The Trading Floor

[Arctec]

Did you know?

Henry Waterman, of New York, invented the elevator in 1850. He intended it to transport barrels of flour.

The first words that Thomas A. Edison spoke into the phonograph were, "Mary had a little lamb."

In the early 1800s, a French silk weaver called Joseph-Marie Jacquard invented a way of automatically controlling the warp and weft threads on a silk loom by recording patterns of holes in a string of cards

In 1843, a mathematician, Ada Byron, published the first computer programs. She based them on Jacquard's punch-card idea. Her programs were for the first general-purpose mechanical digital computer that was just invented by Charles Babbage.

The toothbrush was invented in 1498.

At the turn of the century, most light bulbs were hand-blown, and the cost of one was equivalent to half a day's pay for the average U.S. worker.

Camel's-hair brushes are not made of camel's hair. They were invented by a man named Mr. Camel.

Phone service was established at the White House one year after its invention. President Rutherford B. Hayes was the first to have phone service (1877-81).

Fifteen years after its invention in 1876, there were five million phones in America. Fifteen years after its invention, more than 33 million wireless phones were in the U.S.

Ferdinand Porsche, who later went on to build sports cars bearing his own name, designed the original 1936 Volkswagen.

The first commercial vacuum cleaner was so large it was mounted on a wagon. People threw parties in their homes so guests could watch the new device do its job.

The first VCR, made in 1956, was the size of a piano.

It has been determined that less than one patented invention in a hundred makes any money for the inventor.