Invention Help

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  • Invention Of Softball

    Invention Of Softball

    While many sports have roots that trace back to ancient athletics, some have clear beginnings in modern history. Like the invention of softball.

    As we’ve increasingly embraced athletics, teamwork and good old-fashioned fun, new sports have cropped up to keep us challenged and entertained. This constant search for new ways to play led to many developments, including the invention of softball.

    The invention of softball happened Chicago in 1887 by George Hancock.

    On a windy day in November, George Hancock was at the Farragut Boat Club along with a group of Harvard and Yale alumni. The alumni were anxiously awaiting the results of a football game played between Harvard and Yale.

    When the results came through of Harvard’s defeat, an excited Yale supporter threw an old boxing glove at a Harvard alumni. The Harvard alumni then hit it back with a stick.

    This sparked an idea in George Hancock’s mind. Hancock, a reporter for the Chicago Board of Trade, tied the laces tightly together on the old boxing glove to make a makeshift ball and used a broomstick as a bat. He then used a piece of chalk to mark out the playing area in the gymnasium of the Farragut Boat Club. He marked out a smaller version of a baseball field. The players were divided into teams and they then played a game that was like a smaller, indoor version of baseball.

    The invention of softball had gotten under way; that was the first softball game played, with a final score of 41-40.

    That day may have been the first and last day of the softball invention process if Hancock did not pursue his idea. However, by the next week, Hancock had created a rubber-tipped bat and an oversized ball.

    He then made permanent markings on the gymnasium floor and wrote up a book of rules for the sport he named ‘indoor baseball’. The game gained immediate popularity both locally and internationally. ‘Indoor baseball’ was the precursory name for the invention of softball.

    The first league to be formed was in Toronto and a published Indoor Baseball Guide also appeared within 1887. Hancock’s new game was first played outdoors in the spring of 1888. It was called indoor-outdoor.

    Due to its increasing appeal and popularity, in 1889 Hancock was prompted to write another set of indoor-outdoor rules.

    Although Hancock’s game was slowly spreading throughout the country, the efforts of a Fire Department lieutenant by the name of Louis Rober caused the invention of softball game to flourish. Rober, of Minneapolis, was looking for a sport or game to keep the firemen fit when they were not working. He marked out a plot of vacant land alongside the fire station with bases and a pitching distance of 35 feet.

    Rober and his team played the game with a small sized ball and a bat with a diameter of two inches. The game became very popular among fire stations and they started playing against each other. Rober’s first organized team was called the Kittens, and the game was then called ‘Kitten Ball’ until 1925.

    In 1925 the game was renamed diamond ball by the Minneapolis Parks Board. Softball only got its name in 1926 when this name was suggested by a Denver YMCA official called William Hakanson. In 1933, organized softball tournaments were arranged within America such that state and national teams were formed.

    The first national softball tournament took place in Chicago in conjunction with the World’s Fair. Fifty-five teams participated in the tournament, with subdivisions of fastballers, slow pitchers and women.

    With George Hancock’s simple invention of a new game, softball has grown into a national pastime enjoyed by both sexes of all ages. As new interests and ideas develop, sports are adapted and designed, leading to a constant change in the athletic landscape.

    So now you’ve learned about the invention of softball, how about a game?

  • Invention Of The Ice Cream Cone

    Invention Of The Ice Cream Cone

    There has been much controversy about where the invention of the ice cream cone began. What is certain, however, is that edible ice-creams cones have been enjoyed by people for over one hundred years.

    Conical shaped ice-cream cones are the typically shaped cones people all around the world have learned to love.

    Paper, glass and metal cones were used for serving ice cream during the 19th century in Germany, Britain and France. During this time ice cream was only affordable to the wealthy, due to its luxurious ingredients and storage expenses.

    During the time of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s ice cream became more popular and less expensive, and vendors on the street were selling ice cream to anyone who could afford to pay a penny.

    History of the invention of the ice cream cone dates back to the year 1904, at the St. Louis World fair where Ernest A. Hamwi had a store that was selling a crisp waffle pastry known as zalabis. The store of Mr Hamwi was next to an ice cream vendor.

    During this time ice cream was immensely popular and eventually the owner of the vendor ran out of dishes in which to serve the ice-cream. Mr Hamwi stated that he folded one of his pastries into a conical shape, allowed it to cool and placed some ice cream into it. The invention of the ice cream cone was underway.

    The people buying the ice cream were thrilled, and it became one of the greatest food inventions in modern times. Today, one can choose from a variety of cones ranging from the waffle cone to the sugar cone and cake cup cone.

