139 years ago
Foot on the gas
On 5 September 1885 the first gasoline pump was invented. However, the car had not yet been created.
The pump, which featured marble valves, a wooden storage barrel and a wooden plunger to reliably dispense kerosene, was sold by its inventor Sylvanus Bowser of Fort Wayne, Indiana, to the owner of a nearby grocery store, where it was used to dispense kerosene for use in lamps and stoves. His design helped reduce dangerous spillages.
Having patented his pump in 1887, Bowser later improved upon his ‘filling station’ design and began selling it to the first automobile-repair garages in 1893.
21 years ago
Last flight of the Concorde
On 24 October 2003, Concorde took to the skies for its final commercial flight.
This supersonic passenger jet flew for the first time in a test flight in 1969 and entered service in 1976 with Air France and British Airways.
From 1969 to 1979, a total of 20 aircraft were built in France and the UK, 14 of which entered commercial service.
With its narrow fuselage, droop nose and four Rolls-Royce turbojets, Concorde could zip up to 100 passengers across the Atlantic to Washington or New York in just three and a half hours.
The jet could reach a take-off speed of 250mph and then maintain a supercruise up to Mach 2.04 (1,350 mph) at an altitude of 60,000ft.
Many have argued that the Concorde was a feat of engineering. In the opening to his autobiography, Concorde’s chief test pilot, Brian Trubshaw, said: “It is not unreasonable to look upon Concorde as a miracle.”
While Concorde continued to fly high for over 20 years, a fatal crash shortly after take-off from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris on 25 July 2000, in which 109 passengers and crew were killed, changed its fate.
In 2003, the Concorde retired; almost all are preserved and on display in various museums, predominantly in the UK and France.
42 years ago
Raise up
The Tudor warship Mary Rose, which capsized and sank outside Portsmouth harbour in 1545 while sailing out to engage a French attack, was raised to the surface over 400 years later on 11 October 1982 in one of the most challenging archaeological digs of all time.
The giant Mary Rose, supposedly Henry VIII’s favourite ship, was built with the wood from 600 trees and weighed 600 tons. It could accommodate 500 crew along with a mixture of heavy and light guns.
A team of divers first discovered the wreck site in 1971 and started a painstaking recovery operation.
Today, the ship’s remains are on display at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, on the site at which she was originally built in 1510-11.
