Technological accomplishments

5 Responses to Technological accomplishments

1. terrapod says:

   June 13, 2015 at 5:44 am

   Oleg,
   1850 era most canon were of single piece cast design. 1875 forward I would say Germany and England led the “modern” canon field with the US and Sweden close behind. 1900 onwards the Germany probably was foremost in design with the US soon to reach parity but everyone was in the game of improving armaments, Czech, Swedes, Russians, Poles, French. The wars on the continent drove a lot of stuff.

   As to cars – that is easy – but let’s stick to the definition of indigenous designed cars, not transplant factories placed everywhere to gain labor advantage.

   Germany, USA, England, Czech Republic, Japan, , France I would say fall into that category. Korea, Malaysia, China, Argentina, Spain, Russia, Brazil, S.Africa, Canada, Mexico and many others came late to the game and initially had outside brands come into the market, but now assemble modern cars.

   Computers – for the masses – US dominated initially and still does in the area of design and innovation, but the picture is fuzzy. UK, Germany, France, Russia all had computer design and construction companies early on, large mainframe types. Japan, Taiwan and China probably dominate the production end now for all light portable devices. IBM, Siemens, ? Bull (France -if they still exist) were once the majors.
2. terrapod says:

   June 13, 2015 at 5:49 am

   On computers I have left out a lot of other names because by now they are mostly “has been’, but just in case anyone wants to quibble, Xerox, HP, Bendix and more were all in the mainframe and mini computer business between late 50’s and say late 70’s but no longer.
   • Paul Koning says:

     June 15, 2015 at 3:18 pm

     “Computer” nowadays means the chip at the middle; someone who solders such a chip to a board and wraps it in plastic isn’t a computer maker in my view. So that means Intel, plus a dozen RISC chip designers, and IBM, and that’s about it. All the ones I can think of except for ARM are US companies. Nothing in Europe outside the UK, nothing in Asia.
3. Ray says:

   June 13, 2015 at 8:18 am

   Taken as a whole there are only 3 major eras in cannon design; 1400-1830. The era of cast bronze and cast Iron guns. Any nation or individual that could cast a bell could cast a “modern” cannon. There are almost no changes in cannons between 1600 and 1830. A gunner from the 1600’s would know instantly how to load and fire a gun from 1800. Any nation state who could afford the casting process could have modern guns. 1840-1890 . The period of intense experiments in rifling , breach loading ,ammunition and recoil management. “Advantage” shifted from nation to nation almost daily. Like the small arms of the 19th century , no one held the advantage for long. “modern” cannon were a matter of how much money a nation spent on “industry”. This overlaps the “modern era” in cannons. 1880-present . The main changes are in gun powders , explosives, ammunition geometry, and targeting. The guns themselves are little changed from the 1880’s designs used in WW1. For the most part any nation that could have an arms factor can build a transportation systems factory . All other considerations are subjective IMO. —Ray
4. Y. says:

   June 15, 2015 at 7:21 pm

   Modern cars?

   You mean, which country produces by itself all the components that go to a modern car?

   Maybe Japan. Perhaps China, too, by virtue of sheer size. No other, I believe, unless you’d consider EU a country.

Comments are closed.