    Controversy surrounding the actual invention of the ice cream cone still exists today, it is said that Hamwi may possibly have sold the first edible ice cream cone but he is not the first person to have patented the idea. It has also been argued that during the night of the fair on 23 July 1904, there were over 50 stores selling ice cream and it is possible that more than one was using waffle pastry as an ice cream cone.

    Nick Kabbaz, a Syrian immigrant, has said that he and his brother Albert were the creators of the first edible cone. Apparently, Mr Kabbaz and his brother were working for Mr Hamwi at his booth the night of the fair. Mr Kabbaz claims that he came up with the idea of eating ice cream with the waffle pastry and when folding it, created the iconical cone shape. Kabbaz eventually became the president of an ice cream cone company in St. Louis. Either way, a definite certainty is that the popularity of the cone is ascribable to the St. Louis World Fair in 1904.

    Previous recordings of the ice cream cone have been found which makes the settling of the dispute of the first cone ever created even harder to solve. Dating back to as early as 1807 a painting was found which showed a woman eating from what looked like a cone.

    In 1888 Mrs Marshall’s cookbook mentions the use of a cone to serve ice cream, in the year 1902 Antonio Valvona patented a machine creating ice cream biscuit cups. Despite stories told and untold about the invention of the ice cream cone we do know for sure that the cone has been popular for over a century and that a little creation as such created a huge and successful enterprise.

  • Invention Of The Telephone Timeline

    Invention Of The Telephone Timeline

    Exploring the invention of the telephone timeline is beneficial to anyone who is interested in how the telephone originated. The world of communications has undergone significant changes, especially in the last couple of centuries. Possibly one of the greatest leaps in communication advances was the invention of the telephone.

    The invention of the telephone timeline of the process underscores the amount of work and innovation that goes into major technological advances.

    The telephone is a means of communication that has revolutionized our everyday world. A telephone is a device that sends out and receives sound. It is most commonly used to send and receive voice over a distance.

    These days, most telephones function through a large network where electrical signals are transmitted. This allows a phone user to contact almost any other phone user.

    Exactly who invented the first modern telephone still remains a dispute to this day. Among those given credit for the invention of the telephone are Alexander Graham Bell, Antonio Meucci, Johann Philipp Reis and Elisha Gray.

    They all worked independently of each other, yet worked towards a common goal: allowing people to communicate over large distances.

    The progression of the invention of the telephone timeline can viewed as follows:

    • It was proven that vibrations on metal could be converted into electrical impulses by Michael Faraday.
    • Antonio Meucci demonstrated a telephone-like device to people in Havana.
    • In Germany, Johann Philipp Reis built a device that was capable of converting sound into electricity and back into sound again.
    • Meucci files an intention to patent.
    • Elisha Gray founded the Western Electric Manufacturing Company.
    • Thomas Edison builds a rheostat based on the principle of pressure on carbon molecules causing variable resistance.
    • An electromagnetic device that can transmit musical notes is invented by Gray.
    • 1876 Gray puts forward a caveat or notice of intention to patent for the telephone.
    • 1876 About 2 hours after Gray, Alexander Graham Bell puts forward his application to patent the telephone.
    • Alexander Graham Bell’s US patent is granted. The first full sentence was transmitted through the telephone on the 6 th of March 1876 by Bell. The first sentence was ‘Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you.’

    After the first sentence was transmitted through a telephone, many advances were then made to get to the telephone system we use today. Bell founded the Bell Telephone Company, which then became AT&T – the world’s largest telephone company. The first telephone system, or exchange, was installed in 1877 in Connecticut.

    This allowed communication between people who had telephones. This was done through a large switchboard with operators who would connect the calls manually. The first automatic switchboard system was installed in 1892 by Almon Strowger of Kansas City.

    William Gray patented the first coin-operated telephone in 1889. In the early 1960’s, touch-tone home telephones were introduced. Low-cost transistors made this possible.

    The positioning of the numbers on the phone was done after extensive tests to determine what number layout will increase dialing speed and reduce errors when dialing.

    In 1965 Terri Pall invented the cordless telephone. The base unit is connected to the landline. The base unit then communicates to the remote handsets via a radio signal.

    Although this allows the user to communicate within a certain range of the base, it does not work during power outages due to the power supply needed.

    In 1978, AT&T began testing a mobile phone system. These systems are cell structures, which means that a handset can communicate to a cell-site via radio. If the handset gets out of range from a particular cell-site then communication is taken up by a closer cell-site without any interruptions to the call.

    The mobile, or cellular telephone, was introduced nationwide throughout the United States in 1983.

    Through the efforts of many people, and with many changes and innovations occurring along the way, the timeline of the invention of the telephone timeline extends into the future as new technologies and advances are developed.

