When you wake up in the morning to unplug your phone, get in your car, or enter a building, do you ever fear for your safety? In most cases, your answer is no. You probably don’t even think about the possibility of your phone cord electrocuting you. You most likely trust the safety of your car, and you’ve been entering buildings for as long as you can remember. The risk of danger in your everyday life seems slim, but is it?
Have you ever stopped to think that the safety of your daily routines has been purposefully engineered to keep you out of harm's way?
Throughout history, people have continuously invented designs to make the way of life easier. Yet, not all of these designs were safe at first. Through trial and error, engineers learned that innovation couldn’t be without the consideration of safety. Now, most of the things you use daily have been engineered to protect you.
Engineers have come a long way since the pulley, lever, and wheel. With much time, effort, research, testing, and iteration, engineers are constantly trying to make the way of life more convenient and safe. Safety doesn’t just happen overnight. It takes months, years, and even decades to perfect the right safety equipment. Even then, the evolution of technology is constantly changing the way engineers view safety.
To help you understand how your everyday routine has been affected by engineering inventions that make life safer, we've created a list of eight engineering inventions that have changed the views on safety. At Engineered Mechanical Systems, we've been providing diversified and quality manufacturing services to various customers since 1990. We know how much effort goes into engineering safety into designs and want to share eight groundbreaking inventions that have saved millions of lives since they were created.
Keep reading to find out which inventions have shaped the course of history.
Bike Helmet
How long do you think bike helmets have been around? Despite the sturdy and stylish variety of helmet options available today, the helmet has only been around for 50 years.
In this day and age, bicycle helmets have become a necessity. If you ever commute to work or watch your children ride their bikes, you know the dangers of falling. Even worse, you know the risk of getting hit by a car. With so many dangers around, many people turn to find some type of protection for their heads.
However, today's dangers weren't always on bicyclists' minds. Pith helmets were used in 1880 as some form of protection, though the idea of protecting one's head wasn't as dire. It wasn't until many roads began to be paved with asphalt and macadam that the danger of falling off the bike began to be a serious concern.
In 1970, the introduction of bicycle helmets began to become popular among many racing cyclists. These helmets were first made from leather-covered padding that encircled the head and a wool ring just above that. You can imagine what little protection that offered riders. Though the design didn't offer much more protection than pith helmets, the invention revolutionized safety.
Decade after decade, engineers worked hard to create a design that would keep the everyday person safe. From two-pound helmets to squishy foam liners and stiff polycarbonate, the safety of helmets continued to improve throughout the years. The determination engineers had to keep pushing and evolving the style and safety of helmets helped bring about a widely accepted national standard for helmets.
With new material and technology that is invented each year, the improvements to helmets will only continue to get better. The change in helmets in the last 50 years has been drastic. The innovation of engineers to create better and safer designs are endless.
Bike helmets have reduced head injuries by 20% - 55%, and that number increases each year with newer and safer helmets that are released. Every time you put on your helmet to commute or ride your bike for leisure, you feel safe knowing that the safety equipment on your head has saved countless lives and has the potential to save your life.
Seatbelt
Riding in a car is second nature. Whether you're the driver or passenger, odds are that you get into the car without fear. Although you may see or hear of car accidents every day, it’s easy to feel safe and trust that you or the driver is in control of the car.
Take a moment to stop and think about why you feel safe in a car. How is it that being in a huge hunk of metal driving on four rubber wheels filled with air feels safe?
Seatbelts weren’t introduced to cars until 1949. The early design of the seatbelt was a simple strap across the lap. The idea was there, but the safety feature wasn’t fully developed. It wasn't until 1958, a decade later, that the three-point seat belt system was invented. The simple iteration of the design changed the safety threshold. Adding a strap across the torso is the engineering invention that has saved millions of lives and what makes you feel safe every time you enter a vehicle.
However, in the early years of the seatbelt laws, implementing the safety feature was the most challenging. While the engineering invention was a phenomenal idea that enhanced the safety of the car, changing society’s idea of safety took some time.
Even so, the three-point seatbelt design is implemented by every car manufacturer, constantly tested through crash tests, and widely encouraged. Though the improvements to the seatbelt have been minor, their functionality has prevented fatal injuries during a crash by 50%.
Every time you get in the car, buckling your seatbelt could be what saves your life if you ever get in a car accident. As simple as they may be, the design has proven to save lives, and it's what makes you feel safe while being in a fast-moving vehicle.
Airbag
Like the seatbelt, you wouldn’t feel safe in your car without airbags. Even though you rarely see them deploy, you know they are there. You’ve watched crash test videos for fun, and you know that if you ever get in a car crash, you trust that your airbags will help cushion the damage.
