ICE SKATING

Most hear the phrase “ice skating” and think of figure skating, but there are a couple other variations of the sport. Speed skating is an exhilarating ways to practice your finesse on ice. As the name implies, speed is the focus, with the victor being crowned on who crosses the finish line first. There are three major types: long track, short track, and marathon. The variation determines the length of the race. Speed skating is notable for being the first winter sport to have an international federation founded, in 1892.

One of the biggest innovations for speed skating was the dawn of artificial ice. 1956 saw the last appearance of natural ice in the Olympics. Franz Krienbuhl, a Swiss skater, was also at the forefront of the development of more aerodynamic suits. These new suits were made of spandex and replaced the attached head covering with helmets. Some suits are made of Kevlar in order to protect the skater from the blades on the opponents’ feet. In 1996, the International Skating Union allowed clap skates. Clap skates were first invented in 1900, but the new revitalization allowed for greater speeds without a risk of safety.

HOCKEY

Hockey is somewhat infamous for being one of the most physical and violent sports commonly played today. But it’s also a sport that causes a great deal of wear and tear to the arena- namely, the ice upon which its played. Hockey directly led to one of the oddest devices in history: the ice resurfacer. Commonly referred to as a “Zamboni” after the inventor, it was created in 1947. Zamboni originally owned a refrigeration business, which lost sales as in-home refrigeration grew more common. Undettered, he opened an indoor ice rink which proved popular. Smoothing the ice proved cumbersome, so he modified an army Jeep to shave and wash the ice. It proved so iconic and useful that he began mass-producing them, resulting in the vehicle we all recognize today.

SKIING

Skiing has led to its fair share of… odd inventions, to say the least. One of the oldest winter sports, it lends itself well to finding new ways to increase speed and safety. Or, for Sergei Khavlin, one over the other. In 2011, the Russian man gained infamy for his propeller skis. The skis themselves are typical, but the strange part is on Khavlin’s back. By combining a 200cc lawnmower motor, some paraglider parts, and a homemade propeller, he’s managed to construct a self-propelling system. He typically uses it to commute to work.

For something less exclusive and more safety-oriented, there’s the LED ski suit. Ideal for night skiers, the suit features up to 1500 LED bulbs over the waterproof and shockproof suit. It can be synced with music for ski performances. Or maybe it’ll just illuminate the tree directly in your path.

SNOWBOARDING

Snowboarding is among the newest winter sports to be added to the Olympics, first being included in 1998. It had only been invented 33 years earlier by Sherman Poppen. The engineer wanted to create a toy for his daughters to use in the snow. He strapped two skis together with a rope at the end to provide control as they went downhill. Poppen’s wife dubbed it the “snurfer,” and it proved popular enough that Poppen later pitched it to a manufacturer.

SLEDDING

When people think of sledding in the winter, they usually picture children playing on a snow day. Enter the bobsled. A team rides inside of a sleigh and make their way through a winding course using gravity alone. Unlike the sports listed above, bobsledding is less about exposure to the elements and more a focus on teamwork. A four-man crew consists of a pilot, a brakeman, and two pushers. The ice is used to keep up momentum. This mostly applies to modern bobsledding, however. Originally, the sport was held with riders on an open sleigh, rather than the enclosed version commonly seen now.

The modern bobsled was developed by the Linney brothers- Bob and Bill. During the late 1930s, the pair built the first two-man sled to use a steel plank as the linkage. This allowed for greater control and speed through turns. They also were responsible for the side-mounted handles used by pushers to build momentum. In 1946, Bill developed the first steel sled with built-in shock absorbers. This design is still used today.

CURLING

Take shuffleboard and add sweeping. That’s the basic premise behind curling, winter sports’ biggest oddity. Two teams of four compete on ice to get their stone into a circular target called the house. The stone is not a misnomer- also called rocks, they’re literal polished pieces of granite with a handle on top. Modern curling stones are almost identical to their early counterparts, with the exception for high-level play. An electronic handle detects vibrations in the thrower’s hands and reports any “hog line” violations. This has eliminated the need for inspectors in international play, but the price puts it out of reach for most curling clubs.

