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Windshield Wipers

The first mechanical windshield wipers had to be operated by hand! Either the driver or a passenger had to work a crank to make the wipers go back and forth. Mary Anderson, from New York City, was awarded a patent in 1903 for a window cleaning device. Once the invention was protected by patent, she tried to interest companies into producing the device. No one was interested, so Mary put the patent in a drawer and eventually it expired.

During a trip to New York City, Mary Anderson noticed that streetcar drivers had to open the windows of their cars when it rained in order to see, as a solution she invented a swinging arm device with a rubber blade that was operated by the driver from within the vehicle via a lever. The windsheld wipers became standard equipment on all American cars by 1916.

Floppy Disc

Yoshiro Nakamatsu (中松 義郎, Nakamatsu Yoshirō^?), born June 26, 1928, also known as Dr. Nakamatsu, is a Japanese inventor claiming to hold the world record for number of inventions with over 3,000, including "PyonPyon" spring shoes and the basic technology for the floppy disk, the CD, the DVD, the digital watch, CinemaScope, and the taxicab meter. Nakamatsu claims that he licensed about a dozen of his patents related to the floppy disk technology to IBM Corporation in 1979, but the details of the arrangement are confidential

Fax Machine History

Many inventors after Alexander Bain, worked hard on inventing and improving fax machine type devices.

• In 1850, a London inventor named F. C. Blakewell received a patent what he called a "copying telegraph".
• In 1860, a fax machine called the Pantelegraph sent the first fax between Paris and Lyon. The Pantelegraph was invented Giovanni Caselli.
• In 1895, Ernest Hummel a watchmaker from St. Paul, Minnesota invented his competing device called the Telediagraph.
• In 1902, Dr Arthur Korn invented an improved and practical fax, the photoelectric system.
• In 1914, Edouard Belin established the concept of the remote fax for photo and news reporting.
• In 1924, the telephotography machine (a type of fax machine) was used to send political convention photos long distance for newspaper publication. It was developed by the American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T) worked to improve telephone fax technology.
• By 1926, RCA invented the Radiophoto that faxed by using radio broadcasting technology.
• In 1947, Alexander Muirhead invented a very successful fax machine.
• On March 4, 1955, the first radio fax transmission was sent across the continent.

The First "Radarange"

A Brief History of the Microwave Oven

Like many of today's great inventions, the microwave oven was a by-product of another technology. It was during a radar-related research project around 1946 that Dr. Percy Spencer, a self-taught engineer with the Raytheon Corporation, noticed something very unusual. He was testing a new vacuum tube called a magnetron , when he discovered that the candy bar in his pocket had melted. This intrigued Dr. Spencer, so he tried another experiment. This time he placed some popcorn kernels near the tube and, perhaps standing a little farther away, he watched with an inventive sparkle in his eye as the popcorn sputtered, cracked and popped all over his lab.

The next morning, Scientist Spencer decided to put the magnetron tube near an egg. Spencer was joined by a curious colleague, and they both watched as the egg began to tremor and quake. The rapid temperature rise within the egg was causing tremendous internal pressure. Evidently the curious colleague moved in for a closer look just as the egg exploded and splattered hot yolk all over his amazed face. The face of Spencer lit up with a logical scientific conclusion: the melted candy bar, the popcorn, and now the exploding egg, were all attributable to exposure to low-density microwave energy.

By late 1946, the Raytheon Company had filed a patent proposing that microwaves be used to cook food. An oven that heated food using microwave energy was then placed in a Boston restaurant for testing. At last, in 1947, the first commercial microwave oven hit the market. These primitive units where bigand expensive, standing 5 1/2 feet tall, weighing over 750 pounds, and costing about $5000 each. The magnetron tube had to be water-cooled, so plumbing installations were also required.

In 1947, Raytheon demonstrate d the world's first microwave oven and called it a "Radarange," the winning name in an employee contest. Housed in refrigerator-sized cabinets, the first microwave ovens cost between $2,000 and $3,000. Sometime between 1952-55, Tappan introduced the first home model priced at $1295. In 1965 Raytheon acquired Aman a Refrigeration. Two years later, the first countertop, domestic oven was introduced. It was a 100-vo lt microwave oven, which cost just under $50 0 and was smaller, safer and more reliable than previous models.

By 1975 Sales of Microwave Ov ns Exceeded that of Gas Ranges.

History of the Food Processor

The idea of a machine to process food began when a French catering company salesman, observed the large amount of time his clients spent in the kitchen chopping, shredding and mixing. He produced a simple but effective solution, a bowl with a revolving blade in the base. In 1960 this evolved into Robot Coupe, a company established to manufacture the first "food processor" for the catering industry. In the late 1960s a food processor driven by a powerful commercial induction motor was produced. The domestic market had to wait until 1972 for a food processor.

A food processor is a kitchen appliance used to facilitate various repetitive tasks in the process of preparation of food. Today, the term almost always refers to an electric-motor-driven appliance, although there are some manual devices also referred to as "food processors".

Food processors are similar to blenders in many ways. The primary difference is that food processors use swappable blades and disks (attachments) instead of a fixed blade. Also, their bowls are wider and shorter, a more appropriate shape for the solid or semi-solid foods usually worked in a food processor. Usually little or no liquid is required in the operation of the food processor unlike a blender, which requires some amount of liquid to move the particles around its blade.

Its functions normally consist of:

• Slicing/chopping vegetables
• Grinding items such as nuts, seeds (eg spices), meat, or dried fruit
• Shredding or grating cheese or vegetables
• Pureeing

• Mixing and kneading doughs

Magnavox Remote Locator (Philips Electronics)

Sure, remote controls cut out the grueling back-and-forth of in-person channel changing, but the handheld boon has also created a new challenge: "Our research showed that losing remotes was a big problem," says Stan Veltkamp, general manager of accessories at Philips. "People would end up finding them in their refrigerators, in their couches, everywhere."

Sensing a need, Philips introduced the Magnavox Remote Locator. Attach a small receiver to the back of your remote, and it trills back its location from up to 30 feet away.