact by an aluminium casing, insulating material and a stainless steel shell. The black boxes are stored in the tail section of the plane as this is usually the last section to have impact in a crash.

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The commercial plane has two, and sometimes three pilots. The captain is responsible for making all the major decisions on a plane, however the other pilot, the first officer, helps to make many of the decisions to avoid human error. The pilots use information such as the weather forecast to work out a flight plan. They must clear this with air traffic controllers. Forms are filled out by the captain to confirm that the plane and its crew are fit to fly.

Although called “black boxes” (possibly because the early ones were painted black, or because many are charred in plane crashes), the recorders are actually painted bright orange for increased visibility after a crash. A beacon on the black boxes sends out sonar pulses, which can be picked up by detection equipment if the black box is submerged following an ocean crash.

These patient and versatile people have a number of jobs including:

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• Greeting passengers, showing them to their seats and helping load their hand luggage. • Showing passengers emergency procedures. • Checking that everyone is seated and buckled in safely before take-off.

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Original ‘black box’ ARL Flight Memory. Courtesy of the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (Australia), formerly ARL (Aeronautical Research Laboratory).

Air Traffic Controllers

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• Preparing doors for take-off.

• Preparing and serving food and beverages and selling duty free items to passengers.

• Attending to passenger requests and concerns such as additional blankets, illness, etc.

• Dealing with emergency situations and keeping passengers calm.

Flight attendant positions receive a lot of applications but there are only a limited number of positions. Attendants must be friendly and calm at all times - it is a tougher job than it seems.

These people have the hugely important task of tracking the location of planes in designated airspaces, to ensure there are no collisions, and to communicate with pilots in the face of emergency situations. They provide important information that might assist in preventing disaster. They must monitor take-offs and landings, which can get very complex at busy airports, and they must also take into account weather patterns and flight delays.

Interested in planes? Why not do some research to find out more about:

• Baggage Handling and Customs

• Inflatable slides

• In-flight entertainment

• First Class

• Jumbo Jets

Library Activity Package: Transport

Concorde - A Special Plane

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Supersonic means “greater than the speed of sound”.

• Concorde passengers at New York and London airports had their own special rooms decked out with luxurious furniture.

In 2003 a very famous flyer touched down into the world of retirement. Concorde’s career of more than 30 years had had its share of ups and downs.

• At 16,765 metres above the Earth, Concorde flew in the stratosphere at a level that allowed passengers to see the curvature of the Earth. Above the effects of the weather, there was no turbulence, only a smooth ride.

Concorde travelled at twice the speed of sound, meaning that time-wise it arrives in New York before leaving London. How? The cruising speed of Concorde is 2,150 kilometres per hour. There is a five hours’ time difference between New York and London. As the flight only takes three and a half hours, the flight actually takes time off! For example, if you took off from London at 5pm (London time), it would be 12 noon in New York. With a flight of 3½ hours, you would arrive in New York at 3.30 pm (New York time), 1½ hours before you took off! Confusing, but very handy for busy, rich business travellers!

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• One passenger, an oil company executive, apparently made about 70 round trips between New York and London a year.

Tragedy Strikes

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Many people think there was just one plane called Concorde. In fact, there was a fleet of Concorde planes, run by either Air France (5) or British Airways (7). Many of these aircraft are now on display at airports or museums.

• More than 2.5 million passengers have flown on British Airways Concorde between 1976 and 2003.

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After research into supersonic flight dating back to 1956, the British and French signed an agreement that enabled the design of a supersonic plane. In 1969, Concorde 001 flew out from Toulouse in France, and soon flights across the Altantic were being made. In 1977, commercial London to New York flights were being made.

• Concorde planes were 67 metres in length, but could stretch up to 25 centimetres in flight due to the heat. The planes were coated in special paint to allow for this change in length.

