Without a doubt, Thomas Edison was one of the greatest inventive minds of modern times. But occasionally his inventions were accidental, resulting from totally unrelated observations of other things he was working on.
For example, he first came up with a printing telegraph machine, which consisted of a pen punching symbols into paper, marking it with ink/solution held in the stylus that responded to the telegraphic signals. Soon, someone noticed that the stylus and ink left marks on the surface under the paper. A mental light bulb went on, and in 1876, Edison was issued a patent for autographic printing. This was sold as a complete set, including stylus and electric motor, ink, battery, and cast-iron flat bad, similar to that used in printing presses.
Now we had the automatic copier, which came with instructions on how to use the stylus to perforate a design through holes in the top paper, and have it copied on paper underneath.
So interesting was this invention that in turn, it inspired Samuel O’Reilly to use similar technology to invent the first tattoo machine in 1891. It operated on the same principle of a pen/needle perforating skin and injecting ink. Today, such machines puncture the skin up to 3,000 times a minute, each time depositing a drop of ink, approximately 1/8 of an inch below the surface.
There would be no teapot or teakettle if tea had never been discovered. There would be no teacup, teaspoon, or tea towel, and no tea time. Two of the world’s most famous parties would have been cancelled—The colonists could not have held the Boston Tea Party in 1773, throwing 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbour. And Lewis Carroll ‘s
Alice in Wonderland would say nothing of the Mad Hatter’s and March Hare’s tea party. Luckily, tea was discovered in 2737 B.C. by a great Chinese emperor named Shen Nung. One day Shen Nung was boiling water outside when leaves from a nearby bush fell into the open kettle. Before Shen Nung could retrieve the leaves, they began to brew. He smelled the sweet aroma of the mixture and once he tasted it, the world was given tea! Tea is the most popular beverage in the world today after plain water. It was introduced in Europe in 1610, and until about two hundred years ago, people in many Asian countries used blocks or bricks of tea as money.
