history of matches

In 1669, phosphorous was discovered - phosphorous was soon used in match heads.

In 1680, an Irish physicist named Robert Boyle (Boyle's Law) coated a small piece of paper with phosphorous and coated a small piece of wood with sulfur. He then rubbed the wood across the paper and created a fire. However, there was no useable match created by Robert Boyle.

In 1827, John Walker, English chemist and apothecary, discovered that if he coated the end of a stick with certain chemicals and let them dry, he could start a fire by striking the stick anywhere. These were the first friction matches. The chemicals he used were antimony sulfide, potassium chlorate, gum, and starch. Walker did not patent his "Congreves" as he called the matches (alluding to the Congreve's rocket invented in 1808). Walker was a former chemist at 59 High Street, in Stockton-on-Tees, England. His first sale of the matches was on April 7, 1827, to a Mr. Hixon, a solicitor in the town. Walker made little money from his invention. He died in 1859 at the age of 78 and is buried in the Norton Parish Churchyard in Stockton. (br1781- d1859)

One Samuel Jones saw Walker's "Congreves" and decided to market them, calling his matches "Lucifers" "Lucifers" became popular especially among smokers, but they had a bad burning odor.

In 1830, the French chemist, Charles Sauria, created a match made with white phosphorous. Sauria's matches had no odor, but they made people sick with a ailment dubbed "phossy jaw". White phosphorous is poisonous.

In 1855, safety matches were patented by Johan Edvard Lundstrom of Sweden. Lundstrom put red phosphorus on the sandpaper outside the box and the other ingredients on the match head, solving the problem of "phossy jaw" and creating a match that could only be safely lit off the prepared, special striking, surface.

In 1889, Joshua Pusey invented the matchbook, he called his matchbook matches "Flexibles". Pusey's patent was unsuccessfully challenged by the Diamond Match Company who had invented a similar matchbook (their striker was on the outside, Pusey's was on the inside). His patent was later purchased by the Diamond Match Company in 1896 for $4,000 and a job offer.

In 1910, the Diamond Match Company patented the first nonpoisonous match in the U.S., which used a safe chemical called sesquisulfide of phophorous.

United States President William H. Taft publicly asked Diamond Match to release their patent for the good of mankind. They did on January 28, 1911, Congress placed a high tax on matches made with white phosphorous.

Match Definition
A match consists of three basic parts: a head, which initiates combustion via various materials like phosphorous; a tinder substance to pick up and burn the flame, usually a piece of wood or cardboard; and a handle, often the same as the tinder.

Striking It Rich: Match Collecting
Back in the days when advertising was mainly word-of-mouth, cast members from the Mendelson Opera Company conceived a unique, and diminutive, way to let people know about their next performance. The opera company decided in 1895 to purchase about 100 blank matchbooks from the Diamond Match Company.

history of microwave

In 1946, Dr. Percy Spencer was quite intrigued when he was testing the magnetron, a new vacuum tube, when all of a sudden the candy bar in his pocket melted. This amazed him so much that he thought he would try another experiment with popcorn kernels. He placed the kernels in front of the magnetron and to his surprise they started popping.

It was the next day that Spencer decided to put an egg next to the magnetron. When he did so, the egg began trembling because of the pressure inside of the egg due to the rapidly rising temperature. When a colleague of Spencer's decided to get a better look at the shaking egg, the egg exploded and he was showered with its contents. This brought Spencer to the conclusion that low-density microwave energy was causing these foods to cook quickly. This is when his experimentation took him to entirely new levels.

That is when Spencer took a metal box and cut out an opening that he could feed the microwave energy through. Once the energy was in the box it was unable to escape, so this created a high-density electromagnetic field. This caused the temperature of any food put inside the box to rise quite rapidly. What this did was revolutionize the way that food is cooked and was the basis for what would become the microwave oven.

The first

However, the microwave oven did not look quite like what we use today. In fact, it weighed approximately 750 pounds and was almost 6 feet in height. This was in late 1946 when the patent was filed by the Raytheon Company. A Boston restaurant was put in charge of testing this large microwave and it was in 1947 that the commercial version of the microwave made its debut on the market, but they cost around $5,000 a piece. Why so expensive? Well, plumbing units also had to be installed because the magnetron had to be cooled by water. 