Disaster struck on July 25, 2000 when Concorde 203 was taking off from Paris to New York. A tyre blow-out caused a fuel tank rupture, which led to a fire, the failing of two engines and the crashing of the aircraft. All 109 people on-board and four people on the ground were killed. After the 2000 Concorde disaster, as well as international conflict threats, Concorde was forced into retirement, and final flights were made in October 2003. It was believed to be too expensive to keep up with modifications and safety upgrades with the reduced number of passengers.

Library Activity Package: Transport

Blimp and You’ll Miss It

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Until 1937, airships were filled with hydrogen, but this was replaced by the less flammable helium after a disaster on the airship Hindenberg. The Hindenberg was an airship that carried 72 passengers and 62 crew. It was a luxurious and spacious craft that took people from Europe to America - very much a novel and rare opportunity in the 1930s (even planes did not travel across the Atlantic until 1939).

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In 1852, Henri Giffard built the first powered airship with a propeller and engine. In 1900, Count Ferdinand von Zepplelin from Germany invented the powered airship by Giffard. rigid airship, which First 19th century print. had a metal framework Wikimedia Commons containing gas-filled bags.

What’s in a Blimp?

Blimps are a soft version of an airship. It is an unusual form of transport that combine the gas-lift of a hot air balloon with the movement actions of a plane. Unlike balloons, they are not dependent on the wind to determine their direction. The envelope is the large bag containing the helium gas that lifts the blimp. It is made from a fabric similar to that used in space suits.

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Hindenburg disaster. Photo: Murray Becker. Wikimedia Commons.

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On May 6, 1937, the Hindenberg was hindered by a storm that prevented its normal landing in Lakehurst, America. When it finally did come in to land, a small flame suddenly appeared at the tail. Within seconds, the ship was engulfed in flames. Some passengers fell or jumped a height of 30 stories whilst others were trapped inside. When the Hindenberg touched the ground, it was a race to rescue the remaining passengers. Only 37 of the 95 passengers and crew were killed, but the publicity of the shocking event brought rigid airship passenger transport to a halt.

The gondola is the part underneath the blimp that the crew and passengers ride in. A rudder is used to steer the blimp and other parts called elevators are used to control the angle of ascent or descent. There are two engines on a blimp that move it forward. They use a propeller system and use gasoline fuel.

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Apparently, in your lifetime you will breathe in enough air to fill 2½ large blimps. 24

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Air-filled bags called ballonets are inside the envelope. They are deflated or inflated with air to make the blimp rise or fall - as air is heavier than helium. There is one at the front and one at the back, to help keep the blimp level. Special parts called scoops and valves are used to collect or release air from the ballonets as required.

As they can stay in one spot for days at a time, blimps are used for advertising by displaying large signs on their surface, or filming sporting events from above the stadium. Some blimps are fitted with lights so that they can advertise at night. The name “blimp” was apparently made up when a World War I military general was trying to find out what the soft airship was made from. He tapped the craft with his finger and described the sound it made as “blimp”. Today, there are only a few blimps in existence, most of them are in the United States. (Thirteen in total at the time of publication.)

Library Activity Package: Transport

Hovercraft Heaven The hovercraft is a form of water transport that floats on a cushion of air above the water. Many people worked on the idea of a hovercraft but a man named Sir Christopher Cockrell was the first to build a working example in 1956.

Christopher Cockrell owned a boat yard and spent much of his time experimenting with different ways of making water transport smoother and faster. His early experiments involved two tin cans and a vacuum cleaner (reversed so that it blew). By placing one can inside another, the pressure of the air that flowed through the space between them was a lot more effective than if air was just forced out the bottom of one can.

The hovercraft works by a fan blowing air out from under the vehicle. The air stays in a cavity under the vehicle and lifts it above the Some sources say that the ground. A flexible rubber cans used for Cockrells’ skirt which forms the base experiments were cat of the vehicle makes it easy food and coffee cans. to give way to obstacles. Mmmm, yum! The skirt gets longer as the craft lifts over obstacles and waves on the water, making the craft balanced and smooth. Rudders steer the vehicle left and right. The fan needs to blow constantly to compensate

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The hovercraft can go over water, land and ice and is one of the fastest ways of travelling on water, reaching speeds up to 100 kilometres per hour.

