1 00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:03,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:13,760 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast 3 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:16,800 Speaker 1: I'm fair a Dowdy and I'm depleted Chuck reboarding and 4 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:20,560 Speaker 1: if you're caught up with your history podcasts, this topic 5 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:22,919 Speaker 1: may seem kind of familiar to you. We did a 6 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:26,160 Speaker 1: recent episode about Hetty Lamar, who was a Hollywood actress 7 00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:29,120 Speaker 1: once known as the most beautiful girl in the world, 8 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:34,040 Speaker 1: and she didn't really have any special technology degrees or 9 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:37,640 Speaker 1: engineering degrees of any sort. She was basically an artsy type. 10 00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:39,960 Speaker 1: She had studied the arts from an early age, but 11 00:00:40,040 --> 00:00:42,480 Speaker 1: with the help of composer and pianist George aunt Hile, 12 00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:45,080 Speaker 1: she somehow managed to invent and receive a patent for 13 00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:50,120 Speaker 1: a frequency hopping device, which she called Secret Communication System, 14 00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:52,800 Speaker 1: and the concept behind this would become a component of 15 00:00:52,840 --> 00:00:55,320 Speaker 1: modern mobile phone technology. So that was sort of a 16 00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:58,240 Speaker 1: recap of the recent podcast, but it made us really 17 00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:02,200 Speaker 1: curious to find out more about other celebrity inventors throughout history, 18 00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:06,280 Speaker 1: past entertainers who invented products or technology that maybe we 19 00:01:06,319 --> 00:01:08,720 Speaker 1: still use today. So we wanted to do a little 20 00:01:08,720 --> 00:01:10,840 Speaker 1: research on that. Yeah, and it turned out that there 21 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:14,080 Speaker 1: were a lot more of these celebrity inventors out there 22 00:01:14,120 --> 00:01:18,040 Speaker 1: than you might expect, and some of them had acting background, 23 00:01:18,120 --> 00:01:21,440 Speaker 1: like Hetty Lamar. Marlon Brando was one example, of course. 24 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:25,039 Speaker 1: You know, he's known for his superb acting ability, his 25 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:29,920 Speaker 1: good looks that laced up earlier in life, definitely his charisma, 26 00:01:30,440 --> 00:01:33,000 Speaker 1: and um you know, of course his starring roles in 27 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:35,919 Speaker 1: a street car named Desire on the waterfront. Godfather. Probably 28 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:38,119 Speaker 1: don't need to give you too much of a background 29 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:41,759 Speaker 1: on Marlon Brando, um, but you may not have known 30 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:45,959 Speaker 1: that he was also passionate about bongo drumming and Latin music. 31 00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:49,960 Speaker 1: And you can even find some videos of him performing 32 00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:52,960 Speaker 1: on the drums, which is, um pretty interesting. We were 33 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:56,240 Speaker 1: chatting about it earlier. He's he's so proper, Yeah, he's 34 00:01:56,280 --> 00:01:59,800 Speaker 1: really serious about this drumming. Yeah, he's this kind of shy, 35 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:02,520 Speaker 1: a soft spoken young man. And then he goes and 36 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:05,200 Speaker 1: takes the reporter down to the basement and breaks out 37 00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:08,880 Speaker 1: the bongo drums or conga drums, I should say. Um, 38 00:02:08,919 --> 00:02:11,880 Speaker 1: he owned a few of those conga drums and one 39 00:02:11,919 --> 00:02:15,960 Speaker 1: of them was actually auctioned off recently at Christie's after 40 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:19,600 Speaker 1: his death in two thousand four, but in two thousand two, 41 00:02:19,760 --> 00:02:23,360 Speaker 1: so so much later in Marlon Brando's life, he received 42 00:02:23,400 --> 00:02:26,880 Speaker 1: a patent for what he called the Drumhead Tensioning Device 43 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:29,320 Speaker 1: and Method. You're going to notice that a lot of 44 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:34,440 Speaker 1: these patents have bizarre, sort of long rambling names. But 45 00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:37,560 Speaker 1: this device that Marlon Brando cooked up was basically an 46 00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:41,760 Speaker 1: auto tune or for drums, and drums are apparently difficult 47 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:45,640 Speaker 1: to tune, so it was a useful invention. Yeah. And 48 00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:48,080 Speaker 1: there were other celebrity inventors that we found too, in 49 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:52,120 Speaker 1: other fields, not just actors, some authors, musicians, comedians. So 50 00:02:52,360 --> 00:02:53,840 Speaker 1: we just want to take a look at five of them. 51 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:56,000 Speaker 1: There were a lot, especially in recent years, but we 52 00:02:56,080 --> 00:02:58,640 Speaker 1: kind of went back to the petty Lamar period and 53 00:02:58,680 --> 00:03:00,920 Speaker 1: that sort of range. Yeah, on a few and tried 54 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:04,760 Speaker 1: to pick ones that really were quite surprising, either because 55 00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:09,240 Speaker 1: of their careers or because of their inventions, which just 56 00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:13,480 Speaker 1: seemed nothing like what they were known for. Right, So, 57 00:03:13,639 --> 00:03:16,840 Speaker 1: without further ado, we'll dive right in with Zeppo Marks. 58 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:20,880 Speaker 1: First of all, he was born Herbert Manfred Marks, and 59 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:24,280 Speaker 1: he's often remembered as the weak link in the Marks brothers. 60 00:03:24,919 --> 00:03:27,280 Speaker 1: The Marks brothers, of course, being one of the most 61 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:31,880 Speaker 1: celebrated American comedy teams of all time, and a lot 62 00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:35,040 Speaker 1: of people though, think that Zeppo was probably just underappreciated 63 00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:37,240 Speaker 1: in this group, that he actually did have talent that 64 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:39,880 Speaker 1: just wasn't really recognized for it because they were already 65 00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:42,040 Speaker 1: so well established by the time he got there. I mean, 66 00:03:42,440 --> 00:03:45,680 Speaker 1: he was much younger than his four brothers. Gummo, who 67 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:48,080 Speaker 1: was the nearest to Zeppo and age, was actually nine 68 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:52,040 Speaker 1: years older than him. Express Yeah, definitely. So Zeppo was 69 00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:55,119 Speaker 1: kind of forced into show business when Gummo was drafted 70 00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:57,960 Speaker 1: into the army during World War One, so it wasn't 71 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:00,000 Speaker 1: necessarily a choice of his, but he did it anyway. 