Who invented the ice cream cone?

 

Licking an ice cream off a cone is something that most children can't say no to. Or even adults for that matter. One of the most delicious treats enjoyed across age groups, the origin of the cone that bears the ice cream is shrouded in mystery.

Over 2,000 years

Before we dive into the story of the cone, a little bit more about ice creams. Their origins can be traced back to over 2,000 years, but it is impossible to fix a specific date or an inventor. What we do know is that the likes of Alexander the Great (4th Century BCE) and Roman emperor Nero Claudius Caesar (1st Century CE) enjoyed these frozen treats in one form or another.

 When ice was mixed with salt, it was possible to lower and control the temperature of the mix of ingredients. This proved to be a major breakthrough in the creation of ice cream as we eat it today. While the invention of wooden bucket freezers with rotary paddles proved to be the next big thing for ice creams, their business truly became profitable and distributable when mechanical refrigeration made its way in the second half of the 19th Century.

It is believed that Menches conceived the idea of filling a pastry cone with scopps of ice cream on July, 23, 1904. According to the story on the Menches Bros. company website, Charles and Frank Menches invented the waffle cone.

It was early in the 20th Century that the cones made their way, revolutionising the way we consume ice creams. While there are many parallel claims as to who invented the ice cream cone, many accounts, including U.S.' Library of Congress, credit American Charles E. Menches.

It is believed that Menches conceived the idea of filling a pastry cone with scoops of ice cream on July 23, 1904. According to the story on the Menches Bros. company website, cherles and Frank Menches invented the waffle cone.

St. Louis World's Fair

Having baked waffles in Parisian waffle irons during 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, they then thought of wrapping the warm waffle around a fid which is a cone-shaped splicing tool that is used for tent ropes. As the waffle held its shape after cooling, it proved to be an edible container for eating ice cream.

The Menches brothers began productions of these “premium" cones on returning home. They even launched their own business called Premium Ice Cream Cone and Candy Company in Akron, Ohio. Chales continued to work on improvements and even received a patent titled "Baking iron for ice-cream cones” on June &. 1909

Marchiony's cups

Menches was neither the first, nor the last, to claim priority for inventing the ice cream cone. Italian-American immigrant Italo Marchiony received a patent on December 5, 1903 for a device that could make edible cups with handles. While these weren't rolled up waffles that remain popular, they did improve business. Street-vending became a lot more efficient with these and for this reason, some consider it as the first cones.

Apart from Menches and Marchiony, Ernest Hamwi, Abe Doumar, Albert and Nick Kabbaz, Arnold Formachou, and David Avayou all lay claim to being the first one to invent the edible cone that is now a staple in the ice cream industry. Their stories range from a moment of inspiration to roll a waffle into a cone when a nearby vendor ran out of serving dishes; coming up with an ice cream sandwich in which ice cream, rather than meat, was filled into pastries rolled into a horn; and seeking inspiration from Western Asia and Europe, where pita bread, metal and paper cones were already being used to hold sweets and ice cream. Interestingly, most of these claimants either made or sold confections at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.

While we might never quite be able to say for certain as to who among these actually invented the cone that we now hold in our hands while having an ice cream, the individuals involved collectively transformed the ice cream industry. As the cone ensures that both the product (ice cream) and the package (cone) are consumed together, it is also a win-win in other ways, as there is no waste left behind.

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Who invented adhesive tape?

It was American Richard Gurley Drew who came up with the world's first transparent cellophane adhesive tape in 1930.

The first instance of an adhesive tape was seen in 1845 when Dr Horace Day, an American surgeon, applied rubber glue to strips of cloth to invent surgical tape. Then Johnson & Johnson invented the Band-Aid in 1920.

However, it was a college dropout who came up with a tape that could be used for non-medical purposes. Richard Gurley Drew was a 22-year-old mechanical engineering student when he joined a small sandpaper company called the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (later called 3M Company) as a lab technician.

