A Designer’s Unusual Request
Fredric Baur, the designer of the Pringles can, had part of his ashes buried in a Pringles container at his request.
Knowledge Base
History
People, products, decisions, and stories carried forward from the past.
Forty Hours of Careful Handwriting
Jacob Shallus, an assistant clerk for the Pennsylvania General Assembly, produced the final handwritten copy of the United States Constitution in about 40 hours. He was paid $30 for the work.
The Declaration Was Not Fully Signed on July 4
The Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776, but it was not signed by every delegate that day. Most delegates signed the engrossed parchment on August 2, while several added their names later.
Oxford Is Older Than the Aztec Empire
Teaching existed at Oxford by 1096. The Aztec Triple Alliance, commonly used to mark the beginning of the Aztec Empire, formed in 1428—more than three centuries after teaching had already begun at Oxford.
The Fax Came Before the Telephone
The fax machine traces its invention to 1843, decades before Alexander Graham Bell received his telephone patent in 1876. The technology developed slowly, but the basic idea of transmitting images over wires arrived before transmitted speech became practical.