Category Archives: Inventions

Domestic Power Plug

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Domestic Power Plug

Plug in and relax with the domestic power plug.

  • Domestic power plugs are an invention used to connect an external device to an electrical power source.
  • ‘Domestic power plugs’ are also known as ‘AC power plugs’, ‘plugs’, ‘power plugs’, ‘electrical plugs’, ‘power connectors’ and ‘plug tops’.
  • Two to three pins, commonly made of brass or other conducting material, are typically found on domestic power plugs, which are inserted into specific holes in a socket and when the plug is attached to an appliance, it completes an electrical circuit.
  • Domestic power plugs were invented in the 1880s, and T.T Smith of England is said to have invented one of the first plugs in 1883.
  • Domestic power plugs were invented as a response to the dangerous use of appliances with sockets designed for light bulbs.

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  • As a safety precaution and to prevent electrical shocks, many domestic power plugs feature a pin that directs current away from an appliance during a fault, and may also feature insulators around the pins’ upper section or the plugs themselves.
  • There are at least fourteen differently pinned domestic power plugs, with around twelve of those commonly used across the globe, and the plugs are categorised by letters from ‘A’ to ‘N’, and the pins range from the rectangular shapes of American plugs to the circular shapes of those in Europe.
  • Domestic power plug housings vary greatly in shape and size, and come in varying colours, commonly black, white or grey, and are generally made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or other insulating material.
  • A globalised standard of domestic power plugs has been seen as a beneficial project, and while the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and others have promoted the idea, and despite persistent efforts to reach an international standard for many years, some of which were hampered by World War II, adoption of such has been so far unsuccessful.
  • Universal domestic power plug adapters are available, and these have various pin and socket options so that travellers can use their own power appliances in countries with different socket options.
Bibliography:
AC Power Plugs and Sockets, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC_power_plugs_and_sockets
J Herrman, Giz Explains: Why Every Country Has a Different F#$%ing Plug, 2009, Gizmodo, http://gizmodo.com/5391271/giz-explains-why-every-country-has-a-different-fing-plug
World Plugs, 2015, International Electrotechnical Commission, http://www.iec.ch/worldplugs/map.htm

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Plastic Shopping Bag

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Plastic Shopping Bag

Do you understand the harm of plastic shopping bags?

  • Plastic shopping bags are strong cheap plastic bags primarily used to carry groceries or other items bought from retail outlets.
  • ‘Plastic shopping bags’ are called ‘plastic grocery bags’ and ‘carrier bags’, and they are also known by the generic terms ‘bags’, ‘shopping bags’ and ‘plastic bags’.
  • Plastic shopping bags are most commonly made of polyethylene, although bags can be made of bioplastic that originates from vegetable sources and is said to decompose safely when exposed to sunlight and oxygen.
  • Plastic bags were invented after the introduction of polyethylene in the 1930s, and in 1962, engineer Sten Gustaf Thulin of Sweden filed a patent for a one-piece plastic shopping bag with an integrated handle for the Celloplast company, and this style of bag is said to be the basis of most modern designs.
  • Commercially used plastic shopping bags became highly popular worldwide by the 1980s, acting as a replacement to paper bags which were originally used for purchased goods.

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  • The cited number of plastic bags produced worldwide varies by source, with suggestions of 500 to 1,000 billion per year, with over 100 billion used in the United States in 2009 and approximately 13 billion used in the United Kingdom in 2008.
  • Plastic shopping bags come in a wide variety of colours, made with the addition of different chemicals, and common colours include white, and grey, while words, logos, and other designs are often printed on the bags.
  • Plastic shopping bags generally take a hundred years or more to breakdown, and therefore are significant polluters of the environment, killing thousands of marine wildlife yearly, and even causing drain blockages that cause flooding, especially in poor countries.
  • Caution should be taken with plastic shopping bags, as they can cause suffocation in children, especially those of a young age, and warning information has been in place on some types of bags in some countries since 1959.
  • Stores, nations and even countries like China, Rwanda and Bangladesh, have been banning, limiting or discouraging the use of plastic shopping bags for environmental reasons, including the large quantities of resources required to create the bags in the first place.
Bibliography:
Keller A, History of the Plastic Bag, 2011, Bag Monster, http://www.bagmonster.com/2011/05/history-of-the-plastic-bag.html
Plastic Shopping Bag, 2015, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_shopping_bag
Polythene’s story: The accidental birth of plastic bags, 2008, The Independent, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/polythenes-story-the-accidental-birth-of-plastic-bags-800602.html

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Spork

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Spork

Do you love or hate the spork?