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for the air leaking out of the edges of the craft’s underside. A large propeller at the back of the craft pushes it forward.

A hovercraft service crossed the English Channel for 30 years, but no longer runs due to fast ferries and the opening of the Channel Tunnel. Hover craf ts in Broome, Western Australia currently operate and take people around Roebuck Bay.

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Many people use kits or even their own equipment to build their own hovercrafts.

Library Activity Package: Transport

A form of transport that may seem quite unfamiliar to many Australians is dogsledding, but to those who live in snowy climates, it is a traditional and reliable form of transport. See if you can find out what countries use “mushing” or dogsledding as a means of transport is currently done in.

The person who drives a dogsled is called a musher. Dogs are very sensitive to emotions so the musher must be strong and decisive as dogs will sense uncertainly and become confused. Sled dogs enjoy pulling the sled – in fact it is harder to get the dogs to stop pulling the sled.

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Dogsleds are made up of the sled, the harness for the dogs, the gangline that connects the dogs to the sled and sled bags to hold the gear.

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Statue of Balto. Sculptor: Frederick Roth. Wikimedia Commons. (GFDL ©Uris)

Mush Mush

A Four-Legged Legend

In 1925, an Alaskan town was hit by an outbreak of disease amongst the children called diptheria.

Balto was the name of the dog that led a dogsled pack to deliver medicine to the town. Balto became an overnight hero and his body was preserved for display at a Natural History Museum.

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To emulate this great event, a race takes place each year in Alaska. The Iditarod Race draws many spectators as sledders race over 1,900 kilometres of rough terrain, taking 10 days or more. In the race, the dogs are checked regularly and treated with great care. Each day they are given huge feasts to give them energy and they are also given fleecy booties to protect their feet.

Musher Speak

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Sled dogs. Wikimedia Commons. (GFDL ©Yeti Hunter)

Originally, the types of dogs used were Alaskan Malamutes or Siberian Huskies - these dogs are strong and adapt well to harsh climates with their thick, warm coats. These days, however, mixed breeds are also used quite successfully. The dogs prefer cold days so that they don’t get too hot with their heavy coats. The fresh snow feels softer on their feet. What other animals can pull a sled? Do some research to find out.

Harsh words are used to get dogs moving. Try saying these ones:

Haw: Easy: Whoa:

Left Slow Down Stop

The word “mush” is not actually used to control the dogs as it sounds too soft. The word comes from the French word “marche” or “marcher” which means to walk.

Library Activity Package: Transport

Wheels for One ice-skating on the stage. In 1863, American James Plimpton included a rubber cushion at the ankles of the skate that enabled the skate to be turned as the skater leaned. Plimpton began opening skating rinks and the idea took off! The skates that Plimpton invented had side-by-side wheels and overtook the inline skates for more than 100 years. By 1901, roller hockey teams were using the rollerskate in sport, later followed by speed skating and artistic skating. A two-wheeled inline skate was made in 1900, followed by a three-wheeled one in 1910 and in the 1930s.

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Roller-skates were probably first developed as an adaptation of ice-skates, used as a form of transportation rather than sport and leisure as they are today. A Belgian man named Joseph Merlin made a pair of roller-skates with metal wheels in 1760 and displayed them at a formal ball by cruising across the dance floor on his skates, playing a violin. Apparently, as he had no brakes for his invention, he careered straight into a mirror, seriously injuring himself. It seems that the skates created in the 1760s were made of a single line of wheels like today’s inline skates. Another unusual appearance occurred in 1849, when rollerskates were used in a play in France, to simulate

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• Artistic Skating • Kite Blading -using a large parachute shaped kite to pull the inline skater along! • Inline Skating with dogs • Rink Skating • Downhill Skating Which one of the above do you think was a demonstration sport at the 1992 Olympic Games in Bracelona, Spain?

