A Manager of a retail clothing store is reviewing a potential employee’s application and notices that the man has never worked in retail before. He says to the man, “For a man with no experience, you are certainly asking for a high wage.”
“Well Sir,” the applicant replies, “the work is so much harder when you don’t know what you’re doing!"
Fire sprinkler patentIn 1872, the first U.S. patent for an automatic sprinkler system was issued to Phillip W. Pratt, of Abington, Mass., titled “Improvement in Fire-Extinguishers” (No. 131,370). The system consisted of overhead, pivoted water-arms or perforated pipes, which when connected to a supply of water from a supply-pipe would revolve rapidly, throwing water in all directions, wetting ceiling, walls and floor. This operation was controlled by a valve opened by a spring-loaded lever, held closed by a system of cords and fuses. In case of a fire, when the fuses ignited, the cords burned, and the valve opened releasing the scattered stream of water. Pratt was an inventor holding a number of other patents, and is also credited with demonstrating the first electrically powered automobile in the U.S., a tricycle, on 27 Jul 1888. |
