Take a peek at the inventions of the Industrial Revolution

You think you know all you need to know about the Industrial Revolution? Do you know who invented the ship propeller, or devices for the development of steam-powered road vehicles? Answers to these and many other questions can be found at the Technical Museum, in a featured exhibition “From a screw to a hero – Josef Ressel”, which focuses on the development of industrial inventions from the first half of the 19th century.

As a result of contemporary lifestyle modern generations tend to take revolutionary inventions for granted; during the time of the industrial revolution however, all inventions, even that of a ship propeller, represented an important part of development that is still used today, two centuries later, in its original form. So, how well do you know the details of the Industrial Revolution and the “heroes” behind the great inventions? Part of this great revolution is being revealed by the Zagreb Technical Museum as part of an interesting exhibition, “From a screw to a hero – Josef Ressel”, which will be open to the general public until November 27th. 

For the most part, the exhibition is dedicated to Josef Ressel, a relatively-unknown inventor who used to live in Croatia. However, he was a very active participant in the Industrial Revolution and is remembered in history for his numerous inventions; the most useful of which, of course, is the ship propeller. This exhibition was first established in 2007 to mark the 150th anniversary of the death of this prolific inventor, who was of Czech-German descent and Austrian nationality, but also worked in Slovenia, Croatia and Italy. 

As an introduction to the exhibition of specific inventions by Josef Ressel and the very importance of his discoveries, the exhibition concept begins with a short projection of the most significant discoveries of the time. The exhibition continues with a display of Ressel’s inventions and creative discoveries, which are on loan from numerous European museums. Visitors will, therefore, have an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the functionality of a ship propeller on a fully-operating model that was built by students of the School Centre of Ljubljana, as well as gain an insight into many other inventions. Among them are teletype writers, devices for sailing upstream on rivers and propelling steam-powered road vehicles, wind devices, a model of the Civett ship, and a steam-propelled flying machine that this relatively-unknown inventor began, and his son Henrik finished and patented.

Considering that it deals with a great genius who dabbed his had at many things in his lifetime – from the forestry and carpentry industry, across physics to traffic, mining, metallurgy, chemistry, construction, farming and even military technology – yet who never did anything to bolster his own fame, the exhibition is titled “From a screw to a hero”. Sadly, Josef Ressel only gained fame after his death in 1857.

The exhibition is organized in cooperation with the Technical Museum of Slovenia, the National Technical Museum of Prague, the Technical Museum of Vienna, the Town Council of Churdim (his birthplace), the Regional Museum in Churdim, the Naval Museum of Trieste, the Naval Museum “Sergej Mašera” of Piran, and the Ljubljana School Centre. Over the past three years, the exhibition has toured Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Poland; it has also featured in the Croatian city of Rijeka.