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©Skates Rea dyEdPubl i cat i ons On! Wh er e ar e the best plac es i n Find out about these skating sports and activities: YOUR c ity to go inline skati n g ? • Roller • Hockey or r Inline Hockey f o r e v i e w p u r p o sesonl y• • Speed Skating

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We have been looking at some of the more unusual forms of transport. How many more can you think of? How about doing some research on these: • Pogo sticks • Jet-ski • Hydrofoil • Cable cars • Hang-gliders • Roller-coasters • Elevators • Escalators • Chairlifts • Snowmobile

D i d Y o u Kno w ? T he t erm “Rollerblade” i s actually the name of a manu fact urer. In the 1960 s a four-wheeled inline skate was developed by the Olson Brothers - they called it the Rollerblade.

Library Activity Package: Transport

Like it or Bike it quest to find the most safe and comfortable ride. Bicycle clubs were popular in the 1880s as stage-coach owners were not happy about sharing the road with cyclists and often attacked individuals. So for “safety in numbers”, club members would ride together, wearing uniforms with tight fitting pants called “knickerbockers”. In 1874, the addition of a chain was made to a “safety” bicycle. This model had wheels the same size as each other and soon this became the norm. Although there were some gradual modifications made to bikes up until the 1930s, the boom of the car industry meant that from the 1900s to the 1950s bicycles looked pretty much the same. From the 1970s there were major developments, with different types of bikes being designed such as BMXs and mountain bikes, and multi-speed racers. Wikimedia Commons

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Around 1790, a French man named Count Mede de Sivrac invented a wooden scooter called a celerifere, which had no steering. In 1818, a German man, Baron Karl von Drais de Sauerbr un, created a contraption with a steering bar attached to the front wheel. It looked similar to a bike but like the celerifere it had no pedals – you scooted your feet along the ground to make it move forward. In 1871 a British man, James Starley, invented the penny farthing, which had a small wheel at the rear and a huge wheel at the front. The large diameter of the front wheel allowed the rider to go a long way with each pedal stroke. However, the penny farthing was unstable on the cobbled streets. It was not easy to ride, and in fact must have looked a little ridiculous at times. Many different strange looking models were experimented with in the late 1800s, all having different numbers and sizes of wheels, in the

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Cycle Trivia

The longest bicycle was 20 metres long and seated 35 people. Can you find out about other bike r ecor ds, such as the fastest bike or the longest distance ridden?

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Awareness of environmental pollution as well as more emphasis on fitness meant that more people were owning and riding bikes from the 1980s.

Bikes are a popular form of transport for children and teenagers. Bikes are cheaper than cars and easier to maintain. You don’t need to buy petrol or pay for parking (apart from some special bike lockers). You don’t need to wait in traffic jams and can scoot through narrow spaces. You don’t need to go for a licence test and can learn to ride a bike from a young age. 28

There are about a billion bicycles in the world – that’s twice the number of cars. 400 million of these are in China. What can you find out about the unicycle – the one-wheeled contraption that you sometimes see ridden in parades and circus rings?

Library Activity Package: Transport

Blast Off!

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Some people say we live in “the space age”. Others say we live in “the age of information”. The worldwide sharing of information has made space travel move forward in “giant leaps”, and space vehicles such as satellites have enabled the world to share more of its information. What a perfect partnership! Let’s count down the last century of space travel...

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 In 1926, Robert Goddard launched the first

 Satellites were the main objects to be launched into the Earth’s orbit in the late 1950s.

 By 1961, the first person is launched into space,

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liquid-fuelled rocket, powered by liquid oxygen and gasoline. This rocket had much more power than rockets launched with gunpowder. Later experiments by Goddard earned him a place in the history books for his contribution of a great deal of research and innovation towards rocket history.

