Question: Encyclopedia Americana is one of the largest general encyclopedias in the English language. Following the acquisition of Grolier in 2000, the encyclopedia has been produced by Scholastic.

The encyclopedia has more than 45,000 articles, most of them more than 500 words and many running to considerable length (the "United States" article is over 300,000 words). The work's coverage of American and Canadian geography and history has been a traditional strength. Written by 6,500 contributors, the "Encyclopedia Americana" includes over 9,000 bibliographies, 150,000 cross-references, 1,000+ tables, 1,200 maps, and almost 4,500 black-and-white line art and color images. It also has 680 factboxes. Most articles are signed by their contributors.

Long available as a 30-volume print set, the "Encyclopedia Americana" is now marketed as an online encyclopedia requiring a subscription. In March 2008, Scholastic said that print sales remained good but that the company was still deciding on the future of the print edition. The company did not produce an edition in 2007, a change from its previous approach of releasing a revised print edition each year. The most recent print edition of the "Encyclopedia Americana" was published in 2006.

The online version of the "Encyclopedia Americana", first introduced in 1997, continues to be updated and sold. This work, like the print set from which it is derived, is designed for high school and first-year college students along with public library users. It is available to libraries as one of the options in the Grolier Online reference service, which also includes the "Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia", intended for middle and high school students, and "The New Book of Knowledge", an encyclopedia for elementary and middle school students. Grolier Online is not available to individual subscribers. 1. When was the online version of the encyclopedia put out?
2. Is it still updated?
3. What kind of students is it designed for?
4. And who else?
5. What is made for middle and high school kids?
6. What is designed for elementary students?
7. Is the online service available to individuals?
8. What is the biggest encyclopedia in the English language?
9. Who has produced it after the year 2000?
10. After they acquired what?
11. How many articles are in the books?
12. How many words are most?
13. How long is the United States article?
14. Is geography a strength for the encyclopedias?
15. What else is a strong point?
16. How many bibliographies are there?
17. In what year was a print edition published?
18. How many cross-references were there?
19. How many factboxes are there?
20. How many books were in a typical print edition? Provide a numbered list of answers.
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A numbered of answers: 1. 1997
2. Yes.
3. high school and first-year college
4. public library users
5. Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia
6. The New Book of Knowledge
7. No.
8. Encyclopedia Americana
9. Scholastic
10. Grolier
11. 45,000
12. more than 500
13. over 300,000 words
14. YEs
15. history
16. over 9,000
17. 2006
18. 150,000
19. 680
20. 30

Question: Humans have sewn by hand for thousands of years. It was said that the first thread was made from animal muscle and sinew . And the earliest needles were made from bones. Since those early days, many people have been involved in the process of developing a machine that could do the same thing more quickly and with greater efficiency.

Charles Wiesenthal, who was born in Germany, designed and received a patent on a double-pointed needle that eliminated the need to turn the needle around with each stitch in England in 1755. Other inventors of that time tried to develop a functional sewing machine, but each design had at least one serious imperfection.

Frenchman Barthelemy Thimonnier finally engineered a machine that really worked. However, he was nearly killed by a group of angry tailors when they burned down his garment factory. They feared that they would lose their jobs to the machine.

American inventor Elias Howe, born on July 9, 1819, was awarded a patent for a method of sewing that used thread from two different sources. Howe's machine had a needle with an eye at the point, and it used the two threads to make a special stitch called a lockstitch. However, Howe faced difficulty in finding buyers for his machines in America. In frustration, he traveled to England to try to sell his invention there. When he finally returned home, he found that dozens of manufacturers were adapting his discovery for use in their own sewing machines.

Isaac Singer, another American inventor, was also a manufacturer who made improvements to the design of sewing machines. He invented an up-and-down-motion mechanism that replaced the side-to-side machines. He also developed a foot treadle to power his machine. This improvement left the sewer's hands free. Undoubtedly, it was a huge improvement of the hand-cranked machine of the past. Soon the Singer sewing machine achieved more fame than the others for it was more practical. It could be adapted to home use and it could be bought on hire-purchase. The Singer sewing machine became the first home appliance, and the Singer company became one of the first American multinationals.

However, Singer used the same method to create a lockstitch that Howe had already patented. As a result, Howe accused him of patent infringement . Of course, Elias Howe won the court case, and Singer was ordered to pay Howe royalties . In the end, Howe became a millionaire, not by manufacturing the sewing machine, but by receiving royalty payments for his invention. 1. What was Isaac Singer's occupation?
2. What product did he improve upon?
3. And who was Elias Howe?
4. When was his birthdate?
5. What do these two men have in common regarding their nationality?
6. Was sewing a new or old practice?
7. For how long has it been happening?
8. And how did they do it?
9. What was different about what these inventors were creating?
10. Who ended up in a legal battle?
11. What was the reason? Provide a numbered list of answers.
****
A numbered of answers:
1. inventor
2. sewing machines
3. an inventor
4. July 9, 1819
5. Both are from America
6. old
7. thousands of years
8. used bones
9. tried to make a sewing machine
10. Singer and Howe
11. Singer used the same method to create a lockstitch that Howe had already patented