72 00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:03,080 Speaker 1: He performed with them in vaudeville, on Broadway and in 73 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:06,320 Speaker 1: five films, but especially in the films, he really didn't 74 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:08,920 Speaker 1: have much of a role there. His character was basically 75 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:11,640 Speaker 1: superfluous and a lot of these Yeah, and this is 76 00:04:11,720 --> 00:04:17,200 Speaker 1: kind of sad yet funny side note, but Zeppo became 77 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:20,240 Speaker 1: somewhat of a derogatory term to describe somebody who was 78 00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:25,120 Speaker 1: to perfluouss like a cut down for an extra. Essentially, yeah, 79 00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:27,640 Speaker 1: the useless person in the group. I mean, it's not 80 00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:30,960 Speaker 1: in web Mariam Webster anything like that. But some people 81 00:04:31,040 --> 00:04:33,279 Speaker 1: use it that way. For example, if you are a 82 00:04:33,279 --> 00:04:36,599 Speaker 1: Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan um, which I know many 83 00:04:36,640 --> 00:04:38,479 Speaker 1: of you probably are, even if you don't admit it, 84 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:41,640 Speaker 1: there's an episode called a Zeppo and it basically refers 85 00:04:41,720 --> 00:04:44,440 Speaker 1: to the Buffy characters Ander and how he's useless to 86 00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:48,200 Speaker 1: that so good trivia. Yeah, I think I'm gonna start 87 00:04:48,279 --> 00:04:50,680 Speaker 1: using that one too. Um But you know, Zepco, even 88 00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:54,640 Speaker 1: though he maybe wasn't the most important member of the 89 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:58,240 Speaker 1: Marx Brothers, he ended up proving his worth in different ways. 90 00:04:58,279 --> 00:05:02,440 Speaker 1: After leaving the group in the early along with Gummo, 91 00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:05,760 Speaker 1: he became a talent agent and quite a successful one. 92 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:09,960 Speaker 1: But he also made a foray into the engineering world, 93 00:05:10,080 --> 00:05:12,480 Speaker 1: and that's sort of where this invention is going to 94 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:16,560 Speaker 1: take off from. Yeah, he now, Zeppo. We shouldn't backtrack 95 00:05:16,600 --> 00:05:19,240 Speaker 1: a little bit. He was always sort of mechanically inclined. 96 00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:21,280 Speaker 1: It said that he's the one who used to keep 97 00:05:21,279 --> 00:05:24,000 Speaker 1: the family car and working order. But he took this 98 00:05:24,160 --> 00:05:27,320 Speaker 1: interest beyond just a hobby after meeting a Douglas Aircraft 99 00:05:27,360 --> 00:05:32,040 Speaker 1: executive at the racetrack and this executive told him, okay, 100 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:34,560 Speaker 1: we're short of machine shops and machinists right now. So 101 00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:39,240 Speaker 1: Zeppo ends up machining airplane parts from his garage and 102 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:42,880 Speaker 1: he forms a company from that called Marmon Products. And 103 00:05:43,080 --> 00:05:46,120 Speaker 1: later after an inventor approaches him with an idea that 104 00:05:46,160 --> 00:05:49,320 Speaker 1: he has, he ends up marketing something called the Marmon clamp, 105 00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:53,400 Speaker 1: and clamps inspired by these Marmon clamps end up being 106 00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:57,760 Speaker 1: used all over the aviation industry, even an aerospace engineering. 107 00:05:58,400 --> 00:06:00,120 Speaker 1: So this is all just to kind of of you 108 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:01,960 Speaker 1: a little background and to say he was more than 109 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:04,440 Speaker 1: just a comedian to start out with. Yeah, his inventions 110 00:06:04,440 --> 00:06:08,920 Speaker 1: didn't come out of thin air. He had this engineering background. Um. 111 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:12,040 Speaker 1: But Zeppo had three patents of his own that he 112 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:14,720 Speaker 1: collaborated on because you know, of course the clamp was 113 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:19,080 Speaker 1: somebody else's invention, he just marketed it. Two of his 114 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:22,040 Speaker 1: patents were related, and they came out around the same 115 00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:26,240 Speaker 1: time in nineteen sixty seven. One is the cardiac pulse 116 00:06:26,360 --> 00:06:29,120 Speaker 1: rate monitor and the other is the method and watch 117 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:34,520 Speaker 1: mechanism for actuation by a cardiac pulse. Again very detailed, 118 00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:38,600 Speaker 1: long detailed, long titles. Um. These two inventions were meant 119 00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:42,440 Speaker 1: to be used together and Basically, they would alert people 120 00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:46,080 Speaker 1: with heart problems to in a regular heartbeat. So, um, 121 00:06:46,120 --> 00:06:49,240 Speaker 1: the watch part had two dials. One was driven by 122 00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:52,880 Speaker 1: the wearer's pulse and the other operated at um at 123 00:06:52,920 --> 00:06:56,240 Speaker 1: a rate that corresponded to what a normal heartbeat should be. 124 00:06:56,640 --> 00:06:59,279 Speaker 1: And so it's the pulse driven part, which was run 125 00:06:59,279 --> 00:07:03,159 Speaker 1: by this ectric powered magnet. Started to go too fast 126 00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:06,640 Speaker 1: or too slow, it would trigger an audible alarm. This 127 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:08,800 Speaker 1: kind of reminds me of loss. If we're gonna be 128 00:07:08,880 --> 00:07:13,280 Speaker 1: talking about TV show, when Sawyer gets the little heartbeat 129 00:07:13,320 --> 00:07:16,840 Speaker 1: thing implanted in him, he can't get too excited. Um, 130 00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:20,160 Speaker 1: so you know this is obviously Um, we can see 131 00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:24,240 Speaker 1: how this basic idea was adopted later and adapted. Yeah, 132 00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:26,320 Speaker 1: in the exercise industry. I don't know if you've ever 133 00:07:26,360 --> 00:07:28,400 Speaker 1: been in a spinning class or something and seeing people 134 00:07:28,400 --> 00:07:31,280 Speaker 1: with the heart rate monitors on trying to see if 135 00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:33,440 Speaker 1: they're getting their heart rate up enough, but they look 136 00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:36,120 Speaker 1: like giant watches. Yeah, you can kind of see the 137 00:07:36,120 --> 00:07:39,560 Speaker 1: influence there. Um. He also had another invention. He invented 138 00:07:39,680 --> 00:07:43,840 Speaker 1: the heating pad, And basically he invented this because he 139 00:07:43,880 --> 00:07:45,840 Speaker 1: saw that people were having to heat up towels. And 140 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:48,920 Speaker 1: hospitals like wet towels and put hot water bottles and 141 00:07:48,960 --> 00:07:52,080 Speaker 1: that sort of thing. Yeah, so he just seemed to 142 00:07:52,440 --> 00:07:54,680 Speaker 1: look for where there was a lack a need for 143 00:07:54,760 --> 00:07:57,480 Speaker 1: something and work to fill it. And that's going to 144 00:07:57,560 --> 00:08:00,480 Speaker 1: be a common theme for a lot of our enters 145 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:03,720 Speaker 1: later in the list, for sure. So our next entry 146 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:07,280 Speaker 1: is the author Roll Doll. And of course he's best 147 00:08:07,320 --> 00:08:11,559 Speaker 1: known as writing children's books, but um, that's not something 148 00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:13,920 Speaker 1: he got into until middle age. He had a very 149 00:08:14,040 --> 00:08:18,040 Speaker 1: interesting career before that. He was born in nineteen sixteen 150 00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:21,360 Speaker 1: in South Wales to Norwegian parents, as I'm sure you 151 00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:24,040 Speaker 1: know if you've ever read a Role Doll book, and 152 00:08:24,160 --> 00:08:26,880 Speaker 1: he was sent to a boarding school managed by this 153 00:08:27,160 --> 00:08:30,160 Speaker 1: trunch bowl like matron who hated little boys. That he 154 00:08:30,280 --> 00:08:34,400 Speaker 1: had an adventurous childhood. His prep school wasn't really that 155 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:37,840 Speaker 1: much better, but fortunately for him and for the other boys, 156 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:41,480 Speaker 1: there was a Cadbury plant nearby. Um again, if you've 157 00:08:41,480 --> 00:08:45,079 Speaker 1: read any Role Doll, all of this seems to fit 158 00:08:45,120 --> 00:08:48,800 Speaker 1: in perfectly. Yeah. And when he graduated he didn't go 159 00:08:48,920 --> 00:08:52,600 Speaker 1: straight to university. He had a pretty adventurous life after that. 160 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:56,480 Speaker 1: At eighteen, he went on an expedition to Newfoundland. After 161 00:08:56,559 --> 00:08:59,280 Speaker 1: that he was a salesman for Shell and after that, 162 00:08:59,440 --> 00:09:01,199 Speaker 1: at the start of World War Two, he joined the 163 00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:04,040 Speaker 1: Royal Air Force and trained as a fighter pilot, so 164 00:09:04,200 --> 00:09:09,320 Speaker 1: pretty diverse career. He fought in Libya, Greece and Syria. 165 00:09:09,559 --> 00:09:13,679 Speaker 1: Crash landed in the Libyan desert, fractured his skull, smashed 166 00:09:13,679 --> 00:09:17,440 Speaker 1: his hip and injured his spine, and so he after 167 00:09:17,480 --> 00:09:20,240 Speaker 1: that he needed a hip replacement in two spinal operations. 168 00:09:20,280 --> 00:09:22,959 Speaker 1: So a little bit of tragedy mixed in there. Yeah, well, 169 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:27,319 Speaker 1: another another interesting trivia note for you. Um, he was 170 00:09:27,440 --> 00:09:31,080 Speaker 1: a little macabre with these artificial parts he had, because 171 00:09:31,120 --> 00:09:33,200 Speaker 1: you know, sometimes those type of things you have to 172 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:36,280 Speaker 1: get them replaced a few times throughout your lifetime. In 173 00:09:36,320 --> 00:09:39,280 Speaker 1: his little writing hut, he kept I think the top 174 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:43,320 Speaker 1: of his femur one of his hip replacements. Little momento 175 00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:49,120 Speaker 1: Maury's I guess, while he was writing fantastically funny children's books. 176 00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:53,600 Speaker 1: But um, after nineteen two he transferred to Washington d 177 00:09:53,679 --> 00:09:56,720 Speaker 1: C M because you know, of his health problems and 178 00:09:56,760 --> 00:10:01,480 Speaker 1: all of that, he needed something besides being a fighter pilot. Um. 179 00:10:01,520 --> 00:10:04,040 Speaker 1: And in d C he worked as an air attache, 180 00:10:04,240 --> 00:10:08,240 Speaker 1: which was basically a British spy who was working to 181 00:10:08,400 --> 00:10:12,600 Speaker 1: rally American support for the war cause and for the 182 00:10:12,720 --> 00:10:15,840 Speaker 1: Royal Air Force. And while he was in the States 183 00:10:16,040 --> 00:10:20,600 Speaker 1: he met the writer CS Forrester, and Forrester suggested to 184 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:23,760 Speaker 1: Doll that he write about his experience being shot down 185 00:10:23,840 --> 00:10:26,960 Speaker 1: in the desert. It would make a great story for 186 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:31,520 Speaker 1: a weekly or monthly magazine. So it only takes about 187 00:10:31,559 --> 00:10:35,240 Speaker 1: a week for Doll to write this story, sell it 188 00:10:35,280 --> 00:10:38,920 Speaker 1: to the Saturday Evening Post for nine hundred dollars, and 189 00:10:39,040 --> 00:10:42,160 Speaker 1: basically make a name for himself. It attracted the attention 190 00:10:42,240 --> 00:10:47,200 Speaker 1: of Walt Disney of Eleanor Roosevelt Um and he decides 191 00:10:47,320 --> 00:10:50,640 Speaker 1: that writing adult fiction might be a pretty good gig 192 00:10:50,679 --> 00:10:52,600 Speaker 1: for him. He seems to be doing all right at 193 00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:55,640 Speaker 1: it to start out with. Then, in nineteen fifty three, 194 00:10:55,800 --> 00:10:59,000 Speaker 1: Doll Mary's Oscar winning actress, patrician Neal. That was, of course, 195 00:10:59,040 --> 00:11:02,160 Speaker 1: before she won the Oscar, though, and he started writing 196 00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:06,000 Speaker 1: stories for their kids around nineteen sixty. His first attempt 197 00:11:06,080 --> 00:11:09,280 Speaker 1: was a huge success, James and the Giant Peach and 198 00:11:09,559 --> 00:11:13,920 Speaker 1: other hits followed The BFG, Matilda, The Witches, the Twits. 199 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:17,360 Speaker 1: So the list goes on. I think most people have 200 00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:19,440 Speaker 1: heard of a lot of these, is not all of them. 201 00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:22,760 Speaker 1: The BFG is my favorite. Oh yeah, yeah, I'm a 202 00:11:22,800 --> 00:11:24,959 Speaker 1: fan of James and the Giant Peach and they're a 203 00:11:25,040 --> 00:11:28,400 Speaker 1: pretty They're all pretty good. Um. But even though he 204 00:11:28,920 --> 00:11:32,520 Speaker 1: you know, was having success with his adult fiction career 205 00:11:32,600 --> 00:11:35,440 Speaker 1: and then later with his children's books, I mean huge 206 00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:39,280 Speaker 1: success with that, he also had some really tragic elements 207 00:11:39,320 --> 00:11:41,719 Speaker 1: in his life, and not just that. Earlier wrec We 208 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:46,400 Speaker 1: mentioned his eldest daughter died at age seven from encephalitis, 209 00:11:46,440 --> 00:11:49,400 Speaker 1: which was brought on by measles. His wife had a 210 00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:53,400 Speaker 1: brain aneurysm followed by a series of strokes and for 211 00:11:53,440 --> 00:11:56,520 Speaker 1: a time lost the use of one side of her body, 212 00:11:56,559 --> 00:12:00,960 Speaker 1: and Dahl was really instrumental in rihab illitating her. Some 213 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:05,800 Speaker 1: people thought that the level of rehabilitation he started with 214 00:12:05,960 --> 00:12:09,400 Speaker 1: too much, it was almost cruel, but she regained much 215 00:12:09,400 --> 00:12:12,000 Speaker 1: of her function and actually went on to win her 216 00:12:12,040 --> 00:12:17,160 Speaker 1: oscar after this aneurysm and stroke, so she she recovered. 217 00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:21,520 Speaker 1: But it's one tragedy in particular that spurred this invention 218 00:12:21,559 --> 00:12:23,880 Speaker 1: we're going to be talking about. When he was only 219 00:12:24,120 --> 00:12:27,840 Speaker 1: four months old, Doll's son, THEO was hit in his 220 00:12:27,960 --> 00:12:31,280 Speaker 1: tram by a New York City taxi and slammed into 221 00:12:31,320 --> 00:12:34,480 Speaker 1: the side of a bus, and he was severely injured. 