A Brief History On February 26, 1903, Michael Joseph Owens was granted a patent for a glass blowing machine, one of five inventions he patented for the mass production of glass objects such as light bulbs and bottles. Digging Deeper Owens made the production of glass bottles 80% cheaper and glass bulbs 90% cheaper than hand made objects. His inventions revolutionized the glass industry and helped spur the rapid development of the 20th Century industrial modernization. Owens worked for glass pioneer, Edward Libbey, in Ohio, making light bulbs for Edison General Electric. In 1919, Owens joined Libbey in creating the Owens…
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A Brief History On February 6, 1959, an engineer at Texas Instruments, Jack Kilby, filed for the first patent for the “integrated circuit,” a small piece of silicon with many circuits called MOSFETs integrated on it, a device we know as the “microchip.” Digging Deeper Incredibly smaller, faster, and cheaper than the circuits that came before the microchip, these little devices have become the backbone of the electronics industry and are found in all sorts of computers, mobile phones, automobiles, industrial machines, and home appliances. The Metal-Oxide-Silicon that makes up the base material for the microchip is a semi-conductor and…
A Brief History On January 11, 1569, the first documented example of a lottery in England took place. Although 1569 seems like a long time ago, lotteries actually go back much, much farther! Digging Deeper The first evidence of any sort of government run lottery for money game takes us back to the Chinese Han Dynasty somewhere between 205 and 187 BC. This money raising scheme was for the purpose of financing public works, including The Great Wall of China. Lotteries first showed up in Europe in the Roman Empire, first in private parties and later under Emperor Augustus as…
A Brief History On January 8, 1835, President Andrew Jackson saw fit to celebrate the rarest of events in American history, the only time the US has ever had a zero balance for a National Debt. This rare and wonderful situation lasted until 1837, never to be seen again. Digging Deeper Today, we routinely talk about our national debt, which is about $31.5 Trillion at this time. Our spending for Fiscal Year 2023 has exceeded our tax revenues by about $336 billion, adding that amount to our national debt. The last time the US had a balanced budget, where spending…
A Brief History On January 4, 2010, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai opened in the United Arab Emirates, taking top honors as the World’s Tallest Building, an honor it still holds. Today, we take a look at some of the tallest man-made structures on the Earth. Digging Deeper Burj Khalifa skyscraper, United Arab Emirates, 2717 feet high Petronius Oil Platform, United States, 2100 feet high Tokyo Skytree broadcast tower, Japan, 2080 feet high KVLY-TV antenna mast, United States, 2063 feet high Canton Tower observational tower, China, 1982 feet high Abraj Al Bait skyscraper, Saudi Arabia, 1972 feet high Bullwinkle oil…