Tag Archives: Invention

Fountain

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Fountain

You can watch fountains for simply ages.

  • Fountains are structures that generally pour or spurt water, often upwards, and then typically collects in a reservoir.
  • Fountains are commonly used for ornamental purposes, although they can be used as drinkable water sources or to bathe.
  • The earliest known fountains were created by Ancient Greeks in the 500s BC, and they utilised gravity to pull water from aqueducts that were situated at a higher level, to make drinking water available to residents of the cities.
  • Fountains can have water that sprays, bubbles, or overflows, and they are usually found out of doors, however the may be installed inside buildings.
  • Large public drinking water fountains were mostly discontinued by the 1900s, however small variants emerged, typically able to be activated by the user, and modern ones are commonly found in parks, schools and sports centres.

Fountain, Water, Spray, Trivia, Ten Random Facts, Invention, Architecture, Contemporary, Melbourne Australia

  • In 2015, ‘King Fahd’s Fountain’, which spurts salt water in the air to heights of 260 metres (853 feet) or more, was the highest, permanent, constant fountain in the world, and it is located in the Red Sea in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in the Middle East, and started operating in 1985.
  • Fountains are often ornately sculptural or artistic in form, and can be stylised and decorated, however more contemporary pieces are generally sleeker and plainer.
  • Some fountains are engineered to coincide with music, and also lights, using a computer-based program for spectacular displays.
  • Some fountains are used as a method for humans to cool down during hotter days, with people being able to move under the sprays of water.
  • Modern fountains usually utilise pumps, typically powered by electricity, often to spray water in an upward direction, and those used for ornamental purposes typically reuse the same water by recirculating it.
Bibliography:
Fountain, Wikipedia, 2016, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountain
Moffat C, Fountains: Sculpture of Water, Bronze & Stone, 2010, Fountains in Art History, http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/sculpture/Fountains.html

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Pancakes

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Pancake, Trivia, Ten Random Facts, Invention, Food, Culinary, Crepe, Wheat,

These pancakes are hot fresh from the pan.

  • Pancakes are a flat food item, typically made by frying a type of batter, though variations can be made with a dough mixture.
  • Pancakes typically consist of wheat or other grain, in addition to milk and eggs, sometimes with the addition of sugar, butter, or flavour like vanilla.
  • ‘Pancakes’ are also known as ‘flapjacks’, ‘hot cakes’, ‘hoe cakes’ or ‘griddlecakes’, and thin ones are usually known as crêpes, while variations from countries around the world will usually have a different name.
  • Pancakes are often eaten in combination with ice-cream, honey, maple syrup, jam, cream, lemon juice and sugar, meat and/or fruit pieces, and sometimes fruit, vegetables or meat can be added to the batter prior to cooking.
  • Different cultures have their own forms of pancakes that use various ingredients or methods to make them, though the finished product is typically cream to gold in colour and is roughly circular or oval in shape.

Pancake, Trivia, Ten Random Facts, Invention, Food, Culinary, Crepe, Wheat,

  • Shrove Tuesday, or ‘Pancake Day’ as it is sometimes called, is the day before Lent on a religious calendar, particularly in English speaking countries, and the day will often involve the consumption of this popular food.
  • In early times, flat grain-based food items, similar to pancakes, were thought to be cooked on hot rocks, while the Ancient Greeks, and the Ancient Romans to an extent, would cook something comparable to our modern style ones, and these were known as ‘tēganitēs’ or ‘alia dulcia’ and often eaten with honey.
  • Pancakes are commonly served as a breakfast or brunch dish, though they are sometimes served as a dessert, or they can be part of a main meal, and they can have a savoury or sweet flavour.
  • Pancake batter is usually poured or spooned onto, and cooked on, a griddle, frypan, or other flat based cooking surface, and once the batter starts bubbling during the frying process, it is typically flipped over to cook and brown the other side.
  • Some people have what is called ‘pancake syndrome’, where flour contaminated with mites will be cooked in the food, notably in tropical and subtropical areas, causing anaphylactic reactions upon consumption, and to avoid this issue, the flour can be stored in the refrigerator.
Bibliography:
Pancake, 2016, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancake
Pancake Syndrome (Oral Mite Anaphylaxis), 2009, US Natural Library of Medicine, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3651046/
Rupp R, Hot off the Griddle, Here’s the History of Pancakes, 2014, The Plate – National Geographic, http://theplate.nationalgeographic.com/2014/05/21/hot-off-the-griddle-heres-the-history-of-pancakes/

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Soap Dispenser

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Soap Dispenser, Liquid, Invention, Container, Trivia, Ten Random Facts

Soap dispensers are just one of those inventions you take for granted.

