"began working on a carpet sweeper. In 1876 Bissell patented a sweeper with a central brush, rubber wheels, and other improvements on vacuum technology. A fire in 1884 destroyed his first factory, but he was able to overcome the loss and still later expand his business. Following his death from pneumonia in 1889 in Grand Rapids, his wife, Anna Bissell, took control of the company, becoming America's first female corporate Chief Executive Officer. Melville Reuben Bissell Melville Reuben Bissell (September 25, 1843 – March 15, 1889) was an American entrepreneur who invented the modern carpet sweeper. The Bissell corporation is"
"The bulky device worked with a belt driven fan cranked by hand that made it awkward to operate, although it was commercially marketed with mixed success. A similar model was constructed by Melville R. Bissell of Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1876, who also manufactured carpet sweepers. The company later added portable vacuum cleaners to its line of cleaning tools. The end of the 19th century saw the introduction of powered cleaners, although early types used some variation of blowing air to clean instead of suction. One appeared in 1898 when John S. Thurman of St. Louis, Missouri submitted a patent"
"without bending over. The design was patented by Melville R. Bissell of Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States, in 1876. Bissell began selling carpet sweepers in 1883. They became popular in the UK after the first Ewbank model went on sale in 1889. New powered versions were designed at the beginning of the 20th century, with rechargeable batteries and an electric motor to spin the rollers and brushes. The legacy of carpet sweepers lives on in floor cleaning robots that have limited suction power and rely on sweeping to collect larger bits of debris from the floor. While some research models"
"for a gross. The Legendary Flour Sifter was patented in 1930 by a descendant of Jacob Bromwell's, Thomas G. Melish. Jacob Bromwell (born 1785), a soldier of the War of 1812 and entrepreneur, moved from Baltimore, Maryland to Cincinnati, Ohio via the Ohio River on a flatboat. He became the first wire goods manufacturer when he established The Bromwell Brush and Wire Goods Co. in 1819 and filed for incorporation on February 12, 1883. The company supplied pioneering families with a multitude of household goods. He opened up his company in a six-story building at 181 Walnut Street in downtown"
"Accessed November 14, 2014. http://centerforhistory.org/learn-history/business-history/birdsell-clover-huller-company. Historic Preservation Commission of South Bend and Saint Joseph County. “Birdsell Residence: Historic and Architectural Significance,” May 1995. YouTube clip shows a Birdsell Clover Huller in an unidentified museum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJLPWL3wDoM Birdsell Clover Huller The Birdsell Clover Huller was invented by John Comly Birdsell in 1855 in West Henrietta, New York (near Rochester). His machine both removed the hulls from the clover (threshing), removed the seeds from the hulls (hulling), and cleaned the seeds so they can be used or sold for animal feed and/or soil nutrients. Until the mid-18th century, this work was done by"
"Refrigerator car 1868 Paper bag 1868 Tape measure 1869 Vibrator 1869 American football 1869 Pipe wrench 1869 Clothes hanger 1870 Bee smoker 1870 Can opener (rotary) 1870 Sandblasting 1870 Feather duster 1871 Rowing machine 1872 Railway air brake 1872 Diner 1873 Earmuffs 1873 Silo 1873 Jeans Jeans are trousers generally made from denim. Jeans became popular among teenagers starting in the 1950s which remains as a distinct icon of American fashion. In 1873, Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis co-invented and co-patented the idea of using copper rivets at the stress points of sturdy work pants. After one of Davis' customers"
"many inventions, Ritchel died destitute in his hometown of Bridgeport, Connecticut Charles F. Ritchel Charles Frances Ritchel (December 22, 1844 – January 21, 1911) was an American inventor of a successful dirigible design, the fun house mirror, a mechanical toy bank, and he was the holder of more than 150 patented inventions. He was born on December 22, 1844 in Portland, Maine. He died in Bridgeport, Connecticut on January 21, 1911. Ritchel designed and built a small, one-man dirigible powered by a hand crank. The aircraft consisted of a brass frame put together at Folansbee Machine Shop in Bridgeport, Connecticut."
