Chocolate, as a Drink, was a favorite of Montezuma, Emperor of the Aztecs. Hernando Cortez, the Spanish conquistador, brought the drink back to Spain in 1529. It remained a favorite of the Spanish royalty for many years before becoming consumed widely throughout Europe. Three centuries later in England chocolate was first used as a non-liquid confection.
The exact origin of carbon paper is somewhat uncertain. The first documented use of the term "carbonated paper" was in 1806, when an Englishman, named Ralph Wedgwood, issued a patent for his "Stylographic Writer." However, Pellegrino Turri had invented a typewriting machine in Italy by at least 1808, and since "black paper" was essential for the operation of his machine, he must have perfected his form of carbon paper at virtually the same time as Wedgwood, if not before (Adler, 1973). Interestingly, both men invented their "carbon paper" as a means to an end; they were both trying to help blind people write through the use of a machine, and the "black paper" was really just a substitute for ink.
Motor car, road vehicle which first appeared in the 19th Century. The first cars were propelled by the steam, but such vehicles were not a success and the age of the motor car really dates from the introduction of the petrol-driven horseless carriages of Gottfrield Daimler and Karl Benz (1885-86). The internal combustion engine for these cars had been developed earlier by several engineers, most notably by the German, Nickolaus Otto, in 1876. The main components of a motor car, from then till now, are a body or chassis to which are attached all other parts - including the engine or power plant, the transmission system for transferring the drive to the wheels, and the steering, braking and suspension mechanisms for guiding, stopping and supporting the car. A few experts assembled the first cars, but Henry Ford and R. E. Olds in the USA began modern mass-production in the early 1900s.
The dictionary defines an adhesive as "a substance capable of holding materials together by surface attachment." This is a simple definition for a material that is the basis for a multi-billion dollar industry with more that 750 companies competing for a share of the market. It is estimated that 50 of those companies are responsible for 50% of the sales dollars in the adhesive industry
...a collection of anecdotes and stories about computer technology and the people who spend their time working with computers... This is the first time I have seen anyone collect so many of them together, and in such an amusing and readable way.
Many forces helped shape the genius of Alexander Graham Bell. As the son and grandson of speech experts, he had a unique knowledge of the possibilities of sound. As the son of a deaf mother, he had a true appreciation of the effort required to live in a hearing world. These two factors helped set Bell on the road to the telephone.
Eating in space for John Glenn turned out to be an easy though not too tasty experience. Before the flight, some experts were worried that, in weightlessness food would be hard to swallow and as a result, collect in the throat. Glenn found that eating in space was relatively easy and once the food reached the mouth, there was no problem in swallowing. Other Mercury astronauts following John Glenn were forced to endure bite-sized cubes, freeze dried foods, and semi-liquids in aluminum toothpaste-type tubes. They found the food unappetizing, had trouble rehydrating the freeze-dried foods, and disliked squeezing the tubes. Futhermore, crumbs from the bite-sized cubes had to be captured to prevent them from fouling instruments.
They were the master farmers of America's Southwest, and engineers of great networks of irrigation canals in the Salt River Valley. They first appeared about 350 B.C., building canals of open ditches, gouged out with stone tools and wooden hoes. The canals spanned almost 250 miles, stimulating trade and commerce between communities of hundreds and thousands of people. No one knows why, whether by climatic upheaval, drought or floods, the Hohokams suddenly vanished in 1450 A.D., well before Columbus discovered America or the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock.
The History of Atari, Born in 1972
Two men held a circle of plastic over a heater in a San Luis Obispo garage in 1948, trying to mold a lip onto the disc's down-turned edge. One of those men would be hailed as the inventor of the Frisbee. The other would die unknown, just as he began to fight for a share of the credit and millions in royalties the Frisbee generated.
