Invention of Safety Glass.

Fascinating facts about the invention of Safety Glass by Edouard Benedictus in 1903. SAFETY GLASS
Today safety glass, which will not splinter when exposed to shock, is everywhere-in windshields for cars, goggles for machinists, and windows and doors for many public buildings. Essential as it is, safety glass was the result of a clumsy mistake. Edouard Benedictus, a French scientist, was working in his laboratory. The year was 1903. Benedictus climbed a ladder to fetch reagents from a shelf and inadvertently knocked a glass flask to the floor. He heard the glass shatter, but when he glanced down, to his astonishment the broken pieces of the flask still hung together, more or less in their original contour.
On questioning an assistant, Benedictus learned that the flask had recently held a solution of cellulose nitrate, a liquid plastic, which had evaporated, apparently depositing a thin coating of plastic on the flask’s interior. Because the flask appeared cleaned, the assistant, in haste, had not washed it but returned it directly to the shelf.As one accident had led Benedictus to the discovery, a series of other accidents directed him toward its application. In 1903, automobile driving was a new and often dangerous hobby among Parisians. The very week of Benedictus’s laboratory discovery, a Paris newspaper ran a feature article on the recent rash of automobile accidents. When Benedictus read that most of the drivers seriously injured had been cut by shattered glass windshields, he knew that his unique glass could save lives. As he recorded in his diary: "Suddenly there appeared before my eyes an image of the broken flask. I leapt up, dashed to my laboratory, and concentrated on the practical possibilities of my idea.,, For twenty-four hours straight, he experimented with coating glass with liquid plastic, then shattering it. "By the following evening," he wrote, "I had produced my first piece of Triplex [safety glass]-full of promise for the future." Unfortunately, automakers, struggling to keep down the price of their new luxury products, were uninterested in the costly safety glass for windshields. The prevalent attitude was that driving safety was largely in the hands of the driver, not the manufacturer. Safety measures were incorporated into automobile design to prevent an accident but not to minimize injury if an accident occurred. It was not until the outbreak of World War I that safety glass found its first practical, wide-scale application: as the lenses for gas masks. Manufacturers found it relatively easy and inexpensive to fashion small ovals of laminated safety glass, and the lenses provided military personnel with a kind of protection that was desperately needed but had been impossible until that time. After automobile executives examined the proven performance of the new glass under the extreme conditions of battle, safety glass’s major application became car windshields.

Matches History - Invention of Matches

Matches History - Invention of Matches

umans had used controlled fire to modify their environment for thousands of centuries before mea Humans had used controlled fire to modify their environment for thousands of centuries before means were discovered to activate fires chemically. At some time long before the beginning of recorded history, people in widely separated parts of the world learned how to spark fires at first by the friction of rubbing two sticks together, and later (and more easily) with, flint and steel. However, it was not until 1680 that an Englishman named Robert Boyle discovered that phosphorus and sulfur would burst into flame instantly if rubbed together. He was convinced that the flames were caused not by friction but by something inherent in the nature of the phosphorus and sulfur themselves. He was right. He had uncovered the principal that would ultimately lead to the modern match. In the early nineteenth century, many different chemical fire-starting devices were developed in Europe. Some used Boyle’s phosphorus/sulfur combination, others involved gaseous hydrogen, but all were quite cumbersome and dangerous.In 1827, an English pharmacist named John Walker produced his "sulphuretted peroxide strikables," gigantic, yard-long sticks that can be considered the real precursor of today’s match. Small phosphorus matches were first marketed in Germany in 1832, but they were extremely hazardous. In 1836 in the United States, Alonzo D. Phillips of Springfield, Massachusetts, obtained a patent for "manufacturing of friction matches" and called them locofocos. The danger problem was not resolved until the invention of amorphous (red) phosphorus in 1845. Carl Lundstrom of Sweden introduced the first red phosphorus "safety" matches in 1855. Joshua Pusey invented book matches in 1889.  He was a well-known lawyer in Pennsylvania before the turn of the century. He smoked cigars. One day he was invited to a dinner party by the Mayor of Philadelphia.  He dressed in his best clothes, and all was fine-except for one thing. The big box of wooden kitchen matches he was carrying to light his cigars, stuck out of his vest so much that he felt embarrassed. Why did matches have to be so bulky? He wondered! Why couldn't they be made out of paper instead of wood?  Paper matches would be lighter and much smaller.  Mr. Pusey worked at his idea, and in 1889 he patented paper matches. He tried to interest people in his invention, but for eight years, no one seemed to care. Then in 1897, Pusey got his break. The Mendelsohn Opera Company wanted a special way to advertise their New York opening. They used books of paper matches with their name printed on them.Suddenly everyone was talking about book matches, and paper matches began selling as fast as they were made.  In later years Joshua Pusey sold his rights to the Diamond Match Company for $4000.00. He was known to joke to his friends that he was by then known all over as "the match man," not as a distinguished lawyer who had pled cases before the United States Supreme Court. TO LEARN MORE ns were discovered to activate fires chemically. At some time long before the beginning of recorded history, people in widely separated parts of the world learned how to spark fires at first by the friction of rubbing two sticks together, and later (and more easily) with, flint and steel. However, it was not until 1680 that an Englishman named Robert Boyle discovered that phosphorus and sulfur would burst into flame instantly if rubbed together. He was convinced that the flames were caused not by friction but by something inherent in the nature of the phosphorus and sulfur themselves. He was right. He had uncovered the principal that would ultimately lead to the modern match. In the early nineteenth century, many different chemical fire-starting devices were developed in Europe. Some used Boyle’s phosphorus/sulfur combination, others involved gaseous hydrogen, but all were quite cumbersome and dangerous. In 1827, an English pharmacist named John Walker produced his "sulphuretted peroxide strikables," gigantic, yard-long sticks that can be considered the real precursor of today’s match. Small phosphorus matches were first marketed in Germany in 1832, but they were extremely hazardous. In 1836 in the United States, Alonzo D. Phillips of Springfield, Massachusetts, obtained a patent for "manufacturing of friction matches" and called them locofocos. The danger problem was not resolved until the invention of amorphous (red) phosphorus in 1845. Carl Lundstrom of Sweden introduced the first red phosphorus "safety" matches in 1855.
	Joshua Pusey invented book matches in 1889. He was a well-known lawyer in Pennsylvania before the turn of the century. He smoked cigars. One day he was invited to a dinner party by the Mayor of Philadelphia. He dressed in his best clothes, and all was fine-except for one thing. The big box of wooden kitchen matches he was carrying to light his cigars, stuck out of his vest so much that he felt embarrassed. Why did matches have to be so bulky? He wondered! Why couldn't they be made out of paper instead of wood?
Paper matches would be lighter and much smaller. Mr. Pusey worked at his idea, and in 1889 he patented paper matches. He tried to interest people in his invention, but for eight years, no one seemed to care. Then in 1897, Pusey got his break. The Mendelsohn Opera Company wanted a special way to advertise their New York opening. They used books of paper matches with their name printed on them. pled cases before the United States Supreme Court.