September 3, 2020 • 9 mins
Humans are inventive creatures. How they use that gift, though, is more than a little curious.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Aaron Benky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is
full of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,
all of these amazing tales are right there on display,
just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet
(00:27):
of Curiosities. Truly, great ideas don't come around very often,
the kind of once in a lifetime ideas that not
only change a person's life, but change the lives of
people all over the world. Alexander Norris had such an idea.
(00:50):
Norris was born in Ireland in sevente and emigrated to
America later in life. He made his home in the
growing city of Cincinnati, Ohio, along with his two daughters,
Olivia and Elizabeth. Around eighteen thirty three, Olivia met a
widower named William who would come over from England several
years earlier. William had worked in an English general store
(01:10):
as a child. The shop's owner took the boy under
his wing and taught him how to dip candles. Williams
spent years learning the ropes of running a business, and
when he met his first wife, Martha, he knew it
was time to strike out on his own. William opened
a shop in London, which lasted all of twenty four hours.
He was robbed the day after his grand opening and
could no longer afford to pay back the eight thousand
(01:31):
dollar debt he owed. Rather than try his luck again
and risk another loss, William and his wife's journey to
New York City to start a new He opened a
brand new business doing what he knew best, making candles.
His new endeavor lasted quite a bit longer than his first,
but it didn't take long for William to grow restless.
New opportunities were exploding out west, so William and Martha
(01:53):
packed up their things and left New York in eighteen
thirty two. Sadly, as they were passing through Cincinnati, Martha
became bravely ill and passed away. So William put the
rest of his trip on hold and decided to settle
down in Ohio permanently. He found temporary work at a
local bank before restarting his candle making business once again.
It was during this time when he met Olivia Norris.
(02:15):
The two fell in love and were quickly married. Meanwhile,
Olivia's sister Elizabeth had also found someone new. His name
was James. Like William, James was an immigrant as well,
this time from Ireland. Just like her father. He'd come
over with many others in eighteen nineteen during a time
of unrest. His family's intention had been to start a
(02:37):
new chapter of their lives in Illinois, but James had
gotten very sick as they were traveling through Cincinnati. It
took time for him to recover, and his family used
that time to come to a decision they were just
going to stay. James started apprenticing under a soap maker
in the city at the age of eighteen. He gained
the skills and knowledge he needed to one day open
his own soap shop, which he did with a friend
(02:59):
who incidentally made candles. After marrying into the Norris family,
William and James became brothers in law and competitors. Not
for business, though, but for resources. That was the thing
about candles and soap. They both used the same raw materials,
bat and oil. Both men had been supplying their individual
ventures using the byproducts from Cincinnati's meatpacking industry. That was
(03:23):
when their new father in law had this brilliant idea.
What if they just joined forces and started a new company. Together,
they could funnel all the fat and oil they ever
needed into one business, rather than having to compete. It
took them a few years to finally come around to
the idea, but in eighteen thirty seven, William and James
entered into a partnership. If only they had timed it better.
(03:43):
That same year, in economic depression known as the Panic
of eighteen thirty seven sent the country into a downward spiral.
Businesses shuttered and banks were wiped out. It was estimated
that some areas saw unemployment numbers as high as twenty However,
despite the financial hardships they faced, William and James stuck
it out. Even in a depression, people still needed to
(04:05):
be clean and see in the dark. Once the panic subsided,
their business grew and they branched out into other products. Today,
the Little Soap and Candle Making Companies started by James
and William now produces laundry detergent, paper towels, toilet paper, batteries,
and shaving razors, amongst so many other things. Little did
they know that one day their last names would become
(04:27):
practically synonymous with all our everyday needs, and those names,
Procter and Gamble imagine the most famous inventions we used today,
(04:50):
the light bulb, the automobile, even the iPhone. We not
only know them, but we know the people behind them
as well. Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Steve John brilliant
minds of their time who ascended to legendary status. But
there's one man, though, who created some of the most
widely used inventions in history, and no one knows about him.
