Category Everyday Things

                The word ‘arithmetic’ is derived from the Greek word ‘arithmos’ which means numbers. Around 8000 BC, in the Middle and Near East, arithmetic began. People counted on their fingers long before the 16th century BC when the practice was first recorded by the Egyptians. Decimals based on the number 10, evolved from the habit of counting this way.

                From the 3rd millennium BC, the Sumerians used a system based on 60-which is 10 multiplied by 6, the number of constellations then known. The Babylonians inherited mathematics from the Sumerians and retained the base-60 system for astronomical calculations but they used a base-ten system for trade. The Babylonians then divided the hour into 60 minutes of 60 seconds each.

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            The numerals that we use today derive, from a system used by the people of India, between the 3rd century BC and the 6th century AD. However, these numerals were described as Arabic. It reached Persia in the 9th century, then Europe, through the writings of Middle Eastern mathematicians, like Al-Khwarizmi and Al-Kindi.

            In Europe, Roman numerals were still in use until the late 1500s. Fractions were adapted to the decimal system by the 16th century mathematician, Christoff Rudolff. In the early 17th century, the Scottish mathematician John Napier brought decimal points into common use. He later became known for his invention of logarithms.

            The book Mercantile Arithmetic is the first to record the use of (+) and (-) sign. Robert Recorde devised the equal sign in the 16th century. The multiplication sign was first used by William Oughtred in England in 1631.

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               The North Semitic alphabet is the earliest fully developed alphabetic writing system. It was known as Canaanite. Canaanite was developed in Syria as early as the 11th century BC, and was spread by traders throughout the eastern Mediterranean.

               Other northern Semitic scripts that developed after 1050 BC are known as Phoenician.

               The earliest known inscriptions in the Phoenician alphabet come from Byblos. In contrast to other languages, it contained only about two dozen distinct letters, making it a script simple enough for common traders to learn.

               The Phoenician alphabet spread around the Mediterranean, particularly in Tunisia, southern parts of the Iberian Peninsula, and was spoken until the 1st century AD.

               The letters in the Ancient Greek and Hebrew alphabets were derived from the Phoenician system, though they added extra consonants and vowels. This was later adapted by the Etruscans. The Romans developed their alphabet from them. Early Latin, mainly known by inscriptions, appeared around 600 BC.

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               Until clocks small enough to be carried were invented, sundials were the only portable timepieces. Peter Henlein is today regarded as the inventor of the watch. At the beginning of the 16th century in Germany he made some of the earliest watches. One of the earliest references to what we would perhaps now call a wristwatch or at least an ‘arm watch’ was the New Year gift received by Queen Elizabeth I from Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester, in 1571. However, wrist watches only became popular when the German navy issued wristwatches to all its men in 1880.

               In 1926, the creation by the Rolex Company of the first waterproof and dustproof wristwatch marked a major step forward. Digital watches arrived in 1971. They were developed by the American engineers George Theiss and Willy Crabtree.

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            The Ancient Egyptians were the first to make sundials, in 2000 BC. They were inspired by the movements of shadows as the sun advanced across the sky. The earliest known of these clocks dates from the 14th century BC. The night time charts were based on water clocks. Water clocks were designed with sound-producing bells to indicate hours.

            Around 1090, the Chinese astronomer Su Sung devised the  first mechanized water clocks. Mechanical clocks that were not powered by water slowly started appearing in the 13th century, but they were heavy. In the 15th century, portable clocks and watches were introduced. It was Salomon Coster and Jan van Call who first produced a pendulum clock.

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           A sphygmomanometer is a device used to measure blood pressure. One of the most important men in the development of the sphygmomanometer was the Austrian physician Karl Samuel Ritter Von Basch. The first clinically applicable sphygmomanometer was invented by him in 1881. Von Basch introduced the aneroid manometer, which uses a round dial that provides a pressure reading.

               An improved version was introduced by Scipione Riva-Rocci in 1896. Later, in 1901, the neurosurgeon Dr. Harvey Cushing introduced Riva-Rocci’s device in the USA, modernized it and popularized it within the medical community. In 1905, Russian physician Nikolai Korotkov discovered ‘Korotkov Sounds’ and included diastolic blood pressure measurement.

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               A barometer is an instrument that measures atmospheric pressure.

               It was during the 17th century that a series of experiments conducted by Italian scientist Evangelista Torricelli resulted in the invention of a basic barometer.

               Torricelli was the first to notice that air pressure changes, related to weather changes, indeed caused the water level to rise and fall within a 35 foot tube experiment he set up within his home. He later used mercury in it.

               The barometer utilizes the principle that as atmospheric pressure pushes down on the surface of the mercury in the cistern, the mercury in turn, pushes up with an equal pressure in the glass tube.

               It wasn’t until about the year 1670 that barometers began to be used as a weather instrument in homes since 1670.

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            A stethoscope is a dependable clinical tool used for the physical assessment and monitoring of a patient. The stethoscope was invented in 1816 by a French scientist, Rene Laennec. He placed a rolled piece of paper between the patient’s chest and his ear; he found that this could amplify the sound of the beating heart. This was readily accepted, as it did not require physical contact.

            In 1851, Irish physician Arthur Leared invented a basic binaural stethoscope. In 1852, George Philip Cammann introduced the modern binaural stethoscope for commercial production. Rappaport and Sprague designed a new stethoscope in the 1940s, which became the standard by which other stethoscopes are measured.

            In the early 1960s, an improved model was developed by David Littmann. Later, in 1999, Richard Deslauriers patented the first external noise reducing stethoscope, named DRG Puretone.

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            A syringe is a medical device that is used to inject fluid into, or take fluid from, the body. The word ‘syringe’ is derived from the Greek word syrinx, meaning ‘tube’. Primitive syringes were used by Romans syringes were used by Romans during the 1st century AD. They are mentioned in a journal called De Medicina as being used to treat medical complications.

            In 1899, Letitia Mumford Geer of New York was granted a patent for a syringe design that permitted the user to operate it single-handedly.