"with a small kerosene heater. Crosley's company sold several hundred thousand Icyball units before discontinuing its manufacture in the late 1930s. In 1932 Crosley had the idea of putting shelves in the doors of refrigerators. He patented the ""Shelvador"" refrigerator and launched the new appliance in 1933. At that time it was the only model with shelves in the door. In addition to refrigerators, Crosley's company sold other consumer products that included the ""XERVAC,"" a device purported to ""revitalize inactive hair cells"" and ""stimulate hair growth"". Crosley also introduced the ""Autogym,"" a motor-driven weight-loss device with a vibrating belt, and"
"Richfield Heritage Preserve. Jim Kirby James B. Kirby (September 28, 1884 – June 9, 1971) was an American inventor and self-taught electrical engineer who focused his career on ""eliminating the drudgery of housework"". He is known mostly for inventing the Kirby vacuum cleaner and the wringerless washing machine. In 1935, the famous news reporter and radio personality Lowell Thomas wrote a book entitled ""The Man Who Revolutionized the American Household"" about Jim Kirby and his drive to harness electricity to ease household chores. Much of Lowell’s work was devoted to describing Kirby’s whimsical, innovative home in Richfield, Ohio. Kirby had"
"and Carl Fetzer after World War I, although the Kirby name was not used on a vacuum cleaner until the 1930s. James Kirby invented the ""vacuette"" circa 1920, and their primary competitors were The Hoover Company and The Eureka Company which both began operations in 1909, and Bissell who originally built carpet sweepers beginning in 1876. Their primary European competitor was Electrolux in 1924, while Dyson, Miele and Sebo followed in the 1980s. The Vacuette Electric, introduced in 1925 with its removable floor nozzle and handle, became the forerunner of today's multi-attachment Kirby vacuum models. In 1935, the company introduced"
"Charles F. Ritchel Charles Frances Ritchel (December 22, 1844 – January 21, 1911) was an American inventor of a successful dirigible design, the fun house mirror, a mechanical toy bank, and he was the holder of more than 150 patented inventions. He was born on December 22, 1844 in Portland, Maine. He died in Bridgeport, Connecticut on January 21, 1911. Ritchel designed and built a small, one-man dirigible powered by a hand crank. The aircraft consisted of a brass frame put together at Folansbee Machine Shop in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The frame was hung beneath a cylindrical, rubber gas bag manufactured"
"were used for decoration or as planters, being air tight. Latrobe Stove The Latrobe Stove, also known as a ""Baltimore Heater"", was a coal-fired parlor heater made of cast iron and fitted into fireplaces as an insert. They were patented in 1846 and were very popular by the 1870s. The squat device was invented by John Hazelhurst Boneval Latrobe (1803–1891). He was the son of noted engineer and architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe II. Latrobe became a patent lawyer and was shy about taking credit for his stoves which succeeded Benjamin Franklin's much larger Franklin stove. In 1980 there were a"
"manufacturers adopted as the standard for that country in the 1930s. It was also adopted in New Zealand, Argentina and, with a minor variation, China. Harvey Hubbell Harvey Hubbell II (1857 – December 17, 1927), was an American inventor, entrepreneur and industrialist. His best-known inventions are the U.S. electrical plug and the pull-chain light socket. In 1888, at the age of thirty-one, Hubbell quit his job as a manager of a manufacturing company and founded Hubbell Incorporated in Bridgeport, Connecticut, a company which is still in business today, still headquartered near Bridgeport. Hubbell began manufacturing consumer products and, by necessity,"
"or 78 rpm, changing between the various settings automatically—BSR McDonald supplied turntables and autochangers to most of the world's record player manufacturers, eventually gaining 87% of the market. By 1977, BSR's various factories produced over 250,000 units a week. 1932: Leonard Parsons is the first to use synthetic vitamin C as treatment for scurvy in children. 1933: Credenda Conduit Co. Ltd of Birmingham patent a Credastat automatic oven thermostat, which is fitted to Creda electric cookers. This is an early advancement in electric cookers and a feature that eventually becomes standard on all electric cookers. An example of this cooker"
"Harvey Hubbell Harvey Hubbell II (1857 – December 17, 1927), was an American inventor, entrepreneur and industrialist. His best-known inventions are the U.S. electrical plug and the pull-chain light socket. In 1888, at the age of thirty-one, Hubbell quit his job as a manager of a manufacturing company and founded Hubbell Incorporated in Bridgeport, Connecticut, a company which is still in business today, still headquartered near Bridgeport. Hubbell began manufacturing consumer products and, by necessity, inventing manufacturing equipment for his factory. Some of the equipment he designed included automatic tapping machines and progressive dies for blanking and stamping. One of"