In the 1920s, two-tone paint jobs were very popular with car owners. Once, Drew was at an auto shop, testing his company's sandpaper samples when he overheard the auto painters complaining about the difficulty in making a clean border between the two colours. The incident gave him the idea of developing a masking tape, which when laid on the car, would prevent paint from seeping through and also come off clean without spoiling the paint finish and leaving no sticky residue.

It took Drew two years of experimentation to produce the world's first paper-based adhesive masking tape. During the trials, there was too little adhesive on the tape and it kept falling off. The frustrated auto painter snapped and said, "Take this tape back to those Scotch bosses of yours and tell them to put more adhesive on it!" ('Scotch' meant 'stingy'.) That is how the tape came to be branded as Scotch Tape in 1925.

Scotch Tape was a huge success and Drew followed it up with the world's first transparent cellophane adhesive tape in 1930. In the U.K., it was called Sellotape.

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When was the Aqua-Lung invented?

The aqualung invented in 1943 is the best and safest of all diving devices. Read on to know about the people behind the invention

About 200 years ago, divers used a device called a diving bell, which was lowered from a ship into the water. It was open at the bottom and received air from the surface through a hose. The air pressure kept the water out of the device. The diving bell gave way to the snorkel and diving suit.

However, the best and safest of all diving devices is the aqualung invented in 1943 by a French naval officer Jacques-Yves Cousteau and an engineer named Emile Gagnan. The aqualung is a portable diving apparatus, which consists of cylinders (tanks) of compressed air with a valve and mouthpiece. The valve adjusts air pressure automatically and supplies air as a diver needs it, so that air pressure inside the divers lungs matches the pressure of the water. Unlike previous devices, the aqualung was light and convenient and Lalung now part SCUBA millions Id every allowed the diver to move about freely.

The first aqualung was sold in 1946. The system is now part of modern SCUBA gear, with millions of units sold every year. Recreational scuba diving has become an international phenomenon.

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Who is the founder of Bose sound system?

Amar G. Bose, founder of the Bose Corporation. Founder Amar Bose didn't set out to sell speaker systems and headphones. He began his career as an academic engineer at MIT in the late 1950s, licensing power conversion and amplification technology to the U.S. military and government agencies such as NASA

His company's products can be found in Olympic stadiums, Broadway theatres, the Sistine Chapel and in the space shuttle where they protect astronauts hearing. Amar Bose, the founder of Bose Corporation, was renowned for his invention of high-end stereo speakers.

Bose was brought up in Philadelphia, USA, the son of an immigrant from Kolkata. He became interested in technology when he began repairing model trains and transistors to supplement his family's income at the age of 13. Bose joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering in the early 1950s. His interest in acoustics was sparked off when some expensive speakers he bought failed to deliver its advertised sound quality.

Bose's idea was to utilize the space around the loudspeakers to directly reflect the sound to the listeners' ears rather than letting it bounce indiscriminately off the walls and ceiling. His Direct/Reflecting speaker system patented in 1968 remained the industry standard for 25 years. Bose speakers proved that rich sound need not come from bulky speakers- elegance and simplicity in design could do the job just as well.

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Did you know the first antibiotic penicillin was discovered by accident?

Penicillin was discovered by chance by British scientist Alexander Fleming in 1929. Fleming was growing colonies of staphylococcus bacteria, the cause of a number of diseases from boils to pneumonia, in culture plates in his laboratory. One of the plates had not been covered and airborne spores settled in it and formed a mould. Fleming was about to throw away the contents when he noticed that the mould had destroyed the bacteria in the area around it.

He realised that the mould was producing a substance that was lethal to the bacteria. He also realised that the substance could be used to cure diseases caused by the bacteria. As the mould was called Penicillium notatum, he named the unknown substance 'penicillin'. Ten years later in 1940, Howard Florey and E. B. Chaim managed to isolate penicillin in the laboratory and showed that it could be safely administered by mouth, by injection or applied directly to wounds.

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What did Peter Henlein invent?

