Caroline Shawk, the inventor of modern butter sculpture, couldn’t afford marble, so she started making butter sculptures to raise money at local fairs. Her butter sculpture became a runaway hit at Centennial exhibition, which allowed her to open her own studio and work with marble.
The process of dry cleaning…
The process of dry cleaning was invented in 1821 by an African American business owner named Thomas Jennings. He was one of the first African Americans to be granted a patent. He had to use the proceeds from his invention to buy his wife and children out of slavery.
Charles Darwin was one…
Charles Darwin was one of the first people to come up with the idea of putting wheels on his office chair, so that he could work faster.
One evening, while rushing…
One evening, while rushing for dinner after a long day at the lab, Constantin Fahlberg, a chemist at Johns Hopkins, forgot to wash his hands that had traces of benzoic sulfimide. This compound made his dinner taste sweet, and that’s how he discovered the artificial sweetener Saccharin.
The conservationist, John Muir…
The conservationist, John Muir, was an avid inventor. He hooked up an alarm clock to his custom bed that would throw him onto the floor to ensure he got up on time.
Even though Benjamin Franklin…
Even though Benjamin Franklin is credited with many popular inventions, he never patented or copyrighted any of them. He believed that they should be given freely and that claiming ownership would only cause trouble and “sour one’s Temper and disturb one’s Quiet.”
In 1945, a school dropout…
In 1945, a school dropout and self-taught electrical engineer named Percy Spencer was working at Ratheon. He stepped in front of a magnetron, a device that powers radars. He noticed a chocolate bar in his pocket had melted. Later that year, he filed a patent for the first microwave oven.
The inventors of Hot Wheels…
The inventors of Hot Wheels (Elliot Handler) and the Barbie dolls (Ruth Handler) were married for over two decades before either toy was invented. Barbie and Ken were named after their children. 00
In the 1980s, Frances Gabe built…
In the 1980s, Frances Gabe built and patented the world’s only self-cleaning home. The patent contained 68 inventions. She died in obscurity last year at 101 years old. 00
One of Thomas Edison’s oddest inventions was…
One of Thomas Edison’s oddest inventions was a voice-driven sewing machine operated by blowing into a mouthpiece. It never caught on. 10