Question from Harold G.:
Who figured out the ammonium nitrate instant ice packs first? Did they patent it?
-Harold G.
Albert A. Robbins applied for an application for chemical freezing packs on June 15, 1956. He received US Patent 2,898,744 on August 11, 1959. The patent was assigned to Kwik-Kold of America. Kwik-Kold brand instant ice packs are still manufactured and sold by Cardinal Health.
View the patent for the instant ice pack here.
On Sunday, April 3, Google celebrated the anniversary of the first ice cream sundae with one of its famous Google Doodles. But the invention of the sundae celebrated by Google is only one of the stories about how the ice cream treat came to exist. For years, there has been an ongoing debate about how and where the sundae was invented.
Google and their doodle celebrated the anniversary of the sundae on April 3. Folks in Ithaca, New York claim that on April 3, 1892, Chester Platt who owned the Platt & Colt’s drugstore, concocted the first ice cream sundae. Reverend John M. Scott visited the store for his usual dish of vanilla ice cream after church services on Sunday. Platt decided to liven up the vanilla ice cream with cherry syrup and top it with a cherry. Scott loved the ice cream and purposed that the treat be called a Cherry Sunday after the day it was created. On April 5, 1892, Platt placed an ad in the Ithaca Daily Journal for his new 10-cent ice cream specialty. Continue reading “A Cherry on Top – Invention of the Ice Cream Sundae”
Leonardo da Vinci is known first and foremost as painter. His work includes the most famous portrait of all time, the Mona Lisa. Da Vinci was also a scientist and an inventor. More of his time was spent studying science than painting. Years after his death, it became known
that he had made important discoveries in many fields including anatomy, engineering and technology. His discoveries were found in notebooks that contain more than 13,000
pages of drawings, notes and observations.
It seems that da Vinci had planned to publish a great book of knowledge but this never happened. Instead after his death, his notebooks were scattered and can now be found in the museum collections. Although these books were very hard to read with their mirror image writing, incomplete notes, and strange spellings, the many drawings in the books prove that da Vinci had ideas for many advancements that would not have even been possible in during his
lifetime. This ideas included a helicopter, tank and solar power among others.
Below are a few of the sketches for various inventions that were found in his notebooks.
Polio was once a disease feared each summer by parents and children living in cities throughout the world. Epidemics of the disease were reported during the summer season starting in 1910. The polio epidemic of the summer of 1952 was the worst in the history of the United States. About fifty-eight thousand cases were reported with 3,145 deaths and 21,269 children left with some level of paralysis. Luckily, research was being done to develop a vaccine for this children’s illness.
A project funded by the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (known today as the March of Dimes), an organization founded by FDR, led to the development of a Polio vaccine. Jonas Salk, an American medical researcher and virologist, went to work at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 1947. In 1948, he began a project funded by National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis to isolate the different types of the polio virus. With this project, Salk saw the opportunity to work on developing a vaccine against polio. Continue reading “Medical Advancement: Discovery of Polio Vaccine”
The first thermoplastic was exhibited in 1862 at the London International Exhibition. Parkesine was invented in 1855 in London by Alexander Parkes. Parkesine was an organic material made by dissolving cellulose nitrate in solvent. The material could supposedly do everything that rubber could do only it was cheaper. In 1866, Parkes formed the Parkesine Company to produce his plastic. It was not a commercial success though because it was expensive, easily cracked and highly flammable.
Celluloid, the first commercially successful industrial plastic, was invented for a surprising reason. Billiards had become a very popular game in the late part of the 19th century. At the time, billiard balls were produced from ivory and thousand of elephant were being killed to produce the game. A shortage of ivory was threatening the business of billiard ball makers, Phelan & Collander, so they offered a $10,000 reward for a substitute material. Continue reading “Billiards Anyone? The Invention of Man-made Plastic”
Question from Julie S.:
Were anti-lock brakes really made for airplanes first? If so, who got the idea to put them on cars & when was it first done successfully (for consumers to use)?
Thanks, Geek!
-Julie
Hello Julie.
Yes, the first anti-lock brakes were made for airplanes. They were developed for use in planes by a French airplane and automobile builder, Gabriel Voisin, in 1929.
