Week 16 Summary Essay

              This week, the four inventions I learned about were salt and pepper shakers, the mason jar, the pencil eraser, and the twine binder. The inventors of these inventions were John Mason, Hyman Lipman, and John Appleby. Here is a short paragraph about each of these inventions.

              The first inventions I learned about this week were the salt and pepper shakers. They were invented and patented by John Mason in 1858. Salt and pepper shakers are simple devices that we use every day. They are basically small glass jars with a screw-top lid with the holes in it that are used to shake salt and pepper onto our food to give it flavor. After Mason’s patent expired, they were used in many industries, including the restaurant industry. Today, salt and pepper shakers are simple, but are used for the two spices during almost every meal, every house, every day.

            The second invention I learned about this week in history class was the mason jar. It was invented and patented in 1858, by the same man who invented the salt and pepper shakers in the last paragraph, John Mason. The mason jar is basically a glass jar with a screw top and metal lid. The mason jar is primarily used for home canning. Mason jars became popular among the westward moving American settlers. Today, many people use mason jars to keep food from spoiling, so we can enjoy good, and safe food every day.

             Lesson 78 was about an invention that I have been waiting to learn about for a long time, the pencil eraser. The pencil eraser was invented by Hyman Lipman who combined the two inventions (the pencil and the eraser) into one and patented his invention in 1858. However, Lipman later sold his patent to an entrepreneur, for $100,000. A pencil eraser is a device that allows you to erase pencil marks off paper, and people use it almost every day, for it is very important in our modern lives today.

              The last lesson of this week was about the twine binder. The mechanical reaper improved the rate of wheat harvesting but left more sheaves on the field than could be reasonably bound by the workers. John Appleby invented the twine binder in 1858 to overcome this problem. When attached to a reaper, it automatically bundles the sheaves of wheat as they were swept off the reaper. Appleby licensed his patent to McCormick and Deering, large manufacturers of reapers. They merged to become International Harvester, which became the biggest farm equipment manufacturer in the world at the time.

              I think my favorite invention this week was the pencil eraser. People use this invention multiple times every day. I don’t understand how people didn’t think of this useful-in-everyday-life invention. But at the same time, I am glad they did not, for Lipman would have not been able to. I am so grateful to learn about invention through RPC, and I can’t wait to see what I will learn about next week.