            Later, in 1946, the Chance Brothers in England produced that first all glass syringes with an interchangeable barrel and plunger. Charles Rothauser invented the world’s first disposable plastic hypodermic syringe in the late 1940s. Then, in 1956, a New Zealander, Colin Murdoch was granted a patent for a disposable plastic syringe.

            Later, many forms of syringes were introduced, among which the hypodermic syringe with a needle fine enough to pierce the skin, by Charles Pravaz and Alexander Wood, was the most iconic one.

            Paper making is one of the inventions made by the Chinese. Paper, as we know it today, was first made in China by Cai Lun, a Chinese court official.

            From 3000 BC onwards, the Egyptians started using papyrus made from dried reeds as a writing material. Parchment and vellum were used in the 2nd century BC in Turkey.

            The kind of paper used in the Middle East during the 8th century was made from linen, rags, and flax cord. However, this paper reached Europe only in the 10th century AD.

            As paper became common mills were built. The very first paper mill in England was built in 1494. The rise of literature soon increased the demand for paper. The continued use of rags and cloth made large-scale production impossible.

            This demand was met in 1800, when a Dutchman, Mathias Koops patented a paper made from straw and wood.

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               During the 13th century AD, sharpened goose feathers were widely used as quill pens in Europe.

               Metal pens were considered fancy and ornamental, even during the 16th century. Bryan Donkin is credited with having invented the steel nib. In 1822, John Mitchell of Birmingham started to mass-produce steel pen nibs, and their popularity took off.

               In 1832, John Joseph Parker became the first to introduce a pen which had its own reservoir of ink. When he was trying to invent a pen that could write on leather, John J. Loud invented the first ballpoint pen. He patented it in 1888 in America. But this was not commercially successful.

               In 1943, Ladislao Jose Biro launched a new model, using quick drying ink.

               Ink had been there even before the invention of the pen. Primitive men used natural inks made from charcoal and iron oxide. In 2000 BC, Chinese scribes used a durable ink made from soot mixed with gum solution.

               The first evidence of prints was Chinese wood cuts from at least the 7th century AD. Cloth printing was popular even before paper printing in China, India, and Europe. Woodblock printing, popularly known today as xylography, was the first method of paper printing. It became widely used throughout East Asia.

               Typography-printing was developed in Europe first, which helped in the mass production of letters on paper. Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press in the 1450’s. His was a durable machine. The Gutenberg Bible was the first major book printed using a mass-produced, movable, metal type printing press in Europe.

               Gutenberg developed an oil-based ink which was more resilient than water based inks.

            Typewriter is a machine that was commonly used in the past, and which has keys that are pressed in order to print letters, numbers, or other characters onto paper.

            The English claim that it was Henry Mill who invented the typing machine in 1714.

            Henry received the first typewriter patent in Britain for a machine that appears to have been similar to a typewriter.

            Although many went before him, it is the name of Christopher Latham Sholes that is generally linked to the title of ‘inventor of the typewriter’, as he introduced the first typewriter to be commercially successful in 1868. He worked along with Frank Haven Hall, Carlos Glidden, and Samuel W. Soule.

            The working prototype was made by the machinist Matthias Schwalbach. The patent was sold to Densmore and Yost, who made an agreement with E. Remington and Sons, then famous as a manufacturer of sewing machines, to commercialize the machine as the Sholes and Glidden Type-Writer. This was the origin of the term typewriter.

            It had a QWERTY keyboard layout, which because of the machine’s success, was slowly adopted by other typewriter manufacturers. Later, many types of typewriters came into the market.

               The bicycle is a vehicle consisting of two wheels held in a frame, one behind the other, propelled by pedals, and steered with handlebars attached to the front wheel. The credit for creating the first bicycle belongs to a German, Baron Karl von Drais. In 1818, von Drais patented his design and this two wheeled, human propelled machine became known as the ‘velocipede’. The following year, the design was copied to produce an iron model.

                Later, Pierre Michaux got the idea of attaching pedals to the simple devices that were in use during the 1850s. Thus, Michaux and his son Ernest produced a velocipede with pedals.

               This principle was taken further by James Starley. He created a bicycle model nicknamed penny-farthing. It got its name because of the size of its wheels. It created a cycling boom. In 1889, gears were introduced to the bicycle.

               James Moore won the first cycle track race ever in 1869.

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               The introduction of the safe bicycle led to the invention of the motorcycle. The very first steam powered motorcycle was made in the 1860s by Pierre Michaux, a blacksmith in Paris. Those motorcycles were called the Michaux-Perreaux Steam   Velocipede.

               A German, Gottlieb Daimler invented the first petrol engine motorcycle in 1885. The modern day motorcycle design is adopted from a model made by Eugene and Michel Werner. Their motocyclette was exhibited in 1897.

               However, the German-built Hildebrand & Wolfmuller motorcycle was the first motorized, two-wheeled vehicle sold to the public.

               Hildebrand & Wolfmuller was also the first company to refer to the vehicle as a ‘motorcycle’.

               In the early 1950s the NSU Company in Germany started producing the evergreen motorcycles called mopeds.

               Motor scooters first appeared in Italy in 1946 and the first one was Vespa.

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               The earliest archaeological evidence of the use of natural latex comes from the Olmec culture. They cultivated natural latex from rubber tree for making rubber balls for games. The Aztec and Maya are also known to have made rubber using natural latex. By 1615, Spanish troops in South America were using a resin from Para rubber trees, to waterproof their cloaks.

               Joseph Priestly is said to have discovered rubber’s erasing properties. However, it is the British engineer Edward Nairne who is generally credited with developing the first rubber eraser in Europe. Giovanni Fabbroni is credited with the discovery of naphtha as a rubber solvent in 1779. In 1834, Charles Goodyear managed to find a way to harden rubber and make it waterproof and pliant. This was later patented by Thomas Hancock.

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               Ancient men used a variety of colours naturally collected from plants – madder, saffron, indigo, oak apples and myrtle. Wood smouldered to charcoal   was used to make deep black colour. Local minerals were another rich source of colour. Indigo is the oldest dye of all. Many minerals exhibit various colours; the varieties are mainly due to impurities, or a slight change in chemical composition.

