Wednesday, September 27, 2006

the year 1922 in review...for my mothers birthday

January 11 first sucessful insulin treatment for diabetes; inventor was Sir Frederick Grant Banting.

February 8 Warren G. Harding introduces the first radio to the White House- this will be the only significant thing worth remembering in Harding's Presidency!

February 27 - A challenge to the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, allowing women the right to vote, is rebuffed by the Supreme Court of the United States.

March 1 -Ice mass breaks the Oder Dam in Breslau, an ancient German city first recorded in the year 1000.

May 5 - In The Bronx, construction begins on Yankee Stadium.

May 30 - In Washington, D.C., the Lincoln Memorial is dedicated.

June 28 - The Irish Civil War begins; August 22, Michael Collins killed, and the Irish free state formed on December 5th-6th.

September 9 - Turkish forces pursuing withdrawing Greek troops enter Smyrna

September 13 - 15 - Fire, probably started by Turkish troops, destroys most of Smyrna. Death toll estimated 100,000
could possibly have happened on September 11th!!! Still controversy as to whom really was to blame for the fire; some say it was the Christians some say the Muslims. Today, 40 hectares of the former fire area is a vast park (Kültürpark) serving as Turkey's greatest open air exhibition center (İzmir International Fair, among others) that is preserved in memory of the great fire which devastated the city as well as its inhabitants.

September 27th- My mother, Catherine Theresa Frey, was born in Stamford, Connecticut. In 43 years and 8 months from this date, her 6th child, namely me, will be born.

October 28 - In Italy, with the March on Rome, Fascism obtains power and Benito Mussolini becomes prime minister

November 4 - In Egypt, British archaeologist Howard Carter and his men find the entrance to King Tutankhamen's tomb in the Valley of the Kings; November 26 - Howard Carter and Lord Carnavon become the first people to enter the tomb of Egyptian King Tutankhamun in over 3000 years.

Novermber 14- the BBC has its first radio station come on the air- 2LO.

November 21 - Rebecca Felton of Georgia takes the oath of office, becoming the first woman United States Senator.

December 30 - Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and the Transcaucasia come together to form the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Other scientific and engineering milestones on or around the year 1922

-high performance materials
1915 Pyrex
Corning research physicist Jesse Littleton cuts the bottom from a glass battery jar produced by Corning, takes it home, and asks his wife to bake a cake in it. The glass withstands the heat during the baking process, leading to the development of borosilicate glasses for kitchenware and later to a wide range of glass products marketed as Pyrex.




-Electricity
Connecticut Valley Power Exchange (CONVEX) starts, pioneering interconnection between utilities.

-Lightbulbs
1925 - The first frosted lightbulbs were produced.

-Postal service
1920- First transcontinental airmail

-Soft drinks
1919 The American Bottlers of Carbonated Beverages formed.
1920 The U.S. Census reported that more than 5,000 bottlers now exist.
Early 1920's The first automatic vending machines dispensed sodas into cups.

-Clocks
A true free-pendulum principle was introduced by R. J. Rudd about 1898, stimulating development of several free-pendulum clocks. One of the most famous, the W. H. Shortt clock, was demonstrated in 1921. The Shortt clock almost immediately replaced Riefler's clock as a supreme timekeeper in many observatories. This clock consists of two pendulums, one a slave and the other a master. The slave pendulum gives the master pendulum the gentle pushes needed to maintain its motion, and also drives the clock's hands. This allows the master pendulum to remain free from mechanical tasks that would disturb its regularity.

-Chocolate
1913 - Swiss confiseur Jules Sechaud of Montreux introduced a machine process for manufacturing filled chocolates.

-Chewing gum
1914- Wrigley Doublemint brand was created. William Wrigley, Jr. and Henry Fleer were responsible for adding the popular mint and fruit extracts to a chicle chewing gum.

-Household appliances
1919 First automatic pop-up toaster. Charles Strite’s first automatic pop-up toaster uses a clockwork mechanism to time the toasting process, shut off the heating element when the bread is done, and release the slice with a pop-up spring. The invention finally reaches the marketplace in 1926 under the name Toastmaster.

-Highway
1920 Yellow traffic lights
William Potts, a Detroit police officer, refines Garrett Morgan’s invention by adding the yellow light. Red and green traffic signals in some form have been in use since 1868, but the increase in automobile traffic requires the addition of a warning signal.

-Water supply and distribution
1919 Formula for the chlorination of urban water
Civil engineer Abel Wolman and chemist Linn H. Enslow of the Maryland Department of Health in Baltimore develop a rigorous scientific formula for the chlorination of urban water supplies. (In 1908 Jersey City Water Works, New Jersey, became the first facility to chlorinate, using sodium hypochlorite, but there was uncertainty as to the amount of chlorine to add and no regulation of standards.) To determine the correct dose, Wolman and Enslow analyze the bacteria, acidity, and factors related to taste and purity. Wolman overcomes strong opposition to convince local governments that adding the correct amounts of otherwise poisonous chemicals to the water supply is beneficial—and crucial—to public health. By the 1930s chlorination and filtration of public water supplies eliminates waterborne diseases such as cholera, typhoid, hepatitis A, and dysentery. The formula is still used today by water treatment plants around the world.

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