(05:12):
His name was Walter Hunt, and he was born in Martinsburg,
New York, in seventeen nineties six. Not much is known
about his upbringing, only what he created later in his life.
You see, Hunt was a man full of ideas. When
he saw a problem, he knew exactly how to fix it.
Take the sewing machine. The first sewing machine patent was
issued to Charles Frederick Wisenhal in England in seventeen fifty five.
(05:35):
Over the next several decades, different designs using different types
of stitches popped up from inventors all over the world.
Almost none were viable for commercial work, though. It wasn't
until eighteen twenty nine when a French tailor opened a
clothing company that produced clothes using a brand new machine
of his own design. Three years later in America, though,
Walter Hunt created the first lock stitch sewing machine. His
(05:57):
design used a needle and a shuttle that worked in
in him. As the needle penetrated the fabric to create
a loop. The shuttle beneath would travel through the loop
with a separate thread. The loop would then get pulled up,
locking the alternate thread in place, creating a lock stitch.
Hunt first suggested his daughter use his machine to start
her own business making corsets. After giving it some thought,
(06:18):
though he rescinded that advice. He couldn't bear the idea
of taking money out of the pockets of tailors and seamstresses.
It didn't help that the device was prone to frequent jamming.
Hunt gave up on his sewing machine shortly after and
didn't give it any further thought. Another man named Elias
how patented his version of the same machine a few
years later and made a lot of money from a
(06:39):
little company called Singer. That was okay, though Hunt had
more ideas to explore. In eighteen forty nine, he came
up with a brand new breed of rifle. He called
it the Volition Repeater, and what made it special was
its new tubular magazine filled with twelve rounds. The repeater
had something in common with Hunt's sewing machine, though it
was unreliable, and although Hunt had the foresight to patent
(07:01):
his invention this time, he didn't use it to get rich. Instead,
he sold the design to a man named George Aerosmith.
Aerosmith was in charge of a team of weapons engineers
who then improved on Hunt's original design. Their names were
Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson. Still, Hunt didn't let their
success get him down. He just moved on to the
next big thing. Over the course of his life, Walter
(07:23):
Hunt invented a machine that made nails, an ice plow,
a knife sharpener, and the device that spun flax. He
also improved upon the fountain pen, the inkstand, the bicycle,
and the saw. Hunt even developed shoes that could walk
on ceilings using suction cups. He was a brilliant inventor,
but he didn't have a head for business. The money
(07:43):
he brought in went back out almost immediately, either for
patents or to fund his next big idea. As a result,
Hunt was almost always in debt. But it was his
greatest invention that led to the saddest story of his career.
Hunt often outsourced the work of drawing his patents to
local draftsman who would create the numerous diagrams for his
inventions and then annotate them so that they could be
(08:05):
submitted to the patent office. He owed one of these
draftsmen a debt of fifteen dollars to pay him back.
Hunt came up with a new invention, a kind of pin.
Now other pins of the day were made using multiple
wires and various materials. Hunts designed though could be achieved
through the use of only one wire. It was wound
into a loop at one end to create a kind
(08:25):
of spring. On the opposite end, the catch or point
was contained behind a clasp. Hunt made a prototype using
an eight inch piece of brass wire and then submitted
it for approval. He was awarded the patent for his
new kind of pin on April tenth of eighteen forty nine,
which he then sold to W. R. Grayson Company for
a total of four hundred dollars. He used fifteen of
(08:47):
those dollars to pay off his debt and kept the
other three hundred and eighty five for himself. What he
didn't realize was that W. R. Grayson Company would immediately
turn around and mass produce Hunt's dress pins, as he
called them, earning the company millions of dollars in the process.
Oh and we still use Hunts dress pins today, we
(09:07):
just know them by a different name, safety Pins. I
hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities.
Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about
the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show
was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how
(09:29):
Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore,
which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and
you can learn all about it over at the World
of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.
