Good morning.
Here in Whitewater it’s a Thursday with mostly sunny skies and a high temperature of thirty-one. It Burlington, VT it’s about the same: mostly sunny with a high temp of thirty-eight.
In the City of Whitewater this evening, there’s a meeting about a Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) Schedule and Milwaukee Street Reconstruction Design. A key feature of a plan is finishing in a timely way, and I’m sure that’s abound to happen eventually, for at least one project. That’s simply the optimist in me.
The Wisconsin Historical Society remembers a noted Wisconsin inventor:
1917 – Inventor John F. Appleby Dies
On this date the inventor of the twine-binder, John F. Appleby died. Appleby was raised on a wheat farm in Wisconsin and searched for an easier way to harvest and bundle grains. His invention gathered severed spears into bundles and bound the sheaves with hempen twine. His invention, which was pulled by horses, was a great success. In 1878 William Deering, a farm machinery manufacturer secured the right to use Appleby’s patent and sold 3,000 twine harvesters in a single year.
In 1882 the McCormicks (of the McCormick reapers) paid $35,000 for the privilege to manufacture Appleby’s invention. Appleby spent the rest of his life in his shop trying to create additional successful machinery. [Source: Badger Saints and Sinners by Fred L. Holmes]
Google’s puzzle for today involves the unexpected combination of patents and beer: “Beer drinkers weren’t the only fans of U.S. patent 135,245. Thirteen years later, a chemist borrowed the same idea for what popular non-alcoholic beverage?”