222 00:12:34,559 --> 00:12:38,840 Speaker 1: He developed hydrocephalus, which is water on the brain, and 223 00:12:39,080 --> 00:12:44,119 Speaker 1: um Doll was suddenly faced with trying to update existing 224 00:12:44,160 --> 00:12:47,760 Speaker 1: technology to better help his son. Yeah, and there was 225 00:12:47,760 --> 00:12:50,400 Speaker 1: already a brain shunt in existence at that time. It 226 00:12:50,480 --> 00:12:54,160 Speaker 1: was called the Holter shunt, and THEO did have that installed. 227 00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:56,680 Speaker 1: The doctors installed that in him, but it was kind 228 00:12:56,679 --> 00:13:00,240 Speaker 1: of dangerous because this particular shunt would jam and this 229 00:13:00,320 --> 00:13:04,679 Speaker 1: could cause pain, blindness, or even brain damage. So Doll 230 00:13:05,160 --> 00:13:08,000 Speaker 1: decided to do something about it. He recruited too specialists 231 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:11,679 Speaker 1: to help him out. One was hydraulic engineer Stanley Wade, 232 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:15,079 Speaker 1: who shared Doll's hobby of building model airplanes, so that's 233 00:13:15,120 --> 00:13:17,920 Speaker 1: kind of how he knew him. And the other one 234 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:21,040 Speaker 1: was neurosurgeon Kenneth Till, who figured out that the clogging 235 00:13:21,120 --> 00:13:24,160 Speaker 1: that made the Holter shunt so dangerous was actually caused 236 00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:28,320 Speaker 1: by degree that built up in the hydrocephalic ventricles, something 237 00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:30,760 Speaker 1: that's actually pretty common when there's bleeding on the brain, 238 00:13:30,800 --> 00:13:33,160 Speaker 1: which is what THEO had, leaving on the brain so 239 00:13:33,559 --> 00:13:35,920 Speaker 1: the three of them get together, with all of their 240 00:13:35,920 --> 00:13:40,120 Speaker 1: diverse skills, they make a new device. And UM, because 241 00:13:40,559 --> 00:13:46,000 Speaker 1: my conception of engineering is a little vague, this doesn't 242 00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:49,680 Speaker 1: quite compute with me. But I'm gonna still describe it 243 00:13:49,720 --> 00:13:51,280 Speaker 1: and see if you can if you can get it. 244 00:13:51,600 --> 00:13:53,240 Speaker 1: I was. I was almost thinking of it as like 245 00:13:53,280 --> 00:13:57,320 Speaker 1: a series of locks, but that might be entirely wrong. Um. 246 00:13:57,360 --> 00:14:00,160 Speaker 1: It's two metal disks and each of them have their 247 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:03,200 Speaker 1: own housing, and there at the end of a silicon 248 00:14:03,280 --> 00:14:06,559 Speaker 1: rubber tube. And so when fluid is moving under pressure 249 00:14:06,600 --> 00:14:10,240 Speaker 1: from below, it pushes the disks against the tube to 250 00:14:10,360 --> 00:14:13,400 Speaker 1: keep anything from flowing back, because you're obviously trying to 251 00:14:13,800 --> 00:14:17,080 Speaker 1: drain the brain of fluid, not have water come back 252 00:14:17,120 --> 00:14:21,600 Speaker 1: onto it. UM. Meanwhile, pressure from above would move each 253 00:14:21,680 --> 00:14:25,400 Speaker 1: disk into an open position, so I'm guessing the fluid 254 00:14:25,400 --> 00:14:28,600 Speaker 1: could flow out. UM. Anyways, they call this the wade 255 00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:33,600 Speaker 1: doll till valve and UM. Interestingly, fortunately, I guess THEO 256 00:14:33,760 --> 00:14:39,640 Speaker 1: was better before this valve was finished and perfected and tested. UM. 257 00:14:39,680 --> 00:14:42,440 Speaker 1: But a lot of other kids got to use this technology, 258 00:14:42,480 --> 00:14:48,360 Speaker 1: this life saving technology until UM the shunt technology advanced 259 00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:52,160 Speaker 1: even further. And another interesting thing. The three men promised 260 00:14:52,200 --> 00:14:54,920 Speaker 1: to never make a penny off of this valve, just 261 00:14:55,120 --> 00:14:58,880 Speaker 1: they wanted to make it to help people totally selfless 262 00:14:58,920 --> 00:15:01,760 Speaker 1: move And the next person on our list is one 263 00:15:01,880 --> 00:15:06,320 Speaker 1: that Katie and Sarah talked about previously. It's Harry Houdini. 264 00:15:06,520 --> 00:15:09,000 Speaker 1: Many of you have probably heard his name was born 265 00:15:09,160 --> 00:15:11,840 Speaker 1: Eric Whites, the son of a rabbi in Budapest and 266 00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:15,840 Speaker 1: raised in Appleton, Wisconsin. And his name is almost synonymous 267 00:15:15,840 --> 00:15:18,480 Speaker 1: with magic. But what he's really known for is this 268 00:15:18,600 --> 00:15:22,000 Speaker 1: amazing escape acts. He was known as the handcuff King 269 00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:24,640 Speaker 1: and the prison breaker and the self liberator, and he 270 00:15:24,760 --> 00:15:28,840 Speaker 1: just had this really uncanny ability to pick locks, get 271 00:15:28,880 --> 00:15:32,080 Speaker 1: out of handcuffs, shackles, and worm his way out of ropes. 272 00:15:32,200 --> 00:15:34,880 Speaker 1: Just any tight situation you could put him in he 273 00:15:34,960 --> 00:15:37,120 Speaker 1: would be able to get out of. Yeah, he was 274 00:15:37,160 --> 00:15:40,560 Speaker 1: really much more of an escapist than a magician, despite 275 00:15:40,720 --> 00:15:44,600 Speaker 1: his overall reputation. Um but yeah, Katie and I, as 276 00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:48,400 Speaker 1: he mentioned, detailed a few of his notable escapes. Um 277 00:15:48,600 --> 00:15:51,640 Speaker 1: like his straight jacket escape where he would get strapped 278 00:15:51,640 --> 00:15:55,120 Speaker 1: into this real straight jacket and then would be suspended 279 00:15:55,160 --> 00:15:57,560 Speaker 1: by the ankles from a building our crane and have 280 00:15:57,720 --> 00:16:00,480 Speaker 1: to wheedle his way out of it in front of 281 00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:04,440 Speaker 1: the crowd. Of course, Another the Chinese water torture cell, 282 00:16:04,720 --> 00:16:07,080 Speaker 1: where his feet were bound and he was lowered upside 283 00:16:07,080 --> 00:16:09,680 Speaker 1: down into a water filled tank. Um. And I mean 284 00:16:10,560 --> 00:16:14,560 Speaker 1: most of you probably know other famous Houdini escapes. Um, 285 00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:19,280 Speaker 1: so it's probably not too surprising that his invention actually 286 00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:23,400 Speaker 1: has to do with escapes exactly. He used this knowledge 287 00:16:23,560 --> 00:16:26,040 Speaker 1: of getting out of sticky situations and his knowledge of 288 00:16:26,120 --> 00:16:30,360 Speaker 1: escape bology and put it into an invention. In he 289 00:16:30,440 --> 00:16:33,520 Speaker 1: received a patent for a diver suit, which he created. 