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30 Nov 1866
First U.S. traffic tunnel under a river |
First U.S. traffic tunnel under a river In 1866, work began on the first traffic tunnel under a U.S. river, the Washington Street Tunnel in Chicago, Illinois, under the Chicago River. It was built to alleviate traffic congestion at the river's swing bridges and opened 1 Jan 1869. It had a total length of 1,605-ft including approaches. It had a double arch with two roadways 13-ft wide by 11-ft high, and a separate footway on one side 10-ft wide by 10-ft high, reached by stairs. Cable car companies used the tunnel from the 1880's to 1906. To give a deeper draft to the river, it was replaced with a deeper tunnel in 1900, through which electric streetcar service began in 1911-12. The tunnel was closed in 1953. The world's first tunnel under a waterway was the Thames Tunnel, London, opened on 25 Mar 1843. |
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30 Nov 1866
John Mercer |
death John Mercer Died 30 Nov 1866 at age 75 (born 21 Feb 1791). English chemist and industrialist who invented the mercerisation process for treating cotton which is still in use today and was a pioneer in colour photography. From age 16, and throughout his life, he investigated and developed chemical textile dyes. Late in his life, in 1844, he found that when cotton is treated with caustic chemicals, it became thicker and shorter - thereby stronger and shrink-resistant. Further, the cotton was more easily dyed, needed 30% less dye, more absorbant, and could be given an attractive silk-like lustre. He called his process mercerisation and patented it in 1850. Mercerisation was applied to many other materials, such as parchment and woolen fabric, and remains an important part of the cotton finishing process today. |
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30 Nov 1866
Robert Broom |
birth Robert Broom Born 30 Nov 1866; died 6 Apr 1951 at age 84. Scottish-South African paleontologist whose skill in associating embryology with paleontology made him foremost in his time for interpreting the origins of mammals, whether from reptiles or amphibians. He is remembered for his work on human evolution, about which he wrote three books. In particular, from the remains he found, he assembled information on Australopithecus. He described a vast number of fossils, and from his research clarified the taxonomic relationships of the extinct reptiles. By studying skull structure, he interpreted the evolution from reptiles to mammals. |
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