               The oldest dyed fabrics were found in Egypt, dating from 2000 BC. However, the invention of dyeing was probably much older. In 1856, while attempting to produce quinine, William Henry Perkin accidentally synthesized mauve, the earliest synthetic dye. Later, other man-made dyes appeared, but the most significant was a synthetic version of alizarin by Heinrich Caro in 1869.

               In the 18th century, England was a hive of paint innovation. Linseed oil and zinc oxide became increasingly available. Mixed together they composed the new paints. A much whiter pigment titanium dioxide came into use after First World War.

               Oil and natural gas were formed from the remains of prehistoric plants and animals, and that’s why they’re called fossil fuels.

               This happened millions of years ago when plant and animal remains settled into the sea bed along with salt, silt and rocks.

               In AD 300, while drilling for brine, the Chinese accidentally came across natural gas, and learned how to extract it and use it.

               From the 9th century BC, people of the Middle East burned tarry bitumen, which they found seeping from the Earth’s surface. In 1908, oil was found near the city of Masjed Soleiman, in Iran by a British prospecting team funded by William D’Arcy. This event significantly changed the history of the Middle East.

               The demand for petrol increased after the invention of the combustion engine and vehicles driven by petrol engines.

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               The Indians discovered diamonds before the 4th millennium BC. The name diamond is derived from the Greek word ‘adamas’, which means impenetrable. This valued gem was traded between India and Mesopotamia. They have been used as a display of prosperity ever since.

               The first diamond discoveries in South Africa were alluvial. Diamonds were found on volcanic rocks in farms in Kimberley, South Africa in 1870. Till then, diamonds were always dug from sand and gravel. For a long time the world’s most important rough diamond producers were South Africa, Congo, and the former Soviet Union.

               In the 15th century, tools were invented to cut facets into diamonds. Until then, the stones were simply polished, or shaped into a dome, known as a cabochon. The largest diamond in the world is the ‘Star of Africa I’, or ‘Cullinan I’, which is a colourless diamond, set in the British monarch’s sceptre.

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               Gold has always been one of the most valued metals of all time.

               Gold’s malleability and non-decaying properties made it popular in the Middle East about 6000 years ago.

               Gold was found on riverbeds, and was filtered from sand.

               Because gold is dispersed widely throughout the geologic world, its discovery occurred to many different groups in many different locales.

               Early civilizations equated gold with gods and rulers, and gold was sought in their name, and dedicated to their glorification.

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               It was after 1856 that the mass production of steel began, when English inventor Henry Bessemer found a way to convert pig iron to steel, a stronger and more malleable metal.

               To make steel, iron ore is first mined from the ground. It is then smelted in blast furnaces where the impurities are removed, and carbon is added. In fact, steel is nothing but iron alloyed with carbon. Today, it is generally accepted that stainless steel was manufactured in Europe sometime in the early 20th century.

               The car manufacturer Henry Ford pioneered the use of high tensile sheet metal for car bodies in 1908. He discovered that any steel containing 15 per cent chromium does not rust.

                From the 1920s, this steel was used in refrigerators and washing machines.

               The story of iron’s origins is astronomical; with the element being born from the explosion of stars. In Egypt, they called it the metal from heaven. The Bronze Age ended with the beginning of the Iron Age in 1500 BC, about the time the Hittites may have started working with iron, and discovered a way of smelting iron from local ores. Around 600 BC, cast iron was made by the Chinese by melting iron containing phosphorous.

             In the West, the first cast iron was a 14th century material. When fired with charcoal, the iron absorbed a significant amount of carbon, which lowered its melting point. Cast iron cannons and medieval iron changed the face of warfare.

              In Britain, the iron from furnaces was known as pig iron, as it was a mass of iron roughly resembling the shape of a reclining pig. However, pig iron was too brittle for most heavy industrial uses.

               It was the people from the south-eastern part of Turkey who discovered copper for the first time, more than 9000 years ago. They found that copper could be obtained from the shiny rocks of the region. However, copper’s name comes from Cyprus, which supplied much of the metal to the ancient world.

               Though copper was a popular metal its value was noted only since the 17th century, when it was realized that the metal is a great conductor of heat. Later, in the 19th century, copper was proved to be the second best conductor of electricity after silver.

               Use of the metal bronze became widespread in Europe during the Bronze Age, around 2000 BC. Bronze was made by heating the metals tin and copper, and mixing them together. Bronze objects are highly resistant to decay, and are still found in many ancient sites around the world.

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               Since the Stone Age, people started using wedges to raise boulders far enough to insert levers. Quarrymen in Egypt later started using wedges made of bronze and wood to split rocks and huge stones.

               The axes used by homo erectus used a principle similar to that of the wedge. Later, axe heads made of stone were attached to wooden handles to make more effective tools.

               Archimedes described screws in the 3rd century BC, when he mentioned that they were used for pumping. They were made of wood. The Greeks and Romans employed the screw to press grapes and olives.

               Man started using things similar to levers to lift and move heavy things since the Stone Age. In the 3rd century BC, the Greek mathematician Archimedes explained how levers worked.

               During the early days, for the construction of their many great buildings, the Greeks used something called a winch to raise heavy things. A winch was kind of like a combination of a roller and a lever.

               It is believed that the Egyptians were the first people to use something similar to the modern-day pulley. Though not exactly a pulley, they used to run ropes over smooth timbers to alter the direction of movement while raising heavy stones.

               Compound pulleys were described before AC 100 by the Greek scholar Hero of Alexandria. A compound pulley is fixed and movable hence forms a block and tackle, which can have several pulleys mounted or the fixed and moving axles, thereby increasing the amount of force.

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               The invention of the wheel must be the most iconic invention of all time, as it paved the way for so much development in the world.

               The first form of the wheel was made during the late Neolithic. Early wheels were simple wooden disks with a hole for the axle. However, the first wheel closer in appearance to the modern day one, was made in Sumeria around 3500 BC.

               Researchers have found that almost during the same period of time in Uruk in Mesopotamia, sledges were attached to four wheels to use in different terrains. The evolution of the modern day wheel was a very slow process. In 200 BC, in North Africa, wheels with teeth or cogs around their edges were used to pull water from wells.