290 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:35,960 Speaker 1: The main purpose of the suit was to make it 291 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:38,320 Speaker 1: easier for divers to get out of the suit quickly 292 00:16:38,480 --> 00:16:41,680 Speaker 1: and without help from another person if they found themselves 293 00:16:41,680 --> 00:16:46,040 Speaker 1: in a sticky situation while underwater. So imagine this. It's 294 00:16:46,080 --> 00:16:49,680 Speaker 1: a suit, and it's it consists basically of two separate pieces, 295 00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:52,760 Speaker 1: and upper and a lower piece, and they're connected by 296 00:16:52,800 --> 00:16:57,080 Speaker 1: this lever operated metallic belt. So I think basically the 297 00:16:57,120 --> 00:16:59,560 Speaker 1: idea here was that you could pull the lever and 298 00:16:59,560 --> 00:17:02,360 Speaker 1: the twos would come apart. You could step out of 299 00:17:02,360 --> 00:17:05,520 Speaker 1: the bottom that would kind of fall down and easily 300 00:17:05,520 --> 00:17:08,320 Speaker 1: pull the top over your head. So this was an 301 00:17:08,400 --> 00:17:11,320 Speaker 1: advantage just so you could get out of it yourself, 302 00:17:11,320 --> 00:17:13,359 Speaker 1: but you could also get into it yourself a lot 303 00:17:13,440 --> 00:17:16,359 Speaker 1: easier than other diving us at the time bench of 304 00:17:16,400 --> 00:17:20,080 Speaker 1: assistance putting it on. And it could also helped protect 305 00:17:20,119 --> 00:17:22,600 Speaker 1: a submerged diver from being crushed by the pressure of 306 00:17:22,600 --> 00:17:25,239 Speaker 1: the surrounding water in case his air supply should give 307 00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:28,080 Speaker 1: out for any reason at all. So I'm not sure. 308 00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:30,040 Speaker 1: I did a lot of research on this. I'm not 309 00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:32,800 Speaker 1: sure if it was ever actually used UM in itself, 310 00:17:32,840 --> 00:17:36,200 Speaker 1: but from what I've seen on diving sites and things 311 00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:38,360 Speaker 1: like that, it seems like it was an improvement over 312 00:17:38,400 --> 00:17:40,880 Speaker 1: suits that were available at the time. Yeah, and that's 313 00:17:40,880 --> 00:17:44,119 Speaker 1: going to be another theme. Aoras you've probably already noticed. 314 00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:46,919 Speaker 1: Another theme to a lot of these it's it's not 315 00:17:47,080 --> 00:17:49,680 Speaker 1: necessarily an invention that comes out of thin air. It's 316 00:17:49,720 --> 00:17:55,240 Speaker 1: some little tweak or improvement UM or maybe the prototype 317 00:17:55,400 --> 00:17:59,040 Speaker 1: for a future invention that's better known. Right, And we 318 00:17:59,040 --> 00:18:00,920 Speaker 1: should also mention you can look a lot of these 319 00:18:00,920 --> 00:18:02,880 Speaker 1: patents up. I don't know if you ever have, but 320 00:18:03,400 --> 00:18:07,280 Speaker 1: Google has a great patents database. You can just um, 321 00:18:07,320 --> 00:18:09,159 Speaker 1: you know, put in whatever you're looking for, maybe the 322 00:18:09,240 --> 00:18:10,840 Speaker 1: name of the inventor if you know it in their 323 00:18:10,920 --> 00:18:15,840 Speaker 1: pictures and the notes of the original proposal they've submitted, 324 00:18:15,920 --> 00:18:19,400 Speaker 1: and um, the inventor's signatures too, so you'll see there 325 00:18:19,440 --> 00:18:21,480 Speaker 1: you know. Well, I don't I don't want to give 326 00:18:21,520 --> 00:18:23,720 Speaker 1: any of the future ones away on the rest of 327 00:18:23,720 --> 00:18:26,959 Speaker 1: our list. That's kind of cool too. And also, um, 328 00:18:27,080 --> 00:18:29,800 Speaker 1: we were we were talking about how one source that 329 00:18:29,800 --> 00:18:33,080 Speaker 1: we both used with um, the Atlantic, they have a 330 00:18:33,119 --> 00:18:36,200 Speaker 1: whole series on a lot of these celebrity inventors, which 331 00:18:36,240 --> 00:18:38,600 Speaker 1: is pretty fun. I mean, that's where you can find 332 00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:43,480 Speaker 1: Marlon Brando playing the congo drums and m also illustrations 333 00:18:43,520 --> 00:18:46,240 Speaker 1: of a lot of these Yeah, their illustrations pull from 334 00:18:46,280 --> 00:18:48,400 Speaker 1: these original patents that I just mentioned you can find 335 00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:49,800 Speaker 1: You can probably find them on the U S patent 336 00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:53,679 Speaker 1: side too, don't you think probably? And um, the diving 337 00:18:53,680 --> 00:18:55,960 Speaker 1: suit in particulars are really funny. It looks almost like 338 00:18:55,960 --> 00:19:03,080 Speaker 1: a space suit. Um, more Jules Verne than then Houdini exactly. Um, 339 00:19:03,119 --> 00:19:05,760 Speaker 1: and you can see the lover mechanism and and how 340 00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:07,960 Speaker 1: it comes apart, and I don't know, to me, it 341 00:19:07,960 --> 00:19:11,160 Speaker 1: seems like a great way almost to pant someone underwater 342 00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:14,399 Speaker 1: if you are prankster sort. It's really funny if you 343 00:19:14,440 --> 00:19:20,200 Speaker 1: see Julie newmars Um support hosiery, if we're going to 344 00:19:20,280 --> 00:19:25,439 Speaker 1: put that in a in a nice way funny illustrations. Okay, well, 345 00:19:25,480 --> 00:19:30,359 Speaker 1: anyways we digress, yes, and move on to our next entry, 346 00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:33,880 Speaker 1: which is Paul Winschell. So a lot of you might 347 00:19:33,960 --> 00:19:37,560 Speaker 1: not know the name Paul Winchell. Um. Maybe if you 348 00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:40,880 Speaker 1: are a big fan of classic children's television, or you're 349 00:19:40,960 --> 00:19:44,480 Speaker 1: in your fifties or sixties, you know who he is. Um. 350 00:19:44,520 --> 00:19:47,560 Speaker 1: But even if you don't recognize his name, I think 351 00:19:47,600 --> 00:19:50,480 Speaker 1: that most of you would probably recognize his voice, even 352 00:19:50,520 --> 00:19:54,000 Speaker 1: if you're like eight years old, because for many years 353 00:19:54,080 --> 00:19:57,400 Speaker 1: he was the voice of Tigger on Winnie the pooh Um. 354 00:19:57,520 --> 00:20:02,960 Speaker 1: He didn't get his start on that kind of voiceover TV, though. 355 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:06,399 Speaker 1: He got his start on vaudeville with a ventriloquist act, 356 00:20:07,320 --> 00:20:11,520 Speaker 1: which is kind of interestingly enough, play into this invention. 357 00:20:11,600 --> 00:20:14,359 Speaker 1: Yeah you wouldn't think it, but it does a little 358 00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:16,640 Speaker 1: backtrack just to give you a little background on him. 359 00:20:16,680 --> 00:20:21,320 Speaker 1: He was born Paul Wilchon on December twenty one and 360 00:20:21,440 --> 00:20:25,040 Speaker 1: raised near Coney Island, but he had a really difficult childhood. 361 00:20:25,119 --> 00:20:29,120 Speaker 1: He had polio, which caused his legs to atrophy, and 362 00:20:29,240 --> 00:20:31,160 Speaker 1: so he had to work out a lot to regain 363 00:20:31,240 --> 00:20:33,960 Speaker 1: his muscle strength. But he also had a stutter, which 364 00:20:33,960 --> 00:20:38,280 Speaker 1: seems like a really unusual sort of thing to overcome 365 00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:40,480 Speaker 1: and you're going to go on to become a ventriloquist. 366 00:20:40,720 --> 00:20:43,359 Speaker 1: And he was beaten by his mother and he kind 367 00:20:43,400 --> 00:20:45,920 Speaker 1: of took refuge from all of that in radio comedy, 368 00:20:46,040 --> 00:20:49,720 Speaker 1: so that's where the interest started. His mother, however, refused 369 00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:52,480 Speaker 1: him a dime for a book on ventriloquism, so his 370 00:20:52,560 --> 00:20:55,880 Speaker 1: sister's boyfriend bought it for him instead, and he started practicing, 371 00:20:56,800 --> 00:21:00,439 Speaker 1: and he imitated the ventriloquist dummy team of Edgar Bergen 372 00:21:00,520 --> 00:21:03,680 Speaker 1: and Charlie McCarthy, So that was kind of his idol. Yeah, 373 00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:05,240 Speaker 1: and he got pretty good at it, but it was 374 00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:09,200 Speaker 1: still sort of his personal secret um. And in school 375 00:21:09,280 --> 00:21:12,720 Speaker 1: he was allowed to build a dummy as an art project. 376 00:21:12,840 --> 00:21:16,000 Speaker 1: So he's working on this dummy, getting it all together. 