Its Fathers Day, so lets look at a few folks known as the fathers (or mothers) of some of the goods that Dad might enjoy today.
A lot of dads love to barbecue, so next time hes flipping burgers, give a tip of the hat to William G. Wepfer and Melton Lancaster, the fathers of the gas grill. The two redesigned a charcoal grill to run on bottled propane in the 1960s.
1960s? Thats when the father of light beer, Joseph Owades, introduced a product called Gablingers Diet Beer in 1967. Owades, a biochemist, created the low-calorie beverage to help people stay slim. Since 2001, the best-selling beer in the U.S. has been Bud Light.
Light? Ben Franklin experimented with electricity and invented the lightning rod. Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the nation, is also the father of bifocals, the Franklin stove and rocking chairs.
Chairs? James Hamilton received a patent for the combination backpack/beach chair in 1985. Doesnt the beach sound like a good call?
Call? When you call Dad today, you might want to thank Martin Cooper, the father of the handheld cellular mobile phone. Coopers first phones in the 1970s were made for Motorola and worked for 35 minutes before losing battery power.
Power? Power tools are one of the most popular gifts for dads. But you can thank the mother of the circular saw, Sarah “Tabitha” Babbit, for her invention to help cut boards.
Boards? The father of the foam surfboard is Dave Sweet. Sweet perfected and sold polyurethane foam boards in 1956, about a year before Hobie Alter joined the game.
Game? The father of baseball is largely considered to be Henry Chadwick, who lived from 1824-1908. Chadwick is credited with increasing interest in the sport in the United States, as well as with creating box scores.
Scores? The father of the video game console is considered to be Ralph Baer. In 1972, Baer helped create the Magnavox Odyssey, which hooked up to your TV.
TV? The father of television is Philo Farnsworth. In 1928, Farnsworth designed the worlds first working electronic television system in his Los Angeles laboratory.
Laboratory? There are many in science fiction stories, the mother of whom often is considered to be Mary Shelley (1797-1851), who published “Frankenstein” in 1818, when she was 20. Its been 200 years, and the monster is here to stay.
Stay? If Dad pops open a “stay-tab,” he can thank the father of pop tops, Dan Cudzik. Cudzik invented the stay-tab in 1975 since throwaway tabs were a litter problem.
Litter problem? Then bag it up. The fathers of the plastic garbage bag are two Canadian inventors, Harry Wasylyk and Larry Hansen. Wasylyk created extrusion, which converted resin pellets into plastic bags, 1950. The invention eventually was bought by Union Carbide, which created trash bags named Glad.
Glad? We hope you are glad to be a dad!
WHAT AND WHERE WE SPEND ON FATHERS DAY
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