Week 15 Summary Essay
This week in history class, I learned about four more inventions that I would not really think about as inventions. These inventions were condensed milk, the sleeping car, toilet paper, and the washing machine. The inventors of these inventions were Gail Borden Jr., George Pullman, Joseph Gayetty, and Hamilton Smith. Here is a paragraph about each of these inventions.
The first invention this week was condensed milk. Its inventor was Gail Borden Jr. born in New York in 1801. Borden didn’t just invent condensed milk, but he invented other things as well. He moved to Mississippi with his brother, got married in 1828, and had six children. Unfortunately, the same year he got married his mother died of yellow fever. After Borden got married, he and his brother moved to Texas, where they were put in jail by the Mexicans. Thankfully, the American and Mexican Revolution ended a few days later, so they survived. Therefore, in 1844, his wife died of yellow fever also. He later traveled to London to exhibit a product he had invented. While he was on the ship on his way home, there were only two cows that fed the children milk. However, those cows were sick, and when the cows died, the children died, too. Because of this, he searched for a cure. He spent three years trying to perfect his recipe for condensed milk, and in 1856, he did. He began marketing his product. He had a hard time at first, but he later succeeded. He had two factories and then invested $100,000 in his third factory. That $100,000 investment later became $8,000,000, so like I said before, he became very successful. Condensed milk is milk, only heated up for a few seconds (to kill the germs), with less water, and a decent amount of sugar. The sugar is added to act as a preservative. During the Civil War, the government had thousands of cans full of condensed milk to feed the soldiers. It was delicious and it kept them from starving to death, so when some of them got home they told their wives and other friends and family members about it, so the product spread even more! Condensed milk has saved people’s lives, on ships and on the battlefield, and I am thankful for it.
The next thing I learned about this week was the sleeping car. It was invented by George Pullman, who was born in New York in 1831. He invented and patented his invention in 1856. A sleeping car provides living space for passengers traveling overnight on very long trips. Assistants later were put on trains by Pullman called porters. The porters were used to serve the passengers. They would bring them meals, help the passengers unfold the beds in the sleeping cars, and would even mend clothes for the passengers. Trains became designed more like homes and were very comfortable, nice, and reliable. The sleeping car spread throughout the United States and made other types of train cars possible. For example, the dining car, which is basically a restaurant, but in a train car. This invention made traveling much more comfortably and made it seem quicker. There are many more benefits of this invention and it has shaped history and helped make trains better.
The third thing I learned about this was something that I would definitely not think of as an invention: toilet paper. It was invented by Joseph Gayetty in 1857. Before toilet paper was invented, people used all different kinds of materials for the same purposes. For example, ancient Romans used a stick a sponge on the end of the stick. The thirteen colonies in America used corn cobs. Some people even used seashells. Toilet paper is a sanitary, soft paper that is used after using the restroom. It is clean and does not spread disease, and is disposable. Toilet paper is an extremely helpful invention that is very important and useful in our lives today.
The last lesson was about the washing machine. It was invented and patented in 1858 by a man named Hamilton Smith, who we don’t know much about. Before the washing machine was invented, women spent hours every day washing clothes. They would have to go get water from a well or a spring (if they had a spring nearby), then they would scrub the clothes, rinse the clothes, dry the clothes, iron the clothes, fold the clothes, and put them away. All at the same time taking care of children, cooking and baking, and other things that women had to do! When the washing machine was invented, this sped up the process a lot more. With Smith’s washing machine, you had to crank it. Later electricity was added to the invention in 1904. The washing machine helping in sparking the restaurant industry, because there wouldn’t be as much work to do for women, and families could spend more time together. The washing machine has been very useful in our everyday lives, and I am very grateful for them.
The inventions that I have learned about this week were very interesting, but my personal favorite was the washing machine. I can see how it is an invention, but I can also see how big of an impact on history it has. There are so many industries this invention has made possible. For example, the restaurant industry. It would not have been able to be here today if the washing machine hadn’t been invented. Why? The washing machine has made time for families to be together more. I am so grateful for all of these inventions that I have learned about in this course, and I am very excited to see what I will learn about next week.