Not everyone looked upon this new invention in a favorable way. It was a complicated unit, but improvements would change the view of the public toward the microwave oven. Smaller units were made and the magnetron was able to be cooled by air, so the need for the plumber was eradicated.

Eventually, microwave ovens were used for more than cooking food. Many commercial establishments were using them to dry cork, paper, and even leather. Then in 1947, the Radarange was introduced by Raytheon. The price was now between $2,000 and $3,000 and the cabinets that housed the microwave were around the size of a refrigerator. Between 1952 and 1955, the first home united, priced at $1295, was introduced by Tappan. It was in 1965 that Raytheon acquired Amana and 1967 when they introduced the first countertop models.

Progression

By 1975, the microwave had made great strides and had even exceeded gas range sales. It became the staple of any kitchen. By 1976, the microwave had more owners than the dishwasher. No longer was the microwave considered a luxury, it was considered a necessity.

Now, we see that microwaves come in many shapes, sizes, colors, and it is difficult to find someone that doesn't have a microwave oven. And as time goes on, the microwave still continues to change face. With the many different settings that ranges from power defrost to popping popcorn at the push of a single button, it is no wonder that most of our meals are cooked within the microwave. It is quick, it is easy, and it also saves a considerable amount of energy.

history of pacifier

The coveted Pacifier is the most sought after item by parents in the baby kingdom from around the world and for good reason. Any new parent knows first hand... why.

Wikipedia posts an unverifiable origin of the Pacifier whereas Joaquin Martinez in the mid 1300's supposedly invented the Pacifier after long sleepless nights after birth of his first child. (And what did all the parents do before the 1300's??)... No really? Well maybe because pacifiers were around way before then...clay animals have been excavated from graves in Italy and Cypress that are estimated to date up to 3000 years old. It is believed that an infant child would suck a substance like honey from the mouth of the clay animal on a necklace. These necklaces were found in the gravesite. There are mentions of the medicinal use of honey for infants by ancient physicians as early as the 2nd and 3rd centuries.

Baby Binky Bling: Antique Pacifier Collectibles

The antique pacifiers from the late 18th century are interesting cultural objects. A colonial teething ring has been known to be worth $2,500. That is some serious Baby Bling. A wealthy child of the late 1700's would have been fitted with a teething device by the local silversmith. The opulant sucking and teething devices were typically made of gold, sterling silver, coral, abalone or mother of pearl. Some had bells and whistles(literally...Is that where this phrase originated! hmmmm) to sooth baby or to pacify as the name implies. It would appear that these early pacifier concoctions were a true safety hazard in today's standards. It goes to show that parents have always and will forever more go to whatever lengths necessary to stop the late night crying insanity.

17th - 19th Century

Later after the 17th - 19th century, the English called their version of the pacifier a Coral . A Coral was made of coral, ivory, and bone. It was often mounted in silver as the handle of a rattle. (Some are very collectible today). The upper crust of society of the 1800's touted the expression, 'born with a silver spoon in his mouth,' as likely the pacifier made of silver was very high-end, If there was really a grand occasion to flaunt the wears, the coral or mother of pearl pacifier was given to baby during social affairs. I read that a musuem curator suggested that these substances were used as "sympathetic magic" and that the animal bone could symbolize animal strength to help the child cope with pain and to ward off evil eye. Coral was selected for its smooth composition and its ancient association with preventing illness and warding off ailments. Mother of pearl offered bright white color symbolizing purity and often times associated with the Virgin Mary. Some 20th century teething rings offered a sterling silver duck and bunny rabbit to entertain baby. Lots of our modern day behaviors come from early symbolism of some kind that suggests deeper meaning than modern belief.

Original patented baby pacifier

Pacifiers were settling into the modern form around 1900 when the first teat, shield, and handle design was patented in the US as a baby comforter. Rubber had been used in flexible teethers sold as "elastic gum rings" for British babies in the mid-19th century, and also used for feeding-bottle teats.

