August 23, 1609 - Galileo demonstrated the telescope.

May 4, 1715 - A French manufacturer debuted the first folding umbrella.

November 23, 1852 - The first of four red cast iron free-standing British pillar boxes was installed at Jersey's capital, St. Helier upon recommendation by Anthony Trollope, then a a Surveyor's Clerk; 1853 - first pillar box on the English mainland was installed in Carlisle; April 11, 1855 - six installed in London.

May 19, 1857 - William Francis Channing (Boston) and Moses G. Farmer (Salem, MA) received first U. S. patent for an "electromagnetic fire alarm telegraph for cities"; consisted of a circuit between a signal station, central station and alarm station, designed to give a local or general alarm in a town or city; June 1851 - city of Boston adopted the system, spent $10,000 to test the device; April 28, 1852 - began operation.

March 9, 1858 - Albert Potts, of Philadelphia, PA, received a patent for a "Letter Box" (a "Mode of Attaching Metallic Letter-Boxes to Lamp-Posts"; first street mailbox, August 1858 - boxes found along streets of Boston and New York City; had central hole for shaft of a lamp post, lids covering drop hole to exclude weather, sight hole so a carrier could see if any letters had been deposited, small door secured with a lock for the carrier to empty the box.

February 10, 1863 - Alanson Crane, of Fortress Monroe, VA, received a patent for a "Fire Extinguisher" (a "new and Improved Apparatus for Extinguishing Fires in Buildings, etc.".

March 27, 1866 - Andrew Rankin, of New York, NY, received a patent for a "Urinal" ("new and Useful Improvements in Urinals").

May 26, 1872 - Black American inventor, Thomas J. Martin,  of Dowagiac, MI, received a patent for a "Fire Extinguisher"; described installing piping and pumps in dwellings, mills, factories, or cities, then used for warming, ventilating, washing buildings, washing pavements, sprinkling streets. water jet would spread by the concave underside of the globe to spray an annular sheet or spray and wet a large surface.

September 17, 1872 - Phillip W. Pratt, of Abington, MA, received patent for an "Improvement in Fire-Extinguishers" (a "new and Useful Automatic Fire-Extinguisher"); automatic sprinkler system for extinguishing fires; operated by means of a valve to which cords and fuses were attached; cords held the valve closed with a spring-loaded lever. In case of a fire, when the fuses ignited, the cords burned, and the valve opened; released a stream of water which   flowed through overhead, rapidly revolving pivoted pipes; threw  water all over ceiling, walls and floor.

August 11, 1874 - Harry S. Parmelee, of New Haven, Connecticut, received a patent for an "Improvement in Fire-Extinguishers" ("attachment to distributing-pipes in buildings for extinguishing fires, the construction being such that the heat which may be generated in the apartment will automatically open the valve and allow the discharge of water"); sprinkler head.

May 10, 1876 - First use of an electric turnstile with ratchet in the U.S. happened in Philadelphia, PA.

May 7, 1878 - Joseph R. Winters, a black American inventor from Chambersburg, PA, received a patent for a "Fire Escape Ladder" ("improved ladder-truck and fire-escape; series of ladder-sections forming a folding ladder for the escape of any persons in the upper stories of the building".

September 11, 1883 - James G. Cutler, of Rochester, NY, received a patent for a "Letter-Box Connection" ("to enable persons upon the different floors of a building to deliver letters and other matter to be mailed into a letter-box other receptacle on the lower floor without the necessity of descending thereto"); mail chute.

June 27, 1978 - The first pen with truly erasable ink, the Gillette Eraser Mate, was invented.

March 12, 1996 - Michael A. Vogt, of Salem, OR, received a patent for a "Mail Box Signaling Device"  ("to indicate when mail has arrived").

(Electric Light), Robert Friedel & Paul Israel with Bernard S. Finn (1986). Edison's Electric Light: Biography of an Invention. (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 263 p.). Historian (University of Maryland). Edison, Thomas A. (Thomas Alva), 1847-1931; Incandescent lamps.

(Glass), Lionel M. Angus-Butterworth (1948). The Manufacture of Glass. (New York, NY: Pitman Pub. Corp., 274 p.). Glass manufacture; Glass manufacture--History.

(Spices), Wolfgang Schivelbusch; translated from the German by David Jacobson (1992). Tastes of Paradise: A Social History of Spices, Stimulants and Intoxicants. (New York, NY: Pantheon, 236 p.). Drinking customs; Drug abuse; Spices; Manners and customs.

