1 00:00:04,040 --> 00:00:08,200 Speaker 1: Welcomed Aaron Manky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of iHeartRadio 2 00:00:08,280 --> 00:00:15,520 Speaker 1: and Grim and Mild. Our world is full of the unexplainable, 3 00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:18,880 Speaker 1: and if history is an open book, all of these 4 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:22,720 Speaker 1: amazing tales are right there on display, just waiting for 5 00:00:22,920 --> 00:00:36,800 Speaker 1: us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. An 6 00:00:36,840 --> 00:00:39,440 Speaker 1: idea is like a spark, a flash of light in 7 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:43,159 Speaker 1: our mind that illuminates our subconscious and those sparks have 8 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:46,800 Speaker 1: led to some brilliant discoveries. The traffic light, the telephone, 9 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:49,440 Speaker 1: and even liquid paper all come from people who've been 10 00:00:49,440 --> 00:00:52,480 Speaker 1: struck by the right idea at the right time. Soldiers 11 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:55,840 Speaker 1: during the late sixteen hundreds had also experienced their own 12 00:00:56,000 --> 00:01:00,160 Speaker 1: light bulb moments, emphasis on the light part. Back then, 13 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:04,000 Speaker 1: soldiers carried muskets into battle. They used flint and gunpowder 14 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:06,480 Speaker 1: to fire a little metal ball from a barrel of 15 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:09,440 Speaker 1: their rifle. But they quickly realized that the spark created 16 00:01:09,440 --> 00:01:12,399 Speaker 1: when the real struck flint could be used for other things. 17 00:01:13,080 --> 00:01:16,280 Speaker 1: Broken muskets and pistols weren't of much use as weapons, 18 00:01:16,280 --> 00:01:18,560 Speaker 1: but they could certainly help the men see in the dark. 19 00:01:18,840 --> 00:01:21,240 Speaker 1: Early on, a soldier would fill the barrel of a 20 00:01:21,280 --> 00:01:24,360 Speaker 1: malfunctioning gun with tinder, such as dried out pieces of 21 00:01:24,360 --> 00:01:27,360 Speaker 1: wood or brush, and then they'd fire the gun as usual. 22 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:30,480 Speaker 1: The spark that resulted would light the tinder inside and 23 00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:33,640 Speaker 1: create a kind of torch. What they didn't realize at 24 00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:37,520 Speaker 1: the time was that they had invented the world's first lighters. Eventually, 25 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:41,720 Speaker 1: gun manufacturers started taking their old, broken pistols and converting 26 00:01:41,720 --> 00:01:46,000 Speaker 1: them into flintlock lighters for home use. These devices looked 27 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 1: like guns with candle holders affixed to the top. One 28 00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:51,320 Speaker 1: pull of the trigger and a flame would spark into 29 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:54,040 Speaker 1: a small reservoir at the front. A candle could then 30 00:01:54,080 --> 00:01:56,600 Speaker 1: be tipped for the flame before placing it inside the 31 00:01:56,600 --> 00:02:00,000 Speaker 1: holder on top of the lighter. It wasn't until eighteen 32 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:03,120 Speaker 1: twenty three, though, when one man found a less violent 33 00:02:03,160 --> 00:02:06,440 Speaker 1: way to create a steady flame. His name was Johann 34 00:02:06,520 --> 00:02:09,720 Speaker 1: Wolfgang dober Reiner, and he designed a jar that combined 35 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:14,120 Speaker 1: three things, hydrogen gas with a platinum sponge and oxygen. 