               In the 4th century BC, the Greek philosopher Aristotle mentioned something similar to gears, when he designed devices for various construction jobs.

               Ever since mankind understood the necessity of keeping their valuables safe, they started finding ways to protect such personal belongings. Initially, men used to wrap such valuables in fabric to keep them inside their clothing. By the early 13th century, this fabric enclosure method had paved the way for creating pouches, bags and purses made of leather, fur or cloth. After the introduction of briefcases in the market, purses were used only to carry coins, and bags and pouches to carry other casual things.

               It was in the 1850s that a modern day leather handbag was first made. Shoulder bags were first introduced for women in the forces, during the Second World War.

               Perfumes were mostly used in the form of incense. The word perfume is derived from the Latin word ‘per’, meaning ‘through’ and ‘fumus’ meaning ‘fumes’.

               On special ceremonial occasions the Egyptians carried scented fat that melted in the heat, which they used to perfume their hair, faces and bodies. Around 1350 BC, the Egyptians and Arabs began to distil perfume from the Madonna lily. Perfumes became more popular in European culture from the 1100s.

               The perfume consisting of a blend of neroli essential oil, rosemary and bergamot, made by two Italians based in Cologne, became popular during the seven years’ war of 1756-63. It was only much later in 1923, that the first perfumes to contain synthetic odours were created by the Frenchman Ernest Beaux.

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               People used to wear jewellery even during olden times. They used to adorn themselves with necklaces, bracelets and pendants made out of wood, seashells, fish bones, pebbles and mammoth tusks.

               From 3800 BC onwards Western Europeans started wearing jewellery. Bone and ivory jewellery making industries flourished in France some 4000 years later. Gold was probably discovered in Mesopotamia before 3000 BC and the jewellery of Sumeria is among the most extraordinary jewellery ever made. It is said that the Sumerian queen Puabi was buried covered in a cloak of beads made from gold. From the 3rd millennium BC onwards the Egyptians started making jewellery.

               The umbrella was first made not to protect one from rain, but from the sun. The Chinese were credited with inventing the first form of umbrella — the silk umbrella. At the same time, rain umbrellas, more like parasols, were being used by the Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, Arabs and Indians, as early as the 4th century B.C.

               Initially, umbrellas were made with many different materials such as feathers, leather and leaves. However, the canopy shape of umbrellas had always been the same. The Romans called their umbrella by the name umbralum, meaning shady place. They were made of cloth stretched over a wooden frame.

               During the 5th century AD, the very first waterproof umbrella was made out of oiled mulberry bark. However, the Italians were the ones who invented the modern umbrella late in the 16th century. The word umbrella is adapted to English from Italian.

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               The shirt evolved from the simple T-shaped undergarment of the Middle Ages. The linen shirt soon became a staple of men’s wardrobes. Shirt collars and cuffs were detachable pieces of lace until the 19th century, when stiff collars and cuffs were attached to the shirt with fancy pins.

               Modern-day shirts with buttons in the front became common after 1900. Soon, stripes, checks, and lines gave more fashion. Although they had been around since the 1920s, chest pockets became a more common feature on shirts during the 1960s.

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               In 1790, the English inventor Thomas Saint invented the first sewing machine design, but he did not successfully advertise or market his invention. His machine was meant to be used on leather and canvas material.

               Barthelemy Thimmoniers, a French tailor, created the prototype for the first commercially produced model in 1830, but his machine was destroyed by rioting tailors afraid for their jobs. Later in 1834, Walter Hunt created the lock stitch, the first true sewing-machine stitch. But his daughter persuaded him not to patent it. Although all later machines used his lock stitch, he failed to profit from it.

               In 1843, a Boston mechanic Elias Howe developed a machine after watching his wife’s arm movements while sewing. He patented it in 1846. In 1851, Isaac Singer, produced one of the first truly practical sewing machines. He also introduced the first home sewing machine in 1856.

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               Primitive men used to stitch clothes using bones and thorns in order to protect themselves from the winter. Later, they started using earliest forms of needles, made out of bone, horn and ivory, with a round hole at one end, or in the middle.

               The Egyptians were the first to use copper pins to fasten their clothes. It was in Europe during the Bronze Age, that the first metal needles and pins with a wire bent over to form the head were made.

               It was in the 14th century that needles were first introduced in Europe. They were brought from the Middle East. In Germany in 1370, the proper steel needle with a hook at the end to hold the thread was made. The first modern-day metal needles with closed eyes were made in the Netherlands. Leather thongs were used instead of threads until spools were introduced in the 1700s. In 1820, Lemnel Wright developed a machine to make needles. In 1844, John Mercer invented cotton threads with sheen.

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               In 1851, Elias Howe, an American inventor, received a patent for an ‘automatic, continuous clothing closure’. However, he did not receive much recognition as his marketing was unsuccessful.

               Many attempts in producing a perfect fastener had happened in the early days. But only in 1913 was the first practical hook less fastener patented, by Gideon Sundback, who was employed by the Automatic Hook and Eye Company. This model was named Talon Slide Fastener. It was used by the US army during the First World War. In 1923, B. F. Goodrich Company adapted the product. They renamed it the zipper, which later came to be known as ‘zip’.

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               The first safety pins were made in Greece and Italy during the 2nd millennium BC, by doubling a straight bronze pin, and connecting one end to the other. During the early days, the Romans used safety pins as brooches for fastening their cloaks and robes.

               It was in 1849 that the American inventor Walter Hunt introduced the modern day safety pins. However, his invention was accidental. After being issued a US patent, Hunt sold the patent to W. R. Grace and Company for $400.

               Coming to buttons, from the 3rd millennium BC onwards, they were made from wood, bone, and shell in the Indus Valley civilization. Back then, buttons were used for decorative purposes. Hand-made from precious metals, glass, or even gems, buttons became symbols of rank and wealth.

               It was during the 18th century that buttons were mass produced, using steel.