    This demonstrates the ever changing face of innovation, and the fact that the process of invention is never truly complete.

  • Marconi’s Invention

    For many years, in fact, before many of us were born, the radio existed. We do not have a reason to ask where it comes from or why it works, as long as it is playing that which we love, why ask questions? The reality is though that discovery of electromagnetic waves dates back to September 1895.

    A young man, at the age of 21, by the name of Guglielmo Marconi discovered that electromagnetic waves could be transmitted and that an antenna could receive a signal. During Marconi’s first experiment, distances did not exceed 100 meters and the electromagnetic waves were sent in straight lines without any intervening objects.

    This was the beginning of something magnificent.

    Marconi wanted to show that electromagnetic transmission is possible even with an obstacle in the way; this theory was rejected by scientists who said that his idea of using ether was preposterous and that it simply just could not be done. The scientists were working with theory but Marconi would rather just practice his technique.

    Marconi was performing all of his experiments at his father’s estate. He decided to place a transmitter near to the estate and a receiver more than 5 miles away, at the back of a hill. This was most definitely the biggest intervening obstacle.

    Mignani was Marconi’s servant, he was instructed to stand at the receiver and fire a rifle shot should the signal be received. Sure enough, a rifle shot fired and the letter ‘S’ of the Morse alphabet traveled through space for the first time in history.

    Unfortunately, Marconi’s invention was not received well by everyone and this included Italy, the minister of the country had said that electromagnetic waves were in no way suitable for telecommunications. Marconi knew that his discovery was something great, he traveled to the place his mother was born, England, and here he was supported and financed for furthering and bettering his creation.

    Marconi’s invention was patented in 1897; he continued with his experiments and eventually found himself sending signals for over 150 miles. This is what was known as radiotelegraphy.

    Marconi’s invention inspired many other people, after his death in 1943 Marconi left behind individuals who had learnt about the possibilities in this world, about the existence of that which we cannot see.

    Marconi’s patents have established many problems and many people claim to have invented items patented under Marconi, but in the end, radiotelegraphy changed our world and it was because of this magnificent man. It may have started as a project in the garden but it is now a main source of communication for people all around the world.

    Truly an invention like none other.

  • Chemical Process Invention

    When we hear the word “invention”, the first thing to come to mind is usually images of new and innovative gadgets. We often think of inventions as being easily identifiable, tangible objects geared towards making our lives easier.

    While it’s true that the nature of invention is to improve, refine or even reinvent the way we do things, it’s not always immediately obvious when we’re benefiting from someone’s invention.

    A commonly overlooked area of innovation is the advances made in the world of materials, such as the invention of a chemical process or the development of altogether new.

    With the development of any new invention or idea comes the need to protect the inventor’s hard work. Especially in the realm of chemical process invention or the composition of new materials, many years of research and testing may be involved.

    Without the protection of a patent, inventors are at risk of having others benefit (and profit) from their labors without fair credit.

    Innovations involving new or re-engineered materials can be protected in various ways.

    Composition of matter claims protect new, or significantly altered materials.

    An inventive use claim would protect innovations in the way existing materials are used. Process claims protect the interests of inventors who develop new ways of creating or working with materials.

    A brand new material, such as a new synthetic, could fall under the “composition of matter” category. Whether it’s a new blend of fabrics to create an altogether new fabric, or a new mixture of metals forming a revolutionary alloy, composition of matter inventions can have a profound impact on the way things are done.

    Changes in manufacturing processes can sometimes lead to significant changes in the material being produced, sometimes even enhancing its traits and qualities.

    Coming up with new ways to use known materials can also be protected under patent. While many materials are only used in very specific ways, there are often other potential applications that simply never occur to people.

    These discoveries can often occur by accident. A person using a material in a new way to temporarily solve a problem could open the doors to a wealth of possible applications that were simply never considered before.

    After coming up with an innovative idea about the use of a known material, an inventor can apply for a patent to protect the new process invention.

    The actual chemical process used to manufacture materials can also be protected by patent laws. An innovator who devises a more effective or cost efficient way to manufacture a known material can file for a patent to protect his work.

    The invention of a chemical process could include things such as new base ingredients, altered methods of treating materials, even adjusting variables such as heat levels or reaction times.

    The process of inventing a chemical process takes a lot of work and specific knowledge, which is why it’s critical for an inventor to protect his efforts by applying for a patent.

    There are often no clear boundaries between the various categories. A chemical process invention concerning the manufacture of an existing material could lead to the creation of an altogether new one.

    New ways of using existing matter could lead to innovations in which materials are used in its manufacture.

    Regardless of category, the process of inventing new processes or materials can be time-consuming, labor intensive and extremely rewarding.