Column Chronicles: Who invented what? - Frank Cotolo on 148.ca

Who invented what?

Frank Cotolo
January 14, 2021

In school, most of us are taught to give credit to certain people for inventing things. We learn names like Eli Whitney and Thomas Edison, but there are so many men and women we do not learn about and who are never given credit for things we use to this day. Here is a brief list of some inventors lost in history and what they invented.

The Cannonball was not the first item thought to be the best object to shoot from a cannon. Creator Svens Ignaham was firing any objects he could find from the prototype but none were effectively blowing things up until Riley Porchlight came up with the idea of ejecting a big, heavy, black ball from the gun.

Though Alexander Graham Bell truly invented the basic telephone, even when it was becoming a common household item, no one was able to tell if someone they were calling was already on the line until Buster Rump invented the Busy Signal.

Terrycloth is named after its inventor, Theresa Cloth. An avid beachgoer in the late 1800s, Theresa (they called her Terry) sat on the beach sand like everyone in those days, atop an ordinary sheet that people also used to dry themselves after playing in the water. The lack of absorption from the ordinary fabric made people unable to dry themselves, as well as it caused skin irritation.

Terry, who worked in a factory, played around with designs and came up with a weaver that had special "looms with longitudinal warp that laterally fired the weft," according to cloth historians. The Terrycloth towel caught on and the material was used for towels, robes, and other apparel.

Here is a lightning round list of inventors and what they invented:

Richard Waybottom - the rear-view mirror
Seth Withers - the plastic spoon
Ingrid Lithenbach - the plastic fork
Rolly Oxenbreath - the basketball net
G.G. Cork - the flavored toothpick
Orson Blue - the shoehorn
Jason Migrato - fingerless gloves

Frank Cotolo can be found hosting the talk and interview programme Cotolo Chronicles. You can send him an e-mail at this address: frank@148.ca.