Corey Phelan

Period: 5

Pathway Project Summary

The period of 1910 to 1919 or The Teens as it is referred to, was a period that saw major
change. From July 28, 1914 to November 11, 1918 WWI was raging in Europe. The period saw
many technological advances. In 1911 a plane first landed on a ship. This led to the aircraft
carrier. In World War 1 the military concluded that machine guns didn't work very well and their
troops were being killed. The tank was originally designed so artillery could be transported to a
different placed at a faster rate and troops could have the kind of protection they needed. The
British army brought up the idea of a vehicle with armor plating able to get through enemy
trenches and crush barb wire. In 1914 the tank was tested, but it was not used until 1916 by the
British army. The military didn't want the design getting out so they convinced the workers they
were working on a water container for the British army. Since then the machine has been called a
tank.
The zipper was invented in 1913, it was created by Gideon Sundback and Whitecomb
Judson, but before it made its grand appearance in 1918, it was rejected many times. Inventor
after inventor tried working on it, and slowly it made its way into production. The first few
zippers usually wore out very quickly or they came apart easily, but after evolving for many
years it became the tough long lasting zipper we have today and they are still being advanced. A
personal favorite was the Oreo cookie. It was first made in 1912, by Nabisco. Ever since

1912 there have been many changes made to it. The Oreos name was first the "Oreo biscuit,"
then it came out the "Oreo sandwich" and finally the "Oreo cream sandwich." Its name was
changed many times, but each time the word "Oreo" was kept.
On August 21, 1911 there was one heist that was thought to be impossible, the stealing of
the Mona Lisa. It was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci in the early 1500s. The Mona Lisa was

Corey Phelan
Period: 5

stolen on a Monday, but the thievery was not discovered until Tuesday. The Louvre (famous art
museum in Paris) was blamed for not having a good security system. When the news got out,
people all over the world were outraged. Many believed it was just a hoax. It took two years for
the Paris Police to find the painting, but in 1918 they found it. Three Italian handymen spent the
night in an art-supply closet and in the morning while the museum was closed they stole the
painting. The painting was recovered from Italian waiter Vincenzo Peruggia's hotel room in
Florence. The suspect spent 14 months in jail.
Women's suffrage organizations started to spring up from 1916 through 1918 demanding
the right to vote. More and more protesters joined into the fight. After gaining president
Woodrow Wilsons support The 19th amendment was passed by Congress in 1919 and ratified in
1920 guaranteeing all women of the US the right to vote.
I made a website summarizing the major events and inventions of The Teens including
WWI and the technological advances it created, The passing of the 19th amendment giving
women the right to vote, and the Sherman Antitrust Act breaking up standard oil. I built a 3D
model of a WWI tank symbolizing the technological advances of the teens. I created a comic
strip satirizing Henry Fords invention of the assembly line.