M&Ms Chocolate

Forrest Mars invented M&Ms in 1941. While in Europe, Mars got an idea for a candy-coated chocolate that did not melt while eating. The idea is believed to have spawned from soldiers Mars observed eating chocolate during the Spanish civil war. This is where the famous slogan "The milk chocolate melts in your mouth, not in your hand" originated. As World War II was developing chocolate was rationed, but The Hershey Corporation had a deal to provide chocolate exclusively to the military. They distributed M&Ms because they didn’t melt in the sun due to the candy coating. This product was innovative because of what the chocolate stood for; the sociological meaning behind it. I think it was a remembrance of home for the soldiers and for a moment encouraged motivation—motivation to get through the day and soon return home.

SunChips Compostable Bag

SunChips has a mission, “to reduce our environmental impact.” To do that SunChips have comitted themselves to taking small steps towards environmental sustainability. In 2010, SunChips introduced the first fully compostable chip bag, designed to fully decompose in about 14 weeks when placed in a hot, active compost pile. SunChips has begun to change the way we understand recycling. 33% of every 10 1/2 oz. size bag is made with renewable, plant-based materials. When we are done with our recyclable products we throw them in recycling bins, but when we are done with our compostable SunChips bag we throw it in our compost bin at home! Hopefully this will prompt other companies to hold a similar mission to that of SunChips, because then maybe we could begin to reverse the damage we have done to our environment.

Vector Foiltec

Vector Foiltec invented the use of Texlon, the climatic envelope, over twenty five years ago and has successfully developed and promoted the use of this innovative technology worldwide. Texlon consists of pneumatic cushions restrained in aluminium extrusions and supported by a lightweight structure. The cushions are inflated with low pressure air to provide insulation and resist wind loads. Texlon combines exceptional light transmission with high insulation. Each layer can incorporate different types of solar shading, enabling the designer to optimise the aesthetic and environmental performance of the building envelope. They can even create cladding systems that react to the sun and change their transmission and insulation throughout the day. Using air to support and clad buildings is not a new idea, however it was not until fluoro polymer foils, that do not degrade under sunlight that a permanent structure was feasible. What is so attractive about this technology is it allows the designer to make full use of the products innate flexibility, there are almost no restraints; the sky is the limit.

Disposable Diapers

Mass produced disposable diapers were introduced to the US in 1949, by Johnson & Johnson. The switch from cloth to disposable diapers happened almost overnight. Perhaps disposable diapers appealed more to Mothers because they eliminated leaks, sagging, safety pins and wash. Disposable diapers were more convenient. But there has been much debate over the impact of disposable diapers on the environment. It takes around 80,000 pounds of plastic and over 200,000 trees a year to manufacture the disposable diapers for American babies alone, and it can take several hundred years for the decomposition of disposables to take place, with some of the plastic material never decomposing. Today the cloth diapers have greatly improved. With the newer style of cloth diapers that are on the market, disposable diapers are not much more convenient than cloth diapers. The new multiple layer, Velcro fastening, and Snappi make taking on and off cloth diaper just as easy, not to mention you can hire a diaper cleaning service for just $45 a month. Maybe we need to revaluate disposable diapers because although they were more convenient in the past that is not the case today.

Camera

A camera is a device that records images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. In 1826, the world’s first successful photograph was taken with a wooden box camera and called “View from the Window at Le Gras”. It was produced by a process called “heliography” or sun drawing in which a pewter plate is coated with a light sensitive substance of asphaltum. The wooden box camera has evolved considerably over time and lead to the birth of film. Film advanced the camera even further but also allowed the movie camera to develop from an expensive toy to a practical commercial tool. The arrival of the digital camera foregoes film altogether and saves photographs on digital memory cards or internal storage instead. What intrigues me most about the camera is that it allows one to capture and preserve time. The idea of preserving time is unique to the camera and contributes to the reflection of human life. The camera and what it produces can affect and I argue does affect humanity. The images it produces can have a great impact on shaping people's opinions or attitudes towards world events and special interest causes.

Pressure-treated Wood

Over 70 years ago, Dr. Karl Wolman invented the process of infusing preservative deeply into wood products. Today, a giant industry has grown up around his quest to invent a wood that doesn’t rot, is insect resistant and can last a lifetime. Treated wood is used for decks, mailbox and light posts, telephone utility poles, swing sets, picnic tables, landscape ties, underwater dock pilings, oceanside boardwalks, basements, and residential building foundations. A durable structure can be built from either metal or wood. In almost all cases metal construction means steel construction and has significant cost disadvantages. You can build a wood-framed house for 25% less than a steel-framed house. You can also build a wood-frame house with ordinary labor, less need for heavy equipment, fewer code requirements, fewer building department inspections, and without having to hire on-site deputy inspectors to overlook on-site welding.

Call 911 Emergency

With the inventions of both the telegraph and telephone systems, emergency communication became a very important part of these systems. 41 years ago the single nationwide emergency number 911 was invented. When the telephone operations set up for emergency calling systems, some major changes took place. First, the telephone system equipment needed to provide the means to hold the originating calling line so the call could be checked should the calling party hang up or be disconnected and be able to call that party back. Second, there needed to be equipment changes to the public telephones that required a standard method of operation throughout the country. The public telephones had to provide dial-tone first. Telephones that required a coin deposit before the call originator would hear dial tone had to he changed to provide dial-tone-first. The public telephones had to be coin-free when dialing service codes and emergency service dispatch. These changes were a major hardship to operating telephone companies. Each of these changes involved much development and the need for new methods of handling public telephones and emergency call handling.

