Tag Archives: Invention

Jelly Bean

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Jelly Bean

Every event requires a jar of jelly beans.

  • Jelly beans are small, brightly coloured confectionery items made mostly of sugar.
  • A ‘jelly bean’ is also known as a ‘jellybean’, or a ‘Jelly Belly’, and the latter is named after the popular brand.
  • Jelly beans are typically shaped as a bean, with a hard exterior and a softer inside.
  • The basis and idea for jelly beans is said to have originated from the traditional confectionery known as ‘Turkish delight’, that is like a firm jelly, as well as ‘Jordan almonds’, that have a hard sugary exterior.
  • Jelly beans are believed to have existed as early as the 1860s, and were made by confectioner William Schrafft, from Boston, United States, who suggested they be sent to the soldiers fighting in the American Civil War.

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  • Jelly beans are typically made of sugar, glucose syrup from corn or wheat, as well as starch, and generally contain flavourings and colourings.
  • The 22nd of April is annually celebrated and declared as National Jelly Bean Day.
  • Jelly beans come in numerous colours and flavours, and generally a particular colour is associated with a particular flavour.
  • In the United States, jelly beans became popular in the early 1900s and became strongly associated with Easter in the 1930s.
  • Jelly beans are generally sweet, although they can be purposefully sour, while the Jelly Belly company has over 50 different flavours of the confectionery.

 

Bibliography:
Jelly Bean, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jelly_bean
Moncel B, The History of Jelly Beans, 2014, About Food, http://foodreference.about.com/od/history_myths/a/The-History-Of-Jelly-Beans.htm
Prince J, A Brief History of Jelly Beans, 2014, Candy Favourites, http://www.candyfavorites.com/shop/jelly-bean-history.php

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Towel

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Towel

As author Douglas Adams said, towels are the one of the most useful items.

  • Towels are a textile item commonly used to remove and collect moisture, often water, from an object.
  • Towels are generally used by being placed on an object, and are typically pressed and rubbed for maximum effect.
  • Towels are most often made of absorbent material like cotton, bamboo, paper, synthetic fibres or other textiles, and the fabric often has a looped pile and is known as ‘terry cloth’.
  • The size of towels generally range between 30 x 61 centimetres to 76 x 152 centimetres (12 x 24 inches to 30 x 60 inches), although smaller and larger ones are available, and they are usually rectangular in shape.
  • Towels are commonly used after showering or bathing to dry oneself or one’s hands, and they can also be used for, but are not limited to, drying dishes and kitchen items, by sports enthusiasts to remove perspiration, at the beach to lay on, or for decorative purposes.

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  • Towels are often dyed a single colour, although imagery or patterns can be imprinted or woven in, and other decorative features can also be included.
  • Until the availability of mass production machinery in the 1800s, towels were uncommon, due to being time-consuming to make, and as a result, expensive.
  • Towels are generally made by machines that spin, warp, weave, bleach and dye the material, as well as package the product.
  • It is said that towels were invented in Turkey, in the Middle East, and they were originally light and sheet-like.
  • Annually, on the 25th of May, National Towel Day is observed in some countries.
Bibliography:
Bath Towels, 2014, Make How, http://www.madehow.com/Volume-4/Bath-Towel.html
Rodd R, A Brief History of Towels, 2013, Lidtime.com, http://www.lidtime.com/a-brief-history-of-towels/
Towel, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Towel

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Washer

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Washer

Washers do not wash… but they spread pressure around.

  • Washers are generally a circular shaped item, often thin, with a central hole used primarily to spread pressure from a central fastening point.
  • Some washers are used as a spring, spacer, locker or to prevent corrosion.
  • There are three main different types of washers: ‘plain’, used to spread load and to insulate objects; ‘spring’, to prevent vibrations loosening the fastener; and ‘locking’, to stop the fastener loosening by unscrewing.
  • Washers have numerous forms, which have been classified in the United Kingdom from 1968 using letters A-G, and further classified using diameter and thickness.
  • Washers, although generally flat, can be bevelled or indented, have curved edges or be a split ring.

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  • Washers are typically made of metal, often stainless steel, or plastic, as well as materials such as rubber.
  • Washers can reach sizes of 3 to 175 millimetres (0.1 to 7 inches) in diameter and 0.3 to 14 millimetres (0.01 to 0.55 inches) in thickness.
  • The first reference of the term ‘washer’ originated in the mid 1300s, although its etymology is uncertain.
  • Although generally circular in shape, washers can be the shape of a square, star or gear.
  • Washers are typically silver in colour, although they can be coloured copper or gold, the colour of which is often related to the material used.

 

Bibliography:
Washer (Hardware), 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washer_(hardware)

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Spinning Wheel

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Spinning Wheel

Spinning wheels may be old but still are interesting!