The space shuttle is used to launch astronauts and satellites into space. The shuttle takes off like a rocket, flies around the earth as a spaceship, and lands like an aeroplane. On some missions, the astronauts release satellites that stay behind in space, or they might do scientific experiments inside the shuttle.

 In the late 1960s the attention turns to the moon,

and after several orbits and unmanned landings by Soviet and American craft, Neil Armstrong is the first person to set foot on the moon in 1969, an event watched and remembered by millions around the world.

 In the 1970s come several flybys, orbits and even

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a few landings of other close planets such as Mars and Venus. Photos are taken to give closer images that help astronomers to understand the makeup of these planets more.

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Blast Off! In the 1980s, a new form of space

transport revolutionised space travel. After tests in the late 1970s, the first space shuttle launched out of the Earth’s atmosphere was in 1981.

Now let’s look at the shuttle’s major parts: solid rocket boosters use fuel to boost the shuttle into orbit. Once they run out of fuel they parachute down to earth where they drop into the ocean and are towed back to base to be re-used. The orbiter carries the crew through its journey in space. Special tiles are on its outside to withstand the heat of re-entry. The external tank works by feeding oxygen and hydrogen into the orbiter’s engine. This produces water and a large tail of steam.

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orbiting the Earth once.

Many of NASA’s space shuttles are named after famous ships that have explored the world. The first space shuttle, however, was named Enterprise after fans of the popular TV series “Star Trek” wrote in, wanting the shuttle to be named after their favourite fictional starship.

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Have you ever had a meal that was “out of this world?” John Glenn, the first man to orbit the earth, had to do space eating experiments as nobody knew whether a loss of gravity would affect swallowing. Because there was concern about food bits and tiny crumbs affecting shuttle instruments, early astronauts had to eat unappetising tube foods. As time went on, the containers and preparation methods improved and balanced meals were designed to deliver a good amount of nutrients to the astronauts. On a space shuttle, warm or cold water is added to re-hydrate food. A fan-forced oven is used to heat food and drinks are consumed from special containers with straws.

Library Activity Package: Transport

Website References

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www.theotherside.co.uk, www.raileurope.com www.hfmgv.org www.iihs.org www.keyflux.com, www.titanic.com/ www.yesmag.bc.ca www.helis.com/introduction/ www.rollerskatingmuseum.com www.moller.com http://science.nasa.gov science.howstuffworks.com

Channel Tunnel Model T Ford Crash test dummies, car safety

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Submarines Helicopters

Rollerskating Future travel Time travel

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Student-friendly sites (also used as references)

inventors.about.com

Invention of the Wheel, Automobile, Model T Ford, Mercedes Benz, etc. (Enter the name of the invention or the inventor.)

www.wikipedia.org

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www.mos.org/leonardo/ www.museoscienza.org/english/leonardo/ www.sdrm.org/history/timeline www.howstuffworks.com/

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Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo da Vinci Train History

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Maglev Trains, Seat Belts, Airbags, Jaws of Life, Crash Test Dummies, Windscreen Wipers, Submarines, Airline Crew, Hovercraft, Blimps

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www.trakkies.co.uk www.thehistoryofcars.com www.didyouknow.cd www.concordesst.com www.britishairways.com www.kidsturncentral.com www.pbs.org www.enchantedlearning.com http://kids.msfc.nasa.gov/

Train information

Car safety, History of Cars Wright Brothers, Bikes Concorde Concorde

Dogsledding (Search: Dog Sledding) Search: Dogsledding Bikes Space Travel

Library Activity Package: Transport

INDEX

invention....................................... 28

air traffic controllers..................... 22

penny-farthing.............................. 28

black box...................................... 22

Blimp ....................................................... 24

Concorde..................................... 23

Hindenberg................................... 24

flight attendants........................... 22

parts............................................... 24

gliders............................................ 21

Cars – see Automobile

KittyHawk...................................... 21

Chariot....................................................... 5

pilots.............................................. 22

Circus Maximus.............................. 5

Wright brothers............................. 21

Hippodrome................................... 5

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Aeroplane.......................................... 21, 22

