Category: Quick hits

Most little boys at the age of 6 are content to play with toy trucks without thinking about how they could be improved. This was not the case for Robert Patch. He designed a truck that could be assembled and disassembled easily by a youngster — and changed into different types of truck each time, such as a dump truck or a closed van. Patch submitted his application and drawings in 1962, and in June a year later, he was …

Many of us as children loved sleeping on our front porch or balcony, pretending to be camping out in some remote wilderness. In many families, camping out is a cherished form of recreation and family bonding around the campfire. The urge to nestle in nature is widely shared, and with the weather now at its best, this is National Camping Month. Camping equipment today is far better in quality and lighter in weight than that of years ago, and allows …

This is Flag Day — marking the date in 1777 when John Adams proposed the stars and stripes as the official flag of the United States. By the War of 1812, the national flag had accumulated 15 stars and 15 red and white stripes. It was the sight of that flag still flying — o’er the ramparts of Fort McHenry in Baltimore — after an overnight bombardment that inspired Francis Scott Key to write a poem, which became the words …

With summer almost here, children will be urging their parents to take them to the nearest amusement park. The highlight of these parks are ever more thrilling roller coasters, which trace their roots back to 15th century ice slides in Russia. In the U.S., the first roller coaster opened 129 years ago this month at Coney Island, New York. It was built by LaMarcus Thompson, and was called the “Gravity Pleasure Switchback Railway.” The ride lasted a minute at a …

It used to be that cars were fairly simple to repair, but they often broke down. Modern automobiles have become very reliable. They’ve also gotten extremely complicated — with ABS brakes, traction control, navigation systems, and even self-parking systems. That means there are more things to go wrong and more knowledge needed to repair problems. That’s why this is National Automotive Service Professionals Week. The goal is to recognize mechanics across the country for their role in keeping America’s millions …

It’s time for gowns, carnations, diplomas, and lots of pictures. This is the season for graduations — with ceremonies being held all over the country for students from kindergarten to graduate school. In the U.S., there are over 79 million students at all levels of schooling — some 42 million from nursery through elementary school, about 16.5 million in high school, and over 20 million in college. High school graduation rates have grown steadily through the years, so that now, …

A patent was granted on this date in 1902 for something that most of us would rather not see — an envelope with a transparent window in it, usually meaning a bill or solicitation. The inventor, Americus Callahan of Chicago, called his idea the “outlook” envelope. The idea caught on quickly, as businesses discovered that it spared them the bother of addressing each envelope — since the address on the enclosed letter was visible through the window. The year Callahan’s …

A home entertainment revolution began on this date in 1975, when the videocassette recorder was introduced. It was Sony’s Betamax format recorder, which in a very few years was superseded by the rival VHS format. At its peak, some 9-out-of-10 households across the country had a VCR. Then, the DVD was introduced in 1997, and quickly eclipsed videocassettes. Now, the rising format is the Blu-ray system, allowing video quality to match high-definition television sets. Renting out discs and what’s left …

A major pop culture phenomenon began on this date in 1933. With the automobile increasingly reshaping Americans’ habits, Richard Hollingshead opened the nation’s first drive-in movie theater in Camden, New Jersey. Soon, drive-in movies became a fixture across the country and a popular place for teenage dating. Drive-ins reached their peak in the 1950s. There were nearly 21,000 movie theaters then and more than 4,000 of them were drive-ins. Now, there are nearly 4,900 movie theaters around the country — …

In 1940, a major problem facing the nation was finding a replacement for rubber. War clouds were gathering, and the supply of natural rubber from Asia was threatened. On this date 73 years ago, the first synthetic rubber tire was displayed in Akron, Ohio. It was made by the B.F. Goodrich Company from readily available ingredients — soap, gas, petroleum, and air, greatly helping the looming war effort. Now, natural rubber is used once again to make a huge variety …

The Census Bureau has been producing estimates of health insurance coverage at the county level since 2005. These are broken out by sex, age, income, race and Hispanic origin. Known as the Small Area Health Insurance Estimates, these statistics tell us how health insurance coverage varies by county across the country. The information allows providers in the health care field to target outreach activities to increase access to health care services nationwide. The program is partially funded by the Centers …

This August, the Census Bureau will release health insurance estimates for each of the nation’s 3,143 counties. Known as the Small Area Health Insurance Estimates, these are the only source of single-year estimates of health insurance coverage for every county in the nation. Recently, the Census Bureau began publishing specific estimates of the number of people ages 50-to-64 with health insurance coverage. This new inclusion allows tracking of the insurance status of this older population, which is more likely to …

One of the worst disasters to hit the U.S. happened on this date in 1889 — the Johnstown, Pennsylvania Flood. Torrential rains caused a nearby artificial lake, created for a fishing and hunting resort, to spill over and weaken its earthen dam. When the dam broke, it unleashed 20 million tons of water in a giant wave that roared through Johnstown, killing more than 2,300 men, women and children, and destroying the homes of thousands more. The flood remains one …

The first recorded automobile accident involving two vehicles occurred on this date in 1896 in New York City. Henry Wells of Springfield, Massachusetts, was driving a new Duryea Motor Wagon, the first automobile to be made and sold in the U.S. Unfortunately, he collided with Evelyn Thomas of New York, riding a bicycle. Thomas went to the hospital with a broken leg, and Wells spent the night in jail. Now, there are close to 11 million motor vehicle accidents a …

The nation’s first daily newspaper, the Pennsylvania Evening Post, began publication this week in 1783, printed by Benjamin Towne in Philadelphia. Americans’ hunger for news was such that by 1850, there were some 250 dailies. The number of newspapers peaked a hundred years ago, when there were 2,600 dailies published across the nation, with a circulation of over 24 million. Today, with increasing competition from the Internet, television, and radio, the number of daily newspapers in the U.S. has dropped …