The American flag, a symbol of the enduring power of the United States of America, was first hoisted in 1776 with the Union Jack, the flag of Great Britain in the canton, but in 1777 the United States Congress approved changing the flag, and a short while later the original thirteen stars representing the 13 colonies was adopted and used by American forces in the War of Independence. America’s first flag was very similar to […]

Paper clips are such a simple invention most people would be forgiven for thinking they must have been invented thousands of years ago, perhaps by ancient ancestors who first learned to work with tin or iron. Steel is notoriously difficult to work with, and especially so when small items like wire for a paper clip are being produced. In fact paper clips couldn’t have been invented earlier than 1830, the year an American doctor named […]

Children’s building block bricks, a worldwide phenomenon for over 50 years are most well known from the Lego company whose product is regularly used to create spectacular miniature models of well known landmarks such as the Chrysler building in New York, and miniature towns complete with parks, railways, and people going about their business. The Lego company are best known for the Automatic Binding Bricks that are made of plastic and have several small studs […]

Toilets are perhaps one of the most useful inventions of all time, at least to anyone who has ever used one, yet despite their function are a fairly recent invention in the history of humankind. There are several versions of toilets, from bed pans, to deep holes dug in the ground, thru to the modern toilet with a flushing mechanism as we know today. Who first invented a container to be used for human waste […]

Fireworks have been in existence for thousands of years, and most experts agree the the Chinese must have invented fireworks over 2000 years ago, perhaps even as much as 2500 years ago. The first fireworks know to these ancient people were discovered by accident when green bamboo stalks exploded in their evening camp fires. The sound of the explosion frightened them very much and were first attributed to the gods being angry with them but […]