What’s your favorite winter sport? Let us know on our social media and in the comments!

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Pie

You can hardly find a Thanksgiving meal without its most iconic dessert: pie. Whether your family is on team apple, team blueberry, team key lime, or team cherry (we could go on) it’s hard to imagine a Thanksgiving meal feeling complete without one. You may even wonder–how could people live in a world without pie? No? Just us? Well, luckily we haven’t really had to. The origins of pie date all the way back to Ancient Greece when they created the pastry shell by combining flour and water. It made its way through Rome and medieval England all the way down through history until finally landing on our dinner tables. You may be surprised to learn, however, that dessert pie wasn’t served at the original Thanksgiving celebration in 1691. At this time, only the English version of pie had made its way to American which was primarily meat-based. It wasn’t until the early 1800s that dessert pie began appearing on American dinner plates.

Mashed Potatoes

Another big staple of Thanksgiving dinner (and, let’s be honest, the one we most look forward to breaking our diets for) are mashed potatoes. They started out with a bit of a tumultuous history, even once being banned in France because of the fear that vegetables would cause leprosy… yikes. But let’s fast forward to 1887 where the world got its first glimpse into the more automated world of potato mashing. Inventors Jacob Fitzgerald and William H. Silver applied for a patent for the ‘potato-masher and fruit-crusher’ which was designed to crush the potato through a series of small holes, similar to a garlic press. This version was a vast improvement on simply crushing the potatoes on your own as it produced a smoother and more buttery soft potato.

Tinsel

There’s nothing quite like the way tinsel shines among the lights on our Christmas trees. You may be surprised to learn, however, when Tinsel first became a Christmas decoration in the early 1600s it was made of genuine silver which was shredded into thin slivers. There were a few problems with this at the time. The first was that silver eventually tarnishes so you’d only achieve that magnetic shine for a limited amount of time. The second was that, as you could likely guess, silver is expensive so it could only be afforded as a decoration by the very wealthy. This led to the invention of the artificial garland we know today which is typically made of plastic and comes in a variety of festive colors.

Elf on the Shelf

You’ve likely seen this one circulating around quite a bit and there’s a good reason for that- it’s a fairly recent tradition. It derives from a book by the same title written in 2004 by author Carol Aebersold and her daughter Bell Chanda. The book tells the story of how Santa knows if you’ve been naughty or nice because elves will visit children between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. The book reached the bestseller list in 2013 and the plot has caused the tradition we often see of parents photographing these elves hiding or being caught in precarious scenarios.

Gingerbread House

When it comes to the origins of Gingerbread houses, fact and fantasy tend to intertwine. People often attribute the creation of Gingerbread Houses to The Brothers Grimm. The famed fairy tale writers wrote the famous story of Hansel and Gretel in the early 19th century and, suddenly, Gingerbread houses were everywhere and eventually became the Christmas tradition we look forward to every year. But did these fiction writers invent the Gingerbread house? It’s a great story, but it’s sadly false. Gingerbread houses had already been around since the 1600s, a few centuries after Gingerbread cookies were invented. There were even Gingerbread fairs in England and France throughout the middle ages. Though we may not know the original architect of these structures, the Grimm Brothers fairy tale was responsible for popularizing the art, and we can thank them for one of our favorite (and messiest) holiday activities.

Nutcracker

The earliest forms of the Nutcracker started in 15th and 16th century France and England. Though woodworkers were creating intricate designs, they were far from the colorful soldiers that are now a staple of the Christmas season. Standing wooden nutcrackers in the form of soldiers and kings were shown in the Sonnenberg and Erzgebirge regions of Germany by 1800 and 1830 and the term “Nussknacker” appeared in the dictionary of the Brothers Grimm. In 1872 Wilhelm Fuchtner, known as the father of the Nutcracker, made the first commercial production of nutcrackers using the lathe to create many of the same design. Now they’ve gone from being a functional woodworking piece to a colorful Christmas tradition!

The post Holiday Inventions: Thanksgiving & Christmas appeared first on Inventionland.

