Ingenious inventions

Thrust bearing
Source: Museum Victoria

Thrust bearing

Thrust bearings are used where a load – like a ship – is pushed forwards by a rotating shaft – like a propeller. The bearing needs to be able to transfer the push without creating friction.

Before 1905 these bearings were large and heavy, and they created a lot of friction. Engineer George Michell was able to use angled plates and a thin layer of oil to make a bearing that was one-tenth the size but which worked much better. It is still in use today.

Wolseley No. 3 shearing handpiece
Source: Museum Victoria

Wolseley No. 3 shearing handpiece

This is a Wolseley sheep shearing handpiece from 1912. Frederick Wolseley invented the mechanical shearing machine in Australia in the 1870s and 1880s. Herbert Austin – later to be the famous automobile manufacturer – started as a foreman in Wolseley’s factory in Melbourne!

Early shearing handpieces like this one had a rotating blade. David Unaipon, the Ngarrindjeri man featured on the $50 note, invented a way to produce a more efficient linear motion for the blades. He submitted a patent application but did not have the finances to secure a full patent.

Wall telephone
Source: Museum Victoria

Wall telephone

Rotary dials became widespread on telephones in the 1910s. Even after this time, they were not the only way of calling someone. To use this telephone, from around 1925, you would turn the dial until the number you want was opposite the pointer. You would then remove the handset and speak. You could contact fifty different phones.

Experimental telephone equipment
Source: Museum Victoria

Experimental telephone equipment

This transmitter (or microphone) and receiver were used for experiments by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876 while he was developing the first commercially viable telephone. They are some of the earliest telephone equipment ever made.

This equipment was brought to Australia by Bell’s uncle and was donated to Museum Victoria in 1990.

Candlestick telephone
Source: Museum Victoria

Candlestick telephone

The ‘candlestick’ was a popular early style of telephone. This candlestick from around 1910 features a rotary dial.

The rotary dial was invented in 1891. It allowed automatic exchanges to connect calls, without the need for an operator. The first automatic exchange in Australia was built in 1911 for use just within the Sydney GPO. The first automatic exchange for public use was built in Geelong in 1912.

Flight recorder
Source: Museum Victoria

Flight Recorder

The first commercial flight recorder was invented in Melbourne around 1953 by David Warren at the Aeronautical Research Laboratories (ARL). It was different from earlier models because it included a recording of the pilots’ voices, making it useful for investigating air accidents. This recorder could also be reused more easily than earlier models. Australia became the first country to make flight recorders compulsory.

Although they considered applying for a patent, ARL received legal advice that this would be difficult and expensive due to the amount of existing technology used by the recorder so they decided not to pursue the application.

Cochlear implant
Source: Museum Victoria

Cochlear implant

The cochlear implant, or ‘bionic ear’, helps to restore hearing for people with deafness by sending an electrical signal to the auditory nerves of the recipient.

Early cochlear implants could produce sounds but not well enough for the recipient to understand speech. In the 1970s the Melbourne-based team led by Professor Graeme Clark developed a multi-channel cochlear implant that could produce good enough sounds for understanding speech.

This implant is the Nucleus 24, a later model from around 1998.