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               It was the British inventor Joseph Swan who produced the first man-made silk in 1883. The first artificial silk or rayon manufacturing, factory was founded by Hilaire de Chardonnet in 890. However, his manufacturing process was unsafe. A safer viscose process of making rayon was patented by C. S. Cross in 1892.

               Wallace Carothers, a chemist from the American chemical company DL Pont, developed the very first all-synthetic fibre. In 938, the company chose the name nylon for the product.

               Though nylon was used to make toothbrushes in the early days, the principles used in the making of nylon were soon adapted to create other synthetic fibres.

               Polyester was discoverer it 1941 by the British chemists James Dickson and Rex Whinfield, Later, many synthetic fibres with better qualities were made, Lycra is the best example, marketed by Du Pont in 1959.

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               The oldest cotton balls were found in the caves of Mexico by some scientists. Those cotton balls were proven to be more than 7,000 years old. From 3000 BC onwards cotton had been grown, spun, and woven into fabric in the Indus River Valley in modern-day Pakistan. At about the same time, natives of Egypt’s Nile valley were making and wearing cotton clothing.

               Around 800 AD, Arabs introduced cotton clothes in Europe. Columbus found cotton growing in the Bahamas Islands in 1492, during his voyage. Varieties of coloured cotton produced in India were imported by the British from 1612. It was in 1730 that cotton was first spun by machinery in England. The industrial revolution in England, and the invention of the cotton gin in the US, gave a push to cotton production all over the world.

               Cotton was expensive in the early days due to its rarity, but the mechanization of cotton trade made it less expensive than wool by the 19th century.

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               It is certain that it was the Chinese who discovered silk. The tale about the origin of silk goes like this – the mythical Chinese emperor Huang Ti once asked his wife Xi Lingshi to see what was eating the leaves of the mulberry trees in the palace garden. She saw a silkworm cocoon, which accidentally fell into hot water. When she picked it up, and pulled it out, she realized that it turned into a thin soft thread.

               Around 3000 BC, the Chinese found that a silkworm could wrap itself in a cocoon made from a single, continuous silk filament some 600-900 m long. The Chinese were very secretive about this valuable commodity they had discovered themselves.

               Silk was introduced in the Mediterranean only around 500 BC. East and West were linked by trade. The route along which the material was exported was known as the Silk Road. By 206 BC, Chinese silk was being exported to the Middle East. The European silk industry began functioning around AD 552, when two Persians smuggled mulberry seeds and silkworm eggs out of Persia, and passed it into the Byzantine Empire.

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               The oldest fabric discovered was a piece of linen dating from around 6500 BC. It was found inside a cave in the Judean Desert, preserved by the dry air. Linen is made from fibrous flax plants. Ancient Egyptians collected dried and bundled flax plants from the banks of the Nile River.

               The process of making the fabric was lengthy. First, the seeds were removed before the plants were soaked in water. Later, they would be beaten, washed, spun, and woven. To bleach their linen, Egyptians used sunlight. The natural state of the fabric is a dull grey-brown. White linen was considered a symbol of purity for the Egyptians, and later for the Romans.

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               Many years before pasteurisation was discovered, the French inventor Nicolas Appert found a method of sterilizing foods by keeping them in glass Jars and heating them. It was actually a form of pasteurization as he heated the food to kill bacteria in it.

               Appert’s jars were soon replaced by cans made out of tin plate. Peter Durand received the first patent for the idea of canned food. First it was introduced in the UK, and later in 1818 it was introduced in the US.

              Initially cans were completely sealed except for a small opening knob on the top. Before soldering the food was heated to boiling point. Then the cans were reheated. The earlier versions of cans were not safe at that time. However, canning food was cheap and convenient. It gained popularity very easily.

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               Even primitive cave men used to eat dried meat. They hung mammoth carcasses to dry in the wind, and then took them inside for cool storage. Syrians, Iranians, and Palestinians started using dried cereals, figs, and grapes by 8000 BC.

               It was during the 3rd millennium BC that salt was first used to preserve game birds and fish in the Nile valley. During the Iron Age itself, Britons started salting their foods in order to preserve them during the intense winter.

               A special brine of salt was made and used by the Egyptians to pickle meat. Sauerkraut, made by fermenting shredded cabbage, was the first form of pickle in Europe. However, sauerkraut lost its demand in Europe gradually. Later, the Chinese introduced the famous pickled cabbage called kimchi.

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               The cultivation of the cocoa tree began over 3,000 years ago by the Mayan, Toltec, and Aztec people. They were experts in making ceremonial beverages using cocoa beans. They also used the cocoa bean as currency. The Mayans considered chocolate to be the food of the gods.

               In Europe Spain was the first country to produce chocolate. However, at that time chocolate was enjoyed as a beverage. Chocolates in solid form were first made by Italian and French confectioners. Later, Italians started making them into rolls and slices. In 1819, Francois-Louis Cailler became the first person to produce chocolates in a factory.

               It was in 1876 that the first white chocolate was made by Daniel Peter of Switzerland. He added dried milk to make milk chocolate. Later, many varieties of chocolates were made all over the world.

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               Coffee as a beverage was quite popular among the Arabs during the 15th century. However, it is believed that coffee was first introduced in Yemen, during the 10th century.

               The ancient Ethiopians used to carry balls made of crushed coffee beans and fat during long journeys. It was only in 1644 that coffee became popular in parts of Europe, beginning with France. Britain’s first coffee-house, The Angel, opened in Oxford in 1650.

               Originally, coffee of the best quality came from Yemen’s Mocha and Aden regions. However, in the early 17th century, plants were introduced from there into the Dutch colony of Java in Indonesia, and into French colonies in the Indian Ocean.

               During the 18th century, coffee arrived in the Americas. The Arabs were exceptionally keen on coffee making. They mixed coffee and water, heated several times to boiling point, and left the ground beans to settle before drinking. This made the coffee taste richer. It was in France, during the 18th century, that the first proper coffee making utensil was developed. It was a two sectioned device, which could separate the ground beans and hot water, to produce a smoother drink.

               Later, the device became popularly known as cafeteria. In 1806, Count Rumford devised the true coffee percolator.