Welcome to Aaron Benky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is
full of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,
all of these amazing tales are right there on display,
just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet
(00:27):
of Curiosities. Truly, great ideas don't come around very often,
the kind of once in a lifetime ideas that not
only change a person's life, but change the lives of
people all over the world. Alexander Norris had such an idea.
(00:50):
Norris was born in Ireland in sevente and emigrated to
America later in life. He made his home in the
growing city of Cincinnati, Ohio, along with his two daughters,
Olivia and Elizabeth. Around eighteen thirty three, Olivia met a
widower named William who would come over from England several
years earlier. William had worked in an English general store
(01:10):
as a child. The shop's owner took the boy under
his wing and taught him how to dip candles. Williams
spent years learning the ropes of running a business, and
when he met his first wife, Martha, he knew it
was time to strike out on his own. William opened
a shop in London, which lasted all of twenty four hours.
He was robbed the day after his grand opening and
could no longer afford to pay back the eight thousand
(01:31):
dollar debt he owed. Rather than try his luck again
and risk another loss, William and his wife's journey to
New York City to start a new He opened a
brand new business doing what he knew best, making candles.
His new endeavor lasted quite a bit longer than his first,
but it didn't take long for William to grow restless.
New opportunities were exploding out west, so William and Martha
(01:53):
packed up their things and left New York in eighteen
thirty two. Sadly, as they were passing through Cincinnati, Martha
became bravely ill and passed away. So William put the
rest of his trip on hold and decided to settle
down in Ohio permanently. He found temporary work at a
local bank before restarting his candle making business once again.
It was during this time when he met Olivia Norris.
(02:15):
The two fell in love and were quickly married. Meanwhile,
Olivia's sister Elizabeth had also found someone new. His name
was James. Like William, James was an immigrant as well,
this time from Ireland. Just like her father. He'd come
over with many others in eighteen nineteen during a time
of unrest. His family's intention had been to start a
(02:37):
new chapter of their lives in Illinois, but James had
gotten very sick as they were traveling through Cincinnati. It
took time for him to recover, and his family used
that time to come to a decision they were just
going to stay. James started apprenticing under a soap maker
in the city at the age of eighteen. He gained
the skills and knowledge he needed to one day open
his own soap shop, which he did with a friend
(02:59):
who incidentally made candles. After marrying into the Norris family,
William and James became brothers in law and competitors. Not
for business, though, but for resources. That was the thing
about candles and soap. They both used the same raw materials,
bat and oil. Both men had been supplying their individual
ventures using the byproducts from Cincinnati's meatpacking industry. That was
(03:23):
when their new father in law had this brilliant idea.
What if they just joined forces and started a new company. Together,
they could funnel all the fat and oil they ever
needed into one business, rather than having to compete. It
took them a few years to finally come around to
the idea, but in eighteen thirty seven, William and James
entered into a partnership. If only they had timed it better.
(03:43):
That same year, in economic depression known as the Panic
of eighteen thirty seven sent the country into a downward spiral.
Businesses shuttered and banks were wiped out. It was estimated
that some areas saw unemployment numbers as high as twenty However,
despite the financial hardships they faced, William and James stuck
it out. Even in a depression, people still needed to
(04:05):
be clean and see in the dark. Once the panic subsided,
their business grew and they branched out into other products. Today,
the Little Soap and Candle Making Companies started by James
and William now produces laundry detergent, paper towels, toilet paper, batteries,
and shaving razors, amongst so many other things. Little did
they know that one day their last names would become
(04:27):
practically synonymous with all our everyday needs, and those names,
Procter and Gamble imagine the most famous inventions we used today,
(04:50):
the light bulb, the automobile, even the iPhone. We not
only know them, but we know the people behind them
as well. Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Steve John brilliant
minds of their time who ascended to legendary status. But
there's one man, though, who created some of the most
widely used inventions in history, and no one knows about him.