  • Soap dispensers are an invention that stores and distributes soap using a mechanical function.
  • Soap dispensers typically feature a pump or squeeze bottle to release soap, with a nozzle often protruding from the top.
  • Plastic is commonly the material used to make a soap dispenser and is often disposable; however glass and ceramics can also be used.
  • Many soap dispensers, especially those for public use, have a nozzle that foams liquid soap, by utilising air.
  • Soap dispensers will typically hold liquid soap, while some are designed to hold foam or powdered soap.

Soap Dispenser, Liquid, Invention, Container, Trivia, Ten Random Facts

  • Soap dispensers were used in the early 1800s for liquid soap used in hospitals and other facilities; however these were notorious for being clogged by the thick soap.
  • Liquid soap was first patented in 1865 though used earlier, and while it was used in commercial settings, it was not until more than a century later, in 1980, that it was introduced into the home market by Minnetoka Coporation, and as a result, soap dispensers became more commonly used.
  • Minnetoka Corporation, to hinder other companies copying their new liquid soap idea, purchased all of the stock of pump mechanisms for soap dispensers that they could, forcing their competitors to wait a whole year before they could launch a competing product.
  • Soap dispensers are available in a wide variety of shapes, colours and styles, and decorative ones can sometimes be purchased in a matching bathroom set without soap, which is to be added later, while cheap plastic ones from supermarkets usually contain soap.
  • Automatic soap dispensers, activated using sensors, where first patented in 1989, invented by Guey-Chuan Shiau, and have since been a commercial success, and are especially prominent in public bathrooms.
Bibliography:
Bellis M, The History of Soaps and Detergents, 2016, About Inventors, http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blsoap.htm
Cretu D, Who Invented Liquid Soap and Why?, 2013, Quora, https://www.quora.com/Who-invented-liquid-soap-and-why
Soap Dispenser, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soap_dispenser

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Carpet

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Carpet

Carpets can be petted with one’s foot. Probably.

  • Carpet is an invention made of a layer of textiles, that is used to cover a floor.
  • ‘Carpets’ are also known as ‘rugs’, although this term is generally used in reference to movable versions.
  • Generally, carpets are made of a nylon, polyester, wool, acrylic, sisal or polypropylene fibre.
  • Carpets are commonly used for ornamental and decorative purposes, to protect feet from cool floors, for comfort purposes, or to hide floor anomalies.
  • Carpets can be made through weaving, knitting, felting, tufting or hooking, often on a loom, and are made by hand or machine.

Carpet, Invention, Trivia, Ten Random Fats, Rug, White, Cream, Synthetic

  • Cotton, polyester, nylon, or sisal bindings are generally used on a carpet edge to seal the edges, and thus assist in preventing unravelling.
  • The origin of carpets dates from 1000 to 2000 BC or beyond; with the oldest discovered one dating back to 400 to 300 BC, found in 1949 in Siberia, Russia.
  • A machine, known as a ‘power loom’, used to produce carpets, was invented in the 1830s by American, Erastus Bigelow, which immediately increased production.
  • It is typical for a carpet to feature two layers – the top layer of fibres, and a backing affixed to the fibres.
  • If the carpet is to be secured to the floor, a soft underneath layer known as ‘underlay’ is added to enhance its properties and increase its life.
Bibliography:
Carpet, 2016, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpet
Carpet History, 2009 Carpet & Rug Pedia, http://www.carpetandrugpedia.com/Carpet-History.htm
Early U.S. Carpet has Woven Wool, n.d, The Carpet and Rug Institute, http://www.carpet-rug.org/About-CRI/History-of-Carpet.aspx

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Calendar

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Calendar

Flip the calendar over to a new year.