(Telephone), Claude S. Fischer (1992). America Calling: A Social History of the Telephone to 1940. (Berkeley CA: University of California Press, 424 p.). Telephone--Social aspects--United States--History.

(Tobacco), J. G. (1993). Tobacco in History: The Cultures of Dependence. (New York, NY: Routledge, 280 p.). Tobacco--History; Tobacco--Social aspects; Smoking--History.

Paola Antonelli (2003). Objects of Design, from the Museum of Modern Art. (New York, NY: Museum of Modern Art, 288 p.). Curator, Department of Architecture and Design (Museum of Modern Art). Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.)--Catalogs; Design--History--20th century--Catalogs; Design, Industrial--History--20th century--Catalogs; Design--New York (State)--New York--Catalogs.

Leah Hager Cohen (1997). Glass, Paper, Beans: Revelations on the Nature and Value of Ordinary Things. (New York, NY: Doubleday/Currency, 299 p.). Material culture; Commercial products--Social aspects; Commercial products--History; Fetishism.

Scott Cohen (1979). Meet the Makers: The People Behind the Product. (New York, NY: St. Martin's Press, 221 p.). Businesspeople--United States--Interviews; Businesswomen--United States--Interviews.

Carroll M. Gantz (2005). Design Chronicles: Significant Mass-Produced Designs of the 20th Century. (Atglen, PA: Schiffer Pub., 256 p.). Former Professor and Head of the Design Department (Carnegie Mellon University). Design--History--20th century; Design, Industrial--History--20th century. 

Ethlie Ann Vare, Greg Ptacek (2002). Patently Female: From AZT to TV Dinners: Stories of Women Inventors and Their Breakthrough Ideas. (New York, NY: Wiley, 220 p.). Women inventors; Women inventors--United States--Biography.

 __________________________________________________________

Business History Links

Fountain Pen Early History               http://www.penlovers.com/res_history.htm                                                 PenLovers is pleased to add this history of the fountain pen compiled from several sources, principally the out-of-print book, "Western Writing Instruments" by Michael Finlay.

Grasse's Museums: International Perfume Museum http://www.museesdegrasse.com/MIP/fla_ang/MIP_accueil.shtml  "Inaugurated in 1989 at Grasse [France], 'the cradle of traditional perfumery,' the International Perfume Museum's exceptional collections retrace the history of perfumes, and also that of soap, and make-up and cosmetics, over 4,000 years." The site features information about raw perfume materials and the perfume-making process, a virtual visit to a perfume factory, a history of perfume (with images of perfume bottles), historic cosmetic advertisements, and more. In French, Spanish, and English. Subjects: Perfumes; Toilet preparations; Cosmetics; Museums.

History of Chap Stick                                   http://www.kevdo.com/lipbalm/chapstick.html

History of Pepto-Bismol                                                                 http://www.pepto-bismol.com/history.htm    

How Products Are Made                           http://www.madehow.com/index.html                                                                    For a wide variety of products -- chewing gum, refrigerators, shaving cream, fireworks, frisbees, baby carriers, Braille publications, you name it -- site tells you about the history of the product, the raw materials, and the manufacturing process.

Jell-O Museum                                                                    http://www.jellomuseum.com/                                                                                     The LeRoy Historical Society, located at 23 E Main St. in Le Roy (NY) which is just in FRONT of the Jell-O Museum, has created this site to answer many of your questions about Jell-O and the Jell-O Gallery.

The Paper Clip                                    http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi769.htm http://www.acco.com/accobrands/about/history.jsp 

Spam Museum                                       http://media.hormel.com/templates/knowledge/ knowledge.asp?id=9&catitemid=16                                                                      Austin, Minnesota a 16,500 square-foot SPAM Museum opened in September 2001; Museum visitors will be welcomed to the world of SPAM Family of Products with a variety of interactive and educational games, fun exhibits and remarkable video presentations.

The Stapler                          http://www.acco.com/accobrands/about/history.jsp  

Strange New Products                               http://www.strangenewproducts.com                                                                About stuff that is totally revolutionary, really weird, corny, ingenious, or completely useless.

The Toaster Museum Foundation http://www.toaster.org/                                                                               Devoted to educating, entertaining, and enlightening visitors about the history and cultural importance of the bread toaster.