Peter Henlein, a locksmith from Nuremburg, Germany, is considered as the inventor of the modern day watch. He was one of the first craftsmen to make small ornamental Taschenuhren, portable clocks worn as pendants or attached to clothing, which were regarded as the first watches. The Pomander Watch is one of the world's earliest known portable timepieces and is thought to have been made by Henlein in 1505.

Peter Henlein was born in 1485, and very little is known about his early life. It is most probable that he became apprentice as a repair man and locksmith. His appearance in history books start on September 7, 1504 after he was involved in a brawl in which his friend and fellow locksmith George Glaser was killed. Peter immediately went to the local Franciscan monastery where he found safety. Four years later he returned to the Nuremberg where he became one of the most famous locksmiths, who was especially praised for his ability to create small spring-powered brass clock which were then very rare and expensive. With such popularity, it was not strange that local and distant nobility contacted him on regular basis, demanding ever more beautiful and smaller clock designs. As far historical records are concerned, Peter’s first clock was made in 1510, and by 1541 he was well known for his craft and has been tasked on building not only small clocks but also big tower clock for Lichtenau castle.

Even though his spring designs were not particular accurate (they could lose several hours during one day’s work) or even portable (with around 3 inches in size, they were more suited to be worn as a pendant than in pocket), clocks that were made by Peter Henlein soon became sensation in Europe scientific circles and later on by general European population.

Today, Peter Henlein is regarded as a father of modern clocks even though he was not the first locksmith that made small clock designs or was responsible for the discovery of key clock component –mainspring. He died in 1547 knowing that his invention will live forever.

Credit : History of watch

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What is phone airbag?

We've all been there: our smartphone slips out of our hands and crashes to the floor. A good case and screen protector might protect you from the worst of the damage, but can only do so much. That's where the ADcase comes into play. The case senses when it is in free-fall, quickly releasing eight legs from its corners which hit the ground preventing your smartphone's expensive and fragile parts from coming into contact with the ground. The spring-loaded 30 mm metal legs can be inserted back into the case, ready to go the next time you drop your phone. The case also includes an extra battery which can be charged by cable 00 or wirelessly. The ADcase is limited to recent iPhone models like the 6/6 Plus. The creator of this device has also won the top award from the German Society for Mechatronics for his phone case, even though the design is still a prototype. The thought struck Philip Frenzel, a 25-year-old engineering student at Aalen University in Germany when he broke his smartphone by hurling his jacket on the banister. Frenzel then started working on equipment that would save the phones from damage after an accidental drop

After four years of fiddling with the equipment, he came up with the phone case that houses sensors that can detect when the phone is falling. The case appears to work perfectly on flat surfaces, but there is no indication that results would be as solid if the phone is dropped on a jagged or uneven edge.

Credit : India Today

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Who is the father of genetics?

Gregor Mendel is known as the Father of Genetics. He experimented on pea plants and discovered the basic inheritance rules. Gregor Johann Mendel  was a meteorologist, mathematician, biologist, Augustinian friar and abbot of St. Thomas' Abbey in Brno, Margraviate of Moravia. Mendel was born in a German-speaking family in the Silesian part of the Austrian Empire (today's Czech Republic) and gained posthumous recognition as the founder of the modern science of genetics. Though farmers had known for millennia that crossbreeding of animals and plants could favor certain desirable traits, Mendel's pea plant experiments conducted between 1856 and 1863 established many of the rules of heredity, now referred to as the laws of Mendelian inheritance.

Mendel worked with seven characteristics of pea plants: plant height, pod shape and color, seed shape and color, and flower position and color. Taking seed color as an example, Mendel showed that when a true-breeding yellow pea and a true-breeding green pea were cross-bred their offspring always produced yellow seeds. However, in the next generation, the green peas reappeared at a ratio of 1 green to 3 yellow. To explain this phenomenon, Mendel coined the terms "recessive" and "dominant" in reference to certain traits. In the preceding example, the green trait, which seems to have vanished in the first filial generation, is recessive and the yellow is dominant. He published his work in 1866, demonstrating the actions of invisible "factors"—now called genes—in predictably determining the traits of an organism.

