A Brief History Earlier today, we noted how the 50 millionth Ford automobile rolled off the assembly line, a shiny new Thunderbird! Nevertheless, not all automotive ideas have been winners… Digging Deeper 10. Bricklin (1974-1976) The only car ever with gull wing doors that opened and closed electrically looked good, but was not good. Only 2,854 of the Canadian cars were built, costing the province of New Brunswick $23 million of their investment. Built with either an AMC or Ford V-8, the Bricklin had no ashtrays, which made it ahead of its time for sure! 9. Cadillac Cimmaron (1982-1988) Based…
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A Brief History On March 14, 1794, American inventor Eli Whitney patented his greatest invention. Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find the young United States evolving away from a slave economy, with some slave owners giving their slaves away! Suddenly, with Whitney’s invention of the “cotton gin,” a machine made to separate cotton seeds from cotton balls much more quickly and efficiently than could be done by hand, cotton became a much more profitable crop. Of course, with cotton becoming the quick way to wealth for farmers, much farmland was turned over to growing cotton, and consequently many workers were…
A Brief History On March 5, 1836, Samuel Colt formed Patent Arms Manufacturing, the forerunner of Colt’s Firearms Manufacturing Company which in turn became today’s Colt’s Manufacturing Company. (For a companion list for this article, please see our list of “The Top 10 Famous Pistols.”) Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find the reason for the founding of this company was the invention and patenting of the revolver, a pistol with a revolving cylinder that can fire six times in rapid succession (originally five times, later changed to 6) compared to the single shot pistols of the time. Colt’s Paterson revolver,…
A Brief History On March 2, 1949, The Old Lamplighter became a memory and a song, but not an occupation, as automatic street lights started to shine, adding to the list in our previous article, “Famous Inventions by Ohioans”! Today we discuss some of the milestones in the history of automotive and street lighting. Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find on this day, the first automatic street lights went into operation in New Milford, Connecticut. Prior to this development, electric street lamps, not to be confused with traffic control lights, had to be turned on manually or by timer, regardless…
A Brief History On February 21, 1947, a new era in photography began with the demonstration of the first “instant” photos! Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find inventor Edwin Land showing off his new Polaroid Land Camera to an adoring public. Able to take a picture and develop it right there in your hand in a minute or so was a great advance over having to send exposed film to a photo lab or laboriously developing the film in your own darkroom. The privacy of taking photos that could be developed away from the prying eyes of lab techs was another buyers’…