  • A spork is a combination of a spoon and a fork, featuring a bowl shape end like a spoon, that has spokes or tines like a fork.
  • ‘Sporks’ are also known by the uncommon term ‘foon’, and similar utensils were used in the 1800s and were known as ice-cream or terrapin forks.
  • The term ‘spork’ is said to have originated as early as 1909, and is a blend of the words ‘spoon’ and ‘fork’.
  • Travellers, campers, the military, schools, fast food outlets, and prisons all appreciate the spork invention, as it saves space and money due to its dual use.
  • One of the earliest known patents for a spork-like utensil, was granted in 1874 by Samuel W Francis, from Rhode Island in the United States, and this invention also included a knife edge on the side of the spoon.
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Spork
Image courtesy of goblinbox/Flickr
  • Sporks are typically made of plastic and are often disposable, or from metal, such as aluminium or stainless steel.
  • A dislike for sporks has evolved around the argument of its inability to hold substantial quantities of soup and its failure to easily jab and hold food, due to the short fork tines.
  • Many of the early inventions of sporks were aesthetically unattractive, and not always practical to use.
  • Sporks can come in a variety of colours, from bright playful colours to traditional greys, and antique metal ones can feature intricately shaped handles that appeal to collectors.
  • Although many sporks feature the fork-spoon combination at the same end, some sporks feature the knife and spoon sections on opposite ends.
Bibliography:
Durso C, A Brief History of Sporks, 2011, foodiggity, http://www.foodiggity.com/a-brief-history-of-the-spork/
Gross J, Who Made That Spork?, 2013, New York Times Magazine, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/01/magazine/who-made-that-spork.html
Spork, 2015, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spork

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Eraser

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Eraser

Do erasers ever rub you the wrong way?

  • Erasers are inventions used to clear markings from an object, which is most often paper, and before they were invented, wax, bread, a mixture of oat bran and milk, pumice or sandstone were used to remove markings from a writing surface.
  • An ‘eraser’, once called a ‘lead-eater’, is also known as a ‘rubber’, which was the original term for the object due to the rubbing motion required to use it, while the natural material caoutchouc also became known as ‘rubber’ due to its use as an erasing tool.
  • The type of markings commonly removed by a rubber are those made with a pencil, generally graphite, although, ink, chalk and whiteboard pen marks are also able to removed with an appropriate eraser.
  • The base material of erasers is generally synthetic or natural rubber, plastic, vinyl or gum, although felt and other fibres are used for those that have the purpose of clearing whiteboard markers and chalk.
  • The discovery of caoutchouc or rubber as a useful tool for erasing, was made in the mid 1700s, and in 1770, Englishman Joseph Priestly, a scientist and theologian is said to have named the ‘eraser’, which was a later American term for the tool, a ‘rubber’.

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  • Erasers vary in colour, and are commonly white, but can range from pink to grey, and are typically found in a bar shape or as a cylinder on the end of a pencil, while some come in a kneadable or electric form.
  • Most rubber erasers undergo the process of vulcanisation, which was discovered in 1839 by American chemist Charles Goodyear, which significantly increases the rubber’s usability and long lasting nature.
  • The modern eraser, although unvulcanised at the time, is believed to have been primarily commercialised by Englishman Edward Nairne, an optician, in 1770, when he was selling cubes of rubber for the purpose of erasing.
  • Erasers generally remove markings, such as graphite, by collecting the marking’s particles in the rubber’s compound, as the rubber has greater adhesive properties than the erased surface.
  • Erasers can come in a wide variety of different shapes, sizes and colours that are commonly collected, although these more collectible orientated rubbers generally erase poorly.
Bibliography:
Eraser, 2015, How Products Are Made, http://www.madehow.com/Volume-5/Eraser.html
Eraser, 2015, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eraser
Garber M, 10 Things You Probably Did Not Know About Eraser Technology, 2013, The Atlantic, http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/08/10-things-you-probably-did-not-know-about-eraser-technology/279028/

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Cotton Swab

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Cotton Swab

Cotton swabs are not limited to ear cleaning.