"9, 1897, while the first patented dustpan was by T.E. McNeill nearly 40 years prior. Handheld dustpans may be used with either a full-size broom or with a smaller whisk broom or a brush sometimes called a duster. This second combination may be sold as one unit. A variant on the dustpan is the silent butler, a handheld, lidded dustpan. Dustpan A dustpan (or uncommonly referred to as a lifter), the small version of which is also known as a ""half brush and shovel"", is a cleaning utensil. The dustpan alone is commonly used in combination with a broom or"
"his most important industrial inventions, still in use today, is the thread rolling machine. He quickly began selling his newly devised manufacturing equipment alongside his commercial products. Hubbell received at least 45 patents, most of which were for electric products. The pull-chain electrical light socket was patented in 1896, and his most famous invention, the U.S. electrical power plug, in 1904. It brought the convenience of portable electrical devices, already enjoyed in Great Britain since the early 1880s, to the U.S. Hubbell was also granted a patent in 1916 for a three-bladed power plug, which Australian regulators and electrical accessory"
"Icyball Icyball was a name given to two early refrigerators, one made by Australian Sir Edward Hallstrom in 1923, and the other design patented by David Forbes Keith of Toronto, Ontario, Canada (filed 1927, granted 1929), and manufactured by American Powel Crosley Jr., who bought the rights to the device. Both devices were unusual in design in that they did not require the use of electricity for cooling. They ran for a day on a cup of kerosene, allowing rural users lacking electricity the benefits of refrigeration. The Crosley Icyball was an example of a gas-absorption refrigerator, as can be"
"of drinking water. Luellen developed an ice-cooled water-vending machine with disposable cups, and with another Bostonian, Hugh Moore, embarked on an advertising campaign to educate the public and to market his machine, principally to railroad companies. Professor Davison's study was instrumental in abolishing the public glass and opening the door for the paper cup. Soon, the devices, which would dispense cool water for one cent, became standard equipment on trains. The Dixie Cup was first called ""Health Kup"", but from 1919 it was named after a line of dolls made by Alfred Schindler's Dixie Doll Company in New York. Success"
"specially shaped mirrors reflect amusing, distorted images of anyone standing in front of them. Some credit Ritchel with inventing rollerskates. He did invent a toy bank in the shape of a monkey (patented November 7, 1882, Design Patent No. 13,400). A coin is put on a tray held in the monkey's upturned palms. A lever in the back is pressed. The arms rise, tilting the coin toward a slot in the monkey's belly. Ives Manufacturing in Bridgeport may have produced the bank. In a patent application for his dirigible, Ritchel said he was a resident of Corry, Pennsylvania. Despite his"
"an inventor. This ""electric device"" designed by Misell was powered by ""D"" batteries laid front-to-back in a paper tube with the light bulb and a rough brass reflector at the end. Misell, the inventor of the tubular hand-held ""electric device"" (flashlight), assigned his invention over to the American Electrical Novelty and Manufacturing Company owned by Conrad Hubert. In 1905, Hubert changed the name again to ""The American Ever Ready Company"", selling flashlights and batteries under the trademark ""Ever Ready"". In 1906 the British Ever Ready Electrical Company was formed for export of batteries; it became independent in 1914. In 1914,"
"for more effective washes. It would not be until the 19th century when steam power would be used in washing machine designs. In 1862, a patented ""compound rotary washing machine, with rollers for wringing or mangling"" by Richard Lansdale of Pendleton, Manchester, was shown at the 1862 London Exhibition. The first United States Patent titled ""Clothes Washing"" was granted to Nathaniel Briggs of New Hampshire in 1797. Because of the Patent Office fire in 1836, no description of the device survives. Invention of a washing machine is also attributed to Watervliet Shaker Village, as a patent was issued to an"
"Benjamin Miessner Benjamin Franklin Miessner (July 27, 1890 – March 25, 1976) was an American radio engineer and inventor. He is most known for his electronic organ, electronic piano, and other musical instruments. He was the inventor of the Cat's whisker detector. Miessner was born in Huntingburg, Indiana to Charles and Mary (Reutopohler) Miessner and was the brother of Otto Miessner. He attended school in Huntingburg and graduated from high school in 1908. He then enlisted in the U. S. Navy, and graduated from the U.S. Naval Electrical School in Brooklyn, NY in 1909. He was assigned to a naval"
"1925 the company formed what would become, Canadian Cellucotton Products Limited, for the marketing of these and other products in Canada and internationally. The first practical electric razor, the Sunbeam ""Shavemaster"" and the Remington ""Close Shaver"" made available in the US in 1937 and in Canada shortly thereafter. With a base of caustic soda, the world's first oven cleaner, Easy-Off, was invented in Regina in 1932 by Herbert McCool and manufactured in his home in that city until 1946, when production shifted to Iberville, Quebec. The product has since become the most popular oven cleaner in the world. The grand"
