WEBVTT - 9 Wonderful Wintertime Inventions

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<v Speaker 1>I guess what mango? What's not will? So I was

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<v Speaker 1>flipping through the channels the other day and there was

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<v Speaker 1>this sitcom on TV and I started thinking about this

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<v Speaker 1>because there was snow on the ground, and I was

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<v Speaker 1>wondering how they make that fake snow for TV and movies,

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<v Speaker 1>because you think about all the things that could melt

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<v Speaker 1>the snow. They're like, there's these hot lights, they have

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<v Speaker 1>these long shoots, and they can't use real snow obviously.

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<v Speaker 1>So I looked it up and what do you find out? Well,

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<v Speaker 1>the good news a lot of it. It's edible mango.

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<v Speaker 1>You can eat all that snow. So in early movies

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<v Speaker 1>they use corn flakes that were painted white to make snow.

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<v Speaker 1>But then when sound came into film, you know, obviously

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<v Speaker 1>all the crunchy sounds would be too loud if they

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<v Speaker 1>were stepping on it, so they had to find a replacement.

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<v Speaker 1>And over the years, sets have used everything from firefighting

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<v Speaker 1>foam to instant potato flakes, to flour, even marble dust.

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<v Speaker 1>But the stuff that used today is actually mostly paper.

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<v Speaker 1>Believe it or not. That's pretty weird. I feel like

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<v Speaker 1>paper is the last thing I would have expected for

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<v Speaker 1>like fake snow. In movies. Yeah, I wouldn't have thought

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<v Speaker 1>about that either. But you know, it's available in all

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<v Speaker 1>different grains and sizes depending on what kind of snow

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<v Speaker 1>you're looking for. But actually the process of making it

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<v Speaker 1>is pretty cool. So the paper snow is packaged in

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<v Speaker 1>these huge bales and then it shot through a special

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<v Speaker 1>hose that lightly dampens the paper so that it will

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<v Speaker 1>stick to whatever it lands on, just like snow. And

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<v Speaker 1>according to Roland half Away of the Snow Business Hollywood,

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<v Speaker 1>very familiar with snow business Hollywood, Yeah, the technique can

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<v Speaker 1>cover up to thirty seven square meters per minute, plus

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<v Speaker 1>it never melts. So that's just the first of nine

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<v Speaker 1>facts we've got for you today about wintertime inventions. Let's

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<v Speaker 1>dive in. Hey, their podcast listeners, welcome to Part Time Genius.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by my

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<v Speaker 1>good friend Mangesh Ticketer and sitting behind the soundproof booth

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<v Speaker 1>wrapped up in his slanket Mango I know, which I

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<v Speaker 1>really thought was like an off brand snuggy, but Tristan

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<v Speaker 1>insists is the original blanket with sleeve. He is very

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<v Speaker 1>passionate about this. Yes, that's our friend and producer Tristan McNeil. So,

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<v Speaker 1>I know it's boring to talk about the weather, but

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<v Speaker 1>the weather definitely inspired this week's episode. I know, this

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<v Speaker 1>weekend was so miserable in New York City. It was

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<v Speaker 1>just like rainy and wet, and when you've got two

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<v Speaker 1>feral kids like I do, who are just like hard

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<v Speaker 1>to tame and even harder to keep indoors, it is

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<v Speaker 1>truly miserable. But you know, anyway, all this winter weather

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<v Speaker 1>made us wondered, like, what are some great wintertime inventions

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<v Speaker 1>worth celebrating? Yeah? You actually, I love that old quote

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<v Speaker 1>that everyone always talks about the weather, but no one

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<v Speaker 1>does anything about it. And we definitely have a few

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<v Speaker 1>people on this list who did something about it, including

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<v Speaker 1>my first fact, which is about earmuffs. So I don't

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<v Speaker 1>know if I knew this before and forgot it or

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<v Speaker 1>I just never heard this, but the inventor of the

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<v Speaker 1>earmuffs was a fifteen year old boy from main named

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<v Speaker 1>Chester Greenwood, and Chester had this horrible allergy to wool.