377 00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:19,040 Speaker 1: It takes a really long time. It's finally ready and 378 00:21:19,119 --> 00:21:22,200 Speaker 1: he comes out and impresses all of his classmates who 379 00:21:22,240 --> 00:21:25,360 Speaker 1: have no idea that he's secretly a really good ventriloquist 380 00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:29,439 Speaker 1: with his amazing act, so he's suddenly quite popular at school. 381 00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:33,440 Speaker 1: He's really really good at it, and his principle actually 382 00:21:33,480 --> 00:21:36,239 Speaker 1: helped him get on a radio talent show where he 383 00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:39,560 Speaker 1: was billed as Paul Winchell, which might be a little 384 00:21:39,560 --> 00:21:43,359 Speaker 1: easier to say, and he was no longer from Coney 385 00:21:43,359 --> 00:21:47,200 Speaker 1: Island either. Um. He does really well on this talent show. 386 00:21:47,200 --> 00:21:51,440 Speaker 1: In fact, he wins and that sort of sets off 387 00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:54,879 Speaker 1: his ventriloquist career from there. And he worked on the 388 00:21:54,920 --> 00:21:58,119 Speaker 1: vode bill circuit, worked on radio and TV, and he 389 00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:01,920 Speaker 1: had two dummies to miss dummies who he's associated with. 390 00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:05,880 Speaker 1: One is Jerry Mahoney and the other is a knucklehead Smith. 391 00:22:06,400 --> 00:22:10,399 Speaker 1: And he's probably most famous aside from Ticker, maybe most 392 00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:14,360 Speaker 1: famous for the Paul Winchell Jerry Mahoney Show, which appeared 393 00:22:14,400 --> 00:22:18,880 Speaker 1: on NBC from nineteen fifty to nineteen UM. An interesting 394 00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:24,000 Speaker 1: side note, Carol Burnett played Mahoney's girlfriend, so she played 395 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:26,520 Speaker 1: the dummies girl. Yeah. I want to look up some 396 00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:28,439 Speaker 1: of these. I wonder if you can find him. You 397 00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:33,440 Speaker 1: can actually find some clips on YouTube of these acts, 398 00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:35,800 Speaker 1: and I mean it's pretty it's pretty amazing. I saw 399 00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:39,639 Speaker 1: one where he's putting Jerry Mahoney to bed um and 400 00:22:39,960 --> 00:22:42,800 Speaker 1: sort of arguing with him about finally getting to sleep 401 00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:46,760 Speaker 1: and then realizing that Jerry Mahoney skipped school and played hockey, 402 00:22:47,440 --> 00:22:50,200 Speaker 1: and uh, it's it's funny. Well, I know what I'll 403 00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:53,120 Speaker 1: be doing this afternoon. But it didn't just stop there. 404 00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:56,040 Speaker 1: Ed Sullivan also featured him often, and he appeared on 405 00:22:56,080 --> 00:22:59,920 Speaker 1: shows like The Beverly Hillbillies, The Lucy Show, The Brady Bunch, 406 00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:02,680 Speaker 1: So he was all over the place, and when kids 407 00:23:02,720 --> 00:23:06,959 Speaker 1: shows switched more to cartoons, he also switched and started 408 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:10,399 Speaker 1: to do voice work for a. Hanna Barbera and Disney. 409 00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:12,960 Speaker 1: And in addition to being the voice of Tigger, he 410 00:23:13,119 --> 00:23:15,639 Speaker 1: was also Boomer in The Fox and the Hound and 411 00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:18,439 Speaker 1: the Siamese Cat and the Aristo Hats. So lots of 412 00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:22,119 Speaker 1: really recognizable characters. Yeah, but all you know, during this 413 00:23:22,200 --> 00:23:25,240 Speaker 1: whole thing, all these dummies who he's working with, all 414 00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:29,840 Speaker 1: this voice over, he's also studying and tinkering. And in 415 00:23:30,119 --> 00:23:32,879 Speaker 1: the nineteen the mid nineteen fifties, he goes back to 416 00:23:32,960 --> 00:23:35,720 Speaker 1: school and he said, quote, it wasn't until I was 417 00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:38,200 Speaker 1: thirty five that it dawned on me that I missed 418 00:23:38,240 --> 00:23:41,360 Speaker 1: my education. So he doesn't just go to school though, 419 00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:45,840 Speaker 1: to to study something that maybe played into his current 420 00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:50,800 Speaker 1: successful career, like business or communications or something like that. No, 421 00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:55,159 Speaker 1: he does pre med at Columbia and then goes on 422 00:23:55,320 --> 00:23:59,320 Speaker 1: to study acupuncture and medical hypnotism. So he clearly has 423 00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:03,640 Speaker 1: this whole other course of interest that is very much 424 00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:07,560 Speaker 1: apart from ventriloquism, or so it would seem. Um. But 425 00:24:07,760 --> 00:24:12,359 Speaker 1: with all of these medical inclinations, he eventually gets to 426 00:24:12,400 --> 00:24:15,840 Speaker 1: work in nineteen sixty three with surgeons at the University 427 00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:20,600 Speaker 1: of Utah and Henry J. Heimlich. Who is that Heimlich? 428 00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:23,240 Speaker 1: Another familiar name, Another familiar name. I know. I was 429 00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:27,480 Speaker 1: thinking of famous namesakes we've talked about lately, like guillotine 430 00:24:27,680 --> 00:24:31,480 Speaker 1: and um. They just keep popping up. Um. Anyways, so 431 00:24:32,040 --> 00:24:35,120 Speaker 1: Winschell gets to work with this team to develop an 432 00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:38,399 Speaker 1: artificial heart. So I bet you didn't see that one coming, 433 00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:41,720 Speaker 1: not at all. In this heart, it's essentially an electric 434 00:24:41,840 --> 00:24:44,760 Speaker 1: motor outside of the body with a drive shaft that 435 00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:47,520 Speaker 1: extends into the body and it's connected to a non 436 00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:50,359 Speaker 1: toxic bag that would pump like a heart. So this 437 00:24:50,520 --> 00:24:53,800 Speaker 1: never itself really took off, but it's considered the prototype 438 00:24:53,840 --> 00:24:56,760 Speaker 1: for the Robert K. Jarvic heart, which was implanted in 439 00:24:56,760 --> 00:25:00,879 Speaker 1: a person in two so um sort of formed the 440 00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:04,720 Speaker 1: basis for that. Yeah, they're apparently very very similar. According 441 00:25:04,760 --> 00:25:10,640 Speaker 1: to Henry Heimlich, Um, so inventing a heart sounds really complicated, 442 00:25:10,680 --> 00:25:14,199 Speaker 1: even if you had studied premedic Columbia and you were 443 00:25:14,240 --> 00:25:18,280 Speaker 1: working with surgeons and all of that. But Winchell didn't 444 00:25:18,320 --> 00:25:21,919 Speaker 1: think that it was really that complicated, he said in 445 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:25,520 Speaker 1: an autobiography quote, Odd as it may seem, the heart 446 00:25:25,640 --> 00:25:28,840 Speaker 1: wasn't that different from building a dummy. The valves and 447 00:25:28,920 --> 00:25:32,359 Speaker 1: chambers were not unlike the moving eyes and closing mouth 448 00:25:32,560 --> 00:25:38,040 Speaker 1: of a puppet. I think that is so fascinating that, um, 449 00:25:38,080 --> 00:25:42,080 Speaker 1: somebody could have that kind of mind that would compare these. Yeah, 450 00:25:42,280 --> 00:25:46,600 Speaker 1: relate something like a puppet and a heart, but pretty awesome. Um. 451 00:25:46,600 --> 00:25:50,080 Speaker 1: Winchell kept up with the patenting too, as many of 452 00:25:50,160 --> 00:25:54,719 Speaker 1: these people do. He ultimately developed thirty different patterns, including 453 00:25:54,800 --> 00:26:00,479 Speaker 1: battery heated gloves and invisible garter belt, a flameless cigarette lighter, 454 00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:05,600 Speaker 1: and a fountain pen with a retractable tip, among many others. 