  • Calendars are a form of keeping and documenting time using a periodic system, often with paper or in modern times, electronics.
  • The term ‘calendar’ originates from the Latin word ‘calandae’, or ‘kalandae’ which can be translated as ‘moon’, which was noted as Ancient Rome’s first day of each month.
  • The movement of the sun and/or moon are the most common basis of a calendar, and this was also common throughout ancient history, however, there have been as many as 80 dating systems in history (some only with slight variants to others), due, in part, to discrepancies with natural cyclic events and the established yearly schedule, religious observances, and culture.
  • The international, and most commonly used, modern 365 day calendar, known as the ‘Gregorian calendar’, first surfaced in 1582 AD, introduced by Ugo Boncompagni, better known as Pope Gregory XIII, which is based on the Julian one that was adopted in Rome around 45 BC under the rule of Julius Caesar.
  • Calendars typically feature some combination of years, weeks, months, weekdays and days, and weeks may begin on Sunday or Monday.

Calendar, Day, Month, December 2015, Trivia, Random Facts, Paper, Invention, TIme

  • The Gregorian calendar was originally used by countries influenced by Roman Catholicism, expanding in use though the modern society by the 1800s to the 1900s.
  • Calendars can be purposed for the marking and reminding of events; and some religions have versions separate to the modern form, for their own purpose.
  • Some of the first known calendars originated in Ancient Egypt and Ancient Babylonia in the Middle East, and while most of the world has now adopted the Gregorian structure, as of 2015, there were still a handful of countries which had not.
  • Physical calendars are often displayed in rows and columns, and depending on the form, they may be displayed on a wall, on a magnetic surface, in a book, or on an electronic device; and often one month, day, or week is displayed per page.
  • Depending on the calendar system used, months, weeks and years may differ in length (counted in number of days), while the Gregorian system uses seven day weeks; month lengths of 30 or 31 days except February which generally has 28 days; and a year of 365 days, except every four years when a leap year occurs, where February has an extra day.
Bibliography:
Calendar, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calendar
History of the Calendar, 2007, infoplease, http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0002061.html
History of the Calendar, n.d, History World, http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ac06

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Phoropter

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Phoropter

Even modern phoropters look like gizmos from the 1900s.

  • Phoropters are an invention used primarily to determine the refraction error – the inaccuracy of an eye’s ability to focus light, of a person’s eyes.
  • ‘Phoropters’ are also known as ‘refractors’, and the word may be spelled ‘phoroptors’.
  • A phoropter has a set of interchangeable lens, and as the lenses are changed, the patient is required to comment on the lens effectiveness.
  • The term ‘phoropter’ originated as a trademark from 1921, originally owned by DeZeng Standard, and was a shortened form of ‘phoro-optometer’.
  • While using a phoropter, a patient is normally required to look at an eye chart from behind the machine as the machine’s lenses are interchanged, to determine whether they can see more clearly, or less so.

Phoropter, Invention, Optometrist, Trivia, Ten Random Facts, Mechanism,

  • Phoropters typically consist of twin ellipsoid plates that sit next to the left and right sides of one’s face, and are connected to an overhanging and adjustable beam.
  • The practice of using lenses interchangeably to measure optics originated from the 1600s, while early predecessors of the phoropter first emerged in the 1800s.
  • Phoropters were first patented in 1909 by American Henry DeZeng, though a patent by American Nathan Shigon was also accepted a year later.
  • Although commonly used to measure refraction error, phoropters can be used to determine optical posture, as well as rest positions and amplitudes of the eyes.
  • Ophthalmologists and optometrists, especially those who handle eye tests, will most often use a phoropter, to enable an accurate spectacles’ prescription for a patient.
Bibliography:
Phoropter Handouts, n.d, Scribd., http://www.scribd.com/doc/19428106/Phoropter-Handouts#scribd
Phoropter, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoropter
What Is It: Phoropter, 2013, Eyeglass Guide, http://www.eyeglassguide.com/my-visit/vision-testing/phoropter.aspx

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