1. The Problem/Inspiration (What was the problem the inventor identified? Or, what accidentally prompted the discovery? Or, how did the inventor get the idea for the invention?)
2. The Solution (What was the inventor’s solution?)
3. Using Past Inventions (What adaptations/modifications/prior technology did the inventor use or get ideas from?)
4. Materials Used (What materials were used in the construction of the invention? Why did the inventor choose these as opposed to other materials?)
5. Invention Process (Before coming up with the final product, what else did the inventor try that didn’t work? If the inventor encountered many problems, why do you think he/she didn’t give up?)
6. Cost (How much does this product cost? Explain whether or not you feel this price is reasonable.)
7. Possible Problems/Improvements (What problems do you see the invention having? How do you think this invention could be improved?)
These are questions my teacher gave me for an invention I chose to study. I chose to study machine guns. The machine gun was invented by the man named James Puckle.
1. The problem was that whenever you wanted to shoot an enemy soldier you would only get one shot, before having to reload.
2. His solution was to make a weapon that could fire much more than one bullet before reloading.
3. The past invention that inspired James to make the machine gun was his other invention, the gun. He modified it so that he could shoot more bullets at an enemy, making it likely to destroy the enemy being shot at.
4. The only materials that were used, were metal (for most of the machine’s structure and the bullets) and wood (to make the legs).
5. This was Puckle’s first MACHINE gun. He already made the gun before, but I think he wanted to prove that the gun was a good idea, since it was not popular to the public or even the military. I think the only problem with his invention was that the military was not interested with it. If he did sell his weapon to the military I think his invention would of been much more popular and Puckle would be much more prosperous.
6. The puckle gun cost 1140 pounds to recruit. I think that this was in fact reasonable. I think this because machine guns were very new to that time, and they could eliminate many enemy solder very quickly. Not to mention The British Empire at the time (1790) had MANY enemies to eliminate!
7. The problem with the puckle gun was that it was hard to maneuver side to side and sometimes jammed. A possible solution would be to make the gun out of lighter material so that it could be lifted then put on a stand, that way it could be moved side to side. The solution to make it not jam is maybe to put the bullets a little farther apart so that it would shoot a bullet and have a little more time to go though the hole without getting stuck with other bullets.