HEIMLICH MANEUVER

When Henry Judah Heimlich came up with his life-saving procedure in the 1970s, he was at a loss as to what to call it. Eventually, he went with the most obvious solution: naming it after the creator, aka himself. No matter the name, though, the technique is something we should all know how to do and countless lives have been saved because of it.

MASON JAR

John Landis Mason patented this wide-mouthed jar in 1858 after working as a tinsmith. They were unique for their hermetic seal, created by the separate band and lid used in the screw thread design. This allowed the jars to be reused, saving the user money. They were quickly dubbed Mason jars, although many other companies would copy the design over the years. Even today, Mason jars are still popular for canning and other projects.

SAXOPHONE

Adolphe Sax created quite a few horn instruments during his life, but his most famous is the one that bears his name. His dream was to create an instrument with the workings of a woodwind- hence the reed- but with that iconic horn sound. The saxophone changed the face of music forever, even though it took a while to gain popularity. It remained a novelty instrument until the rise of jazz in the 1920s when musicians found it matched the sound of the new genre.

SALISBURY STEAK

This staple of school cafeterias was the creation of James Salisbury, a 19^th-century doctor. Unlike most modern physicians, Salisbury believed that starches and vegetables were the bane of a healthy body. While his views on lean meat were later vindicated, most people agree fruits and veggies are key to a healthy diet. Nevertheless, this mixture of ground meats and gravy has found its way to the hearts (and stomachs) of millions.

GRAHAM CRACKERS

On the opposite end of the diet spectrum was Sylvester Graham and his crackers. Fruits, vegetables, and whole grains were the order of the day- without any meats or spices. He developed the graham cracker to help combat the blandness of this diet, or perhaps to enforce it. Graham also believed eating plainly would promote a morally pure lifestyle. Of course, most now associate the cracker with summer cookouts and beach bonfires thanks to that classic dessert- s’mores. Adding in the other indulgences the Graham cracker appears in, it’s safe to assume Graham’s goal has long been forgotten.

JACUZZI

The Jacuzzi is notable for not being named after one person, but a septet. Immigrants from Italy, the Jacuzzi brothers developed a hydrotherapy pump to use in the bath. Not only did it soothe the arthritis of a relative but caught on among the general public. The whirlpool bath as we know it came from a third-generation Jacuzzi in 1968.

SILHOUETTE

This is one instance where having your name immortalized is not a good thing. Etienne de Silhouette was a strict French finance minister. He made drastic cuts to the upper class during the Seven Years’ War. His name was used to describe anything cheaply made and soon became synonymous with the simple portraits.

BOWLER HAT

We have William Bowler to thank for this classic felt hat, which he designed in 1850. However, we should also give credit to the Earl of Leicester’s younger brother, Edward Coke, for commissioning him in the first place. According to legend, Coke asked Bowler to craft a hat that would protect him from low-hanging branches during horseback riding. So much for wearing a helmet.

BRAILLE

Louis Braille is responsible for the eponymous written language, now most famously used for blind people. However, he originally devised the language after studying up on cryptography- namely, the code of pressed dots Captain Charles Barbier had created to help his men communicate in the dark.

FERRIS WHEEL

Names play a huge role in the history and legacy of the famous ride. George W. G. Ferris (of Pittsburgh!) intended for it to be the spotlight of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, measuring in at 264 feet. Ferris wanted it to rival the creation of Gustave Eiffel for the World’s Exhibition in 1889, the Eiffel Tower. It fell a little short, as the Tower reaches 1,063 feet at its tip. But while the Eiffel Tower would remain a landmark of France, the Ferris Wheel has been duplicated worldwide as a popular amusement park attraction. (It later went on to be the name of Matthew Broderick’s character in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.)

The post Inventions Named After People appeared first on Inventionland.

MICROWAVE OVEN

One day in 1945, an employee of the Raytheon Corporation named Percy Spencer was experimenting with a magnetron vacuum tube. When he noticed the candy bar in his pocket starting to melt, he tested some popcorn with the device. When it began to pop, he knew he found something huge. Raytheon began selling the Radarange in 1947, and it flopped commercially. A cheaper, smaller version came out in 1967 to much better reception and now over 95% of homes in the United States have a microwave.

ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS

While you should always wash your hands before eating, there are cases where a bathroom break would change the course of history. For example, if chemist Constantin Fahlberg had washed his hands before dinner in 1879, he would’ve cleaned all the coal tar off his skin. Then he would’ve never tasted how sweet his food was due to the saccharin from the tar. (This is the exception, though- please practice good health and grooming habits.)

POTATO CHIPS

George Crum was the Gordon Ramsay of his day, easily angered but resourceful. When a customer complained that their French fries were too thick and soggy, Crum angrily sliced potatoes as thin as he could, fried them, and served with salt. The customer loved them. That day in 1853, the world’s favorite snack food, the potato chip, was born…entirely out of rage and spite.

IMPLANTABLE PACEMAKER

The idea of a pacemaker wasn’t new before 1956, but few could think of a practical way to insert one into the human body. Wilson Greatbatch, an assistant professor of electrical engineering at the University of Buffalo, wasn’t looking to create an artificial heartbeat. He just needed a resistor to build a heart rhythm recorder. The resistor was the wrong size, and when installed, made the circuit produce intermittent electrical pulses. It reminded him of a heartbeat and he began experimenting further and eventually the implantable pacemaker evolved.

POPSICLES

Eleven-year-old Frank Epperson wanted to try some soda pop, the latest beverage craze, in 1905. Instead of spending his money, though, he’d experiment and make his own at home. He mixed powder and water and nearly hit the jackpot- until he left the concoction on the porch overnight. The mixture froze overnight, stirring stick stuck inside… the perfect handle for the new frozen confection he just created.

RADIOACTIVITY

Chalk this one up to both Mother Nature and Henri Becquerel. The chemist was trying to make fluorescent materials produce X-rays through sunlight in 1896. Unfortunately, it was a week of clouds and overcast, forcing him to leave the supplies in his drawer. When the sun finally came out, he opened the drawer to find the uranium rock he was using imprinted in a nearby photographic plate- all without any exposure to light.

SLINKY

Navy engineer Richard James wanted to use springs to keep sensitive instruments steady during World War II. When he dropped one of the springs, it righted itself and landed upright…much to James’ amusement. It caught on among other members of the Navy and children alike, thus creating what might be the simplest toy in existence.

STAINLESS STEEL

Metallurgist Harry Bearly was hired by a 20^th-century arms manufacturer to create a gun barrel that was rust-resistant. He did so but conducted a few experiments on his own on the side. When the metal held up against corrosives like lemon juice, he saw the potential for food-grade silverware, and the elimination of nightly washing, polishing and putting away of the silverware was currently used. Stainless steel appliances, however, were still a bit beyond his imagination.

The post The Best Accidental Inventions appeared first on Inventionland.

COUSINS MAINE LOBSTER

During season 4, Sabin Lomac and Jim Tselikis introduced their food truck, a high-end concept offering lobster shipped from their home state of Maine. Now living in California, the cousins wanted to bring some of the food they grew up with to the West Coast. Barbara Corcoran made a deal: 15% of their company in exchange for $55,000. Not long after the episode premiered, they hit $700,000 in sales and made $8 million in 2016.

SCRUB DADDY

Perhaps the most well-known Shark Tank product, the Scrub Daddy is a reusable sponge that is firm in cold water and soft in hot water. Aaron Krause invented it in 2012, and in October appeared on the show. Lori Greiner invested $20,000 for a 20% equity, a bid that soon paid off. Since then, Scrub Daddy has made over $100 million in sales, making it by and large the most successful pitch in the show’s history.

BUGGYBEDS

Previously a security analyst, Maria Curcio began hunting down a new kind of bugs: bedbugs. She created the BuggyBed, a glue trap to catch the insects before they infested your furniture. Along with Veronica Perlongo, they appeared on Shark Tank to see if any would take the bait. In the end, all five sharks invested, and BuggyBeds are now available in 23 countries globally.