In 1902 Sears and Roebuck catelog marketed a new style teething ring made of rubber with a hard or soft nipple.

Progressionof Pacifiers: Sugar-Rags and Soothing Pads

Mid-1800's gum rings are found. Made from elastic these gum rings are featured in Britain Maws in 1839 for 6d each. Now called soothing pads in an 1882 catalog where the device had rings and a guard attached.

Pacifiers were a progression of development of harder teething rings, but they were also a substitute of the softer sugar tits (less elaborate version from lower classes) , sugar-teats or sugar- rags (ie. Oxford English Dictionary) which had been in use in early 19th century America. Cecilia Viets Jamieson described in chapter 2 of the Ropes of Sand in 1873, "a sugar-teat made from 'a small piece of old linen', 'with a spoonful of rather sandy sugar in the center of it', 'gathered...up into a little ball' with a thread tied tightly around it." Rags or gauze material with food stuffs tied inside were also given to babies in many parts of Northern Europe and elsewhere. In some places a lump of meat or fat was tied in the cloth for baby to suck on. Some German countries were known to moisten the rag with brandy or Lutschbeuter: cloth wrapped round sweeted bread .

Controversy with trademarked Binky

1909 a columnist for the New York Times wrote that the pacifier was a menace to dental health and touted that it was used by the poorer classes. It was also seen in England as something used by the lower classes of society. 1914 a London doctor complained about the 'dummy teat' falling on the floor to by picked up momentarily rubbed on mother's blouse or lipped by mother and replaced in the baby's mouth. He did not like the cleaning process. (Can't say that I blame him). Some early pacifiers were manufactured in colors and contained elements of lead. The first brand name for pacifiers was trademarked the BINKY in 1935 and owned by Playtex Products, Inc
.

history of toilet paper

Obviously, toilet paper hasn’t been around forever.  We can be pretty sure that those living before the late 19^th Century weren’t able to drop by their local quickie mart mega stores to pick up a case of Charmin triple-ply, or Cottonelle flushable moist wipes.  Rather, the innovation of the roll of toilet paper is a very modern product and convenience, in which today, has arguably become a household commodity. 

So then, how did we go from nature’s fruitful leaves to the multiple choices that we are bombarded with every time we enter the tissue section at the grocery store today? 

Evidence seems to suggest that original material used in place of toilet paper ranged anywhere from leaves and sticks, to cobs of corn, or linen.  It is believed that although the earliest form of toilet paper on a roll wasn’t introduced until 1880, people made do with many various items that stemmed from their environments.  

For example, those living in the Northern parts of the world –in particularly, the Eskimos- used tundra moss when available in the summer months, and handfuls of snow during the balance of the year.  Those living in coastal areas or tropical settings used mussel shells or old coconut shells, those living in the colonial times of America, when farming consisted of 75% of the U.S. practicing workforce used cobs of corn, or hung paper products in the form of mail order catalogs (Like that of Sears Roebucks, etc.).  In ancient Rome, the popular item was a sponge attached to the end of a stick immersed in salt water.  If this were the case today, don’t you think it’s possible that we might take the coined phrase, “wrong end of the stick” a little more seriously?

                                                                          

Even more inconceivable, many societies in the Eastern parts of the world saw it socially correct to use their left hand.  Some theorists believe that this is why most cultures use their right hands when meeting new people. This previous form of hygiene is still transgressed in those cultures today, as they find it rude and socially incorrect to shake the left hand of another.

TOILET PAPER IN PERSPECTIVE:

Regardless of what was used, or how gross our associations of toilet paper and the bathroom are, the product itself has made life easier for everyone and has made finding things to clean ourselves up a thing of the past. Today there are over 5,000 different companies producing bathroom tissue around the world trying to make our lives more convenient, clean and efficient.  In a study done back in 1997, it was estimated that 71.48 frugal people contribute to the waste of one roll of 1,000 sheet single ply toilet paper everyday.

