Australian inventions

[pmccarthy]

There is an interesting article in the Age today which debunks the story of CSIRO inventing WiFi. The people who invented it had never heard of CSIRO. Which leads me to the second myth, the Hills Hoist. There is a photo of a rotary clothesline in Melbourne on the 1870s. I have a US Sears catalogue from 1903 which shows one, it was even made by a Mr Hill. Peter Cuffley wrote a book about this. And the rotary mower? I could go on and on.

[Jerry_Atrick]

https://www.theage.com.au/national/who-really-invented-wi-fi-and-the-problem-of-australian-science-innovation-20250325-p5lmdb.html

 

An interesting article and it exposes something I had no idea of - that the US part funds the CSIRO! WTF? Australian pollies seriously don't have any vision for the country beyond the next election.

 

 

Edited 15 hours ago by Jerry_Atrick

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

“The question is, why are we so reliant on the US?” .... That's right .... We need to make Australia great.

[old man emu]

Although it is correct that rotary clothes lines had been created long before the Hills version, it seems that two things lead to its success. The first was that Lance Hill obtained plans for a wooden design from South Australian inventor Gerhard "Pop" Kaesler Second the patent for a crown wheel and pinion winding mechanism granted to Gilbert Toyne of Geelong in 1925 had expired, so Hill was free to use the idea. Another factor was that Hill's brother joined him and took over advertising and sales. Perhaps too, the increasing suburbanisation of Australian cities after WWII made the old style line and clothes prop system impractical, or out of style for a 'modern' home.

 

I well remember when my parents got their Hills hoist to replace the line through arms on a post clothes line. It came disassembled in a long cardboard carton. After Dad had put it together and installed it, I was threatened with dire consequences if I was caught hanging from the arms, using it as a merry-go-round.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Actually, come to think of it, we should rightly be funded by the US. We allow large multi-nationals, mainly US ones in to our markets. We allow them to pay almost no tax through funds transfer or simply in the case of digital marketing and advertising, recognising revenue off shore. They take money out without paying tax. Funding us helps offset that a bit..

[onetrack]

The CSIRO has been getting some undeserved bad rap in recent times and the Age is keeping it up. If the CSIRO research was valueless, why has the CSIRO set up licence agreements with more than 20 international companies, and has received around A$430 million in licensing revenue, from their Wi-Fi research? And how did they get the 2012 European Inventors Award for their Wi-Fi contribution? The truth is often very nuanced.

 

https://www.csiro.au/en/research/technology-space/it/WLAN#:~:text=Slow wireless networking&text=CSIRO has licence agreements with,to send and receive information.

 

https://www.naa.gov.au/visit-us/events-and-exhibitions/disrupt-persist-invent/wi-fi

 

Don't forget the CSIRO has produced over 600 useful inventions from their research, and hold over 3000 patents. They invented the Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (which the mining and chemical industries rely on enormously today), polymer banknotes, Aeroguard, "Softly" Woollens detergent, developed myxomatosis and calicivirus for controlling rabbits, invented DME for aircraft, and produced the Relenza flu drug - along with a host of other useful products.

 

They deserve better than a critical, incorrect put-down, in a cheap-shot media source.

[pmccarthy]

I didn’t mean to take a shot at CSIRO in particular, just the myth of Australian inventions. The Age article explains that CSIRO made its money by litigating a patented aspect of WiFi. In my opinion the invention of the AAS, as Onetrack says, was a world leading advancement. It was first tested and used in the assay lab at Zinc Corporation in Broken Hill. Everyone was proud to be part of that.

If you look up who invented the rotary lawnmower in Wikipedia, you might think it was an Australian. But the truth it was Leonard Goodall, an American. See https://www.gasenginemagazine.com/farm-life/the-rotary-power-mower-and-its-inventor-leonard-b-goodall/

Edited 4 hours ago by pmccarthy