The first bicycle-like vehicle was the creation of German engineer Baron Karl von Drais. His 1817 draisienne looked much like a modern bicycle, except it had no pedals. The wooden machine was propelled by the rider’s feet. Scottish blacksmith Kirkpatrick Macmillan put pedals to the draisienne in 1839. Driving cranks …
Wireless portable telephones that can be used nearly anywhere are still referred to as “cell phones,” although “mobile phone” is a more accurate term; cellular phones were the early form of networking for communications providers that consisted of multiple base stations that divided up a region into “cells.” Wireless technology …
Devilishly hard to master but unrivalled for learning the elements of music, the piano has now become a standard piece of furniture. The instrument dates from the early 1700s, but there were several forerunners. The dulcimer, a stringed instrument played with hammers, was probably of ancient Middle Eastern origin. By …
With its bright-red frame, grey screen, and white plastic knobs, the Etch-a-Sketch toy is a 20th-century toy icon. Millions of kids around the world have manipulated those knobs to draw everything from a single line to complicated portraits. For a plaything so closely identified with American childhood, the Etch-a-Sketch has …
Cuddly stuffed bears have been a standard child’s toy for more than 100 years. The teddy bear story began on a hunting trip taken by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1902. The President having failed to bag a trophy, his gracious Mississippi hosts caught and tied up a bear for him to …
The ancient Greeks threw the discus as part of the Olympic pentathlon, but the heavy clay disk was only for throwing, not catching. No doubt children over the intervening centuries found any number of round objects they could spin through the air, but the actual Frisbee dates only from …
In ancient times, people believed that major life decisions should be made by the gods. And they devised ingenious forms of divination to coax gods to answer important questions with an unequivocal “yes” or “no.” Although coins—ideally suited for yes/no responses—were first minted by the Lydians in the tenth century …
Tennis began as an indoor game called jeu de paume (palm game) in medieval France. It was a version of handball and probably first played by priests in cathedral cloisters. The word tennis most likely derives from the French tenez (take), which was shouted before a serve. By 1292 there …
Ancient Egyptians dyed their fingernails with henna and other natural plant stains, but the first real paint for the nails was developed in China around 3000 B.C. Made of beeswax, egg white, and vegetable dyes, and sometimes gelatin and gum arabic, the lacquer was colour-coded by social rank. At …
The ancient Greeks chewed the resin of the mastic tree; the Maya chewed chicle from the sapodilla, and North American Indians chewed spruce sap (mixed with beeswax, this would become the settlers’ first chewing gum). Chewing gum has a long history in the world, and a long history in the …