                                                                      

With a little over 6 billion humans living on earth, that calls for the daily production of 83,048,116 rolls per day with no days off and no vacations, 30.6 billion rolls per year and 2.7 rolls per second.  Strangely enough, that’s 80% greater than our daily consumption or use of salt, 63% greater than our average use of milk, and 84 billion more people served annually than McDonald’s fast food restaurants.  Yet, still we often times remain oblivious to toilet paper and take advantage of the convenience it provides for us.                                                

           

The average sheet of toilet paper weighs in at a little over .22 grams and 4.0625 inches per square reaching approximately338.5 feet per roll and 5.3 million miles of toilet paper per day. 

Furthermore, Americans skip to the loo an average of 6 times per day, adding up to as much as 47 minutes in a single 24 hour time period.  Women spend more time with the fluffy white stuff than men, or approximately 32 months in a lifetime versus 25 months for men.  However, women on average also tend to live longer than men, and object most often to men leaving the seat up. 

Each time we reach for the “cotton-savior”, an average tear of 5.9 sheets is ripped from the roll.  44% of people wipe from front to back, and 60% look at the paper having just wiped, 42% fold, 33% crumple, 8% do both fold and crumple, 6% wrap it around their hands and at least 50% of people have at one time or another wiped with leaves, or something foreign to toilet paper (8% hands, 1% money).

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE WONDERFUL WHITE STUFF:

Although toilet paper carries an amazing historical past, and its significance to our lives frequents more times daily than the toothbrush, hair spray, shower, or dinner table, we too often forget about the importance of toilet paper.  Whether it is due to the bad wrap that comes with its association with the bathroom and what goes on there, or just the simple fact that we have never had to do without it, this multiple purpose paper provides for us, makes things more convenient for us, and ultimately helps us look, feel and be clean. 

Toilet paper is also very versatile.  Outside of its obvious use, many people find that it makes a great substitute for that all too common problem of an empty Kleenex box.  Others find that it is perfect for Halloween costumes, like mummy’s, or zombies, while others use it to decorate certain peoples’ houses during the middle of the night.  Whatever the case may be, toilet paper is always there for us and always providing for us. 

                                  

Some people like to poke fun at it, like Seinfeld, or MTV’s Beavis and Butthead, while others like to waste it, or “eat it”.  You all know what I am talking about, the type of person that consumes half of the roll per trip to the bathroom, because of one bad experience that caused them to be petrified of ever getting their hands dirty.  While some others wouldn’t know the difference between the various brands of toilet paper, nor care for that matter…even if you were to replace the transparent, paper-thin toilet paper that UST uses with that of the softest, most expensive and soothing brand. 

Speaking of which, just where are those tuition dollars of ours going?  For the expense of one class, you would think that UST administration could work something out to provide a little more comfort than that of the paper found in our notebooks we take notes on during class.  It seems as though for most people, we don’t really recognize the convenience of toilet paper until one day when we have to relieve ourselves and we are left stranded, as the empty hook stares back at us with laughter and revenge. 

So, how do we improvise in these situations, how do we go about handling this dilemma?

 

“THE DILEMMA”

Well, it’s safe to say that in today’s world, there are a lot more options than a seashell, or an ear of corn, but nothing truly compares to that of toilet paper.  Since we have already established the importance and history of toilet paper –our often-overlooked friend- we are only left with one problem:  What type of toilet paper do we buy? 

For those of you who purchase your own rolls of toilet paper, you probably understand the abundant selection that is offered, but for those of you who don’t, let me explain...

It’s not quite as hard as in earlier times when picking the right leaves was important for preventing those unwanted rashes or problems, but the next time you visit the grocery store, take a trip down the toilet paper isle and gaze upon the wonderful world of white that has gradually come about over the last 100 years.  Choosing between:  Charmin, Charmin Ultra, Charmin double, Charmin Triple, Charmin unscented/scented, Best Yet, Quilted Northern, Cottonelle, Angel Soft, Soft’n Gentle, Green Forest, Scott, or even Brawni and all of their own double, triple, pillow soft, and smelly or non-smelly choices, can really become a mind-boggling event. 

Whether we are bombarded at the grocery store with the umpteen different kinds of toilet paper, or just strapped for cash, the decisions we make not only effect our hygiene, but also our finances and social lives.  Take for example the average college student, who, with so many bills to pay they’re coming out his or her ears, creates conflict in his or her decisions of whether to purchase beer or toilet paper.  This dilemma shouldn’t be an issue, as both are necessities, but sadly it is true.  An example of this was portrayed through the grammy award winning commercial from Anheiser Busch.

