Household

A toothbrush as we know today was not invented until 1938, however it is believed that an early version of a toothbrush dates back to the Ancient Egyptian in 3000 B.C.

What the Ancient Egyptians used was known as a ‘Chew Stick’, which comprised of a thin twig with a frayed edge. These sticks were then rubbed against the teeth to remove food.

Around 1600 B.C. the Chinese developed their own “chewing sticks” made from aromatic tree twigs, so not only did they clean their teeth but it helped to freshen breath.

In 1498, the Chinese invented the bristle toothbrush, which is similar to what we use today. The bristles were coarse stiff hairs from the back of a hog’s neck and these were attached to a handle made of ivory or bamboo.

Moving forward to the late 18th century, an Englishman named William Addis landed in jail for inciting a riot in 1780. To pass the time away whilst he was in prison, he carved a bone handle, drilled holes into it and inserted boar bristles that were held in place by wire. This was his first proto-type toothbrush.

When Addis finally left prison he started to mass-produce his new invention and ended up dying a very wealthy man in 1808. He left the business to his eldest son, also called William, and it stayed within the family’s ownership until 1996, and was known as Wisdom Toothbrushes.

The first American to patent a nylon toothbrush was H.N. Wadsworth on 7th November 1857, but in the United States of America, mass production of toothbrushes only started in 1885. This toothbrush had a rather advanced design with a bone handle with holes which had the hairs of a Siberian boar bored into it.

Boar bristles were used up to 1938, until a company named DuPont, developed a toothbrush with nylon fibres, with the first sale on the 24th February 1938. These proved to last longer and be more efficient than the boars hair.

This nylon toothbrush was called Doctor West’s Miracle Tuft Toothbrush. After World War II ended and people saw that the American soldiers had been very disciplined with their dental hygiene, this influenced the rest of America to adopt good oral hygiene and the nylon toothbrush became very popular.

In 1939 the Broxodent, which was the first electric toothbrush, was invented in Switzerland in 1954 by the Squibb company. At the turn of the 21st century, nylon was most commonly used for the bristles, with the handles being made from moulded thermoplastic materials.

Today, both manual and electric toothbrushes come in many shapes and sizes but mainly consist of plastic molded handles and nylon bristles.

There are now numerous shapes of handles, including straight, angled, curved, and contoured, some have extra grips and soft rubber areas to ease the hold and use.

Toothbrush bristles are now made synthetically and range from very soft in texture to harder bristle versions.

Also toothbrush heads are varied for very young children to older children and adults and come in a variety of shapes, colours and bristle textures.

As a child there are many games I can remember playing with the rest of the family, especially at Christmas. One that stands out for me is Monopoly. You know the one, places to buy, like Park Lane and Mayfair, and ‘Please pass Go’, and ‘Go directly to Jail’!! Here are some other details regarding this traditional game:

The original game of Monopoly was dreamed up by Lizzie Magie around 1905. She was opposed to capitalism and designed a game to highlight the misery of buying and selling properties. She called it The Landlord’s Game. Then some thirty years later Charles Darrow adapted the game and named it Capitalism.

There have been over 5,120,000,000 little green houses ‘constructed’ since the Monopoly game was first introduced in 1935. Trafalgar Square, Fenchurch Street Station and ‘Go’ are the three most landed on properties. The Character locked behind the bars in jail is called Jake the Jailbird and Officer Edgar Mallory sent him there.

A game was once held in an elevator and lasted 10 days, and another was played for 36 hours with the participants hanging upside down. In 1964, a 95 pound board was sold for an underwater game and in 1983, 350 members of the Buffalo Dive Club played Monopoly underwatre non-stop for 1,080 hours!!

During World War II, escape maps, compasses and files were inserted into the board and smuggled into POW camps inside Germany. Real money for escapees was slipped into the packs of Monopoly money.

These days there are many versions of Monopoly, from electronic cash machines, to localised place names. Whatever you choose, you are sure to have fun, frustration and for your children, education! As they are learning about money in a fun way without even realising it, which is always a plus with kids.

Do you ever wonder where knifes, forks, and other kitchen appliances, that we take for granted, such as the oven or refrigerator originated from? Well have a look below, you might be suprised:

The Knife – A technology that began with flints. Knives were first used as weapons until it was discovered that it was easier to cut meat than tear it apart with your teeth or fingers.

The Fork – The name fork comes from the Latin word furca, meaning “pitchfork.” The use of forks first occurred in Ancient Egypt where large forks were used as cooking utensils. It states in the Bible, in Samuel: “the priest’s servant would come while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand”. However, it was not until the 18th century that a fork was commonly used in Great Britain, although some say forks were used in France, England and Sweden by the early 17th century.

The Spoon – There are been various forms of spoons found and these were first used by the ancient Egyptians. Some were composed of ivory, flint, slate and wood and many of them would be carved with religious symbols. The earliest reference to the use of spoons appears in Edward I’s will of 1300, when he mentions, gold and silver spoons marked with the fleur-de-lis mark. One of the most interesting medieval spoons found was the coronation spoon which was used in the anointing of the English sovereign.

The Oven – The earliest ovens, almost as old as the fire, were found in Central Europe, and dated back to 29,000 BC, it was used for roasting and boiling and they were located within yurt structures. One was actually found with the remains of the last meal cooked in it, the bones of the Mammoth!

Refrigeration – The first known artificial refrigeration was demonstrated in 1748, by a Glaswegian, William Cullen. The first refrigerator to be used within a household was introduced in 1927. It was called the General Electric “Monitor-Top” refrigerator because of the resemblance to the gun turret on the ironclad warship USS Monitor of the 1860s.

Frying – The first known use of frying was by the Mesopotamians around 2,000 years ago in copper pans. Characteristically these pans are highly decorated. They have been found at sites throughout the Aegean but are not common: around 200 have been unearthed to date.

Microwave Oven – Dr. Percy Spencer invented the first microwave oven from radar technology developed after World War II. It was called a “Radarange”, and was first sold in 1947. Raytheon licensed its patents for a home-use microwave oven and was first introduced by Tappan in 1955, although these were still too large and expensive for general home use. The countertop microwave oven was then introduced in 1967 by the Amana Corporation, which was acquired by Raytheon in 1965.

So, next time you are eating your dinner with family or friends, you’ll have a topic of conversation, right at your fingertips!!