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ON THE BOOKSHELF:
100 Inventions
That Shaped World History
by Bill Yenne, Morton, Dr. Grosser (Editor) / Paperback - 112 pages (1983) / Bluewood Books
This book contains inventions from all around the world from microchips to fire. This is a
really good book if you are going to do research on inventions.
Cocktail Shakers, Lava Lamps, and Tupperware: A Celebration of Lifestyle
Design
by Wayne Hemingway, Keith Stephenson / Paperback: 144 pages / Rockport
Publishers (2004)
The book combines hip graphic treatments with a level of ironic kitschness
that reflects the products featured. Internationally acclaimed pop-cultural
design aficionado Wayne Hemingway adds his uniquely witty commentary, as a
collector and champion of mass-produced interior design.
Panati’s
Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things
by Charles Panati / Paperback - 480 pages Reissue edition (September 1989) /
HarperCollins
Discover the fascinating stories behind the origins of over 500 everyday items,
expressions and customs.
Popular
Patents
by Travis Brown / Paperback - 224 pages / Scarecrow Press (September
1, 2000)
Eighty stories of America's first inventions. Each includes a sketch of the invention, a
profile of the inventor and a glimpse of how the invention has found its way into American
culture.
More
Work for Mother: The Ironies of Household Technology from the Open Hearth to the Microwave
by Ruth Schwartz Cowan / Paperback Reprint edition (February 1985) / Basic Books (Sd)
Inventions such as washing machines, cotton cloth, and even white flour acted as catalysts
by giving the less well-off a chance at the comforts the prosperous already possessed, but
in general it was men and children whose chores were relieved by these innovations.
Never Done: A
History of American Housework
by Susan Strasser / Paperback: 361 pages / Owl Books (NY) (November 1,
2000)
It is truly an eye-opening perspective on housework, not to mention a history of the tools
of the trade.
A Social History
of American Technology
by Ruth Schwartz Cowan / Paperback: 352 pages / Oxford University Press; (December 1996)
This book surveys the history of American technology from the
early 17th century to the present,
focusing on the key individuals, ideas, and systems that have shaped the important
technological
developments throughout American history
Why Didn't I Think of That?:
Bizarre Origins of Ingenious Inventions We
Couldn't Live Without
by Allyn Freeman, Bob Golden / Paperback - 260 pages / John Wiley & Sons;
(September 1997)
Filled with wacky and fascinating facts, awe-inspiring success statistics,
and rags-to-riches stories, Chronicles the odd origins behind 50 famous
inventions and reveals the business side of each product's actual
production, marketing, and distribution.
ON THE SCREEN:
Bathroom Tech
DVD / 1 Volume Set / 50 Minutes / History Channel / 73182 / Less than $25.00
From tub to toilet to toothpaste, here's everything you ever wanted to
know about the most used and least discussed room in the house. From the
first home bathrooms in ancient India, Roman latrines, and bizarre
Victorian-era bath contraptions, to modern luxurious master bathroom
suites, we trace the history of bathing, showering, and oral hygiene.
Digi-tech
DVD / 1 Volume Set / 50 Minutes / History Channel / Less than $25.00
See how the computing capacity of World-War II era room-sized computers
is now surpassed by hand-held devices; visit Zenith to see a
side-by-side comparison of regular television and HDTV; discover how a
Cold War era NASA program is transforming personal photography, and get
the inside story about MP3s.
Household Wonders
DVD / 1 Volume Set / 50 Minutes / History Channel / Less than $25.00
HOUSEHOLD WONDERS tells the story of seven taken-for-granted inventions
that make modern life comfy, fast and clean: the stove, sewing machine,
refrigerator, air conditioner, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, toaster
and mixer.
ON THE WEB:
Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers ("AHAM")
Your best source of information about home appliances and the industry
organization that represents the manufacturers of home appliances! Lots of
product and safety facts but no historical information.
(URL: www.aham.org/)
Most Expensive Household Items
There is one indulgence all billionaires have in common: their home
or, as is more likely the case, homes. For the most part,
billionaires don't hold back when it comes to feathering their
nests. Article by Betsy Schiffman for Forbes magazine.
(URL: www.forbes.com/2004/02/26/cx_bs_0227home.html)
The Birth of the Blender
Racine Wisconsin the birth place of many of today's successful consumer
products. The blender, malted milk, milkshake, lollipop, Colby cheese, and
the portable vacuum cleaner. Article Land of Milk and Money by Margaret
McArthur and Dave Scantland for the Daily Gulett eZine.
