By Kim McGuire
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Walter Hunt (July 29, 1796 – June 8, 1859) was an American mechanical engineer. Through the course of his work he became known for being a prolific inventor. He got first involved with mechanical innovations in a linseed producing community in New York state that had flax mills. While in New York City to promote his inventions he got involved in inventing the streetcar gong that was used throughout the United States. This then led him to invent other useful items like the safety pin and sewing machine. He invented the precursor to the repeating rifle and fountain pen. About two dozen of his inventions are used today in basically the same form as he had patented them. In spite of his many useful innovative creations he never became wealthy since he sold off most of his patent rights to others at low prices with no future royalties. Others made millions of dollars from his safety pin device.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Tuesday, July 25, 2023
Question of the Day
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Born
- Anna Tuthill Symmes Harrison (U.S. First Lady) –
- Thomas Eakins (artist) –
- Walter Brennan (actor) –
- Eric Hoffer (philosopher) –
- Estelle Getty (American actress ) –
- Emitt Till –
- Matt LeBlanc (actor) –
- Gerard Warren (football player) –
Died
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge (poet) –
- Harry Warner (one of the founders of Warner Bros.) –
- Louis Stephen Saint Laurent (12th Prime Minister of Canada) –
- Thomas Savage (novelist) –
- Jake (dog that searched for September 11th and Hurricane Katrina victims) –
Events
- Walter Hunt was granted a patent for a paper shirt collar–
- Ulysses S. Grant received the rank of General of the Army, the first American officer to be so designated–
- Seth Wheeler’s Improvement in Wrapping Papers was patented on this day, which led to perforated toilet paper.–
- Canadian income tax introduced–
- The Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria collided with the SS Stockholm in heavy fog–
- The first documented test tube baby, Louise Brown, was born in England–
- Soviet cosmonaut, Svetlana Savitskaya, became the first woman to walk in space–
- Germany’s Kuno the Killer catfish’s carcass washed up on shore. The 5-foot-long, 77 pound catfish sprang from the waters of Volksgarden Park Lake in 2001 to swallow a dachshund puppy whole–
- A magnitude-5.6 earthquake struck southwestern Montana–
Weather
- 24-hour (July 24 to 25), 43-inch rainfall, Alvin, Texas–
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