Tag Archives: Invention

Hammer

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Hammer

Hear those hammers striking iron early in the morning.

  • Hammers are tools used primarily to imply a sharp force on to an object, often to force an item into another.
  • Hammers are often used to secure nails, shape metal or apply components, as well as crush and destroy objects.
  • Hammers have been used since the Stone Ages, and were made of rock, used for carving and breaking items including stone, wood and bone.
  • Hammers most often require a human force to become useful, although mechanical and electrical versions are available.
  • Hammers generally are made of a handle and a head, and the head is often shaped and has a flat sided knob that often impacts the item, and sometimes a claw on the opposite end.

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  • The head of hammers are generally made of metal, often steel, due to having a suitable mass, although they can be wooden, and these have a softer impact which helps to prevent damage to the item being hit.
  • The claw of a hammer is commonly used to grasp unwanted nails and remove them from the driven object, and there is increased power due to the leverage occurring.
  • Titanium hammer heads have been proven to absorb most recoil from the force of the impact, with recoil being up to ten times greater in typical steel heads.
  • Hammers are often used to symbolise mining, industrial and manufacturing workplaces, and they were adapted as a close combat weapon, used in the late medieval times, although they were larger and heavier than the modern device.
  • The most common style is the claw hammer, that typically weighs between 455 to 680 grams (16 to 24 ounces).

 

Bibliography:
Different Types of Hammers, 2014, Diydata, http://www.diydata.com/tool/hammer/hammers.php
Hammer, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammer

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Croissant

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Croissant

Do you eat croissants for breakfast?

  • Croissants are puffy bakery food items that are typically flaky and buttery in texture, that are usually tan or light brown in colour.
  • Croissants are said to have been derived from a yeast-dough pastry named ‘kipfel’, in Austria, Europe, that may have its origins as early as the 1200s, although it is possible that they did not exist until the 1600s.
  • Croissants are mainly made with butter and a bread like dough containing yeast, and can be filled and flavoured with numerous foods including chocolate, nut, ham, cheese, dried fruits and apple
  • Croissants are traditionally crescent in shape, but can be spherical or cylindrical, and the typical shape is said to have originated from the Austrian kipfel.
  • Croissants are popularly eaten during breakfast, commonly sold as a type of fast food, and are often sold frozen so that they can be thawed and heated at home.

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Croissants
Image courtesy of Zdenko Zivkovic/Flickr
  • There are many legends regarding the history of the croissant, and the most popular is that it originates in the late 1600s, when bakers created crescent shaped pastries based on the Turkish flag, due to the Turks having been defeated by their enemies.
  • The term ‘croissant’ was named after the French word for ‘crescent’, referring to the traditional shape.
  • While the origin of croissants is uncertain, they were probably introduced to France in the late 1830s, by officer August Zang from Austria, in a bakery that he owned and was located in France’s Paris, in Europe.
  • Croissants are typically made by folding butter into dough, rolling the dough into sheets, and then continuing the folding and rolling process known as ‘laminating’, before cutting and rolling into a crescent shape and baking in an oven.
  • Croissants have significant quantities of sodium, selenium, folate and thiamin and are also high in fat.
Bibliography:
Croissant, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croissant
Origins of the Croissant, 2009, The Hungarian Girl, http://thehungariangirl.com/2009/08/12/history-of-the-croissant/
Olver, L, FAQs: Bread, 2014, Food Timeline, http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodbreads.html#croissants

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Can Opener

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Can Opener

How would you open a can, without a can opener?

    • Can openers are tools, typically used to open cans, usually in a culinary environments like the food industry and domestic situations.
    • ‘Can openers’ are also known as ‘tin openers’, and are often made of metal such as stainless steel, or plastic, although the cutter is generally metal.
    • While preserved food in cans dates back to the mid to late 1700s and the process became successful, patented, and popular in the early 1800s, can openers were not invented until approximately 50 years later, and were most likely not invented earlier due to the heavy thickness of the iron that the cans were made from.
    • Can openers replaced the common hammer and chisel method of opening a can, and were first invented around the 1850s with a leverage mechanism shaped like a claw.
    • Modern can openers typically involve a sharp metal rotating disc that cuts through cans when moved along the edge.

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  • William Lyman, an American inventor from Connecticut’s Meriden, in the United States, is said to have invented the first can opener with a rotating wheel, in 1870, and it is this basic principal which most modern designs use.
  • Early can openers were originally quite dangerous to use, and this problem was fixed by an improved cutting technique and design.
  • Electrically operated can openers were not popular when first invented in 1931, but they were redesigned in 1956 by at least two different companies of which only one became popular.
  • Can openers often use a scissor like mechanism with two handles that pivot and close two discs onto the can, one of which rolls around the can, and the other cuts, both of which move due to the user turning a protruding handle.
  • Can openers have become less essential due to many cans now having their own ring pull lid or pull open top, that easily opens the can without a special tool.
Bibliography:
Can Opener, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Can_opener
The Can Opener Wasn’t Invented Until 48 Years After the Invention of the Can, 2012, Today I Found Out, http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2012/06/the-can-opener-wasnt-invented-until-48-years-after-the-invention-of-the-can/

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Corn Starch

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Corn Starch

Do not starch these facts with corn starch!

  • Corn starch is a thickener used in cooking, that is extracted from the endosperms of corn or maize kernels and the product is said to have been originally used for starching laundry.
  • ‘Corn starch’ is also known as ‘cornstarch’, ‘maize starch’, ‘maizena’ and ‘corn flour’, although in some countries, wheat starch is sometimes labelled as ‘corn flour’.
  • Corn starch is often used to increase the thickness of soup, sauce, custard and other condiments, as well as the mixtures of bakery items.
  • Pure corn starch is gluten free, and it can be replaced with arrowroot effectively, typically by the same ratio.
  • Corn starch is extracted by softening and lightly fermenting the corn kernels, then the starch is removed and later dried.