  • A cotton swab is a small invention that has fibre wrapped around the tips of a small rod, and it is often purchased in a bulk pack from supermarkets.
  • ‘Cotton swabs’ are also known as ‘cotton buds’, and by the prominent brand name of ‘Q-tips’, which stands for ‘quality tips’.
  • Cotton swabs are typically used for various cleaning purposes, from ear wax to lasers in compact disc players and the like; or to assist in a medical environment for tasks like collecting specimens, for testing and diagnosis purposes; as well as applying or removing substances such as paint or makeup.
  • One or both ends of cotton swabs can have fibre attached, depending on the purpose, and they can range in length from 7.5 to 25 centimetres (3 to 10 inches) and the size is generally relevant to its function.
  • The rods of cotton swabs are normally made of plastic, paper or wood, and they vary widely in colour, from white, blue, red, green and yellow among others; while the fibre is generally white and made of cotton or a synthetic material.

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  • Cotton swabs were invented by Polish born Leo Gerstenzang, in the United States of America, designed in 1923, and were inspired by his wife’s potentially dangerous innovation that made use of cotton on the end of wooden toothpicks for cleaning ears.
  • The original target audience for cotton swabs marketed by Leo Gerstenzang were babies, on which his wife commonly used the invention, while the name that was initially used for his product was ‘Baby Gays’.
  • Cotton swabs are not recommended for cleaning inside ears, as careless usage can damage ear organs or cause blockage of earwax, both of which are a result of pushing the swab into one’s ear canal, although they are commonly used for this purpose.
  • To make a cotton swab, fibre is generally fed onto the end of a spinning rod that has glue applied, which is then compressed and made smooth, and then packaged into packets or containers.
  • Some cotton swabs, especially those for medical purposes, are singly wrapped to ensure they are sterile, and come with a slim container that is used to hold the swab and its specimen for later examination.
Bibliography:
Cotton Swab, 2015, How Products are Made, http://www.madehow.com/Volume-4/Cotton-Swab.html
Cotton Swab, 2015, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_swab
The History and Evolution of the Swab, 2014, Puritan, http://blog.puritanmedproducts.com/bid/357796/The-History-and-Evolution-of-the-Swab

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Cookie Cutter

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Cookie Cutter

Cookie cutters are sweet additions to your kitchen.

  • Cookie cutters are somewhat sharp objects used in food preparation to easily cut an edible item into a specific shape.
  • Most often cookie cutters are used to cut cookie dough, although they can be used to shape bread, cake, vegetables, fruit and fondant icing, although this can depend on the material the cutter is made from.
  • ‘Cookie cutters’ are also known as ‘biscuit cutters’; while moulds, rather than cutters, were used from 2000 BC for shaping dough, and these were used by Ancient Egyptians.
  • Cookie cutters are most often used to make batches of shaped cookies that are to be consistent in shape and size, and are commonly utilised for special occasions or seasons, such as parties or Christmas celebrations.
  • Materials typically used to make cookie cutters include plastic, or a metal such as tin, stainless steel, aluminium or copper.

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  • Cookie cutters are generally used by pressing the cutter into a food, which typically cuts, but may also imprint, designs.
  • Before use, cookie cutters are often coated thinly with flour or oil to prevent them sticking to the food to be cut.
  • Cookie cutters are said to have originated as early as the 15th century, although as a result of the rise of shaped gingerbread cookies in the 17th century in Europe, there was an increase in demand for an easy way to shape the biscuit or cookie, making cutters more popular.
  • Cookie cutters come in numerous shapes and sizes, ranging from basic shapes like circles, to popular shapes like gingerbread men, and more intricate shapes like detailed snowflake designs.
  • Cookie cutters are popularly collected and clubs exist for enthusiasts, while some museums are dedicated to historical cutter collections.
Bibliography:
Audet M, Collecting Antique and Vintage Cookie Cutters, 2013, HubPages, http://hubpages.com/hub/Collecting-Vintage-Cookie-Cutters
Cookie Cutter, 2015, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cookie_cutter
Cookie Cutter History, n.d, Karen’s Cookies, http://www.karenscookies.net/Cookie-Cutter-History_ep_136-1.html

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