The profound significance of Mendel's work was not recognized until the turn of the 20th century (more than three decades later) with the rediscovery of his laws. Erich von Tschermak, Hugo de Vries and Carl Correns independently verified several of Mendel's experimental findings in 1900, ushering in the modern age of genetics.

Credit : wikipedia

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Who created the first talking doll?

The first talking doll was made by the acclaimed American inventor Thomas Alva Edison in 1890. It was embedded with a small phonograph enabling it to recite a nursery rhyme.

Thomas Edison invented the phonograph in 1877, and when he imagined the uses for his new machine, he speculated that, beyond serving as a means of preserving dictation, it might animate toys. His idea took form in a talking doll, manufactured briefly in 1890.

In 1887 Edison had licensed W. W. Jacques and Lowell C. Briggs of Boston to make and sell talking dolls as the Edison Toy Phonograph Company. The Edison Phonograph Works, in West Orange, N.J., manufactured the phonographs, inserted them into dolls, and packaged them for sale. The talking dolls work imperfectly, sold poorly, and proved a costly mistake for Edison. By 1896, all remaining unsold phonographs for dolls were reportedly destroyed.

Credit : Smithsonian

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Where were the first scissors found?

The earliest scissors known to exist appeared about 3,000 or 4,000 years ago in Mesopotamia (today's Iraq, mostly, but also parts of modern-day Iran, Syria and Turkey). Known as spring scissors, they consisted of two bronze blades connected at the handles by a thin, flexible strip of curved bronze. This strip served to bring the blades together when squeezed and to pull them apart when released.

The ancient Egyptians used a version of scissors as long ago as 1500 B.C. They were a single piece of metal, typically bronze, fashioned into two blades that were controlled by a metal strip. The strip kept the blades apart until they were squeezed. Each blade was a scissor. Collectively, the blades were scissors, or so rumor has it. Through trade and adventure, the device eventually spread beyond Egypt to other parts of the world.

The Romans adapted the Egyptians' design in 100 A.D., creating pivoted or cross-blade scissors that were more in line with what we have today. The Romans also used bronze, but they sometimes made their scissors from iron as well. Roman scissors had two blades that slid past each other. The pivot was situated between the tip and the handles to create a cutting effect between the two blades when they were applied to various properties. Both Egyptian and Roman versions of scissors had to be sharpened regularly.

Credit : Thought Co. 

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Which are the amazing discoveries that were made quite by accident?

Boing boing!

Have you ever played with a semicircular spring toy that gracefully bounces into position even when it falls down? Navy engineer, Richard James, was seriously engaged in the task of fitting springs on sensitive instruments to prevent them from rocking. When a piece of spring crashed onto the floor, it didn't roll away. Instead, it sprang downward and righted itself back into an upright position. That spring got a cool name - Slinky- and went on to become a popular toy that even found a place in USA's National Hall of Fame.

Magnetron magic

Every anxious 'snacker' who loves to have popcorn or brownies ready in minutes has Percy Spencer and his magnetron-fiddling curiosity to thank. Who would have thought that in 1945, Spencer would be studying microwave radiations from a magnetron while keeping a bar of chocolate in his pocket? A sizzling sound and the melting of chocolate was a dramatic moment for the scientist - he realized that hidden in microwave radiation was the power to bring smiles on food lovers worldwide!

A sweet surprise

In 1879, chemist Constantin Fahlberg forgot to follow every Mom's golden rule: 'Wash your hands before you eat! Had he been handling dangerous chemicals, he might have ended up in major trouble. As it turned out, he'd only been dealing with saccharin and so he was simply in for a pleasant surprise the food tasted oddly sweet. It also opened the door for saccharin, 'an artificial sweetener', to make it into the market.