  • Spinning wheels are machines used to spin yarn or other fibres, that were invented to replace the spindle and distaff hand spinning.
  • Illustrations of spinning wheels have originated as far back as 1035, in Asia, while pictures of the machines emerged in the 1200s in Europe, China and Iraq.
  • Notable versions of spinning wheels include the Charkha, among the oldest machines and they have a wheel moved by hand; the ‘great wheel’, often larger and also with a wheel moved by hand; and the treadle wheel, that has a foot peddle that spins the wheel.
  • Spinning wheels are depicted in numerous art and literature forms, including fairy tales such as Sleeping Beauty and Rumplestiltskin.
  • Spinning wheels were invented by the Chinese, and led to increased production of yarn that positively effected many industries including sail making and paper making.

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  • The spinning Jenny was invented in 1764 and replaced the spinning wheel, due to increased efficiency, as it was able to spin multiple threads at once.
  • Spinning wheels can be run by electrical energy, and these machines are usually powered by an electric motor.
  • To produce yarn using a spinning wheel, the fibre is attached to a bobbin that is connected to the machine, and the yarn is fed and guided by the hand while it twists, as the wheel spins.
  • Spinning wheels are traditionally made of wood, but can also be constructed from metal.
  • Spinning wheels have been superseded by modern technology, however they are still used by home hobbyists who prefer to spin their own fibre.
Bibliography:
100 years of Spinning Wheels, 2014, Wild Fibres, http://www.wildfibres.co.uk/html/spinning_wheels_history.html
Spinning Wheel, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinning_wheel

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Ballpoint Pen

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Ballpoint Pen

Do you ever take ballpoint pens for granted?

  • A ballpoint pen is a pen that distributes ink along a writing surface, and it has a very small ball in the writing tip that moves in the process.
  • ‘Ballpoint pens’ are also known as ‘biros’, ‘ball pens’ and ‘Biromes’.
  • The main design of a ballpoint pen originated from an 1888 patent for a pen that could write on leather, by leather tanner John Loud, an American, but the design was unsuitable for writing on paper.
  • Practical ballpoint pens were patented in 1938 by an editor of a Hungarian newspaper, László Bíró, which led to the common name of the modern pen, ‘biro’.
  • Ballpoint pens were introduced to America by Milton Reynolds, an American entrepreneur, who changed Bíró’s design in the mid 1940s, although it wasn’t until the 1950s that a more reliable pen was invented by Marcel Bich in France, that did not leak and had smooth ink flow, and was sold under the name ‘Bic’.

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  • Ballpoint pens can be disposable or refillable, often with a removable lid or a replaceable tip and reservoir, as well as retractable tips that retract back into the pen cylinder.
  • Ballpoint pens are the most commonly used writing instrument, and they are also used by some artists in their artwork, although any mistakes made generally cannot be removed, unless a pen with erasable ink is used.
  • Ballpoint pens range in colour and designs, and most often have ink coloured blue or black, and the next most popular ink colours are red and green.
  • Due to the availability of mass production, ballpoint pens have become increasingly cheaper and are more commonly used.
  • Ballpoint pens range in numerous shapes and sizes, leading some to become collector’s items; while some brands have been featured in the United State’s New York Museum of Modern Art, including the Bic Cristal pen.

 

Bibliography:
Ballpoint Pen, 2006, The Great Idea Finder, http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/ballpen.htm
Ballpoint Pen, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballpoint_pen
The History of the Ballpoint Pen, 2002, Cosmopolis, http://www.cosmopolis.ch/english/cosmo30/history_ballpoint_pen.htm

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Amoxicillin

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Amoxicillin

Have you ever been prescribed amoxicillin?

  • Amoxicillin is a medical drug often prescribed to treat bacterial problems or infection.
  • Of all antibiotics, amoxicillin is the most frequently used antibiotic that is given to children.
  • ‘Amoxicillin’ is also known as ‘amoxycillin’ and ‘amox’, and it is packaged under numerous brand names.
  • Amoxicillin was created by The Beecham Group, a pharmaceutical company from the United Kingdom, Europe, in the 1960s, and was first made publically available in 1972.
  • Amoxicillin can cause rashes, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, dizziness and other reactions, often as a result of an allergic reaction or incorrect use.

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  • Amoxicillin was the second aminopenicillin belonging to the penicillin family, that was made publicly available in the world, and it contains a β-lactam (beta-lactam) ring in the molecule structure that inhibits bacterial cell wall synthesis.
  • Amoxicillin is made of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and sulphur, in a chemical structure of C16H19N3O5S, and it is listed in the World Health Organistion’s Model List of Essential Medicines as a required medicine for basic healthcare.
  • Amoxicillin is most commonly available in the form of a liquid, capsule, chewable tablet, and powder, and it is usually only available by prescription
  • Typically, amoxicillin is required to be taken during or within an hour of the consumption of food, and should be taken at the same times daily until it is finished.
  • Amoxicillin is often taken by way of mouth, although it can be injected into a vein.

 

Bibliography:
Allen H, Amoxicillin for Infections, 2013, Patient.co.uk, http://www.patient.co.uk/medicine/amoxicillin-for-infections
Amoxicillin, 2014, Drugs.com, http://www.drugs.com/amoxicillin.html
Amoxicillin, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amoxicillin

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