Shows A - Z : How's That Work? : Garage-Door Opener, Circuit Breaker, Trash Compactor : Home & Garden Television

Garage-Door Opener, Circuit Breaker, Trash Compactor
The first garage doors were modeled after the doors on horse stables. These big heavy doors swung open like the doors on a house. By the 1980s, a drive screw mechanism replaced the chain on most openers. Without having to rely on the weakest link in the chain to support the weight of the door, these systems became safer and more reliable. Next, the invention of electricity in the late 1800s brought with it great convenience, but also new household dangers. Early wiring of appliances often failed and became a fire danger. If too much electricity flowed through a fuse, it simply broke, which stopped the electricity before it became dangerous. Thus the birth of the circuit breaker. Finally, in the early stages of the 20th century, industries were charged for their garbage removal by volume. They quickly realized that by compressing their waste, they'd save money. The compactors that were introduced to homes in the 1970s replaced the industrial-size hydraulics with a smaller, more efficient electric motor that used gears to drive a metal plate into the trash.

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