455 00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:09,400 Speaker 1: Pretty interesting guy. Definitely. The last person on our list 456 00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:12,360 Speaker 1: is really one that needs no introduction, But of course 457 00:26:12,359 --> 00:26:14,359 Speaker 1: We'll give you one anyway, because we always do. It's 458 00:26:14,520 --> 00:26:17,960 Speaker 1: Mark Twain, who was born Samuel Clemens, and he was 459 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:20,680 Speaker 1: an American writer. As most of us know, I'm a humorist, 460 00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:24,359 Speaker 1: a lecturer. He's famous for his books about boyhood high jinks, 461 00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:27,800 Speaker 1: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, 462 00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:30,800 Speaker 1: which if you grew up in the US, you probably 463 00:26:30,840 --> 00:26:32,800 Speaker 1: couldn't get out of high school without reading at least 464 00:26:32,800 --> 00:26:35,720 Speaker 1: one or both of those. And he really grew to 465 00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:38,840 Speaker 1: become one of America's most love writers. Yeah, and Katie 466 00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:41,680 Speaker 1: I actually did a podcast on him quite some time 467 00:26:41,720 --> 00:26:44,480 Speaker 1: to go to to fill in a little more details 468 00:26:44,480 --> 00:26:47,320 Speaker 1: if you're if you're dying for more Mark Twain, and 469 00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:49,680 Speaker 1: you haven't gotten the first part of that giant best 470 00:26:49,720 --> 00:26:54,480 Speaker 1: selling autobiography yet. Um. But one thing that probably not 471 00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:57,959 Speaker 1: as many people know about this famous humorous was that 472 00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:01,600 Speaker 1: he was also quite an inventor. He actually had three patents, 473 00:27:01,640 --> 00:27:06,520 Speaker 1: including eight seventy one patent for a quote garment strap, 474 00:27:06,760 --> 00:27:11,080 Speaker 1: which was essentially this adjustable strap that could tighten your 475 00:27:11,119 --> 00:27:13,960 Speaker 1: shirts at the waist and it would attach to the 476 00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:16,720 Speaker 1: back of a shirt and fasten with buttons. Um. To 477 00:27:16,840 --> 00:27:19,720 Speaker 1: keep it in place and um, and make it so 478 00:27:19,880 --> 00:27:23,000 Speaker 1: you could still remove it easily, cinch it up, and 479 00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:26,320 Speaker 1: it could be used for underpants and women's corsets as 480 00:27:26,359 --> 00:27:30,199 Speaker 1: well as shirts. And his whole goal with inventing this 481 00:27:31,040 --> 00:27:34,000 Speaker 1: was to do away with suspenders, and he was not 482 00:27:34,119 --> 00:27:36,639 Speaker 1: a fan of suspenders. He thought they were uncomfortable and 483 00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:40,120 Speaker 1: would rather where this strap. I guess, yeah, so once 484 00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:43,199 Speaker 1: again sees a problem, looks to solve it. I like 485 00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:46,800 Speaker 1: it very enterprising. He also, though, got a patent for 486 00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:48,840 Speaker 1: something that I think would be useful to us. It's 487 00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:53,119 Speaker 1: a history trivia game. In eight he came up with 488 00:27:53,119 --> 00:27:55,400 Speaker 1: his patent and it was a game which he proposed 489 00:27:55,400 --> 00:27:58,879 Speaker 1: playing with cards and a cribbage board. So I didn't 490 00:27:58,880 --> 00:28:01,879 Speaker 1: really find any rules to the scame out there curious 491 00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:04,280 Speaker 1: too curious about this game. It's I guess if it 492 00:28:04,359 --> 00:28:10,280 Speaker 1: was the history trivia might be a little difficult point, 493 00:28:10,359 --> 00:28:13,000 Speaker 1: Like you know when you get a trivial pursuit that's 494 00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:16,639 Speaker 1: about twenty years old and it's really hard. Oh yeah, 495 00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:20,000 Speaker 1: the the original trivial pursuit. It might be that like 496 00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:24,360 Speaker 1: compounded but um, the only one of these inventions that 497 00:28:24,440 --> 00:28:27,200 Speaker 1: Mark Twain cooked up that really took off, that really 498 00:28:27,359 --> 00:28:31,679 Speaker 1: had any kind of financial success was his quote self 499 00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:37,720 Speaker 1: pasting scrap book. Um, so here's another weird, little known 500 00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:41,000 Speaker 1: fact about Mark Twain. But he was a lifelong creator 501 00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:43,320 Speaker 1: of scrap books. He was really into it. Yeah, he 502 00:28:43,360 --> 00:28:46,520 Speaker 1: took them everywhere, filled them up with souvenirs, pictures and 503 00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:50,480 Speaker 1: articles about his books and performances, so really serious about it. 504 00:28:50,520 --> 00:28:52,360 Speaker 1: But he got tired of having a glue stuff all 505 00:28:52,400 --> 00:28:57,160 Speaker 1: the time, just like wearing suspender send day out. So 506 00:28:57,200 --> 00:28:59,920 Speaker 1: he came up with this idea of printing thin strips 507 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:02,640 Speaker 1: of glue on the pages to make the whole process easier. 508 00:29:02,720 --> 00:29:05,320 Speaker 1: So picture it is being like a stamp. You look 509 00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:07,760 Speaker 1: it and then you look the part that you want 510 00:29:07,760 --> 00:29:10,400 Speaker 1: to stick something to, and then it becomes sticky. And 511 00:29:10,440 --> 00:29:13,920 Speaker 1: he patented this in eighteen seventy two. Yeah, and by 512 00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:16,880 Speaker 1: nineteen and one there were fifty seven different types of 513 00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:22,640 Speaker 1: these albums available. And according to five St. Louis Post 514 00:29:22,840 --> 00:29:28,280 Speaker 1: Dispatch article, twain scrap Book made him fifty thousand dollars 515 00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:32,640 Speaker 1: compared to two thousand dollars from all of his other 516 00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:37,040 Speaker 1: books combined, which I mean, good for him, but that's 517 00:29:37,080 --> 00:29:39,880 Speaker 1: kind of sad. Too. Yeah, I guess it depends on 518 00:29:39,880 --> 00:29:41,440 Speaker 1: how you look at it. I see the moral of 519 00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:44,160 Speaker 1: the story is being I need to go work on 520 00:29:44,200 --> 00:29:47,280 Speaker 1: a patent. This we immediately you know, it seems like 521 00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:50,120 Speaker 1: a good a good way to make some money unless 522 00:29:50,120 --> 00:29:54,000 Speaker 1: you have really high moral principles, like the way Donald 523 00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:56,360 Speaker 1: Hill valve. You don't want to make any money off 524 00:29:56,360 --> 00:29:59,280 Speaker 1: of It's but I mean it's scrap book. Nobody's