LOLLACUP

Hanna and Mark Lim were worried about the dishes they were using for their children and if they were truly safe. They developed a BPA and phthalate-free alternative, the Lollacup, with a flexible straw. Both Mark Cuban and Robert Herjavec went for a 40% equity at $100,000. In 2018, the Lollacup has expanded into Lollaland, with bowls, plates, baby bottles, play mats, and even pacifiers.

COPA DI VINO

Copa di Vino is unique in that it failed on the show itself, despite appearing twice. James Martin came up with the idea of a “wine by the glass” single-serve product during a train trip, available in multiple premium varieties. Despite not catching on with the sharks both times, Copa di Vino went from $500,000 in sales prior to their pitch to $14 million in 2015. Sometimes, just a little press is enough of a boost.

WICKED GOOD CUPCAKES

The team: mother and daughter Tracey Noonan and Dani Vilage. The pitch: gourmet cupcakes in a jar, shipped nationwide. The result? Kevin O’Leary agreed to invest for $75,000 in royalties and $1 per cupcake sold until he broke even, then 50 cents for each additional cupcake. He made his investment back and then some: the pair had $8 million in sales by 2016.

GROOVEBOOK

Julia Whiteman lost thousands of family photos from her phone, inspiring her husband Brian to think of a way to preserve them. His idea was Groovebook, a monthly service that would print smartphone pictures in a book. Both Mark Cuban and Kevin O’Leary agreed to fund Whiteman for $150,000 on Shark Tank, in exchange for 80% licensing profits. 50,000 new subscribers joined after the episode aired, and the company was acquired by Shutterfly in 2014 for $14.5 million.

BOMBAS

Randy Goldberg and David Heath wanted to accomplish two goals: make a better sock and help their community. The concept they came up with were Bombas, socks with a blister tab and extra cushioning. Daymond John backed them, loving both their product and their intention to donate a pair to homeless shelters for each pair bought. In 2017, the company made $50 million.

HONORABLE MENTION: INVENTIONLAND INSTITUTE REGIONAL COMPETITION

Sure it hasn’t made it to prime time yet, but every semester our very own Inventionland Institute hosts a regional competition where students present their inventions in a Shark Tank-like setting. Check out the highlights from the 2018 Regional Competition:

The post Most Successful “Shark Tank” Pitches appeared first on Inventionland.

VAXXWAGON

For many developing countries, being able to distribute vaccines is a challenge. If the medicine gets too warm, it could lose its effectiveness. Anurudh Ganesan, a then 15-year-old student, knew firsthand how lucky he was to have received a polio vaccination in his home country of India. The struggles his grandparents went through to get him the shot led him to build the VAXXWAGON, a modified bicycle with a thermos kept cold by user pedaling.

BAND-AIDS

Mr. and Mrs. Earl Dickson lived at the turn of the century and were, by all accounts, quite a loving pair. Mr. Dickson was indeed so caring he sought to help his wife deal with the many cuts and burns she gave herself while making dinner. Using his skills and resources from working at Johnson & Johnson, he attached gauze to pieces of surgical tape, prepared for whenever she was injured. The result? The earliest adhesive bandages.

MADAME CJ WALKER

The daughter of former slaves, Sarah Breedlove Walker struggled during her life but never lost hope. After developing a lotion to deal with her hair loss, she began selling her product door-to-door before establishing a college in Pittsburgh. The Walker System, as it came to be known, revolutionized the sales industry and gave African-American women a chance to provide for themselves. Today, she’s recognized as the first female African-American self-made millionaire.

LEONARDO DA VINCI

The creations of Leonardo da Vinci are well-documented and discussed, but few talk about just how ahead of his time he was. From birth, he was considered different (being born out of wedlock during an age of strict religious ideas). His interpretations of religion in paintings like The Last Supper flew in the face of societal norms. And of course, his inventions- including scuba suits and modern tanks- are still being perfected today. He may be a Renaissance man, but his work is far from ancient.