Airship – see Blimp

Concorde................................................ 23

Ancient Egyptians..................................... 5

disaster.......................................... 23

Ancient Greeks.......................................... 5

facts............................................... 23

Ancient Romans..................................... 4,5

invention....................................... 23

Automobile.............................................. 10

supersonic flight........................... 23

accessories................................... 12

Da Vinci, Leonardo................................... 6

horses............................................. 12

early automobile design............. 10

Anderson, Robert......................... 10

early helicopter design............... 20

Cugnot, Nicholas......................... 10

machine sketches.......................... 6

da Vinci, Leonardo...................... 10

military designs............................... 6

Daimler – Benz.............................. 10

achievements................................ 6

electric-powered......................... 10

Dogsledding............................................ 26

Ford, Henry/Model T.................... 11

Balto.............................................. 26

fuel................................................. 10

commands................................... 26

horn............................................... 12

dog breeds................................... 26

licence plates............................... 12

parts............................................... 26

piston............................................. 10

Ford, Henry............................................... 11

steam-powered........................... 10

windscreen wipers....................... 12

Helicopters............................................... 20

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Model T Ford................................. 11

Automobile safety............................. 13, 14

invention....................................... 20

air bags......................................... 13

operation...................................... 20

crash test dummies...................... 14

rescues.......................................... 20

Jaws of Life................................... 14

Hovercrafts............................................... 25

seat belts....................................... 13

Cockrell, Christopher................... 25

Bicycle...................................................... 28

Licence plates......................................... 12

benefits.......................................... 28

Mercedes Benz........................................ 10

facts............................................... 28

Library Activity Package: Transport

INDEX Military transport

oxygen, air supply........................ 18

automobiles.................................. 10

periscopes.................................... 19

chariots............................................ 5

power supply................................ 18

helicopters.................................... 20

SONAR, echolocation................. 18

ships................................................. 7

Subways - see Underground trains

tanks................................................ 6

Titanic................................................... 7,8,9

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building and features.................... 8

Mushing – see Dogsledding

Carpathia....................................... 8

Piston ....................................................... 10

iceberg......................................... 8,9

Planes – see Aeroplanes

maiden voyage............................. 8

Railways – see Trains

rescue.............................................. 9

Roads ......................................................... 4

sinking.............................................. 8

cat’s eyes........................................ 4

Trains ............................................. 15,16,17

early roads...................................... 4

diesel-electric............................... 15

Rockets – see Space Travel

invention of................................... 15

Roller-skates............................................. 27

locomotives.................................. 15

inline skates................................... 27

Maglev trains................................ 17

invention....................................... 27

steam engines.............................. 15

rollerblades................................... 27

train records.................................. 17

sports and leisure......................... 27

underground, subways............... 16

Safety - see Automobile safety

wagons......................................... 15

Ships ......................................................... 7

Website references................................. 28

cargo ships..................................... 7

Wheel ......................................................... 4

cruise ships...................................... 7

invention......................................... 4

Titanic........................................ 7,8,9

tyre safety....................................... 4

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Model T Ford............................................ 11

Space Travel............................................ 29

World War transport

history............................................ 29

ships................................................. 7

moon landing............................... 29

submarines.................................... 18

shuttles........................................... 29

trains......................................... 15,16

space food................................... 29

Underground trains................................. 16

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Submarines......................................... 18,19

abandoned stations.................... 16

ballast tanks.................................. 18

Channel Tunnel............................ 16

facts............................................... 19

Zeppelin - see Blimps

hydroplanes.................................. 18

invention....................................... 18

operation...................................... 18