Category Science

               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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