going 525 00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:02,280 Speaker 1: to judge. Yeah, I wouldn't well, and I think scrap 526 00:30:02,280 --> 00:30:10,400 Speaker 1: books appropriately enough bring us to listener mail. This one 527 00:30:10,600 --> 00:30:14,240 Speaker 1: is not actually mail. It is a blog comment from 528 00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:18,040 Speaker 1: the stuffumist in history class blog at how stuff works 529 00:30:18,040 --> 00:30:21,520 Speaker 1: dot com. Um. But I thought I would mention it 530 00:30:21,640 --> 00:30:24,760 Speaker 1: just because it disturbed me a little. I was worried, 531 00:30:24,920 --> 00:30:28,400 Speaker 1: um suddenly, that lots of people might think this. It's 532 00:30:28,480 --> 00:30:32,040 Speaker 1: from d C. Deb and she wrote quote, It's one 533 00:30:32,080 --> 00:30:34,280 Speaker 1: thing to have an AD at the beginning or end 534 00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:37,720 Speaker 1: of a podcast, the one that is recognized as an AD, 535 00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:41,080 Speaker 1: but it is entirely another thing to show a product 536 00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:44,600 Speaker 1: in the course of the actual program. This is exactly 537 00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:48,280 Speaker 1: what occurred in the Hetty Lamar podcast after referring to 538 00:30:48,320 --> 00:30:51,920 Speaker 1: a biography by Stephen Shearer, which quote came out last 539 00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:55,880 Speaker 1: year along with quote another biography. Dublina went on to 540 00:30:56,160 --> 00:30:59,160 Speaker 1: definitely recommend picking up the Shearer book if we are 541 00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:01,720 Speaker 1: interested in her life, while the other reference book was 542 00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:07,440 Speaker 1: never identified or recommended. Um, total plug and UM. She 543 00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:11,120 Speaker 1: went on to say that she was always trying to 544 00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:17,200 Speaker 1: differentiate the shill from the podcasts, and she had sent unsubscribed, 545 00:31:17,280 --> 00:31:19,120 Speaker 1: so I guess she's not going to catch this one. 546 00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:21,640 Speaker 1: But we just wanted to say that we do not 547 00:31:21,800 --> 00:31:24,680 Speaker 1: get paid to promote books like at all A lot 548 00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:27,880 Speaker 1: out UM, when we talk about a book, not when 549 00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:30,840 Speaker 1: something is mentioned in the bumper or in an interview, 550 00:31:30,880 --> 00:31:34,040 Speaker 1: but when we're actually talking about a book. UM, it's 551 00:31:34,080 --> 00:31:36,880 Speaker 1: for one of these three reasons. And I responded to 552 00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:39,760 Speaker 1: d C dev on the blog with these three reasons too, 553 00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:42,480 Speaker 1: but I thought i'd share them with the wider audience 554 00:31:42,600 --> 00:31:46,200 Speaker 1: of the podcast. One reason why we sometimes share the 555 00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:48,480 Speaker 1: name of a book is because it was a major 556 00:31:48,520 --> 00:31:52,040 Speaker 1: source for information. It feels right to to give credit 557 00:31:52,040 --> 00:31:55,080 Speaker 1: where credits due. Another is that we think it will 558 00:31:55,120 --> 00:31:57,920 Speaker 1: be a useful source for listeners who are interested in 559 00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:01,760 Speaker 1: doing more research. And UM, I actually get a lot 560 00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:07,240 Speaker 1: of requests for book recommendations. People are pretty into that. Um, 561 00:32:07,320 --> 00:32:10,880 Speaker 1: so you know, sometimes we think, if you're interested in 562 00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:12,920 Speaker 1: doing a little more research, this is a good place 563 00:32:12,960 --> 00:32:15,360 Speaker 1: to start. And then the third reason is we read it. 564 00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:19,400 Speaker 1: We really liked it because I mean, we're we're interested 565 00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:23,080 Speaker 1: in history obviously, so we're reading history books that come 566 00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:26,040 Speaker 1: out and we get so immersed in these topics every 567 00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:28,400 Speaker 1: week when we're researching that sometimes we just get a 568 00:32:28,440 --> 00:32:31,120 Speaker 1: little excited and want to share what we're reading about. Yeah. 569 00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:33,360 Speaker 1: So I just I just wanted to make sure that 570 00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:37,600 Speaker 1: everybody realized that that we're not getting paid to to 571 00:32:37,760 --> 00:32:40,480 Speaker 1: promote books. Um. No, Mark Twain and Rol dal did 572 00:32:40,480 --> 00:32:43,680 Speaker 1: not contribute to Yeah, I know the state of Mark 573 00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:48,120 Speaker 1: Twain paid me to mention that new autobiography. Just kidding. Um, 574 00:32:48,360 --> 00:32:52,040 Speaker 1: But anyways, I hope that clears things up for everybody. 575 00:32:52,120 --> 00:32:55,280 Speaker 1: And um, if you ever have questions like that and 576 00:32:55,480 --> 00:32:57,719 Speaker 1: you want to ask us, feel free to. I mean 577 00:32:57,720 --> 00:33:00,760 Speaker 1: I would much rather clear something up like that then 578 00:33:01,280 --> 00:33:04,000 Speaker 1: then leave everybody wondering. Um. But you can find us 579 00:33:04,040 --> 00:33:07,200 Speaker 1: on Twitter at Miston History. We're also on Facebook. You 580 00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:10,880 Speaker 1: can post on the blog as DC dab did, and 581 00:33:10,960 --> 00:33:13,720 Speaker 1: you can also send us an email at history podcast 582 00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:17,480 Speaker 1: at how staff works dot com. Um, so yeah, send 583 00:33:17,560 --> 00:33:20,840 Speaker 1: us your your questions and queries and we'll see what 584 00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:24,240 Speaker 1: we can do about sorting it out and answering. And 585 00:33:24,320 --> 00:33:27,080 Speaker 1: if like us, all this talk about inventions and they're 586 00:33:27,160 --> 00:33:30,120 Speaker 1: various inventors has gotten you more interested in the subject, 587 00:33:30,280 --> 00:33:34,840 Speaker 1: We have a bunch of new inventor content coming out 588 00:33:35,040 --> 00:33:38,280 Speaker 1: on our website. You can look it up. Um, I 589 00:33:38,280 --> 00:33:42,560 Speaker 1: think we have stories on African American inventors, women inventors 590 00:33:42,600 --> 00:33:47,920 Speaker 1: and their inventions. We already have some Edison content. Um. 591 00:33:47,960 --> 00:33:50,400 Speaker 1: I think that there's a great article ten Inventions by 592 00:33:50,520 --> 00:33:52,720 Speaker 1: Edison that you may have never heard of. So um 593 00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:56,880 Speaker 1: check it out by visiting our homepage typing in either 594 00:33:56,960 --> 00:34:01,840 Speaker 1: the person you're interested in specifically, or inventor at www 595 00:34:01,960 --> 00:34:08,080 Speaker 1: dot how stuff works dot com. For more on this 596 00:34:08,200 --> 00:34:11,240 Speaker 1: and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff works dot com. 597 00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:13,920 Speaker 1: To learn more about the podcast, click on the podcast 598 00:34:14,080 --> 00:34:17,080 Speaker 1: icon in the upper right corner of our homepage. The 599 00:34:17,120 --> 00:34:19,719 Speaker 1: how Stuff Works iPhone app has a ride. Download it 600 00:34:19,760 --> 00:34:25,840 Speaker 1: today on iTunes, m