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<v Speaker 1>So before you could keep the story going, well when

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<v Speaker 1>are we talking about here? I think it was like

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<v Speaker 1>the late eighteen hundreds, so um, yeah, my my notes

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<v Speaker 1>eighteen seventy three, and and of course it's surprising that

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<v Speaker 1>a kid invented them, but you know, basically, Chester wanted

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<v Speaker 1>to go skating with his friends at the pond, which

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<v Speaker 1>of course sounds so wholesome and so American, but you know,

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<v Speaker 1>he couldn't wear a hat because of this wool allergy

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<v Speaker 1>he had, and his ears got so cold that he

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<v Speaker 1>had to turn around and go home immediately. And apparently

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<v Speaker 1>this was a pretty common occurrence for little Chester, but

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<v Speaker 1>this time he was totally fed up. And when he

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<v Speaker 1>got home he asked his grandmom to help him assemble

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<v Speaker 1>this thing he'd been thinking about. It was like little

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<v Speaker 1>shields for his ears. And uh. Once he described what

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<v Speaker 1>he wanted, his grandmom got out her sewing materials and

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<v Speaker 1>she whipped up the world's first pair of ear muffs

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<v Speaker 1>and the device Chester later called it the Greenwood Champion

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<v Speaker 1>ear Protectors. Like that we should call him that. I

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<v Speaker 1>feel like it's a much better name than ear moths.

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<v Speaker 1>But the original muffs were made from beaver fur on

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<v Speaker 1>the outside and velvet on the ear side, and and

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<v Speaker 1>it had a band of wire connecting to two and

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<v Speaker 1>over the years, Chester improved on the design and he

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<v Speaker 1>patented it, and by the time he was twenty five,

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<v Speaker 1>he'd actually become the owner of an ear muff factory

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<v Speaker 1>that cranked out fifty thou pairs every year. Wow, it's

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<v Speaker 1>pretty remarkable. Yeah, I mean, you know, it gave toll

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<v Speaker 1>me the weirdest thing about this. Apparently, like Chester's legend

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<v Speaker 1>or the legend of his ears and their sensitivity grew

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<v Speaker 1>over the years into like something of a myth and

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<v Speaker 1>uh and even like the Wall Street Journal report on it,

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<v Speaker 1>and this is what they said, quote, Chester Greenwood's ears

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<v Speaker 1>were so sensitive that they turned chalky white, then beat red,

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<v Speaker 1>and deep blue in that order. When the mercury dead blue.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, it feels like a gob stopper or something.

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<v Speaker 1>But you know, it's total nonsense. According to his grandkids,

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<v Speaker 1>his ears were just cold, just big and cold. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>but that's much less dramatic. Well, here's a quick fact

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<v Speaker 1>that I liked. Did you know that the first makeshift

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<v Speaker 1>snow vehicles that were used in the northern US and

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<v Speaker 1>Canada were actually just pimped out Model T s. Apparently

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<v Speaker 1>this started as far back as the nineteen tens, when

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<v Speaker 1>people would remove the cars undercarriage and then what they

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<v Speaker 1>would do is they would mount a pair of skis

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<v Speaker 1>to the front and a set of tracks to the rear.

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<v Speaker 1>So these converted cars were referred to as snow flyers,

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<v Speaker 1>and they were a god sent to these rural residents,

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<v Speaker 1>especially when it came to mail delivery. That's really interesting.

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<v Speaker 1>I like that people were almost like hacking forwards, like

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<v Speaker 1>it's ikea furniture or something, pretty soon after they were made, right, Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>I mean I think it was just a year or

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<v Speaker 1>two after the first model T came out that people

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<v Speaker 1>thought to put them on skis. But anyway, while I'm

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<v Speaker 1>talking about snow vehicles, I'm actually gonna throw out another fact.