Airbags are an important feature in any vehicle. Driving down the road at 60 mph in a couple of tons of metal, you can imagine what the result of crashing would be without airbags. As convenient as cars make everyday life, they are quite dangerous. That's why having airbags (or seatbelts) are important to make your everyday convenience a little safer.
Airbags were invented and implemented a little after the seatbelt. Despite the patent being created in the early 1900s, the design wasn’t fully developed until the 1950s and 1960s. The design of the airbag was tested and improved all over the world by various engineers.
The idea of safely cushioning passengers and bracing them for impact was monumental for the vehicle industry. But rapidly deploying inflatable bags in a way that doesn’t harm the passengers but also deflates as soon as the passenger makes contact was challenging, but it didn’t stop engineers from introducing their invention to manufacturers.
The design of airbags took off, and by the late 1990s, airbags had become the best safety features alongside seatbelts. Frontal airbags alone have prevented 29% of all front-seat fatalities. Side airbags have prevented 37% of side-crash fatalities. Add those numbers with seatbelts, and you're 61% more likely to avoid the risk of death in crashes.
Luckily, the innovation behind the airbags isn’t slowing down. With each new model of car, the airbag system always strives to improve. Becoming a necessary commodity for any vehicle, airbags have been an engineering invention that not only saves lives but creates trust and safety for anyone who uses a car.
Life Jacket
Have you ever stopped and thought about the life jacket? Unless you are often on the water constantly, you probably don’t think much of life jackets until summertime rolls around.
Life jackets are a necessary safety tool anywhere where there is water. If you’ve ever been on a plane or a boat, you’re always instructed where the nearest personal flotation device is. And with good reason.
Personal flotation devices, or life jackets, have been important safety equipment since 1854. Life jackets have allowed you to explore various bodies of water safely. No matter how good of a swimmer you may be, there's no predicting an emergency.
In the mid-1800s, the earliest rendition of the modern life jacket was used by lifeboat crews to protect them from drowning in storms. Life jackets started as cork vests. They were heavy and uncomfortable, but the innovation inspired other engineers to improve and modify the design. With 200 years of iterations and modifications, the life jacket has become lighter, stronger, and more accessible.
Life jackets are no longer just for boats or ships. Many people use life jackets in various situations. From having life vests on a plane in preparation for a water landing to life vests used in watersports, personal flotation devices have been saving lives for two centuries. While the structure of a life vest hasn’t changed much, the engineering invention changed the way many people experience water.
The next time you're around water, recognize how much safer you feel wearing a life vest or having one close by. 83% of all drowning victims were reported as not wearing a life jacket. It isn't often that we are thrown overboard from a boat or experience the fear of drowning, but having a life jacket not only makes you feel safe but it keeps you safe.
Lifeboat
If you’ve seen the Titanic, you know how important lifeboats are. When a big ship sinks in the middle of the ocean, life jackets can only do so much, especially in the middle of the ocean.
A lifeboat is safety equipment that most people don't think about. Maybe you think of the titanic or those search and rescue dingy, but the importance of lifeboats are a part of a lot of people's daily lives.
Sailing has been a large part of human history and travel. Even today, there are many types of ships that deploy, from fishing boats, sailing boats, merchant boats, and military boats. While you probably don't travel by boat often, the invention of lifeboats changed the perception of a ship's safety.
The lifeboat was invented in 1789. It was designed to rescue people from disasters happening at the mouth of the River Tyne. The invention changed the perception of safety on a boat because, in the 1800s, many engineers improved upon the lifeboat, creating rowing, sailing, and steam-powered lifeboats. Lifeboats became a necessity that everyone wanted for their ships.
Despite the popularity of the lifeboat, it wasn’t until after the sinking of the Titanic that the enforcement of lifeboat regulations took effect. The development of lifeboats continued throughout the 1900s to today. Lifeboats have been one of the biggest lifesavers since their invention.
Lifeboats aren’t just stagnant safety boats on cruise ships or fishing riggers, they have kept the initial intent of rescuing people from tragedies that happen in the water. With faster boats, sleeker designs, and better engines, the improvements to the lifeboat continue to save many lives.
Fire Sprinklers
How many times have you had to go through a fire drill? Either at school or work, fire safety is continually practiced. More often than not, you've probably walked down a hallway and noticed fire escapes and sprinkler systems. While fires are dangerous, unpredictable, and spread quickly, most people feel safe walking into any building.