36 00:02:14,440 --> 00:02:18,280 Speaker 1: The chemical reaction caused the hydrogen to ignite, creating a flame, 37 00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:21,960 Speaker 1: and he called his creation a dober Reiner's lamp. They 38 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:24,680 Speaker 1: became quite popular with over a million sold over the 39 00:02:24,720 --> 00:02:28,519 Speaker 1: next several years. But three years later another inventor started 40 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:32,280 Speaker 1: working on his own method for starting impromptu fires. John 41 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:35,080 Speaker 1: Walker was a chemist and druggist from England who had 42 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:39,120 Speaker 1: a passion for combustion, but not in a creepy, destructive way. 43 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:41,799 Speaker 1: He wanted to find the right mixture of chemicals that 44 00:02:41,840 --> 00:02:44,280 Speaker 1: would provide a flame that would burn slowly on a 45 00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:47,600 Speaker 1: stick of wood. He'd been working with various concoctions when 46 00:02:47,639 --> 00:02:50,960 Speaker 1: he accidentally struck a wooden stick against his hearth. The 47 00:02:51,200 --> 00:02:54,280 Speaker 1: stick had been dipped in Walker's special brew, and it 48 00:02:54,360 --> 00:02:57,360 Speaker 1: produced a flame instantly. It was at that moment he 49 00:02:57,440 --> 00:03:01,120 Speaker 1: realized that he had done it. Walk began coating wooden 50 00:03:01,160 --> 00:03:03,880 Speaker 1: sticks in sulfur before dipping them in a combination of 51 00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:08,520 Speaker 1: potassium chlorates, gum arabic and sulfide of antimony. He called 52 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:11,600 Speaker 1: his invention friction lights, although today we know them better 53 00:03:11,639 --> 00:03:15,440 Speaker 1: as matches. The concept of the match, though, dates back 54 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:18,480 Speaker 1: to ancient China, where people would soak pinewood sticks with 55 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:21,040 Speaker 1: sulfur and bring them close to a flame so that 56 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:23,440 Speaker 1: they had something to light their lamps with. But these 57 00:03:23,480 --> 00:03:26,280 Speaker 1: were not friction matches that we know today. For those 58 00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:30,520 Speaker 1: we can thank John Walker. Unfortunately, a man named Charles 59 00:03:30,639 --> 00:03:35,480 Speaker 1: Souria from France changed the formula. He substituted white phosphorus 60 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:39,720 Speaker 1: for the antimony sulfide. This caused two big problems. First, 61 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:42,440 Speaker 1: these new matches didn't only light when struck against a 62 00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:46,280 Speaker 1: rough surface. If they weren't stored properly, they could spontaneously 63 00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:50,000 Speaker 1: ignite and start a massive blaze. The other problem was 64 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:53,760 Speaker 1: that white sulfurus was very toxic. There were numerous deaths 65 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:57,240 Speaker 1: attributed to white phosphorus poisoning during the mid nineteenth century, 66 00:03:57,560 --> 00:04:00,680 Speaker 1: and those who manufactured the matches were affected by a 67 00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:04,880 Speaker 1: condition known as Fossey jaw, or a phosphorus necrosis of 68 00:04:04,920 --> 00:04:08,480 Speaker 1: the jaw. It wasn't until the eighteen fifties when white 69 00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:11,720 Speaker 1: phosphorus was replaced with a red variety and moved from 70 00:04:11,720 --> 00:04:14,240 Speaker 1: the head of the match to the striking surface on 71 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:16,880 Speaker 1: the side of the box. These new matches were called 72 00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:20,440 Speaker 1: safety matches, and by nineteen twenty five, almost every country 73 00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:23,480 Speaker 1: had either outlawed the use of white phosphorus or taxed 74 00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:27,599 Speaker 1: it so heavily that it just wasn't worth incorporating. Looking back, 75 00:04:27,640 --> 00:04:30,200 Speaker 1: it's interesting to see how our mind play tricks on 76 00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:33,279 Speaker 1: us because the idea of a match is simple, a 77 00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:36,560 Speaker 1: stick of wood dipped in some chemicals. It's far less 78 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:39,960 Speaker 1: complicated than a contraption filled with metal and gas and 79 00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:43,440 Speaker 1: moving parts. It may be hard to imagine, but the 80 00:04:43,560 --> 00:04:46,919 Speaker 1: lighter predates the fiction match by a few hundred years, 81 00:04:47,480 --> 00:04:50,760 Speaker 1: and just thinking about that gets me all fired up. 82 00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:08,000 Speaker 1: Trust is not easy to build, especially as a new business. 