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<v Speaker 1>The first snowmobile was invented by a fifteen year old,

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<v Speaker 1>So I'm gonna match your fifteen year old fact with

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<v Speaker 1>one of my own. I feel like inventing a snowmobile

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<v Speaker 1>is like a little bit more impressive than getting your

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<v Speaker 1>grandmom to sow some ear must Yeah. Well, the story

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<v Speaker 1>is pretty fascinating. So apparently in ninety two there was

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<v Speaker 1>this kid from Quebec named Joseph Armand Bombardier, and he

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<v Speaker 1>built and tested the first full scale snowmobile. So Joe

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<v Speaker 1>Armand had been interested in playing with mechanical things since

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<v Speaker 1>he was a kid, and had been making his own

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<v Speaker 1>since he was thirteen. He built these toy tractors and

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<v Speaker 1>boats for his younger siblings. He made a steam powered

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<v Speaker 1>spinning wheel for his aunt, and even a miniature train

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<v Speaker 1>that he built with this old clock part. So yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>the guy was pretty resourceful. But none of those prior

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<v Speaker 1>works could prepare Bombardier's family for what he sprang on

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<v Speaker 1>them on New Year's Eve. So, taking a queue from

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<v Speaker 1>the locals, he had started with the model T engine,

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<v Speaker 1>but rather than use the rest of the car, this

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<v Speaker 1>young inventor instead mounted the engine to two wooden sleds

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<v Speaker 1>that he hitched together. And if that doesn't sound dangerous enough,

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<v Speaker 1>he also added a handmade wouldn't propeller to the back

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<v Speaker 1>of the engine to help propel the rig through the snow.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean this guy, this is I love this story anyway. Actually,

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<v Speaker 1>it was that last part that ultimately led his dad

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<v Speaker 1>to order the contraption be dismantled. Although Bombardier's younger brother

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<v Speaker 1>was able to pilot the prototype snowmobile for more than

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<v Speaker 1>half a mile, watching his son's speed across the snow

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<v Speaker 1>that close to an open propeller, he said, made his

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<v Speaker 1>stomach turn. That is incredible. And of course, like as

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<v Speaker 1>a dad watching your kid like wander on this like

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<v Speaker 1>rickety contraption. What's also amazing to me is like the

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<v Speaker 1>fact that h Bombardier got his hands on an engine,

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<v Speaker 1>like a fifteen year old kid, just like ending up

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<v Speaker 1>with an engine and two slights and this stuff. Especially

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<v Speaker 1>at that time, you wouldn't think that it would be

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<v Speaker 1>that easy. But anyway, later on, when his dad wasn't

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<v Speaker 1>hovering over him, he perfected the invention, adding caterpillar treads

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<v Speaker 1>to the design. That's pretty amazing. So here's what I

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<v Speaker 1>didn't know. It's that Eddie Bauer invented the first puffy

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<v Speaker 1>down jacket in and he actually has a pattern on it.

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<v Speaker 1>The jacket was originally called the blizzard Proof Jacket and

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<v Speaker 1>later was rebranded as the Skyliner. I guess. But Bower's

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<v Speaker 1>coat was unusual because it used goose down to maximize

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<v Speaker 1>warmth and breath of ability. But the thing that's most

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<v Speaker 1>interesting about this whole story is that the coat was

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<v Speaker 1>actually created out of necessity. It was after Bauer had

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<v Speaker 1>nearly died of hypothermia while on a winter fishing trip,

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<v Speaker 1>so you can imagine not only was Bauer the owner

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<v Speaker 1>of this sporting good store that was kind of famous,

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<v Speaker 1>but he also loved the outdoors. So this was January.

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<v Speaker 1>His friend asked him to go fishing, and he decided

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<v Speaker 1>to jump with the chance, and the day went super well.

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<v Speaker 1>They caught about a hundred pounds of steel head in

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<v Speaker 1>a matter of hours, which is I guess impressive. But

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<v Speaker 1>as Bauer was hiking back to his car, he was

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<v Speaker 1>soaked from the sweat and also just tired from this

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<v Speaker 1>bag of fish he was hauling, and he started to

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<v Speaker 1>fall asleep on his feet. Apparently the moisture in the

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<v Speaker 1>wool clothes that actually frozen in the cold and hypothermia

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<v Speaker 1>was setting in. But Bauer was an outdoorsman. He was

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<v Speaker 1>quick thinking he actually had a gun on him, so

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<v Speaker 1>he shot it twice in the air to signal to

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<v Speaker 1>his friend, and his friend came running him and saved him.