  

WHAT TO CONCLUDE ABOUT TOILET PAPER:

The short video clip may have struck home with a few of you, but regardless of all of the ways to solve your dilemmas, just remember that toilet paper shouldn’t be something that we just use, abuse, or have little regard for. It is produced for our hygiene, but is often too oblivious to our own consciousness that it is one of the biggest conveniences in our daily lives. 

Now that I have brought given you a little information on the history and importance of Toilet Paper, and shown you how T.P. is our friend and it’s okay to talk about it, I hope that you all can have a greater appreciation for toilet paper and every other small thing that contributes to making our lives easier and more convenient.

history of cotton swabs

When I was a child, my grandmother always placed a small wad of cotton over the untreated end of a wooden match. She then would use the covered match end to clean out dirty ears, apply alcohol to cuts and bruises, place a dab of mint oil on the outside of a stuffy nose, and a multitude of other uses. I wonder if my grandmother knew that several decades earlier, in 1923, a woman named Mrs. Gerstenzang placed wads of cotton on the ends of toothpicks. She then used the cotton to clean her baby's ears. Her husband Leo saw what she was doing, and he got the idea to invent a cotton swab for the same purpose. And that's how the history of Q-Tips got started.

Leo Gerstenzang's original cotton swab was a wooden stick with cotton wrapped around both ends. He named his invention "Baby Gays" and he founded the Leo Gerstenzang Infant Novelty Company in New York City. Gerstenzang sold the disposable cotton swabs in bundles.

It's not known why Gerstenzang chose that name. Obviously, the term "gay" didn't have the same meaning as it does today. Apparently not happy with his first choice, the inventor later added "Q- Tip in front of "Baby Gays." The "Q" supposedly stands for "quality." The word "tips" refers to the cotton at the ends.

Finally, Gerstenzang shortened the name of his cotton swabs to just "Q-Tips" and that name has never changed.

Leo Gerstenzang's cotton swab business thrived. Consumers used the products to clean babies' outer ears, their nostrils and other hard-to-reach places.

In 1958, his company bought Paper Sticks Ltd. of England. The company's machinery was shipped to America and converted to manufacture Q-Tips paper sticks. Now, consumers could choose between wooden sticks or paper when they purchased them.

Chesebrough-Ponds purchased the Q-Tips company in 1962. The production of the cotton swabs was then moved from New York to Missouri. In 1974, Chesebrough-Ponds relocated part of the plant to Puerto Rico. Then, in 1987, Unilever bought the Chesebrough-Ponds company.

Sometime during the 1980's, the wooden sticks were done away with. They are now made with paper sticks. Unilever has also changed the packaging, but other than that, they have remained pretty much the same. Q-Tips cotton swabs are the most popular product for babies in the United States.

Since that time, Q-Tips cotton swabs have continued to be manufactured and be a successful product on store shelves. The company produces nearly twenty-six billion cotton swabs every year. But they are no longer used exclusively for babies. Americans use them to apply glue on craft projects, clean out electronic devices, remove make up, clean computer keyboards, remove dirt and debris from their dogs' and cats' outer ears, dust collectibles, apply ointments, paint models, and more. Q-Tips are the best product yet for getting to hard-to-reach places.

They say that "necessity is the mother of invention." But, still, it's rather fascinating that this all started because a mother needed something safe to clean her baby's ears with. And her makeshift cotton swab inspired her husband Leo Gerstenzang to invent a real swab and put it on the market for consumers across America to use.

history of bra

The concept dates back to 6500 years ago in ancient Greece. The Minoan women on the island of Crete wore a tight bodice made of bone that pushed their breasts over and out, exposed for the whole world to see. Though some may consider this an instance of devaluing women, based on evidence historians suggest otherwise: the display of breasts showcased the women’s ability to create life. This has caused many to believe that these ancient societies were egalitarian and that they cherished the symbolic link between humanity and the flow of nature.