"his invention at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and continued to work on these and other various paper fasteners throughout the 1880s. In 1868 an English patent for a stapler was awarded to C. H. Gould, and in the U.S, Albert Kletzker of St. Louis, MO also patented a device. In 1877 Henry R. Heyl filed patent number 195,603 for the first machines to both insert and clinch a staple in one step, and for this reason some consider him the inventor of the modern stapler. In 1876 and 1877 Heyl also filed patents for the Novelty Paper"
"create the mixing action by rotating the mixing device vertically (planetary mixers), or by rotating the mixing container (spiral mixers). Mixers for the kitchen first came into use midway through the nineteenth century; the earliest were mechanical devices. The demand from commercial bakers for large-scale uniform mixing resulted in the development of the electric stand mixer. Smaller counter-top stand mixers for home kitchen use soon followed. The mixer with rotating parts was patented in 1856 by Baltimore, Maryland tinner Ralph Collier. This was followed by E.P. Griffith's whisk patented in England in 1857. Another hand-turned rotary egg beater was patented"
"Belleville washer A Belleville washer, also known as a coned-disc spring, conical spring washer, disc spring, Belleville spring or cupped spring washer, is a conical shell which can be loaded along its axis either statically or dynamically. A Belleville washer is a type of spring shaped like a washer. It is the frusto-conical shape that gives the washer its characteristic spring. The ""Belleville"" name comes from the inventor who in Dunkerque, France, in 1867 patented a spring design which already contained the principle of the disc spring. The real inventor of Belleville washers is unknown. Through the years, a lot"
"the early lampholder plugs), but with a separable plug with pins () or blades (US patent 774251). The 1906 Hubbell catalog shows the blade plug with a flush mounting socket for use in wall or floor. Other manufacturers adopted the Hubbell pattern, and by 1915 they were widespread. A patent for this obsolete American plug and socket was filed in 1915 under US patent 1,179,728. It predated the NEMA sockets and plugs. The plugs and sockets used in countries such as Argentina, Australia and China are based on this type and are physically compatible. Many older North American sockets have"
"a well-furnished kitchen. Sarah Tyson Rorer's 1886 ""Philadelphia Cook Book"" listed more than 200 kitchen utensils that a well-furnished kitchen should have. However, many of these utensils were expensive and not affordable by the majority of householders. Some people considered them unnecessary, too. James Frank Breazeale decried the explosion in patented ""labour-saving"" devices for the modern kitchen—promoted in exhibitions and advertised in ""Household Guides"" at the start of the 20th century—, saying that ""the best way for the housewife to peel a potato, for example, is in the old-fashioned way, with a knife, and not with a patented potato peeler""."
"the walls of rectangular filter basins, bridging the walls with its structure. The washing chamber was lowered from the moving bridge frame into the basin. The chamber measures about wide, deep and long, and contains a diameter circular washing unit. The washing unit stirred the surface of the sand bed, dislodging sediment and flushing it away through two suction pumps at the top of the box, avoiding contamination of the surrounding water. The mechanism was controlled by an operator in a corrugated metal enclosure. The Blaisdell machine was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 18, 1979."
"suspecting the carpet sweeper he was using at work was the cause of his ailment, he created a basic suction-sweeper by mounting an electric fan motor on a Bissell brand carpet sweeper then adding a soap box and a broom handle. After refining the design and obtaining a patent for the Electric Suction Sweeper he set about producing it himself, assisted by his son, who helped him assemble the machines, and his daughter, who assembled the dust bags. Production was slow, just two to three machines completed a week. Spangler then gave one of his Electric Suction Sweepers to his"
"under the ABC brand. The company built a new factory in Peoria, Illinois, and the wooden tub was replaced with a metal tub. In 1926, ABC produced the first porcelain-lined tub. In 1928, ABC took over the Federal Washing Machine Company of Chicago, Illinois, which was producing washing machines for the Insull utilities company founded by Samuel Insull. ABC became Insull's supplier and made washing machines under the Fedelco brand exclusively for them. In the mid-nineteen thirties ABC introduced a spin dryer model which eliminated the wringer and added a spin dryer to the conventional washing model. In 1952, Altorfer"
"and was eager to diversify. In 1908 he bought Spangler's patent, and he soon had a small staff toiling in the corner of his leather shop, turning out six suction sweepers a day. William Hoover made further improvements to the vacuum cleaner that resembled a bagpipe attached to a cake box, a novel look that was very functional. Sluggish sales of the Hoover vacuum cleaner were given a kick by Hoover’s ten-day, free home trial. Hoover came up with the idea of door-to-door salesmen who gave home demonstrations of the new vacuum cleaners. Hoover's success means that most people today"