Innovative Tuesday: Dual Inventions - Comptometers & Lighters

      Hello everybody and welcome back to another edition of Global History Hub! I'll be your host, Mr. Nations, your tour guide to this massive world we all call home! On today's edition of Innovative Tuesday, we'll be taking a look at two interesting inventions. Well, what are we waiting for? Let's dive straight into it, shall we?

     Comptometer:

     The comptometer is a direct predecessor to the modern calculator. The comptometer was a large mechanical brick that assisted the operator of the machine is completing speedy calculations. The inventor of the comptometer was a man named Dorr Felt. He began working on his prototype during the Thanksgiving holidays of 1864 and due to budgetary restrictions, he was forced to use several subpar materials to complete the machine. Businesses, upon realizing the potential of these marvelous machines, immediately hired Felt to build a practical model of his machine. By 1887, there were eight production machines. 

     The comptometer was competing with several other machines, namely the arithmometer and it's various clones. It took several months for the device to sell its first hundred units, and even then the popularity of the machine was low. Soon comptometers would fall out of favor for the consumer and would be replaced with the desktop calculator.

     The first comptometer:

     

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comptometer#:~:text=The%20comptometer%20is%20the%20direct%20descendant%20of%20the,keys%20of%20Hill%27s%20machine%2C%20the%20comptometer%20was%20invented.

     Lighter:

     For centuries, humans have been looking for quick and reliable ways to start fires. Engineers had been experimenting with different ways to light fires, and a method had been discovered that involved using combustible liquids ignited with a small spark generated by the user. The first prototypes that utilized this method were enormous and thus were not very popular.

     In 1932, Zippo was founded and they used a material called naphtha and the lighter became an instant success. They rose to fame by claiming they had wind-proof flames, unlimited reliability, and were overall very cheap. Lighters are still used today, but mainly to light cigarettes rather than to start fires. 

     Zippo lighter:

     

     Sources: http://www.historyofmatches.com/lighter-history/history-of-lighters/#:~:text=First%20lighter%20was%20invented%20in%201823%20with%20the,fire%20could%20reliably%20be%20created%20in%20an%20instant.