Standardized Hand Tools

With the advancement and expansion in the global trade, the invention of standardized hand tools helped bridge the gap between manufacturers, suppliers and buyers of different nations. Standards are required in hand tools for quality assurance, safety, performance, size, accessory consideration and for easier construction and assembly. Due to these requirements tools are universal. For example one may own two saws by two different saw manufactures and only own one saw blade set that fits both machines.

Credit Cards

Using a plastic card to charge for products and services has become a way of life. Some people use them for the convenience of not carrying cash and others use them so they can purchase an item they cannot yet afford. The credit card has changed the way we interact with and perceive money. The expression “I’ll just buy it now and worry about paying for it later” has some very real consequences. Credit card debt can follow someone for a lifetime. If only the minimum was paid on a $1,000 bill with an 18 percent annual rate it would take 12 years and $1,115 in interest to pay off. Today credit card companies are targeting college students because they have that mentality of, “I’ll just buy it now and worry about paying for it later”, and they have their whole life ahead of them to pay back the debt they accrue in college. But with lower-than-expected salaries after graduation and higher-than-expected living expenses, plus hefty student loan payments, make handling credit card debt all the more difficult for students and recent grads. Sure it is convenient to have what we want now and pay for it later, but it also feeds our greed, contributes to the lack of saving and allows us to live outside of our means.

Fast Food

Some trace the modern history of fast food in America to July 7, 1912 with the opening of a fast food restaurant called the Automat in New York. The Automat was a cafeteria with its prepared foods behind small glass windows and coin-operated slots. Automats remained extremely popular throughout the 1920s and 1930s. The company also popularized the notion of “take-out” food, with their slogan “Less work for Mother”. Although that sounds promising for Mothers, fast food poses some concerns. Fast food began as small family-run businesses and quickly grew into large multinational corporate businesses, which have radically transformed agriculture, meat processing, and labor markets. While the innovations of the fast food industry gave Americans more and cheaper dining options, it has come at the price of destroying the environment, economy, and small-town communities. It shields consumers from the real costs of their fast and convenient meal, both in terms of health and the broader impact of large-scale food production and processing on workers, animals, and land. Some of the large fast food chains are beginning to incorporate healthier alternatives in their menu, however some people see these moves as a commercial measure, rather than an appropriate reaction to ethical concerns about the world ecology and people's health.

Dyson Vacuum

James Dyson is best known as the inventor of the Dual Cyclone™ bagless vacuum cleaner, which works on cyclonic separation. The idea came to him when a local sawmill caught James’ eye. It spun sawdust out of the air and collected it in a chamber. Dyson used the existing sawmill as stimulation for the idea formulating in his mind and under the cover of darkness he sketched the timber yard’s giant cyclone. He asked himself if the cyclone technology he’d spotted on the sawmill would work in a vacuum cleaner? He ripped the dusty clogged bag from his old vacuum and replaced it with a crude prototype. Instead of relying on bags and filters to trap the dust, Dyson focused on cyclone technology to spin the dirt out of the air. 5,127 prototypes later: Dual Cyclone™ technology and the first vacuum that didn't lose suction. That's one of the reasons why it doesn't lose suction, picks up more dirt from your home and expels cleaner air. James Dyson learned to take risks, make mistakes and use frustration as a fuel for creativity and solving problems.

Velcro

Swiss engineer George de Mestral invented the hook-and-loop fastener in 1941. I think Velcro was an innovative idea because de Mestral saw the possibility of binding two materials in a simple fashion by replicating nature. The idea came to him one day after returning from a hunting trip with his dog in the Alps. He took a closer look at the burrs that kept sticking to his clothes and his dog's fur and tried to duplicate the hook-and-loop, taking him ten years to master. Not only is Velcro used to join children’s shoes together but also it is durable enough when made of Teflon loops, polyester hooks, and glass backing to be used on space shuttles. Leonard Duffy, noting the disadvantages of Velcro, and taking Velcro as his model, created a new product called the “slidingly engaging fastener”. Instead of loops and hooks, it has interlocking islands with undercut edges that slide together. Duffy then created a wraparound cast made from a single plastic sheet sealed with his fasteners to replace similar removable casts with Velcro straps. With the Unity Wrap, Duffy won the grand prize in NASA’s “Create the Future” invention contest. Since then the sliding engaging fastener has become available at Material ConneXion, a global materials consultancy and library of innovative and sustainable materials, and several designers and a prosthetics company have expressed interest.

Steam Powered Mechanisms

Hero of Alexandria was an ancient Greek mathematician and engineer who was a resident of Rome. He is considered the greatest experimenter of antiquity and his work is representative of the Hellenistic scientific tradition. Hero was given credit to inventing the earliest mention of steam power. But perhaps even more innovative than the mechanisms themselves was what they were used for. Hero created devices used in temples to instill faith by deceiving believers and to convert people to the said one true religion. One of Hero’s engines used air from a closed chamber heated by an altar fire to displace water from a sealed vessel. The water was collected and its weight pulled on a rope that opened the temple doors, thus convincing people they were controlled by God himself. Hero also created engines that made marble sculptures cry tears, again to persuade people of God’s existence and power.