Technology & Engineering

Decorated with a breathtaking landscape and a treasured collection of diversely styled bridges, the Merritt Parkway runs thirty-seven and a half miles through Fairfield County.

From its complicated beginnings to the present, authors Laurie Heiss and Jill Smyth navigate the hard-fought yet picturesque path of this beloved road. Meet the bridge artist, the landscapers, the politicians and the activists whose involvement in the Merritt transformed Fairfield County from farms and country estates to one of the wealthiest counties in the nation. With the dedication of preservationists and conservationists, the Merritt Parkway today remains both functional and beautiful, holding a unique place in the heart of Connecticut's drivers.

Throughout its history, Connecticut has frequently led all states in the average number of U.S. patents awarded per person. The list of products invented there is stunning--from the lollipop, cupcake and Frisbee to the dirigible, helicopter and submarine. The workplace improved with tape measures, portable typewriters, postage meters and elevators. American consumers benefited from sewing machines, diapers, ironing boards, vacuum cleaners, can openers, lawn mowers and flat-bottomed paper bags. Pioneering surgeon William Beaumont and Nobel Prize winner Dr. Barbara McClintock both hail from the Nutmeg State. Join local author Peter Hubbard as he reveals Connecticut's role in the invention of the Hubble Space Telescope, vaccines, the Internet and much more.

Tracing its roots to 1796, the Bridgeport Fire Department protects Connecticut's largest city. Bridgeport's first step toward independence occured when the Corporation of Newfield was formed in 1797 for the express purpose of forming a fire company. Through the years, the firefighters have continued to play a significant role in Bridgeport's history. Bridgeport's fire department has grown, changed, and shared in its city's triumphs, and tragedies. The purchase of the steam-powered D.H. Sterling fire engine triggered an oftentimes bitter contest between adherents of the traditional muscle-powered fire engine and new mechanical machines. The contest resulted in the formation of the present career fire department in 1872. Bridgeport Firefighters traces the innovations, incidents, and personalities through the hand-drawn, horse-drawn, and motor-driven eras up to the twentieth century.

Over 200 photographs help paint the picture of the career of Igor I. Sikorsky, one of the most talented and versatile aeronautical pioneers in history.

This book traces the history of Sikorsky aviation and its founder, Igor I. Sikorsky, whose career spanned over 60 years and was highlighted by three major achievements: the creation of the world's first four-engine airliner, the record-breaking Clipper Ships, with which Pan American Airways explored transpacific and transatlantic airline service, and the development of the helicopter. Sikorsky then led his engineers out of the piston-engine era and into the jet age with the design and development of some of the most widely used turbine-powered helicopters in aviation history. Hundreds of photographs, many from the Sikorsky family archives, document the genius of Sikorsky's intuitive engineering, including his lifelong interest in the challenge of the helicopter, which many historians consider to be his crowning achievement.

The history of the New Haven Fire Department dates back to December 29, 1789, when Mayor Roger Sherman, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, formed the volunteer system. The advent of steam fire engines in 1862 marked the end of the volunteer system and the beginning of the full-time paid department, giving New Haven the distinction of having the first professional fire department in Connecticut. New Haven has a long and proud history of tradition in its fire service. Since 1862 there have been only fifteen different chiefs heading the department. New Haven Firefighters tells the story from the days of steamers to the era of the tower ladder.

The Hartford area has a rich history of firefighting, beginning with the bucket brigades of early colonial history. As devastating blazes razed many key buildings and entire neighborhoods, these small teams developed into large volunteer groups. The city finally realized that paid fire departments were needed, and the modern firefighting world bloomed with technological advances in equipment and procedures. The evolution of these brave firefighting groups is richly chronicled in Greater Hartford Firefighting.

In 1845, a series of disastrous fires nearly crippled the economy of Bristol. Earlier in the century, the community had become one of the leading clock producers in the world, and this astounding success spawned many other local businesses. As the factories multiplied, so did the need for fire protection; unfortunately, when the whirlwind of fires struck, Bristol was unprepared and suffered heavy losses. Yet, it was not until eight years later that three prominent businessmen took the first steps toward organizing a fire company: in September 1853, a firehouse was built on School Street and it was equipped with a used hand pump and five hundred feet of leather hose. It became Bristol Engine and Hose Company No.1.

With some two hundred stunning images, Bristol Firefighting relives the fire department's proud history over the past one hundred fifty years, as the old hand pump gave way to an 1881 Amoskeag steamer drawn by horses, which in turn moved aside in the early 1900s for a Pope-Hartford, a motorized auto chemical truck, which changed firefighting forever. Years later, Bristol was recognized throughout the country for owning the first American La France foam pumper, appropriately known as the Bristol Model. Bristol Firefighting recalls firsthand accounts of many infamous fires, told through the eyes of the local people who witnessed them. Most dramatically, it relates the stories of heroism, sacrifice, and bravery displayed by firefighters in their unending desire to serve and protect their community.

Incorporated in 1786, the town of Hamden covers nearly 33 square miles immediately north of New Haven, Connecticut. Despite significant industrial growth in the early 19th century and several devastating fires, Hamden had no organized firefighting forces until its first volunteer fire company was organized in 1896. By 1925, the handful of independent volunteer fire companies that followed became the Hamden Fire Department. A predominantly volunteer force before World War II, the department grew to 55 career members by 1950 and to 124 by the mid-1980s. The ascendency of emergency medical services and, more recently, a concern for homeland security have greatly expanded the department's role in public safety. Although 1990s municipal austerity measures reduced department size by 20 percent, with a population today exceeding 60,000, fire department responses have increased to more than 10,000 calls annually, of which 74 percent are for EMS.

The New London Fire Department was born in 1767 when Nathaniel Shaw Jr. presented the city with its first fire engine. Since then, New London has had a successful history of emergency medical service, heroic assistance during natural disasters, and fantastic 0firefighting. The city's most notorious fire occurred on September 6, 1781. Under the command of the infamous traitor and New London County native, Gen. Benedict Arnold, British troops set New London ablaze. A great deal of life and property was lost. At a 1786 town meeting, residents began the first regular fire company, which eventually evolved into eight volunteer companies. New London Firefighting proudly chronicles its initial humble volunteer system up to today's technologically advanced apparatus and career personnel.

Beginning in 1769, Norwich inhabitants began fire protection with the use of water buckets and a hand-actuated piston pump named the Torrent. In the early 1800s, the need for an organized fire service paved the way for the first fire companies of the downtown area. A period of rapid growth followed, and the Norwich Fire Department absorbed the Greeneville Fire Department under one title and one chief. Today the career firefighters of the Norwich Fire Department continue to build upon its rich and historic tradition of service to the City Consolidated District. Norwich Firefighting is a pictorial tribute to this honorable department.