Johannes Gutenberg

Johannes Gutenberg, born around the year 1400 in Germany, is widely regarded as the inventor of the modern printing press. Before about 1450, most books were written or copied by hand. This made them extremely time-consuming to produce and expensive to buy. But in 1455 Gutenberg developed a machine which could print multiple copies of the same book. Gutenberg did not achieve financial success as a result of his breakthrough, but his invention helped to spread knowledge across Europe and was a major factor in the Renaissance.

Louis Braille

Born in France in 1809, Louis Braille became blind at the age of three after an accident in his father’s workshop. When he was ten, he earned a place at a special school for blind children in Paris. In 1821, Charles Barbiera, a former soldier, visited the school and talked about a code that he’d invented which allowed soldiers to share information on the battlefield without speaking. Impressed by this idea, Louis worked on his own code to help the blind read. The code that Louis invented has become standard throughout the world.

Samuel Morse

Samuel Morse, born in 1791 in Massachusetts, USA, started his career not as an inventor but as an artist. He had great artistic talent and soon became well-known for his portraits, but he also had a passion for new technology. In 1832, while travelling home by sea from Europe, he overheard a conversation about electromagnetism, and this gave him the idea for a new form of communication-the electric telegraph. Although other inventors had developed similar machine, Morse’s worked better and he applied for and got the patent in 1837.

Alexander Graham Bell

Alexander Graham Bell, a pioneer in the field of telecommunications, was born in 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Perhaps because of his mother’s hearing problems, Bell had a particular interest in the education of deaf people. This led him to invent the microphone. Bell was not the only inventor working in this field, but his lawyer managed to secure the all-important patent which gave Bell ownership of the idea.

A mechanical bicycle lock, like a U-lock, should be attached to a solid and immobile object like a rack (架子) to ensure safety. However, these racks are quite rare and popular, thus often occupied and although a bicycle lock prevents the bike from being carried away, as it fixes single parts like the frame or the wheels, other parts can be dismounted. Therefore an electronic system, consisting of several sensors, can extend the range of protection with only few components and less effort.

The ‘RFID Bikealarm’ is a motion sensitive electronic alarm system that is attached to the rails of a bike saddle (座椅). Featuring omnidirectional (全方位) movement sensing to detect tiny movements or speeding-up and a small whistle emitting >120dB alarm sound to scare off potential thieves by arousing attention.

The internal microcontroller uses a complex computer program to distinguish between a serious theft and harmless shaking movement as it senses and adapts to the environment. The usage is quite simple: identify yourself by holding the RFID tag close to the case to lock or unlock the alarm system signaled by feedback sounds. The RFID-technology is predestined for achieving this simple and secure interaction because it doesn’t require any complex system, interaction or other devices—just a small tag.

The ‘RFID Bikcalarm’ is meant to be a useful add-on to mechanical bicycle locks as it massively extends the range of protection with few components. It is low-cost, durable and easy to use. The internal battery can be charged by USB.

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Dutch officials toasted on Tuesday the opening of what is being called the world’s first 3D-printed concrete bridge, which is meant to be used by cyclists. There was applause as officials wearing hard hats and workmen’s jackets rode over the bridge on their bikes at the opening ceremony in the southeastern town of Gemert.

“The bridge is not very big, but it was rolled out by a printer which makes it unique,” Theo Salet, from the Eindhoven University of Technology, told Dutch broadcaster NOS. Work on printing the bridge, which has some 800 layers, took about three months after starting in June and it is made of pre-stressed concrete, according to the university. “One of the advantages of printing a bridge is that much less concrete is needed than in the conventional technique in which a mould (泥浆) is filled,” it said on its website, adding “a printer deposits the concrete only where it is needed.”

The eight-metre (26-foot) bridge crosses a water-filled channel to connect two roads, and it was tested for safety to bear loads of up to two metric tons in cooperation with the BAM Infra Construction company. Although designed for bikes, it could take up to 40 trucks, the designers said “We are looking to the future,” said the head of BAM, Marinus Schimmel. “3D printing meant fewer rare resources were needed and there was significantly less waste,” he added.

The Netherlands is among countries, with the United States and China, taking a lead in the cutting-edge technology of 3D printing, using computers and robotics to construct objects and structures from scratch without using much traditional manpower. Last year a Dutch architect unveiled (提示) a unique 3D printer with which he hopes to construct an “endless loop” building. And a Dutch start-up called MX3D has begun printing a stainless-steel bridge, of which a third is already completed. The aim is to finish printing by March and lay the bridge over an Amsterdam canal in the future.