83 00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:10,400 Speaker 1: It could take a long time, even years, before a 84 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:14,240 Speaker 1: customer's loyalty is earned. But one misstep early on and 85 00:05:14,279 --> 00:05:16,400 Speaker 1: it could spell the end of something great before it 86 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:18,839 Speaker 1: has a chance to truly grow. And just like what 87 00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:22,480 Speaker 1: happened to Nicholas a pair Born in France in seventeen 88 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:25,400 Speaker 1: forty nine, Nicholas was a sort of middle child in 89 00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:28,560 Speaker 1: his massive family. He was the ninth of eleven children, 90 00:05:28,760 --> 00:05:31,359 Speaker 1: then worked at his parents in until he was twenty. 91 00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:33,440 Speaker 1: He then spun off on his own with one of 92 00:05:33,440 --> 00:05:37,279 Speaker 1: his brothers to open a brewery together. Nicholas had always 93 00:05:37,279 --> 00:05:40,240 Speaker 1: been drawn to the culinary arts. From seventeen eighty four 94 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:43,120 Speaker 1: to seventeen ninety five he worked as a chef and 95 00:05:43,279 --> 00:05:46,240 Speaker 1: confectioner in Paris, but it was in that final year 96 00:05:46,279 --> 00:05:49,680 Speaker 1: as a chef when he started exploring something new and exciting, 97 00:05:50,120 --> 00:05:54,640 Speaker 1: food preservation. He began storing things like jellies, soups, and 98 00:05:54,800 --> 00:05:58,359 Speaker 1: vegetables in glass jars, which he sealed with cork and 99 00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:01,560 Speaker 1: wax before dunking them in boiling water to cook them. 100 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:04,719 Speaker 1: Historians claimed that this technique was not new at the time, 101 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:06,760 Speaker 1: but Nicholas was the first to do it on a 102 00:06:06,800 --> 00:06:09,159 Speaker 1: wide scale. It took a few years, but by the 103 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:12,960 Speaker 1: early nineteenth century, the entrepreneur had opened the world's first 104 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:17,760 Speaker 1: factory dedicated to bottling and preserving food. He eventually graduated 105 00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:21,080 Speaker 1: from jellies and jams to more substantial foods like beef 106 00:06:21,120 --> 00:06:25,279 Speaker 1: and eggs. Even full dishes could be preserved using Nicholas's method. 107 00:06:25,839 --> 00:06:28,599 Speaker 1: His technique of ceiling and boiling each jar was given 108 00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:32,400 Speaker 1: the name appetization, but it cost a lot of money 109 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:36,280 Speaker 1: to preserve food. The equipment was expensive, and Nicholas himself 110 00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:40,080 Speaker 1: was lousy at business. Only two years after his factory opened, 111 00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:44,000 Speaker 1: it closed down and the father of food science was bankrupt. 112 00:06:44,520 --> 00:06:47,560 Speaker 1: But his idea lived on, and people continued to store 113 00:06:47,640 --> 00:06:51,120 Speaker 1: their fruits and vegetables using Nicholas's ceiling method. Of course, 114 00:06:51,120 --> 00:06:54,320 Speaker 1: there was still the problem of the jars themselves. Nicholas 115 00:06:54,320 --> 00:06:57,400 Speaker 1: had started with champagne bottles before moving on to thicker, 116 00:06:57,520 --> 00:07:00,960 Speaker 1: wider mouthed bottles that could accommodate larger food items. It 117 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:04,240 Speaker 1: wasn't until eighteen fifty eight, fifty two years after the 118 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:07,520 Speaker 1: Apport factory closed down, when a new idea hit the market. 