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<v Speaker 1>But apparently after he almost died from hypothermia, he realized

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<v Speaker 1>that people really needed a lightweight jacket that could be

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<v Speaker 1>worn comfortably, especially in cold weather while they were doing

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<v Speaker 1>things that were like strenuous or working or whatever. And

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<v Speaker 1>the very next year, he invented the down jacket. Wow.

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<v Speaker 1>I actually didn't realize that Eddie Bauer himself had invented

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<v Speaker 1>so many of these things. But well, here here's a

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<v Speaker 1>quick one, since we're talking about staying warm. I was

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<v Speaker 1>actually looking up facts about mitten's, so I actually looked

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<v Speaker 1>at facts about mints too, But the only thing I

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<v Speaker 1>found that was even remotely interesting was there's something called

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<v Speaker 1>a beer mitten. Well, even though I was about to

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<v Speaker 1>share my fact, I have to ask, what what is

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<v Speaker 1>a beer mitten? I guess it's like a mitten and

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<v Speaker 1>a beer cuzy in one, so like you can keep

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<v Speaker 1>your hands warm and your beer cold. It's this Icelandic

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<v Speaker 1>convention and they're all these knitting patterns from them online.

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<v Speaker 1>But the weird thing is that it's super single purpose,

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<v Speaker 1>so you can't really do anything other than drink and

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<v Speaker 1>hold a beverage in your hand if you're wearing a

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<v Speaker 1>beer mitten. But I did cut you off. So you

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<v Speaker 1>said you were looking up mittens. Well, I'm glad you

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<v Speaker 1>found something, because I didn't find anything great. But but

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<v Speaker 1>you know, one thing I did find was that mittens

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<v Speaker 1>are surprisingly old, like they've been around since prehistoric times.

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<v Speaker 1>But what's interesting is, according to a publication called Fashion Time,

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<v Speaker 1>is that the earliest gloves were found in King Tut's tomb,

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<v Speaker 1>and since he died around thirteen twenty three BC, that

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<v Speaker 1>actually makes the oldest known pair of gloves well over

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<v Speaker 1>thirty three years old. It's weird to think that gloves

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<v Speaker 1>are like three thousand years old and ear muffs are

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<v Speaker 1>only like a hundred fifty years old. But speaking of muffs,

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<v Speaker 1>which is not a transition, I normally do you know

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<v Speaker 1>what hand muffs are? I don't want her hand muffs.

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<v Speaker 1>They are like those furry cylindrical things that rich people

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<v Speaker 1>where sometimes you see him in like old Hollywood movies

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<v Speaker 1>or in ski towns, and you know, people to stuff

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<v Speaker 1>their hands into them. But apparently hand muffs have been

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<v Speaker 1>at a symbol since the fourteen hundreds, and they've actually

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<v Speaker 1>been called different things in different places. In France they're

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<v Speaker 1>called man shawn. In England they were called snuffkins, which

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<v Speaker 1>like but the name we know about came from the

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<v Speaker 1>Flemish word move or muff, and according to the Encyclopedia

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<v Speaker 1>of Clothing and Fashion, this trend grew in popularity after

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<v Speaker 1>the Colonies started sending furs to Europe, so women in

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<v Speaker 1>England and France would actually warm their hands with the

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<v Speaker 1>furs of sables or martins, and sometimes they jazz up

0:11:28.760 --> 0:11:31.160
<v Speaker 1>their muffs with stylish accessories, so listen to this. They'd

0:11:31.160 --> 0:11:34.720
<v Speaker 1>actually add bijeweled animal skulls to hang from the chain,

0:11:34.840 --> 0:11:39.000
<v Speaker 1>which is so weird to me. Also, fashionable women in

0:11:39.040 --> 0:11:41.559
<v Speaker 1>the sixteenth century would tote their tiny dogs in them,

0:11:41.559 --> 0:11:44.240
<v Speaker 1>so they're kind of like the tiny dog purses you see.