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  • Corn starch, when mixed with water in the correct ratio, produces a substance named Oobleck with properties that deflect fast moving forces but not slow-moving forces.
  • Corn starch is typically white in colour, and is almost always in a very smooth powdered form, and when cooked, it typically loses its colour, becoming transparent, unlike flour that the starch often replaces.
  • When corn starch is added to liquid for thickening purposes, it is best to heat the mixture to a temperature of 100°C (212°F), to produce the most satisfactory thickened result.
  • The United States business, Colgate and Company are said to be the first to produce corn starch, in 1844, and soon after, Thomas Kingsford, an employee who is said to be the inventor, began a factory in New York to produce the substance.
  • Corn starch is very high in carbohydrates and has small quantities of selenium and other minerals.
Bibliography:
Corn starch, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_starch
Cornstarch, 2010, Cooksinfo.com, http://www.cooksinfo.com/cornstarch
The History of Cornstarch, n.d, Eye-on New Media, http://www.eyeon-newmedia.co.za/schweizer/docs/Reports%20-%20General/The%20History%20of%20Corn%20Starch.pdf
What is Cornstarch?, 2014, WiseGEEK, http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-cornstarch.htm

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Pipe Cleaner

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Pipe Cleaner

Pipe cleaners were once a cleaner and now a craft.

  • A pipe cleaner is a long, narrow cleaning utensil that has an abundance of absorbent fibres attached.
  • Pipe cleaners are also know as ‘chenille stems’ and ‘chenille sticks’.
  • Pipe cleaners are most commonly used for cleaning narrow, hollow objects or used in craft projects, and they come in a variety of shapes and thicknesses, with the typical shape being cylindrical.
  • Pipe cleaners are commonly coloured in various bright colours and they can be bicoloured or metallic, while the colours are sometimes used to categorise different things or used for craft purposes.
  • Pipe cleaners are generally made of a few pieces of wire that secure numerous short strands of cotton, viscose, nylon, polyester or polypropylene, that form short bristles.

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  • Pipe cleaners were originally invented to clean tobacco pipes, but they can be adapted and used to clean many other items.
  • Many different pipe cleaners were invented in the 1800s, although most of them do not resemble modern style ones, although a pipe-stem cleaner, as it was called, with similar qualities, was patented in 1896 by Fredrick Frick, from Rochester, New York, in the United States.
  • Pipe cleaners typically range from 15 to 50 centimetres (6 to 20 inches) in length, depending on their purpose, with shorter lengths often used for cleaning, and longer lengths generally used for craft purposes.
  • The invention of the modern, chenille style pipe cleaner, is often credited to Charles Angel and inventor John Stedman, who was also from Rochester, New York, in the United States, in the early 1900s.
  • The BJ Long company was possibly the first to mass-produce modern style pipe cleaners, since the company was sold rights to Angel’s and Stedman’s design.
Bibliography:
Foster G, John Harry Stedman: His Busy Life and Weird Inventions, n.d, University of Rochester, http://www.lib.rochester.edu/IN/RBSCP/Epitaph/ATTACHMENTS/31_3.pdf
Frick, F 1896, ‘Pipe-stem Cleaner’, US566570, 25 August, p. 1, Google Patents, Google
I Raise my Pipe to the Humble Pipe Cleaner, 2013, rebornpipes, http://rebornpipes.com/tag/history-of-pipe-cleaners/
Pipe Cleaner, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipe_cleaner

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Marshmallow

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Marshmallow

Toasting marshmallows over the campfire, what a traditional thing to do!

  • Marshmallows are sweet confectionery food items made primarily of sugar.
  • Homemade marshmallow is generally cut into square shaped portions, while commercially manufactured pieces are generally cylindrical in shape, although the shapes can vary.
  • Marshmallows were originally made from the root or sap of the mallow plant, Althaea officinalis, a plant that is said to grow near salt marshes, hence the name of the confectionery, and was also commonly used for medicinal purposes.
  • Marshmallow is generally coloured white, although other colours can be achieved through food colouring and pink is a popular coloured variety.
  • Marshmallows are typically made from sugar and corn starch, although wheat starch is sometimes used, as well as egg or gelatine, which helps to prevent the mixture from collapsing, and flavouring is also often included.

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  • Marshmallow confectionery, that was made of mallow sap and honey, was invented in Ancient Egypt, and was only available to pharaohs, and it wasn’t until the 1800s that the French invented the fluffy style of confectionery that is now eaten.
  • Marshmallows are a sweet snack food that are eaten as is; used as an addition to hot chocolate; are commonly used as an ingredient in other confectionery items, such as rocky road or puffed rice slices or sweets; and are often coated in chocolate.
  • Alex Doumak, an inventor from America, invented a marshmallow extruding machine in 1948, that allowed for mass production and ease of process, and it created cylinder shaped confectionery due to the tubes that it passed through.
  • Marshmallows are often slightly cooked over campfires or other heat sources, which causes the inside to melt and become gooey.
  • Marshmallows contain small amounts of copper, are very high in carbohydrates (sugar) and contain virtually no fat.

 

Bibliography:
History of Marshmallow, 2014, Boyer, http://www.boyercandies.com/mallo-history.aspx
History of the Marshmallow, 2014, Campfire, http://www.campfiremarshmallows.com/about/history-of-the-marshmallow/
Marshmallow, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshmallow

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