GUNPEI YOKOI

Long before they manufactured video games, Nintendo made Hanafuda cards. One day, the president visited the factory Gunpei Yokoi was working at and noticed a toy Yokoi had made. The extending arm, later dubbed the Ultra Hand, was then rushed into production and became a smash for Nintendo. Yokoi continued to develop toys for Nintendo, including the first in the lucrative Game Boy line of consoles. He’s also known for the creation of the control pad, a staple on many gaming consoles to this day.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

When he wasn’t busy being a founding father, Benjamin Franklin enjoyed experimenting. His discovery of electricity, if somewhat misattributed, is common knowledge. But what about the Franklin stove? The lightning rod? Indeed, not all of his ideas were amazing- he wanted to make the national bird the turkey, for example- but what makes him inspiring was his stance on his inventions. He never patented his inventions because he believed everybody should be able to use them.

DISHWASHER

Josephine Cochrane wanted to make life easier for her servants by lessening the work they had to do to clean the dishes. She built a machine with a motor spinning a wheel inside of a copper boiler. This was the first automatic dishwasher to use water pressure. After her alcoholic husband left her with debt after his death, she patented the creation in 1886 and used it to open her own factory and revolutionize households forever.

The post Inspiring Inventors and Inventions appeared first on Inventionland.

MR. CORY’S COOKIES

At age six, Cory Nieves decided he was sick of riding the bus and wanted to buy his mom a car. His plan? Sell hot chocolate to his neighbors in Englewood, New Jersey. This evolved into adding lemonade and cookies to the menu–cookies that he and his mother Lisa spent hours perfecting. Now his cookies are sold nationwide online and he’s collaborated with the likes of Pottery Barn and Whole Foods. Oh and that car he was saving for? It was gifted to him on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

NAY GAMES

Have you heard of “Bubble Ball?” It launched on the Apple app store in 2010 and surpassed 2 million downloads in its first two weeks. The company behind the game, Nay Games, was created by then 14-year-old Robert Nay. He told CNN he learned all his skills through research at the library and produced the 4000 lines of code needed in just a month. Bubble Ball even dethroned “Angry Birds” as the most downloaded free game at one point.

LEANNA’S ESSENTIALS

Leanna Archer’s great-grandmother had a secret recipe for all-natural hair pomade. When Leanna was eight, she decided to start sharing that pomade with the world. Although she first distributed it for free, she now has a full line of beauty and skin-care products, including skin lotion, facial masks, and shampoos. She’s now CEO of Leanna’s Essentials and in 2008 founded the Leanna Archer Education Foundation (dedicated to building schools for children in Haiti).

MO’S BOWS

Who loves bow ties? Moziah “Mo” Bridges. He was disappointed with the few selections available to him, so he learned how to sew his own with the help of his grandmother at age 9. Mo sold his ties on Etsy before they were picked up local boutiques. Now 16, he’s the CEO of Mo’s Bows and was invited to the inaugural White House Demo Day to meet President Obama (whom he gifted with a custom tie). In 2017, he signed a licensing deal with the NBA, allowing him to make bow ties with NBA team logos.

BOTANGLE

Never let it be said that the bitcoin craze didn’t help anybody. Erik Finman cashed out his small bitcoin investment to fund Botangle, an online video tutoring service. He started the project at 15 after dropping out of school due because he was being bullied. His latest project? Building a satellite that will serve as a time capsule. “The easiest way to make money is to create something that solves a problem, or improves a situation. Don’t chase fads, chase opportunity,” he tweeted last year. He’s quite the motivational speaker. Just check out his TEDxTeen Talk:

GLADIATOR LACROSSE

When Rachel Zietz was 13, she needed new lacrosse equipment because her old stuff just wasn’t durable enough. When she couldn’t find any, she decided to create her own. With the help of her entrepreneur family and some of the Sharks from ABC’s Shark Tank, she was able to launch her business. Gladiator Lacrosse offers better-quality products including thicker netting and metals for longer-lasting gear at prices families can afford.  The company is an official goal sponsor for the 2018 FIL World Lacrosse Championships.

