Technology In the 1930's “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is a progress; working together is success,” as once said by Henry Ford, a famed inventor. This quote can be related directly to the 1930s. Because of many hardships, people could have given up, but they didn’t. They stayed together, succeeded, and created a period of technological advances. Although the 1930s are known for it’s hard times, technology continued to advance. During the 1930s many technologies were invented that are essential to our modern, everyday lifestyle. Additionally, many technological advances came out that improved the way we view entertainment. Finally, many inventions came out in the 1930s that revolutionized the way people travel. Hence, during the 1930s, technology thrived and revolutionized the way people live today. In the 1930s, many small inventions came out with a big impact, and are now considered essential to our everyday life. On the starting year of the decade, 1930, two very useful inventions came out; scotch tape, and chocolate chips. Scotch tape, originally invented to help artist paint colors straight and separated from each other, is now a very useful tool with endless possibilities (1). Chocolate chips changed the world by other means, showing its beauty in many desserts everywhere. Another two great inventions came out in 1935; the parking meter, and the ballpoint pen. Most people with a driver’s license don’t like them, but parking meters serve a great purpose for our economy, and are a big part of life for many people (9). Ballpoint pens had been experimented with before the 1930s, but 1935 brought the first practical version that didn’t leak ink (3). Finally, nobody in the 21st century could imagine their glasses without its non-reflective material, which was invented in 1938. These are just a few inventions from the 1930s that greatly influenced our everyday life today (zoomschool.com/inventors). All in all, the 1930s gave us some of our most useful household inventions. Secondly, entertainment and photography thrived in the 1930s because of technology. One of the greatest inventions of photography was invented in 1936, known as Kodachrome. Kodachrome was the number one color film on the market, and didn’t break the bank if you wanted to buy it. It was known for its natural looking color and was even featured in a song written by Paul Simon, a popular musician (kodachromeproject.com 1). The next and possibly most important film innovation is color itself. Yes, the vital element in movies that we all love today, known as color, was invented in 1939. With color, films and photos became more realistic and more exciting to watch. Finally, this last invention barely missed the decade, but was close enough to be mentioned. The green screen, invented in the year 1940, changed the way new movies could be made forever. The green screen superimposed a background to any scene via computer editing, by replacing the green backdrop with a new background. With the invention of a green screen, actors could now go to exotic lands and perform big stunts without danger or struggle (memeburn.com). In general, the 1930s were a vital time of film innovation. Lastly, transportation improved great in the 1930s and changed the way we travel now. First of all, cars changed greatly during the 1930s. They became much more luxurious, such as including radios and heating. Technology also influenced the power of these new automobiles with new engines including; v8, v12, and v16. Automatic transmission was also invented in the 1930s (retrowaste.com). Furthermore, railroad technology also improved transportation. New aircraft technology gave us a better understanding of how streamline works. This lead to groundbreaking speeds. The outer shells of steam engines also became more luxurious and modern. At last, the airplane. The 1930s are known by many names including The Golden Age of Flight. During the 1930s the world became more connected by means of aircrafts. Air travel was expensive and mostly for the upper class. The flight was known to be expensive, uncomfortable, and slightly more dangerous, but remained the most desirable choice of transportation. This was because of the speed advantages. The invention of the DC-3 in 1937 made a flight from New York City to Los Angeles not much longer than 17 hours, which was remarkable for the time. By the end of the 1930s flights across the Atlantic Ocean were not only possible, but took only around 29 hours. All together, transportation of the 1930s improved greatly due to technological advances and revolutionized modern transportation (pelgranepress.com 1). (For more on transportation, visit our page, "Transportation In The 1930s") In summary, technology of the 1930s excelled and revolutionized the manner in which we proceed in our daily lives. Many simple and common inventions that we use everyday were invented in the 1930s. Additionally, technology helped entertainment and photography advance a lot towards what we have in modern days. Finally, technology advanced transportation immensely which enhanced the way we travel today. Overall, technology of the 1930s enriched the ways we live our daily lives forever.
This is an original Scotch Tape brand advertisement showing the same tape many people still use today. From the first model to what we have now, not much has changed including the little stand that it comes with straight out of the package.
In the image above, you see many Kodachrome products and tapes which revolutionized film technology. There is also a music record of Paul Simon's song, "Kodachrome"
This is an image of a 1930s Cadilac v16 engine. The v16 engine is, to this day, one of the strongest types of car engines you can get.