Who invented the rubber band?

Stephen Perry, of the rubber manufacturing firm of Messrs. Perry & Co., patented his design for vulcanized rubber bands on March 17, 1845.

Then, as now, the bands were designed to secure “papers, letters, etc.”

Who invented the Dixie Cup and when? Developed between 1908 and 1912 by Hugh Moore as the healthful "individual drinking cup" for public water sources, the Dixie Cup was originally called the Health Kup. It did not catch on until…
How did the phrase Passing the Buck originate? The phrase passing the buck probably came into use in American poker games during the late nineteenth century. In 1872, Mark Twain wrote that players would pass an object, a buck, to remind…
What was the first tabloid newspaper? The first tabloid newspaper was the Illustrated Daily News (now the Daily News). Founded in New York City in 1919, it was the nation's largest-selling paper by 1925. Current weekday circulation is 781,800;…
Who created the Burma-Shave advertisements on American roadways earlier in this century? The now legendary and defunct Burma-Shave advertisements were developed in 1926 by Allan Odell, the son of the founder of the Burma-Vita Company. Burma-Shave was a new product, the first brushless shaving cream,…
Why did bottles of Dr. Pepper bear the numbers 10, 2, and 4? The numbers 10, 2, and 4 represented the times between meals when a person's energy is at its lowest and can be revived by Dr. Pepper.
Who invented the Bic pen and who was it named after? The Bic pen is named for Baron Biche. But Biche did not invent the ballpoint pen, Hungarian Laszlo Biro did, in 1938. Biche's French firm, Bic, took over the English company that had…