119 00:07:07,839 --> 00:07:10,120 Speaker 1: It had been invented by a New Jersey man named 120 00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:13,920 Speaker 1: John Landis. No not the director of Animal House. This 121 00:07:14,040 --> 00:07:16,960 Speaker 1: John was an inventor. He had gotten his start as 122 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:19,960 Speaker 1: a tinsmith before pattenting a new kind of product, one 123 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:22,840 Speaker 1: that would take canning and food preservation to a whole 124 00:07:22,960 --> 00:07:26,200 Speaker 1: new level. Rather than rely on cork and wax to 125 00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:29,480 Speaker 1: seal canning jars as Nicholas a pair had done, John 126 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:31,760 Speaker 1: created a jar with a metal lid that could be 127 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:35,280 Speaker 1: screwed on instead. It was originally made with the zinc 128 00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:37,920 Speaker 1: cap that had been lined with milk glass, a type 129 00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:41,600 Speaker 1: of colored glass used in everything from pottery to clock faces, 130 00:07:42,120 --> 00:07:44,440 Speaker 1: and just below the lip of the jar sat a 131 00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:47,680 Speaker 1: rubber gasket that would help seal everything once the lid 132 00:07:47,760 --> 00:07:50,600 Speaker 1: was tightened over the top. It was a game changer, 133 00:07:50,760 --> 00:07:53,640 Speaker 1: and others continued to improve its design over the next 134 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:57,360 Speaker 1: fifty years. For example, a man named Alexander Kerr created 135 00:07:57,480 --> 00:08:00,640 Speaker 1: lids that had rubber seals set around their rim rather 136 00:08:00,680 --> 00:08:04,400 Speaker 1: than on the jars themselves. In nineteen fifteen, he introduced 137 00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:07,680 Speaker 1: the lid that separated into two pieces. Since the lined 138 00:08:07,760 --> 00:08:10,480 Speaker 1: center of the lid would wear out faster than the rim, 139 00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:12,960 Speaker 1: canners no longer had to toss out the whole lid. 140 00:08:13,200 --> 00:08:15,760 Speaker 1: They only had to replace the middle portion, a design 141 00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:20,000 Speaker 1: that endures to this day. John eventually sold his patents 142 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:23,239 Speaker 1: to Lewis R. Boyd's Sheet Metal Screw Company in eighteen 143 00:08:23,320 --> 00:08:26,440 Speaker 1: fifty nine. Twelve years later, John and Boyd went into 144 00:08:26,480 --> 00:08:30,760 Speaker 1: business together and license their jars to other glassmakers, But 145 00:08:30,840 --> 00:08:33,480 Speaker 1: because he had not patented any of his improved designs 146 00:08:33,480 --> 00:08:36,079 Speaker 1: over the years, the courts ruled that he had forfeited 147 00:08:36,080 --> 00:08:39,240 Speaker 1: his patent due to abandonment. From that point on, other 148 00:08:39,280 --> 00:08:43,760 Speaker 1: companies were free to create their own jars just like John's. Today, 149 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:47,200 Speaker 1: though one company stands tall as the largest manufacturer of 150 00:08:47,280 --> 00:08:51,400 Speaker 1: glass canning jars, the Ball Corporation, based in Broomfield, Colorado. 151 00:08:51,679 --> 00:08:54,640 Speaker 1: Thanks to the work of Nicholas Apear and later John 152 00:08:54,800 --> 00:08:58,560 Speaker 1: Landis Mason, the Mason Jar remains the gold standard for 153 00:08:58,720 --> 00:09:01,839 Speaker 1: long term food preserve and all it took to make 154 00:09:01,880 --> 00:09:05,599 Speaker 1: it was a little know how and a can do attitude. 155 00:09:10,080 --> 00:09:12,800 Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet 156 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:16,720 Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn 157 00:09:16,760 --> 00:09:21,280 Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. 158 00:09:21,320 --> 00:09:24,920 Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership 159 00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:28,280 Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show 160 00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:32,439 Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show, 161 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:34,560 Speaker 1: and you can learn all about it over at the 162 00:09:34,720 --> 00:09:39,520 Speaker 1: World of Loore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.