0:11:45.240 --> 0:11:48.199
<v Speaker 1>And weirdly, men also got in on this muff craze,

0:11:48.240 --> 0:11:50.880
<v Speaker 1>although of course they wanted to wear more manly furs

0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:54.520
<v Speaker 1>like otter and tiger, and people who were cash strapped

0:11:54.520 --> 0:11:57.240
<v Speaker 1>and just kind of aspiring fashionistas they had settled for

0:11:57.320 --> 0:11:59.880
<v Speaker 1>lesser animals like squirrel fur muffs. Knew there was so

0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:02.880
<v Speaker 1>to history there. Well, I feel like we've learned enough

0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:04.520
<v Speaker 1>about hand must for a while now, so why don't

0:12:04.559 --> 0:12:06.360
<v Speaker 1>we take a quick break and come back with two

0:12:06.360 --> 0:12:22.680
<v Speaker 1>more facts. Welcome back to part time Genius. We're talking

0:12:22.720 --> 0:12:25.520
<v Speaker 1>about winter inventions, all right, Mago, So what do you

0:12:25.520 --> 0:12:27.800
<v Speaker 1>want to end with here? So, in honor of my

0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:30.680
<v Speaker 1>cold which doesn't seem to go away ever, how about

0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:34.560
<v Speaker 1>we talk about Kleenex. So how long have you been sick? Now?

0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:37.680
<v Speaker 1>Is at thirty eight years? I think? So? I feel

0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:39.600
<v Speaker 1>like every time I started to get better, my kids

0:12:39.640 --> 0:12:42.640
<v Speaker 1>bring back like different germs to invade my system. But

0:12:43.360 --> 0:12:45.960
<v Speaker 1>back to clean X and stuff. It is fairly obvious

0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:49.480
<v Speaker 1>that handkerchiefs predate disposable tissues by several centuries, you know,

0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:53.640
<v Speaker 1>but the disposable option is actually older than you might guess.

0:12:53.679 --> 0:12:56.520
<v Speaker 1>It turns out the Japanese have been using disposable facial

0:12:56.520 --> 0:12:59.439
<v Speaker 1>tissues since about the seventeenth century, and they use a

0:12:59.520 --> 0:13:02.800
<v Speaker 1>super in paper called washing. The Western world, though that

0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:04.360
<v Speaker 1>they were a little later to the game. They didn't

0:13:04.400 --> 0:13:06.360
<v Speaker 1>get into until the nineteen twenties. And and that's when

0:13:06.440 --> 0:13:09.480
<v Speaker 1>Kimberly Clark Corporation, which I'm sure you've heard of, they

0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:12.960
<v Speaker 1>released clean X to the market in n But this

0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:16.040
<v Speaker 1>is the weird part. Clean X actually wasn't intended for

0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:18.920
<v Speaker 1>blowing your nose at all. Instead, clean X tissues were

0:13:18.960 --> 0:13:21.240
<v Speaker 1>originally men as a way for women to remove cold

0:13:21.280 --> 0:13:24.199
<v Speaker 1>cream and clean their faces, which is where the clean

0:13:24.280 --> 0:13:26.800
<v Speaker 1>and the name comes from. So even the early ads

0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:30.080
<v Speaker 1>from the period have like Hollywood makeup departments endorsing them,

0:13:30.080 --> 0:13:33.160
<v Speaker 1>and they show movie stars like um Helen Hayes or

0:13:33.240 --> 0:13:37.079
<v Speaker 1>Gean Harlow and how they supposedly used Kleenex to wipe

0:13:37.120 --> 0:13:40.720
<v Speaker 1>off the theater makeup, but the public sort of immediately

0:13:40.800 --> 0:13:42.640
<v Speaker 1>knew what to do with them, and within two years

0:13:42.720 --> 0:13:45.839
<v Speaker 1>Kimberly Clark was getting all these letters from customers praising

0:13:45.880 --> 0:13:50.440
<v Speaker 1>clean X as the perfect disposable handkerchief. Apparently six of

0:13:50.440 --> 0:13:53.880
<v Speaker 1>customers used Cleanex for blowing their noses, which totally outnumbered

0:13:53.880 --> 0:13:55.720
<v Speaker 1>the number who were using them to wipe off the

0:13:55.720 --> 0:13:59.679
<v Speaker 1>cold cream, and Kimberly Clark took the hint by the

0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:03.680
<v Speaker 1>company had completely changed course and changed their marketing entirely,

0:14:03.840 --> 0:14:07.520
<v Speaker 1>and Cleanex sales had doubled as a result. So, well,