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               The interesting story about the origin of tea goes like this- once the Chinese emperor Shen Nung was relaxing under a tree, while his servants were boiling water for him to drink. The emperor, who was a renowned herbalist, noticed that some leaves from the tree fell into the water accidentally. Shen Nung told his servants that he would like to try the flavour of that accidentally created drink. The tree was Camellia sinensis, which is native to the foothills of the Himalayas, and the drink made was what we now call tea.

               It is believed that the Chinese first gathered the leaves from the wild, and only in AD 350 did they started cultivating tea plants. Soon, tea became popular in the Far East. There was even a popular tea ceremony in Japan during the 15th century. The Dutch and Portuguese popularized tea among the Europeans in the 16th century.

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            From 3000 BC onwards Indians started refining sugar. Many imperial convoys used to visit India in order to learn how sugar is produced. It is said that the soldiers of Alexander the Great, who invaded India in 327 BC, were the first Europeans to taste sugar.

            The exact origin of sugar is still under dispute. Some theories say it was first found in the Bay of Bengal, and others say the Solomon Islands were where it was first found. However, Indians were the first to cultivate sugar cane.

            During the 5th century BC, the Arabs started making loaves out of sugar from India. It was around AD 800, when Arabs conquered Spain, that sugar was commercialized in parts of Europe. Later, sugar became a part of the kitchens of the wealthy Europeans. Soon, the European powers started cultivating sugar cane in their colonies.

            By the 18th century, all economic classes started using sugar in their day-to-day cooking. Initially, it was used in sweetening dishes. Later, sugar became an essential part of drinks and food like coffee, tea, cakes and biscuits.

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               Salt was a precious commodity among the ancient Jews, Greeks, Chinese and Hittites. The Assyrians were the first people to use salt in the military practice of salting the earth. Later, this was adopted by many others.

               It was in the present-day Austrian town of Hallstatt, near Salzburg (Salt Town), during the 1st millennium BC, that the very first salt mine in Europe was established. In Britain, the deliberate production of salt was first practiced in the early Iron Age by the Celts.

               Salt, obviously, had high demand, and became a powerful commodity in the entire world economy easily. Some of the world’s earliest trade routes linked sources of salt to human settlements. Moreover, salt resources gradually became the ultimate factor in determining the location of the world’s great cities. Liverpool is an excellent example. It rose from being just an English port, to become the prime port for its salt export.

               The nomads of Central Asia were the ones who first tried out milk. However, they used to drink milk from mares (a female horse) as cows were not yet domesticated. Gradually, the herdsmen learnt to milk sheep, goats, and donkeys soon after 9000 BC.

               Cow’s milk was a common drink in Neolithic Britain. Ancient Europeans preferred soured milk. They found that concentrating milk by evaporating it would help to preserve the milk longer. They used different kinds of sweeteners too.

               Until 1852, when an American named Gail Borden introduced canned condensed milk for the first time, sweetened milk was not widely accepted. Borden’s canned version gradually caught on, especially with soldiers in the American Civil War.

               It was the French biologist Louis Pasteur who introduced the process called pasteurization, a method to kill bacteria in food and drinks especially milk. It’s said that during his investigations into the souring process of wine and beer, Pasteur developed this process.

               In 1860 he pasteurized milk for the first time. The process became popular only after 1890s.

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            Ice itself was something very difficult to make during the early days. So water ices and ice creams were luxurious dishes prepared for wealthy rulers. It was during the 1st millennium AD that the Chinese started to try out different fruit-flavoured cold drinks and desserts, using snow and ice. Later, the Persians and Arabs followed this method to make shaved snow and pour flavoured syrups on top of it. These were called sherbets.

            Water ices became popular in parts of Europe during the 1660s. It is said that the very first time when ice cream was served in England, at Windsor Castle in May 1671, Charles II was presented a plate of ice-cream with an equal portion of white strawberries. Kulfi is the most popular traditional frozen dairy dessert from the Indian subcontinent. Kulfis were first made for Mughal emperors during the 16th century.

            Though there have been many varieties of ice-cream cones initially, the most appealing version of ice-cream cones were made by a man named Ernest A. Hamwi, in 1904, in the US.

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            It is thought that butter might have initially been made by ancient Asian nomads while travelling with containers of milk. The movement of the caravan might have churned the milk to produce butter.

            However, the name butter takes its origin from the Greek word bouturon, which means cow cheese. Even though the Greeks knew about butter, they never used it as food, but as medicine.

            It is said that the Celts might have introduced butter in Britain during the pre-Roman Iron Age. They even found a method to preserve butter by adding salt. Ancient records show that for preserving 4.5 kg of butter, almost 450 g of salt was added to it. But interestingly, before eating the butter some salt was washed off. The butter was then kneaded with water and the liquid pummeled out.

            Butter has been a part of Indian cooking since time immemorial. Butter was a very expensive commodity back then.

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            A hairdryer is an electrical device for drying a person’s damp hair by a process of blowing warm air over it. The first model of a hairdryer was developed by Alexander Godefroy in 1890, for use in his salon in France.

           However, this model was not portable. Another drawback was that it couldn’t be used by holding in the hands; a person had to sit underneath it to get his hair dried.

            The first handheld hairdryer for daily use was developed in 1920. Even these ones had a major drawback- they were very heavy, weighing approximately 0.9 kg. Another major change was made in 1954 when GEC made the motor inside the casing adjustable. The bonnet dryer was introduced to consumers in 1951.

            During the 1950s, the rigid-hood hairdryer was introduced. It had a hard plastic helmet that wraps around the person’s head. Actually, the basic mechanism of a hairdryer has never been changed. The only change was made in the matter of convenience, like how plastic was used in order to make them lightweight.

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               The very first formal calendar dates back to the Bronze Age. Since scribbling and documenting started during the ancient era, many forms of calendars were developed. The Sumerian calendar was the earliest, followed by the Egyptian, Assyrian and Elamite calendars.

               In the ancient Sumerian calendars a year was divided into 12 lunar months of 29 or 30 days, where each month began with the sighting of a new moon.

