In celebration of
Canada’s 150th birthday, my theme for the 2017 Blogging From A to Z
Challenge, is CANADA.
Join me throughout April (every day except Sundays) to
learn more about the inventions, the people, and the cultures that make up one
of the greatest countries in the world—O CANADA!
Egg Cartons, Electric Ovens, Easy-Off & Electron Microscopes
If you had eggs
for breakfast this morning, you MAY have a Canadian (or two) to thank. The
cartons your eggs travelled in from the farm to the grocery store and then to
your house were invented by a former newspaper editor, Joseph Coyle of Smithers,
B.C., back in 1918.
After overhearing
a dispute between an egg farmer and a hotel owner about “broken eggs,” he
thought of a plan to use paper to create cartons with individual cushioned
slots. He produced them first by hand, and then developed a machine when demand
for his product became too much for him to handle on his own. The design hasn’t
actually changed that much over the years…but can you imagine if he’d never
invented those egg cartons? Talk
about scrambled eggs!
But wait, there’s
more. If your eggs were cooked on a stove, you can thank Thomas Ahearn, from
Ottawa, ON, who invented the electric
stove back in 1892. And, thanks to the work of Regina, SK native, Herbert
McCool, your oven can be squeaky clean—he invented Easy-Off in 1932. (My grandma actually has some on her cleaning
products top shelf, with the rest of her cleaning supplies.)
Plus, the electron microscope—a powerful device
used to study cells, micro-organisms, metals, and crystals—was invented by Eli
F. Burton, a physicist at the University of Toronto. He and his students
constructed the first practical version of the microscope in 1938.
See! Told you my
“E” inventions were egg-cellent. <grin>
Gotta jet! See
you tomorrow for a couple of “fun” letter “F” inventions.
Oh, and if you’re
going to Aggie Days in Calgary today, make sure to visit the author and the
illustrator of the Superman Duffy graphic novels. Dawn and James be signing and
giving away books to everyone that stops by their booth. Look for the signage!
~ Chase Superman Duffy
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