0:14:07.520 --> 0:14:09.720
<v Speaker 1>what fact do you want to end on? All? Right? Well,

0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:12.440
<v Speaker 1>since I started with a fact about artificial snow, I

0:14:12.480 --> 0:14:14.199
<v Speaker 1>kind of want to end with one on how man

0:14:14.200 --> 0:14:17.480
<v Speaker 1>made snow got invented in the first place. But before

0:14:17.480 --> 0:14:19.600
<v Speaker 1>we talk about the snow, actually, let's talk about a

0:14:19.640 --> 0:14:23.280
<v Speaker 1>special kind of ice that's called rhyme. So when the

0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:25.720
<v Speaker 1>water vapor and a cloud or fog collects on the

0:14:25.760 --> 0:14:29.240
<v Speaker 1>surface of an object, it can sometimes freeze and form

0:14:29.360 --> 0:14:32.800
<v Speaker 1>this white ice frost, which is rhyme. So in the

0:14:32.880 --> 0:14:35.560
<v Speaker 1>nineties there was this low temperature lab in Canada that

0:14:35.640 --> 0:14:38.280
<v Speaker 1>was experimenting to see what kind of effect rhyme had

0:14:38.320 --> 0:14:41.560
<v Speaker 1>on the intakes of a jet engine. So to recreate

0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:45.080
<v Speaker 1>the icing effect in their lab, these researchers sprayed water

0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:47.400
<v Speaker 1>in front of the engine that they had suspended in

0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:51.359
<v Speaker 1>their wind tunnel. But instead of creating rhyme, they accidentally

0:14:51.440 --> 0:14:54.560
<v Speaker 1>started making snow, and I mean a lot of snow.

0:14:54.840 --> 0:14:57.160
<v Speaker 1>And according to the team's report, they had to shut

0:14:57.200 --> 0:15:00.200
<v Speaker 1>down the engine multiple times just to shovel snow out

0:15:00.240 --> 0:15:03.560
<v Speaker 1>of the wind tunnel. It's been so much funny, funny,

0:15:03.760 --> 0:15:06.600
<v Speaker 1>and I mean it does feel like a loud way

0:15:06.640 --> 0:15:08.880
<v Speaker 1>to make snowe right, Like, like they must have refined

0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:11.600
<v Speaker 1>snowmakers over the years, I guess so, And those Canadian

0:15:11.640 --> 0:15:15.000
<v Speaker 1>scientists were just the first who accidentally makes snow. I mean,

0:15:15.000 --> 0:15:18.760
<v Speaker 1>now the process is way quieter. So anyway, after all

0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:22.200
<v Speaker 1>these facts, who do you think deserves today's trophy? You know,

0:15:22.480 --> 0:15:25.960
<v Speaker 1>I like the one about the ear muff dude Chester,

0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:28.240
<v Speaker 1>but I actually really love I feel like the one

0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:30.480
<v Speaker 1>that's gonna be most memorable to me is the corn

0:15:30.480 --> 0:15:32.960
<v Speaker 1>flake fact and the fact that people used to paint

0:15:33.000 --> 0:15:35.400
<v Speaker 1>all these corn flakes white to make snow in movies.

0:15:35.640 --> 0:15:37.960
<v Speaker 1>It's crazy. I think that's probably my favorite fact. So

0:15:38.440 --> 0:15:40.800
<v Speaker 1>I I think you deserve the trophy today. All right, well,

0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:43.320
<v Speaker 1>I will take and that's it for today's part time Genius.

0:15:43.360 --> 0:15:45.760
<v Speaker 1>If you've got some fun snow or ice or winter

0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:48.200
<v Speaker 1>facts to share, we'd love to hear those from you.

0:15:48.240 --> 0:15:50.400
<v Speaker 1>We also love to just hear topics from you guys,

0:15:50.440 --> 0:15:53.080
<v Speaker 1>if you ever have ideas for episodes, but from gave

0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:56.000
<v Speaker 1>Tristan Mango. Actually, I think Tristan fell asleep in his

0:15:56.080 --> 0:16:10.440
<v Speaker 1>slank at Mango, but anyway, thanks so much for listening.