ME & THE BEES LEMONADE

The youngest business kid on this list, Makaila Ulmer was just four-and-a-half when she the entrepreneur bug stung her. Literally. She got stung by a bee and became fascinated by them. She learned how they help our environment and, as a result, “Me & The Bees Lemonade” was born.  The honey-sweetened beverages were also inspired by her grandmother’s vintage recipe for flaxseed lemonade. “Me & The Bees Lemonade” is now a staple of southeastern Whole Foods. She donates a percentage of the profits to organizations focused on saving honeybees.

ORIGAMI OWL

Bella Weems always had a passion for jewelry-making, so it was only logical when she started selling them at age fourteen. Her signature item, the Living Locket, allows customers to build their own jewelry by mixing chains, charms, and lockets–the Build-a-Bear of necklaces, if you will. She’s now a millionaire and the founder of the Owlettes Initiative, where Bella personally mentors 12-17-year-olds through business. “You can’t do anything in life alone, so surround yourself with people who believe in you,” she said in an interview with Luca Magazine. “Never let anyone tell you that you are too young to follow your dreams.”

The next time your kid approaches you with a sales pitch, listen and encourage them. You never know…it could be the next big thing.

The post Running a Business…Kid-Style appeared first on Inventionland.

Molly begins the commercial seemingly like any other kid- annoyed that she has to take out the trash in the middle of a stormy night. Suddenly, she spots the clotheslines hanging right outside of her house and has a light bulb go off in her head. She works with a bicycle, some rope, and a drill to create a mechanism that allows her to send the trash to its bin without having to leave her room.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSuO6xiSQ4k

Some kids may have stopped there, but Molly is not just any kid. She begins to invent machines to help every aspect of her daily life- from an attachment for the lawn mower to a toy car that dusts the house to her bed making itself at the push of a button. She even invents a vending machine for girl scout cookies and uses her original pulley system to deliver them down to street level.

All of this hard work peaks at the finale of the ad. We see that Molly now works for GE as an engineer. At the very end of the commercial, we see Molly use her innovative mind once more, now as an adult, to make a robotic inspection process run much more efficiently.

According to The Drum, this Ad was created by BBDO and its the latest in the company’s attempts to position itself as a digital industry company for innovative minds. In recent years, GE has focused its efforts on recruitment advertising in an attempt to draw new talent away from startup tech companies. And their efforts are by no means fruitless. According to their reports, a commercial that they aired in 2015 titled, “What’s the matter with Owen?” resulted in an 800% increase in employee applications.

This ad is also a result of a push that GE is making on bridging the gender gap in employment- especially in the STEM fields. In February of 2017, GE boldly announced their goal of having 20,000 women fill STEM roles (requiring science, technology, engineering, or mathematics) by the year 2020. According to The Inspiration Room, this would mean that they’d attain a 50:50 representation ratio between genders for all of their technical entry-level positions.

Shortly after announcing this goal, GE premiered an ad starring Millie Dresselhaus- the first woman to win the National Medal of Science and Engineering. This ad posed an interesting question- what if we lived in a society where female scientists were treated as celebrities? The commercial features the successful female scientist being made into a doll, becoming a Halloween costume for young girls, and even becoming an emoji. The ad ends with the hashtag #BalanceTheEquation and the official announcement of GE’s bold goals to get women into STEM jobs.

But GE isn’t the only company making this push to get more women into STEM fields. Back in 2016, Microsoft released a similar commercial in celebration of International Women’s Day. In this ad, an interviewer asks young girls to name scientists. The young female participants list off an array of male scientists. Later they’re asked to name female scientists and they each struggle to do so. This not only points out the bias that we have but also names several female scientists who have done amazing work. This ad by Microsoft is yet another step toward normalizing the idea of women in the fields of science and technology.

To the companies engaging in this push and attempting to bridge the gender gap in STEM, we echo Molly’s sincere last words at the end of her ad- thank you

The post Meet Molly: GE’s Push for Women in STEM appeared first on Inventionland.

