A Brief History On May 5, 1809, Mary Kies became the first woman granted a US patent. She had invented a process for weaving straw with silk and thread. Over the years women have showed ingenuity and we would like to tell you about 10 of them. Honorary Mention: Eve, The Headache, Day 6. Not only did she invent how to get one, but how to give one as well!) Digging Deeper 10. Mellitta Bentz, Paper Coffee Filter (1908). Ever notice the name brand Mellitta on coffee filters in the store? Now you know where it came from. 9. Marie…
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A Brief History Earlier today, we showcased an article on the first Automatic Street Light, but did you know that this invention was just one of many invented by brilliant Ohioans? So, let us list 10 famous inventions by Ohioans. Digging Deeper 10. Safety Hood type Gas Mask (1912) Garett Morgan was born in Kentucky of former slaves, but lived in Ohio after age 14. His device saved many lives of firefighters and miners, and was the basis for the gas masks of World War I. He also invented hair care products and a successful traffic control signal. Because of…
A Brief History On February 5, 1909, New Yorker Leo Baekeland presented his invention of Bakelite, the first synthetic plastic, to the American Chemical Society. Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find the Belgian-born Baekeland trying to invent a replacement for shellac, a product made by processing lac insects. Shellac was used for many diverse purposes, such as dye for clothing, make-up and a variety of coatings such as varnish and lacquer paint. Of the several different lac insect species, thousands and thousands were required to harvest enough of the lac resin to produce even a small amount of shellac, making…
A Brief History On January 9, 1839, the first practical photographic process (Daguerreotype) was revealed by the French Academy of Sciences. Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find many people had been working on the development of practical photography, but Daguerre, a French chemist, was the first to produce a process that was portable, not the size of an entire room, and that resulted in images of reasonable quality. One of the great discoveries by Daguerre was the ability to use paper coated with concoctions containing silver and other chemicals instead of the image being produced on a metal plate. That…
A Brief History On October 15, 1863, The H. L. Hunley, a Confederate (the South!) submarine, sank during a test, killing its inventor and namesake, Horace L. Hunley. Digging Deeper The Hunley was NOT the first submarine ever invented and certainly not the first one ever used for military purposes. The first military submersible was most likely the Turtle invented by David Bushnell in 1775 for use in the American Revolutionary War. Robert Fulton, another American inventor, invented the leaky Nautilus in 1800 and thus tried unsuccessfully to entice First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte of France to make use of the…