               Another popular, historical calendar was the Julian calendar, which was reformed by Julius Caesar in 46 BC.

               A major calendar reform was led by Khayyam in Persia during the 11th century when, measuring the length of the year was prudently fashioned to 365.24219858156 days. Later, the first calendars based on Zoroastrian cosmology appeared somewhere between 650 to 330 BC.

               The Gregorian calendar is the most widely used international calendar. It is a more clarified version of the Julian calendar.

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            Glass was accidentally discovered around 3000 BC by Middle Eastern nomads while camping on a lake-side.

            They found chips of glass in the soil, which were actually created by the chemical reaction between silica content in the soil, and sodium carbonate deposits from the waters of the lake during higher temperatures.

            The oldest-known glass artefacts of consistently high quality date back to approximately 1500 BC when Egyptians made hollow glass by forming a core from a bag of sand or a lump of clay, attaching it to a metal rod and then covering it in molten glass. When the glass cooled, the clay was removed.

            However, glass vessels and utensils came into being nearly three centuries later. A glass maker in Syria discovered that a blob of glass at the end of a tube could be blown into a vessel of almost any shape.

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            Different forms of adhesives were used by primitive men. Many excavations have revealed that early humans used bitumen, a natural glue, to attach stones and wooden blocks. Bitumen is used even now for surfacing roads and waterproofing roofs. Bitumen’s waterproofing qualities were utilized by shipwrights in Babylon and Mesopotamia as early as 2400 BC, in order to caulk their ships.

            The Egyptians produced a variety of glues by boiling animal skin, bone and sinew, which are used by traditional carpenters even now. Other natural adhesives used since earliest times include beeswax, egg white, gum, resin and starch pastes etc.

            Natural rubber-based sticky adhesives were first manufactured by Henry Day in 1845. Interestingly, Eastman Kodak’s researchers discovered Super-glue accidentally in the 1950s. They were first sold in Britain in the mid-1970s. Superglue is well known for its tighter grip.

            Varieties of synthetic adhesives are still being developed, with the ever evolving, new technologies.

            It was in 1901 that Hubert Cecil Booth, a London engineer, tried something different in order to dislodge trapped dust and dirt. He placed a handkerchief on a dusty couch, and then proceeded to suck air through it. By thus depositing grime on his handkerchief, he proved that suction could dislodge, and trap dirt. Inspired by this result, booth developed the first machine to combine a power-driven suction pump with a dust collecting bag attached to it. His innovation was named Puffing Billy.

            Later, more convenient and smaller vacuum cleaners evolved for domestic use. However, they were soon overtaken by the electric suction sweeper patented in the US by James Murray Spangler, in 1907. Unable to capitalize on his invention, he sold it to a leather goods maker, William Henry Hoover. A catchy slogan ‘it beats as it sweeps as it cleans’ was delivered while marketing it.

            The vacuum cleaners predecessor, the carpet sweeper was introduced in the market in 1811. Melville Bissell patented a more efficient version in 1876, which revolutionized housework.

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            Even as early as 2000 BC, the Ancient Egyptians used to find pleated clothes fashionable. They achieved this effect by starching their clothes and pressing them continuously with wooden rollers.

            Another interesting fact is connected to the Vikings, who invaded Europe in the 9th century and used to spread their clothes on whalebone plaques. Ironing, similar to what is done in our modern age, was initially introduced in the Far East during the 8th century, when small pans were filled with hot coal, and used. However, this method became popular in Europe only in the 15th century.

            Gas irons were developed in France at first. However, the earliest patent for an electric iron was taken out by an American, Henry Seeley, in 1882.

            Dryers have a comparatively modern origin. People started using hand-operated dryers to dry clothes only in the 17th century. It was from the 1860s onward that steam powered dryers became popular. The first electric tumble driers were installed in ships of the P&O Line in 1909.

            However, they became household equipment only during the 1930s.

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               In 1908, a Swiss chemist, Jacques Brandenberger invented cellophane, a thin, transparent sheet made of regenerated cellulose. Its low permeability to air, oils, greases, bacteria, and water made it useful. But it was really expensive, and was used mostly to wrap luxury items. Later in 1927, the American company Du Pont patented another excellent version of cellophane, which was used to encase packaged goods such as cigarettes.

               Going forward, in 1934, the earliest form of hygienic food wraps named Pliofilm were manufactured and marketed in the US. They were made from rubber based hydrochloride.

               The invention of adhesive cellophane happened in the 1920s, at the height of the American fashion for two-tone cars. The Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company introduced a sticky, but not too sticky, adhesive tape for auto pointers to use on two-tone paint Jobs. Later in 1934, sticky tapes became popular in the British market, Cello tape; a brand of adhesive tape was commercialized in 1937.

               The very fast reference to nails can be traced back Mesopotamia about 3500 BC. Nails were found on the statue of a bull made out of copper sheets, which were nailed on to a wooden frame.

               During the Middle Ages, nails were made by hammering rods through a series of holes of decreasing size.

               Later, artisans known as nailers or nailors, who became popular around 1800, started making a variety of handmade nails.

               It was in 1786 that the very first nail making machine was developed in the US by Ezekiel Reed. Later, in 1790, Thomas Clifford introduced another machine in England. Though the wrought-iron nails continued well into the 19th century, they lost their demand gradually as harder cut nails were preferred, considering their various uses. This was when wire nails came into being. By 1913, ninety percent of manufactured nails were wire nails. Thus nails became cheaper. Today, almost all nails are manufactured from wire, and instead of bronze or wrought iron, steel is used to make them.

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               Scissors were first used during the Bronze Age. However, things similar to scissors had been in use as domestic tools many years before the invention of real scissors.

               It was in Mesopotamia, around 3500 BC, that bronze was first invented. This turned out to be the best resource for sharper blades. Scissors were first used in Europe and Asia around 1000 BC. Those ancient scissors consisted of two blades Joined together using a C- shaped spring. Though the basic design of scissors remained unchanged for a long time, more beautified and decorative ones were made using silver, gold, pearl and diamonds.