Vacations are good

How did the most popular antibiotic in the world come to be? It's thanks to the fact that Alexander Fleming decided to go on holiday. When Fleming returned from his holiday, he noticed a green fungal mould growing in one of the unwashed petri dishes in which bacterial cultures were being grown. He was about to throw it away when he noticed something odd: there was a clear circle around the mould where the bacteria didn't grow. Was it some chemical compound in the mould that stopped bacterial growth? You bet! Had Fleming been less excited about going on a vacation, he'd have cleaned the petri dish before making the fabulous discovery. So the moral seems to be: rush, when it's time for your vacation. Everything else can wait!

Make a note of this...

Spencer Silver was asked to make a super-strong adhesive for the aerospace industry. What he invented was a weakling that could barely stay stuck. The only saving grace was that the adhesive was decent enough to work even after peeling and sticking back many times. Nobody seemed to want it until another gentleman, Stephen Fry, cut a bunch of yellow papers and coated the glue at the top and handed out free samples to people - the Post-It sticky notes became an instant hit.

When an idea struck

We will never know who the first person to discover fire was, but we do know that matches made a glowing entry into this world. John Walker was stirring a medley of chemicals in a pot when he noticed a dried lump sticking to the stirring stick. How do you remove dried gob from something? Walker rubbed the stick on a surface, trying to scrape it off when suddenly it ignited. That was all he needed to patent and sell matches in a box along with a piece of sandpaper.

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Which were the clever geniuses who came up with most brilliant inventions?

Empowering your nose

Exactly how important is it for you to type a message when you're in the bathtub? Or to play Angry Birds while holding a cup of coffee in one hand and toast in another? The 'nose stylus', designed by Dominic Wilcox, satisfies the need to go 'hands-free' at the minor cost of looking a little silly. The nose stylus doesn't seem to be on sale, but it's a given that hardcore tweeters and texters would make it a bestseller once it does come into the market.

For those who like a purpose in everything

You may be one of those people who hate going for a stroll on the beach without a purpose. Maybe you need these amazing metal detecting sandals, capable of finding metallic treasures up to two feet below the ground. You may not look utterly cool wearing an electronic unit strapped to your feet but imagine how you could be the most useful person on the beach if you can find out where someone's ring has dropped on the sand...

Now muggles can work magic

How many of us, want to be like those supercool wizards and wave a wand to achieve a wish? How fantastic would it be to control the TV and electronic gadgets at will? Remote controls are old; magic wands are in vogue now. Just because you're a muggle is no reason not to possess a wand. Get your own 'magic wand remote control' that can learn 13 commands from your old remote control and map them to particular motions of your hand. Chuck the remote control, wave your wand and show your gadgets who's the boss!

Take toast to the next level

For some of us, there's hardly time to gulp down a coffee or drain a bowl of cornflakes in the morning. But a lucky few have all the time not only to enjoy a classy breakfast but also prepare an awesome one. We're talking about those who own the 'scan toaster'. Doesn't sound familiar? It's a toaster you can connect to the computer with the help of a cable and burn an image of your choice onto toast! Imagine how awesome it must be to print the news on the toast, read it and then eat it up! That's innovation!

Comfort matters more than looks, right?

Is it a hood? Is it a pillow? Is it a gigantic garlic bulb? Nope, it's the ostrich pillow! This amazing invention was designed to offer quality snooze time to the sleep-deprived souls wandering around in airports or travelling in trains looking for an undisturbed spot to sleep. Many who've used it believe that it has championed the sleep revolution like never before. If ever there's a minus point, it's how people stare at you when you put it on.. Don't worry, it's plain jealousy, nothing else!

The best pets ever!

Last, but definitely the best, meet the 'pet rocks', a bold venture by aspiring advertising executive genius, Gary Dahl. Now what's the number one concern of parents when kids want a pet at home? Cleaning up the mess, right? Which parent is going to say no to a pet rock that's as quiet as a mouse, fit as a fiddlestick (forever!) and maintenance free? A nice cardboard box and a whacky instruction manual on training the pet rock helped Dahl sell a cool 1.5 million pet rocks!

