Who invented the rubber band?
Stephen Perry, of the rubber manufacturing firm of Messrs. Perry & Co., patented his design for vulcanized rubber bands on March 17, 1845.
Then, as now, the bands were designed to secure “papers, letters, etc.”
Stephen Perry, of the rubber manufacturing firm of Messrs. Perry & Co., patented his design for vulcanized rubber bands on March 17, 1845.
Then, as now, the bands were designed to secure “papers, letters, etc.”
According to George Eastman, founder of Eastman Kodak, the name is his invention: “I knew a trade name must be short, vigorous, incapable of being misspelled . . . and in order to satisfy trademark laws, it must mean nothing. . . . The letter k had been a favorite with me, it seemed a…
In the Middle Ages, people stored money in a “pygg jar,” made of a clay called pygg. By the eighteenth century in England, the name and shape of the receptacle had evolved to “pig bank”, and from there to piggy bank.
The practice of gyrating with hoops made of grapevines originated in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. The name hula, however, was not used until the 1700s, when British and American missionaries returned home with tales of island hoop-dancers. The modern plastic Hula-Hoop was developed in the 1950s by Richard P. Knerr and Arthur K. (“Spud”)…
Scottish engineer John Baird built a working color television in 1928. But it was Hungarian-American inventor Peter Carl Goldmark who, in 1940, developed the first color-television system to be used commercially. Goldmark is also remembered for inventing the 33 1/3 RPM long-playing record in 1948.
New York socialite Mary Phelps Jacobs patented the first brassiere in 1914. She had devised it for her own use as an alternative to the corset, which showed under her sheer gown. The first bra was made from ribbon and handkerchiefs.
Aspirin got its name in parts. The a came from the first letter of the product’s scientific name, acetylsalicylic acid. The spir came from Spiraea ulmaria, the meadowsweet plant, which was the original source of the compound. The in was a common suffix for medications in the late nineteenth century, when aspirin was first marketed.