               However, the modern-day scissors were said to have taken their shape in the Roman Empire and the Far East. In 1761, the Sheffield metal worker Robert Hinchcliffe began to manufacture and commercialize scissors. He used cast steel for stronger and sharper blades.

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               As we can imagine, ever since mankind started constructing closed huts, the problem of dusting arrived too. During the olden days, dust was swept up, and out of huts, with branches plucked from shrubs. It was only later that flexible sticks and twigs were bound and tied up together, to form an implement called a broom.

               The name broom takes its origin from Europe, where the twigs of broom trees were initially used to make broomsticks.

               During the 15th century, the Romans started using hogs’ bristles glued with pitch into blocks of wood for sweeping. Later, feather dusters were introduced by the Romans.

               Until the 18th century, moss was the natural substance used for dusting and cleaning in Britain. In 1859, the first American brush factory was established in New York.

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            Various natural things were used to clean clothes in ancient times. Natron, a form of carbonate soda, was used by the Egyptians as a detergent. The Romans, on the other hand, were said to have used Fuller’s Earth (dirt absorbing clay) on their woollen garments.

            The manufacturing of modern-day detergents can be traced back to the 19th century. The first soap powder Babbitt’s Best Soap, went on sale in New York in 1843.

            Later, in the 1880s, synthetic detergents were first developed in Germany. Nekal was the first commercial detergent, which was marketed in Europe during 1917.

            The Romans are credited with the introduction of adding a faint blue dye to rinsing water in order to eliminate the yellow tinge from clothes. This was later introduced in Britain.

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            It was around 2800 BC that the Ancient Babylonians became the first civilization to use something similar to soap. They washed their clothes with something similar to a real soap, which was made from wood ash and liquid animal fats.

            During the 3rd millennium BC, the Mesopotamians used different ingredients like oil and potash, to make something like a liquid soap.

            The Ancient Hebrews were said to have started using the roots of certain plants for making soap. They found that those roots had the ability to remove dirt.

            However, the hard, modern day, perfumed toilet soaps were initially manufactured in the Middle East.

            During the 9th century, the Europeans started using soaps, which were basically produced from animal fats. Their soaps were un-perfumed. Finer soaps were later produced in Europe from the 16th century, using vegetable oils.

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            Around 5000 BC, the Egyptians made a paste to clean their teeth. Later, the Ancient Greeks, Romans, Chinese and Indians also started using toothpaste.

            These ancient toothpastes were made by a concoction of different things in different parts of the world.

            The powder of ox hooves’ ashes, burnt eggshells and pumice were some of them. The Chinese are said to have used various ingredients in their toothpastes, including ginseng, herbal mints, and salt.

            Until the 1850s, toothpastes were basically powders. It was during the 1850s that real progress happened, when cream based toothpastes were manufactured and commercialized.

In the year 1873, Colgate started the mass production of toothpastes in jars (later tubes) all over the world.

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            Before the invention of toothbrushes, the simplest oral hygiene instruments, a variety of other methods had been used. Some of them were chew sticks, tree twigs, bird feathers, animal bones, and porcupine quills.

            The first bristle toothbrushes, similar to the modern version, originated in China. They consisted of hog bristles, and were used during the Tang Dynasty. It is said that firmer bristles were produced from hogs living in colder regions like Siberia and northern China. The handles of the toothbrushes were carved out of bamboo, or bones.

            However, toothbrushes were introduced in the western society only during the 17th century. In Europe, William Addis of England is believed to have produced the first commercially successful toothbrush in 1780.

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            It is said that the Scandinavians designed the first comb, carved out of bones, almost a thousand years ago. However, the Ancient Egyptians made fancier versions, like a double-sided comb, using ivory and wood.

            Comb teeth were produced individually, until 1796, when William Bundy developed a device to carve them together in equal measurements.

            The first plastic comb was made by the chemist Alexander Parkes in 1862. Later, in the 19th century, more advanced and sophisticated version called brushes, for easy untangling of hair, were introduced. Ivory from Africa and India were used to make the backs of such brushes.

            The first mirrors were crafted around 5000 BC in Italy and the Middle East.

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            Locks trace their history back to the beginning of modern civilization, when people developed a need to keep their belongings safe. The first wooden keys and locks were said to have originated in Ancient Egypt.

            Later, more detailed, user-friendly locks were being made in parts of Europe, especially in Britain. Following these improvements, lock-smiths created the first keys for much safer and reliable usage of the mechanism. It was in 1778 that the locksmith Robert Barron started producing licensed double action tumbler locks. This lock was much reliable compared to earlier locks.

            However, the most reliable locks were made by the American locksmith Linus Yale. He produced the locks based on the Egyptian principle of pin tumblers.

            Later, in 1856, Linus Yale Junior developed an updated version of these locks for the modern era.

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            One end of a match, a handy tool for producing fire, is coated with a material that can be ignited by frictional heat. The fire is created by striking the match against a suitable surface.

            The invention of matchsticks is still ambiguous. Primitive men used many unknown tools as ways to create fire. However, it is said that the first chemical matches were initially made by the Romans. They used matches in the form of lengths of wood dipped into molten sulphur, and ignited with the heat from smouldering tinder.

              In 1680, Robert Boyle discovered that when rubbed together, phosphorous and sulphur created flame. Even after this crucial discovery, it took over 150 years to produce self-igniting matches.

            Something similar to modern-day matches was invented by John Walker, an English chemist. Walker called them friction lights; they had tips coated with potassium chloride and antimony sulphide paste. They were ignited when rubbed against sandpaper.

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            It was during the 1790s, that gas lighting was first invented. Gaslights were first installed on the streets of London in 1807. By the 1860s, the city was totally lit by gas.

            Though gaslights were a great deal back then, they had many disadvantages too, mainly because they provided only very dim light.

            It was the English chemist Humphry Davy who introduced the possibility of using electricity to heat metal strips, and make them provide light. There were still reservations about using electric lighting for households. Later, in 1878 the English physicist Joseph Swan produced incandescent light that lasted for a few hours.

            The electric light was not literally ‘invented’ by Thomas Alva Edison, although he could be said to have created the first commercially practical incandescent light bulb in 1879.

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