Today in History – June 26, 1974 – First barcode using the universal product code (UPC) was scanned by a cashier at a supermarket checkout counter. A shopper named Clyde Dawson handed a cashier at the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio named Sharon Buchanan a 10-pack of chewing gum. The gum’s black and white barcode [...]

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Today in History – May 22, 1906 – Wright brothers patent improvements to “flying machine”. From the patent: Our invention relates to that class of fly ing machines in which the weight is sustained by the reactions resulting when one or more aeroplanes are moved through the air edge-wise at a small angle of incidence, [...]

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Today in History – April 30, 2008 – Toyota Prius worldwide sales top 1 million mark. Although the Toyota Prius started as a niche green car when Toyota unveiled the first generation in 1997 it has become the highest selling hybrid on the market. Toyota announced that its cumulative sales passed the 1 million mark, [...]

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Today in History – April 24, 1877 – Brush patents first dynamo or electric generator. The dynamo was a concept that had been built earlier by Faraday, Henry and Pacinotti and Gramme and concurrently by Edison, but Brush’s more efficient dynamo got the U.S. patent. Brush’s dynamo eventually became the workhorse of the electric power [...]

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Today in History – April 16, 1813- Interchangeable parts for firearms invented Simeon North, who is also generally credited with the invention of the milling machine that made interchangeable parts practical Imagine a world where a child is playing with Legos, and in order to connect two of the blocks, the child has to pick [...]

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