Inventions - Section 1
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A waterbed, water mattress, or flotation mattress is a bed or mattress filled with water. Waterbeds intended for medical therapies appear in various reports through the 19th century. The modern version, invented in San Francisco and patented in 1971, became an extremely popular consumer item in the United States through the 1970s.
Advantage :
The bed shapes exactly to the body, thus minimizing pressure, especially around the joints. Waterbeds remove pressure from the spine allowing the spinal muscles to fully relax. This can aid in the treatment of back pain for some individuals.In paralytic or movement-impaired people they can reduce the risk of bedsores. It is impossible for dirt and dead skin particles to penetrate the water mattress, which can then be wiped periodically with a cloth and vinyl cleaner. The cover over the mattress can be regularly washed - thus virtually eliminating house dust mites in the bed. Dust mites can trigger asthma, eczema, and allergies in people sensitive to them.
Leslie R. Groves, however, was the military head of the project and the overall supremo, while Robert Oppenheimer was the scientific director. The world's first atomic bomb was exploded in the New Mexico desert on July 16, 1945.
The first lawn mowers were not engine powered. Invented in 1830 by Edwin Budding of England, the mowers were turning blades on wooden sticks used to cut grass. Engine powered mowers were not invented until 1919 by an American Army colonel, who used the motor from a washing machine.
In 1904, John Ambrose Fleming invented the first practical electron tube called the 'Fleming Valve', which is a diode rectifier. In 1906, Lee de Forest invented the audion later called the triode, which provided signal amplification.
George Gamow. Gamow, who died in 1968, was a physicist, who published "Thirty Years that Shook Physics".
The board was invented by Isaac and William Fuld. The word 'Ouija' comes from the French and German words for 'yes', 'oui' and 'ja'.
The first wireless remote control for television was called Flashmatic. (Remember when you had to get up to change the channel?)
A list of Benjamin Franklin's inventions reveals a man of many talents and interests. It was the scientist in Ben that brought out the inventor. His natural curiosity about things and the way they work made him try to find ways to make them work better. Ben had poor vision and needed glasses to read. He got tired of constantly taking them off and putting them back on, so he decided to figure out a way to make his glasses let him see both near and far. He had two pairs of spectacles cut in half and put half of each lens in a single frame. Today, we call them bifocals.
McQueen died in 1980 from a rare form of lung cancer.
The stuff was originally intended to be wallpaper cleaner! (I used to eat this as a child)