With the recent increase in wildfires and the struggle many people have had to try to put them out for days, the danger of fire is on everyone's mind. It only takes one spark to set a whole forest ablaze. Similarly, having many buildings and houses close together can be extremely dangerous when a fire starts. If the fire isn't put out quickly, there's the danger of the fire spreading to other buildings.
Even DaVinci was trying to remedy the danger of fire when he first designed a sprinkling system. Though the design was a failure, it was an idea that would return. The modern sprinkler system was developed and installed in 1812.
This design was revolutionary and a step in the right direction. Building a system to put out fires quickly would save lives and property. Yet, the biggest struggle engineers had was creating an automatic sprinkler system that didn’t need to be turned on manually. Inventing an automatic trigger would make buildings even safer.
By 1860 the design of the fire sprinkler was modified to be automatic. The invention improved building safety. Instead of a bucket and water, people could rely on fire sprinklers. After 1860, different iterations of the design populated, and improvements were made to help better the safety of buildings, but since the 1950s, the design hasn't changed much.
Despite the design staying the same for the last 70 years, sprinkler systems have been doing the job they were invented for. With 346,000 home fires every year, the fire sprinkler is one of the most reliable ways to put out fires in a building. Along with a smoke detector, sprinkler systems make being inside a lot safer.
Air Conditioning
Many people love the summer heat. Going outside or to the beach doesn’t seem too bad when you have an air-conditioned car or an air-conditioned house to return to. The consequence of staying too long in the heat isn't a thought many people worry about. Getting heatstroke or sunburnt isn't fun, but most don't think about how these consequences could have dangerous effects.
1,300 heat-related deaths happen per year in the US, and 5 million people all around the world die because of the heat per year. With heatwaves becoming more and more common in parts of the world that don't usually get extremely hot weather, summer can start to become a dangerous thing.
In 1902, air conditioning was invented to solve a humidity problem at a publishing house. It was a big, clunky, and expensive piece of equipment, but it did the job. The original design wasn't intended for commercial use, but in 1922, improvements to the design made the air conditioning unit smaller, safer, and more powerful.
People who could afford air conditioning bought it as a luxury. Not all households needed an air conditioner like they do today. It wasn’t until 1947 that the units became cheaper, and in 1960 most new homes were built with an AC unit. The invention of air conditioning started as a remedy for humidity but grew to be a necessity among most households across the world.
From 1960 onwards, heat-related deaths were 80% lower than they had been in previous years. With air conditioning in houses, many people have been able to beat the heat and cool off before dire heat-related health issues occur. This invention was once a luxury that has turned into a necessity in everyday households.
Air conditioning units have become more accessible to the everyday person, and more than 86% of people have them installed in their houses. Even though many people joke that they need an AC unit to survive the summers, it is true. Air conditioning has prevented many heat-related deaths. The invention has made summers safer, especially in recent years.
Three-Pin Plug
How often have you plugged your phone or a device into the wall socket? You’ve probably been told never to put a fork in the wall socket, but what's the difference? In the age of technology, plugging into a socket isn’t dangerous – or at least, we don’t think it’s dangerous.
Many people know what electricity is. When you see lightning, you recognize that as a form of electricity. You've seen sparks when you've plugged in electronics or know someone who has been mildly electrocuted. But how are you protected from electricity?
The types of plugs you plug into the wall protect you from surges of electricity. The three-pin plug has a longer earth pin that makes connecting your plug to the wall less dangerous. Unlike the two-pin plug, the three-pin plug has a grounding wire that safely directs surges of electricity into the ground.
The first domestic plug was created in the 1890s, but it wasn't until 1915 that the standardization of a plug emerged. Between two-pinned plugs and three-pinned plugs, the invention of creating a plug to go into a wall socket made using electricity much safer.
Many countries have different outlets, plugs, and prong shapes. If you’ve ever been abroad, you’ve probably had to buy a wall adapter so that the electricity transfers correctly. However, not all of these plugs safely direct electricity. Depending on where you go in the world, the safety of electricity is viewed and approached differently.
However, the three-pin plug is the safest electricity conduit. In the age of technology and plug-ins, the type of plug you're plugging your electronics into matters. Though it's second nature to plug and unplug your devices, the invention of the plug has created a safer environment.
Engineering Safety
There are many inventions that engineers have designed that have made the world a safer place. Everything you interact with in your day-to-day life has been purposefully engineered to keep you safe.
The bike helmet, seat belt, airbag, live jacket, lifeboat, fire sprinkler, air conditioning, and three-pin plug are just eight inventions that have saved millions of lives since their inventions.
However, there are many more life-changing things that have come out of engineering. Subscribe to our email newsletter to learn more about fun and interesting new engineering topics. You’ll get an alert anytime we publish something new.
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