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Who first made paper?

Paper was first made by wasps! They make paper for their nests by chewing up fragments of wood.

The ancient Egyptians made paper from a water reed called papyrus-hence the name paper.

As early as the second century the Chinese manufactured paper from bamboo fibres, pounded and pulped and then left to dry.

Paper made out of plant-like fibres was invented by the Chinese Cai Lun, who in the 2nd century China, mixed textile fibres from the bark of the mulberry in water and produced sheets of paper from that. The invention of paper was one of the reasons for the successes of early China, through easier governing of the country.

Archaeological findings have shown that paper was first made from plantlike fibres, were already used from 140 to 87 BC.

The art of papermaking was first exported from China to Korea and Japan around 610 AD. Arabic people have learned the papermaking technique in the 8th century from Chinese, as is being told, from Chinese people skilled in papermaking who were captured. The Arabic people spread the knowledge during their military campaigns in the North of Africa and the South of Europe. The first paper manufacturing in Europe started in 1144 in Xativa (near Valencia) in Spain. The first papermaking in countries in Europe, which were not controlled by the Arabians, was in the 13th century in Italy and Spain, although the usage of paper was already known in Europe since about 1100. A paper mill in Fabriano (near Ascona) in Italy existed in 1276 (and still exists nowadays). Around this time sizing paper with animal glue was invented in Italy. The Germans had their first paper mill in 1389, followed by the rest of Europe at the end of the 15th century. In Belgium the first paper production was in Huy (Hoei) in 1405 and in Holland in Dordrecht in 1586.

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Who invented dynamite and left his money to peace?

Alfred Nobel, a Swedish chemist, invented dynamite in 1867 and gelignite in 1875. During his early experiments his laboratory blew up, killing Nobel's younger brother and four workers.

Nobel made a huge fortune out of the manufacture of explosives and left the biggest part of the money for annual awards called Nobel Prizes. The seven prizes for physics, chemistry, are economics, physiology or medicine, literature and peace.

To make the handling of nitroglycerine safer Alfred Nobel experimented with different additives. He soon found that mixing nitroglycerine with kieselguhr would turn the liquid into a paste which could be shaped into rods of a size and form suitable for insertion into drilling holes. In 1867 he patented this material under the name of dynamite. To be able to detonate the dynamite rods he also invented a detonator (blasting cap) which could be ignited by lighting a fuse. These inventions were made at the same time as the diamond drilling crown and the pneumatic drill came into general use.

Together these inventions drastically reduced the cost of blasting rock, drilling tunnels, building canals and many other forms of construction work.

The market for dynamite and detonating caps grew very rapidly and Alfred Nobel also proved himself to be a very skillful entrepreneur and businessman. By 1865 his factory in Krümmel near Hamburg, Germany, was exporting nitroglycerine explosives to other countries in Europe, America and Australia.

Credit : Nobel Prize

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Who invented jeans?

A sailmaker, Oscar Levi-Strauss, in San Francisco in 1850 invented jeans. The word 'jeans' may come from 'jene fustien', a strong twill cotton cloth, first made in Genoa. The original jeans were brown until blue denim was used.

With their patent secure, Levi Strauss & Co. was the only company to make riveted clothing for nearly 20 years. When their patent expired, however, dozens of other manufacturers began to copy their clothing. By that time, the public routinely referred to blue jeans as “Levi's," a name the company eventually trademarked.

Although they were originally designed as work pants, blue jeans became a significant part of popular culture in the 1950s after James Dean wore them in the movie Rebel Without a Cause. Their popularity continued to grow, and today they're routinely worn as casual dress in the United States and many countries around the world.

The visionary immigrants who transformed denim and small pieces of metal into the most popular clothing product in the world probably never imagined how famous they would become. Indeed, no other clothing product has been identified more with American culture, especially the American West.

Credit : Wonderopolis 

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