In ancient Rome bountiful bust was unstylish, so 3rd century girls used to wrap bandages around themselves. These bands initially known as aspodesmos or mastodenton was made to flatten breasts and secure during athletics. Older women used to wear a type of leather corset to flatten their bosoms and make them look more like men.

The ancient bikini girls are in the artwork dubbed "Coronation of the Winner", performing exercises including weight-lifting, discus throwing, running and ball-games, while one woman in a  toga is depicted with a crown in her hand and one of the Maidens is holding a palm frond in her hand. The mosaic on the floor of the room dubbed the "Chamber of the Ten Maidens" (Sala delle Dieci Ragazze in Italian), was excavated by Gino Vinicio Gentile in 1950-60. Women have used garments designed to lift, separate and restrain their breast for ages. From the 1500s BC until the 1800s BC the corset was the primary under-garment used by women for the purpose of shaping the waist and lifting their breasts.

This morning, millions of women have got up and put on a bra – push-up, plunge, balconette, in myriad colours and shapes (the number of sports bras in London is increasing daily). What you do with your breasts when dressing is a question women have dealt with for a good 100,000 years, as long as we've worn clothes. Do you show them, hide them, lift them up, squeeze them together, go au naturel, or turn them into a different shape? They're flexible, functional, and desirable: a prominent feature of femaleness.

The way people dress tells you about their relationship with themselves and their world. It's the reason I'm a clothing historian. How women wrangle their breasts is one of the most intimate and fascinating ways to understand the social concerns of an age. So the discovery of early 15th-century linen bras in Lengberg Castle, Austria, is a five-line jackpot for dress historians. In her article on the finds in BBC History Magazine, researcher Beatrix Nutz from the University of Innsbruck elaborates on medieval documentary evidence for "breastbags". She brings to life that people had similar daily concerns to now: enhancing or reducing the bust "so there is no gossip in the city".

Why are these bras amazing? Let me count the ways. First, there is nothing known like them from the Middle Ages. We didn't know they existed, and look how shockingly modern they are. We know medieval women wore linen tunics under their clothing, washable chemises, smocks and shifts that protected outer garments. We didn't know their approach to breast-wrangling except that tight gowns, if cut well, support the bust. Shockwaves are rippling across forums and lists as word spreads of this clothing missing link.

Women stiffened bodices from the late 15th century, which evolved into boned stays creating torsos of smooth, unnatural geometry. There breasts remained for two centuries in sculpted round monobusts. Only with "natural" body fashions around 1800 did lift-and-separate become the mode du jour, using gussets for each breast. Lift indeed: in 1813 Jane Austen was amused to learn "stays now are not made to force the bosom up at all; that was a very unbecoming, unnatural fashion".

Through the 19th century stays, or corsets as they became known, covered women from bust to hip. When corsets dropped below the bust in the 1900s women wore "brassieres" — short sleeveless camisoles — over corsets to hold everything together and avoid busty muffin-tops. A brassiere may have been patented in 1914 but the word was used from at least 1904. Bandeau brassieres made of narrow straps appeared in the 1910s; the corset disappeared through the 1920s. With the 1930s' slinky bias-cut gowns, the soft, natural brassiered bust made its first appearance since, well, probably since about the time of the Austrian pieces. Similar fit, similar approach to engineering a fashionable bustline.

The very word lingerie is French for "things made from linen". The fibre usually doesn't survive history's long journey. It decays in damp ground, if buried, and above ground suffers meticulous reuse until the last threads became paper. Most surviving medieval linen is royal or a saintly relic. The marvellous collection of everyday medieval textile and clothing pieces excavated from the Thames foreshore and now in the London Archaeological Archive and Research Centre yielded just a few scraps of linen amongst piles of wool and silk outer garments. Any intact medieval linen find is pretty thrilling in itself, and a quotidian one doubly so.

The Lengberg bras, then, come to us like a secret whispered directly from the past. This underwear is the intimacy between inner flesh and clothed outer self, the private pleasures and daily vanities of individual women who were once as real as you and I. They open up doors in the house of the past leading to new and hidden chambers and I, for one, feel an explorers' joy.