America’s coffee-loving public has no grounds for complaint about today’s anniversary. On this date in 1829, a patent was issued to James Carrington of Connecticut for a coffee mill. Milling is an ancient process for grinding grains and beans, and the basis of the 1829 patent was largely for its more robust, all-cast iron construction. But Carrington’s coffee mill came out to benefit from the country’s increasing taste for coffee, which supplanted tea as a favorite beverage around the time of the Revolutionary War. Today, per capita coffee consumption in the U.S. is reckoned at 24.7 gallons annually. The figure for tea is just under 9 gallons per year. There are 445 coffee and tea manufacturing establishments across the country, with annual shipments valued at nearly $12 billion. Profile America is completing its 18th year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.
Saturday, April 4th. Today is Vitamin C Day, celebrated — if that’s the word — every April 4 on the anniversary of the isolation of this vitamin. The breakthrough was made in 1932 by two doctors at the University of Pittsburgh. Before then, people knew that eating citrus fruit and fresh greens warded off certain diseases, such as scurvy, but didn’t know why. Also known as ascorbic acid, Vitamin C is required to sustain human life. Studies have shown that people with a high daily intake of Vitamin C seem to gain protection against immune system deficiencies, cardiovascular disease, eye disease, and even skinwrinkling. Health benefits have Americans popping a large assortment of pills. At the wholesale level, sales of vitamins and nutritional supplements top $38 billion per year. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at <www.census.gov>.
Sunday, April 5th. One of the most desirable cars in automobile showrooms across the U.S. in 1954 was the Packard. The new models were the first to be equipped with a feature that soon swept the industry — the tubeless tire. The idea had been patented more than 50 years earlier by Goodyear, but had never been developed for sale. So for decades, cars rode on tires containing an inner tube to hold the air. The air-filled or pneumatic tire was conceived by a Scottish veterinarian who was looking for a smoother ride on his bicycle. Today, a lot of tire wear is racked up daily by 137 million commuting American workers, with a mean travel time of 25.8 minutes one way. Almost 8.5 percent of workers have greater than an hourlong commute. You can find more facts about America’s people, places and economy, from the American Community Survey, at <www.census.gov>.