In 1958, a motorcycle was used to test a version of anti-lock brakes. The test was a success and showed that the new brakes reduced stopping distances on slippery surfaces and stop skidding. But the motorcycle company saw no future in anti-lock brakes and did not invest in the idea.
In the 1960s, completely mechanical brakes were used in racecars and an experimental all wheel-drive Ford. The mechanical system was very expensive and not reliable.
In 1971, a computerized system was introduced. Chrysler began producing its Imperial brand automobile with a computerized, three-channel, four-sensor all-wheel ABS named “Sure Brakes.” The same year General Motors offered the “Trackmaster” rear-wheel only ABS as an option on their rear-wheel drive Cadillacs.
In 1978, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class were produced with a new electronic 4-wheel multi-channel anti-lock brake system. These brakes were very similar to the anti-lock brakes found in modern cars.
On March 24, 1927, two cousins, Edward Knabusch and Edwin Shoemaker, left their steady, secure employment to start a furniture company. Knabusch was a woodworker and Shoemaker was a farmer. Shoemaker became interested in woodworking after learning about all of tools Knabusch used. They began building furniture in Knabusch’s father’s garage for their new company, the Kna-Shoe Manufacturing Company. With Shoemaker’s building talent and Knabusch marketing skills, the company began to grow.
The cousins changed the name of the company to Floral City Furniture. Borrowing money from the community, a manufacturing plant was built. It was here that the owners began designing novelty furniture. One of their first designs was for a telephone stand with a build-in seat. The product was very popular but another company soon started copying and selling the piece. Another design was a chair built for “nature’s way of relaxing.” It was an outdoor wooden chair with a reclining mechanism shaped to the contour of a person’s body. The first prototype for this chair was designed from orange crates. Continue reading “Television Viewing Just Got Better: Invention of the La-Z-Boy”
Who discovered anesthesia? Surely, no one man can take the full credit. But some have tried. The history of anesthesia is a tangled mess full of men who wanted the recognition and riches for its discovery.
Horace Wells first witnessed the effects of laughing gas in 1844 when it was given to him by a member of a traveling circus. He would then become the first patient to be operated on under anesthesia. He had a tooth pulled by an associate. He later began using the gas on his own dental patients. He never attempted to patent the procedure because he believed the pain relief should be available to all.
In 1845, Wells gave a demonstration of the use of nitrous oxide during a tooth extraction to students at Massachusetts General Hospital. Unfortunately, the patient made a sound which was thought to be from pain. The procedure was deemed a failure and the students left the surgery chanting “Humbug! Humbug!” Wells was humiliated. Continue reading “Invention of Anesthesia Dispute”
Not all new discoveries are made by adults. It is surprising the inventions that have been developed by kids. A new way to keep your ears warm, delicious summer treats, an entertaining jumping contraption and a writing system for the blind were all invented by children.
Earmuffs
Chester Greenwood was an avid ice skater who lived in bitterly cold Maine. He attempted to keep his ears warm while skating using a scarf. But the bulky and itchy scarf he wrapped around his ears was unsuccessful. He needed to find a better way to stay warm while skating. At the age of 15, he made two circular hoops from wire and asked his grandmother to sew beaver fur and velvet on them. He held his two fur covered loops together with a steel band that created a headband. His new contraption was more much successful in keeping his ears warm.
This simple, easy to make invention became an instant hit. Everyone wanted a pair of Greenwood’s Ear Protectors. On March 13, 1877, at the age of 18, Greenwood received U.S. Patent #188,292 for An Improvement in Ear Mufflers. He established a factory in West Farmington which he called the Shop. In 1883, his twenty employees were producing 30,000 muffs a year. In 1936, that number had reached 400,000 muffs. Continue reading “Young Inventors: Earmuff, Popsicle, Trampoline, Braille”
As early as 1791, trademark protection was being requested. A group of Boston sailcloth makers petitioned congress for the ability to register their marks. The problem was given to the Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson. He decided:
That it would, in my opinion, contribute to fidelity in the execution of manufacturing, to secure every manufactory, an exclusive right to some mark on its ware, proper to itself.
That it will, therefore, be reasonable for the general government to provide in this behalf by law for those cases of manufacture generally, and those only which relate to commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States, and with Indian tribes.
Thomas Jefferson
December 9, 1791