1) Rake

There are designs similar to the modern rake dating all the way back to the 16th century. In a Chinese novel of the time titled Journey to the West, a character called Zhu Bajie carried a nine tooth rake which he used as a weapon to kill demons. There are illustrations of the character and, we can’t deny, his weapon looks a lot like what we now use to sweep away leaves.

According to Atlas Obscura, this device has gone through its fair share of designs and redesigns in its long history. The earliest example of a garden rake was in 1874, patented by Edmund Brown. In the patent, he described his device as, “an automatically clearing attachment for iron tooth door-yard rakes, which shall remove all matter that may be collected between the teeth by simply raising the rake from the ground”.

After a few designs that turned out to be duds, the modern rake design was created in 1929 by Camille J. Rocquin. The prongs in his design are most similar to that of modern-day rakes, though his original design was made out of metal. The molded plastic rake we now use today wasn’t created until the 1970’s by Harold Eads who worked for the Ames company.

2) Sweater

Nothing says fall like curling up in a cozy sweater, but we haven’t always had these warm apparel items to hug the cold away. Although hand-knitting wool had been practiced for quite a while prior, it wasn’t until the 15th century that sweaters were first invented. According to Britannica, the first ones were produced on the English Channel Islands of Guernsey and Jersey (hence why the English call them ‘Jerseys’). They were first invented by the wives of fishermen who found that natural wool would protect against the cold even when it was cold or damp. This eventually spread across Europe and, eventually, made its way into our wardrobes.

3) Boots

Fall is the best time to break out our favorite pair of boots, but did you know that the earliest depictions of boots date all the way back to 12,000 and 15,000 B.C.? There are cave paintings in Spain seeming to depict a man in boots made out of skin and women in boots made of fur. According to Fashion History, the earliest boots found were in the tomb of Khnumhotep in Egypt (2140-1785 B.C.).

So, needless to say, they’ve been around for quite a while. Similar to the rake, they’ve had their fair share of designs and redesigns in their long history. Most notably, though, was the Wellington Boot of the 19th Century.

The Duke of Wellington instructed his shoemaker to modify the 18th century Hessian Boot. What they came up with was a boot made of calfskin leather that was trimmed to fit more closely around the leg than previous versions. The boot went up to the mid-calf and the heel was low cut, making it both fashionable and practical. Needless to say, the Duke’s boots caught on rather quickly and became a status symbol for the next few decades. The name was eventually shortened to ‘wellies’ and has changed meaning throughout history, now becoming what we call our rubber boots.

4) Apple Cider

You’re all likely familiar with the phrase: what came first, the chicken or the egg? We never guessed that phrase would apply to apples, but shockingly apples were used for apple cider long before they were ever eaten. Early on in our history, apples were considered too bitter to eat so they would, instead, be mixed into a cider drink. This dates so far back in our history that we’ll never know exactly where it started. According to The Smithsonian, there’s speculation that ancient Egyptians may have begun the trend because there’s evidence that they had apple trees and we know that they brewed beer (which is a similar fermenting process).

Despite the lack of clear proof either way, what we do know is that by 55 B.C., when the first Romans sailed to the British Isles, the locals were drinking apple cider. From there, as you could guess, it spread throughout Rome and then Germany as well. It eventually spread to England and English colonists brought it to America, where it has now become one of our favorite fall treats.

We may not know why this season has brought these inventions together, but we can see how they’ve journeyed through time to eventually end up on all of our fall shopping lists. We may never be able to understand the romantic feeling that these inventions have come together to curate, but one thing is for sure: it’s impossible not to fall in love.

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The Petal Clips have been named an International Housewares Association (IHA) Innovation Award finalist for this year’s International Home + Housewares Show, which will be held in early March.

But, the good news about products we’ve designed does not stop there!

The Scrub Gator, which we also designed at Inventionland for the company, has been named an IHA Innovation Award finalist as well!

The International Home + Housewares Show begins March 7th in Chicago.

Check back on our blog for more updates on the Petal Clips, the Scrub Gator and much more at the International Home + Housewares show!

Copyright Inventionland, 2015

The post Petal Clips, Scrub Gator are IHA Innovation Award Finalists! appeared first on Inventionland.