(05:12):
His name was Walter Hunt, and he was born in Martinsburg,
New York, in seventeen nineties six. Not much is known
about his upbringing, only what he created later in his life.
You see, Hunt was a man full of ideas. When
he saw a problem, he knew exactly how to fix it.
Take the sewing machine. The first sewing machine patent was
issued to Charles Frederick Wisenhal in England in seventeen fifty five.
(05:35):
Over the next several decades, different designs using different types
of stitches popped up from inventors all over the world.
Almost none were viable for commercial work, though. It wasn't
until eighteen twenty nine when a French tailor opened a
clothing company that produced clothes using a brand new machine
of his own design. Three years later in America, though,
Walter Hunt created the first lock stitch sewing machine. His
(05:57):
design used a needle and a shuttle that worked in
in him. As the needle penetrated the fabric to create
a loop. The shuttle beneath would travel through the loop
with a separate thread. The loop would then get pulled up,
locking the alternate thread in place, creating a lock stitch.
Hunt first suggested his daughter use his machine to start
her own business making corsets. After giving it some thought,
(06:18):
though he rescinded that advice. He couldn't bear the idea
of taking money out of the pockets of tailors and seamstresses.
It didn't help that the device was prone to frequent jamming.
Hunt gave up on his sewing machine shortly after and
didn't give it any further thought. Another man named Elias
how patented his version of the same machine a few
years later and made a lot of money from a
(06:39):
little company called Singer. That was okay, though Hunt had
more ideas to explore. In eighteen forty nine, he came
up with a brand new breed of rifle. He called
it the Volition Repeater, and what made it special was
its new tubular magazine filled with twelve rounds. The repeater
had something in common with Hunt's sewing machine, though it
was unreliable, and although Hunt had the foresight to patent
(07:01):
his invention this time, he didn't use it to get rich. Instead,
he sold the design to a man named George Aerosmith.
Aerosmith was in charge of a team of weapons engineers
who then improved on Hunt's original design. Their names were
Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson. Still, Hunt didn't let their
success get him down. He just moved on to the
next big thing. Over the course of his life, Walter
(07:23):
Hunt invented a machine that made nails, an ice plow,
a knife sharpener, and the device that spun flax. He
also improved upon the fountain pen, the inkstand, the bicycle,
and the saw. Hunt even developed shoes that could walk
on ceilings using suction cups. He was a brilliant inventor,
but he didn't have a head for business. The money
(07:43):
he brought in went back out almost immediately, either for
patents or to fund his next big idea. As a result,
Hunt was almost always in debt. But it was his
greatest invention that led to the saddest story of his career.
Hunt often outsourced the work of drawing his patents to
local draftsman who would create the numerous diagrams for his
inventions and then annotate them so that they could be
(08:05):
submitted to the patent office. He owed one of these
draftsmen a debt of fifteen dollars to pay him back.
Hunt came up with a new invention, a kind of pin.
Now other pins of the day were made using multiple
wires and various materials. Hunts designed though could be achieved
through the use of only one wire. It was wound
into a loop at one end to create a kind
(08:25):
of spring. On the opposite end, the catch or point
was contained behind a clasp. Hunt made a prototype using
an eight inch piece of brass wire and then submitted
it for approval. He was awarded the patent for his
new kind of pin on April tenth of eighteen forty nine,
which he then sold to W. R. Grayson Company for
a total of four hundred dollars. He used fifteen of
(08:47):
those dollars to pay off his debt and kept the
other three hundred and eighty five for himself. What he
didn't realize was that W. R. Grayson Company would immediately
turn around and mass produce Hunt's dress pins, as he
called them, earning the company millions of dollars in the process.
Oh and we still use Hunts dress pins today, we
(09:07):
just know them by a different name, safety Pins. I
hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities.
Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about
the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show
was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how
(09:29):
Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore,
which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and
you can learn all about it over at the World
of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities News
Host
Aaron Mahnke
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