A small triumph

We note an important advance in technology that has happened without fanfare.

We’ve pointed out that the world in general has grown brighter from man-made lights.  It’s also undeniable that wilderness is in retreat, and forests are in decline (except where some have been replanted, in certain sections of rich countries).  We think also, though without figures to back us up, that the world is louder than decades ago.  Individual airplanes are quieter than at the beginning of the jet age, but there are far more of them.  Motorcycles may be individually quieter (with the exception of Harleys, who value their particular throbbing noise), but decades ago bikers would not have played music audible over highway-speed road noise.  Jackhammers are as load as before, while leaf-blowers are ubiquitous.

Cars, however, are quieter, and there’s something about this that we want to comment on.  Electric vehicles are almost noiseless (in the context of modern life), which can be unsettling when making our way through a parking lot.  It’s hybrids, however, that caught our attention.  We’ve noticed that, when the traffic light has changed, it’s common for hybrids to start their engines in order to move forward.  That means they were not idling at the light.  And that is strange.

When we were dealing with practical engineering, this is the way it was laid out for us.  A shaft turning in a bearing was, essentially, one cylinder inside another, with lubricating oil preventing metal-on-metal grinding when the shaft turned.  But when the shaft was stopped, oil was forced out of the interface and metal was in contact with metal.  Most of the friction, scraping and damage happened at the moment things started to turn, before the oil made a proper film between the cylinders.  So it made sense to stop the engine, turbine, axle or whatever as few times as possible.  It certainly made no sense to shut down the engine for stop-and-go driving.

Before we went on to other concerns we heard of suggestions on how to deal with the initial-lubrication problem, but never followed the discussion thereafter.  It must have been conquered; otherwise, stopping one’s engine until the light turned would be more than foolish.  Consider the implications: a major source of damage, degradation and loss of energy has simply disappeared.  This advance must have contributed significantly to the longevity of cars; in the mid-twentieth century one with 100,000 miles was a remarkable rarity, while nowadays those with twice that are common.  And yet, we’ve heard nothing of the details of this major advance in practical engineering.  It’s not our particular field, but we think something like this should figure more prominently in the list of technological advances.

What else has been going on to make life better, but has passed by unnoticed?