(URL: www.egullet.org/tdg.cgi?pg=ARTICLE-blender)
The
Carpet Sweeper History
Melville Bissell didn’t
start out intending to make carpet sweepers. After all, he and his wife Anna
had a successful Grand Rapids crockery shop. As word of the Bissell sweeper got around, Melville and Anna loaded their
buggy with carpet sweepers and sold them door-to-door, each taking opposite
sides of the street. In 1883 Melville and Anna incorporated Bissell.
(URL: www.bissell.com/main2.asp?Page_id=88)
CIBSE
The Heritage Group Web Site aims to provide information about the
activities of the Group and to inform Engineers and other interested
persons about the history of the Building Engineering Services
industry from its beginnings in the Industrial Revolution.
Includes Hall of Fame section.
(URL: www.hevac-heritage.org/homepage.htm)
The Mystique of the Lava Lamp
At their peak, more than seven million Lava Lamps were sold around the world
each year, but by the early 1970s the fad had run its course and sales fell
dramatically. Plus random facts section.
(URL: www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A641224)
Quackenbush Family Biography
Found at Darci's Place of Origins - Featuring New York - Wisconsin
Biographies and Resources,
Genealogy Lineages, Memoirs, Sketches, Book Indexes All With New York
Origins
Everready History
Hubert acquired the patent for the first Eveready flashlight, called an electric hand
torch, in 1898.
URL: www.energizer.com/learning/historyofflashlights.asp)
Benjamin
Franklin's Inventions
His natural curiosity about things and the way they work made him try to find ways
to make them work better.
(URL: sln.fi.edu/franklin/inventor/inventor.html)
Household Appliances and "Women's Work"
Before 1889, household chores were a never-ending process. Women
spent the majority of their lives performing the grueling tasks
required to maintain a household. In that year, however, electrical
appliances began to hit the market and revolutionized the way people
kept house.
(URL:
www.ieee-virtual-museum.org/collection/event.php?taid=&id=3456874&lid=1)
Household Appliances Timeline
Two major engineering
innovations—resistance heating and small, efficient motors—led to
electric stoves and irons, vacuum cleaners, washers, dryers, and
dishwashers.
(URL: www.greatachievements.org/?id=3768)
Origin Of Electric Christmas Lights
It all began in 1882, just three years after the incandescent bulb was
invented. Edward Johnson, Edison’s friend and partner in the Edison
Illumination Company in New York City, hand-wired 80 red, white and blue
bulbs and wound them around a rotating evergreen tree in his home.
(URL: www.necanet.org/whats_new/report.cfm?ID=2668)
First Recorded Vacuum Claener
Patent 29,077 issued July 10, 1860 to Daniel Hess for the
invention of a vacuum cleaner.
(URL: www.vachunter.com/history.htm)
Refridgerator History
Brief description of the evolution of the refrigerator.
(URL:
www.historychannel.com/exhibits/modern/fridge.html)
CE Hall
of Fame
The creator of the first practical wireless TV remote control, Dr. Robert Adler, paved the
way for TV viewers to become couch potatoes more than 40 years ago. From the Consumer
Electronis Association.
(URL: www.ce.org/publications/hall_of_fame/adler_r_00.asp)
National Museum of
American History, Smithsonian Institution
Sewing Machine patented May 30, 1853, patent number 10975, invented by Isaac M. Singer.
(URL: www.150.si.edu/150trav/remember/r822.htm)
A Brief History of
the Microwave Oven
Like many of today's great inventions, the microwave oven was a by-product of another
technology.
(URL: www.gallawa.com/microtech/history.html)
American Computer Museum
Located in Bozeman, Montana, USA is one of the world's largest and most
comprehensive collection of computer and information age history anywhere on public
display!
(URL: www.compustory.com/)
Edison Invents!
All about Edison and his inventions. Thomas Alva Edison changed our
world! His genius gave us electric lights in our home. From the Lemelson
Center at the Smithsonian.
(URL: invention.smithsonian.org/centerpieces/edison/default.asp)
The
Telephone
From the PBS television series The American Experience: The Telephone
They Invented
it When? The Can Opener
News of science, medicine, and technology by Fenella Saunders.
(URL: www.discover.com/issues/mar-01/rd/breakinvented.html)
Modern Television
Pilgrimage to the birthplace of Electronic Television.
(URL: www.moderntv.com/modtvweb/media/birthplace1.htm)
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