| that "patent leather" got its name because the process of applying the polished black finish to leather was once patented? |
| that the first Apple computer was born in Steve Jobs' parents' garage?
College students Jobs and his partner Steve Wozniak worked furiously in
that garage assembling computers for fellow students and were totally
unprepared for their first commercial order for 50 computers. To raise
the needed $1300 for parts, Jobs sold his old VW bus and Wozniak sold
his Hewlett Packard calculator. The next year - 1977 - Apple sales hit
$800,000 and went on to become a Fortune 500 company in a record five
years! |
| that Thomas Edison's patent application on his phonograph was approved
by the Patent Office in just seven weeks? In contrast, it took Gordon
Gould, the inventor of the laser, 30 years to obtain his patent -
finally awarded in 1988! |
| that J.B. Dunlop, one inventor of the pneumatic tire, was a veterinary surgeon? |
| that the trademarked name "Baby Ruth" was inspired by President Grover Cleveland's daughter, Ruth, and not by Babe Ruth? |