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Q: What is the story behind Wrigley chewing gum?
A: Two of Wrigley’s now classic brands, Doublemint and Yellow Juicy (Fruit), grabbed the world’s attention at the Chicago Expo in 1893 courtesy of a young salesman named William Wrigley Jr.
Wrigley traveled from Philadelphia to Chicago in the spring of 1891. He was 29 years old, had $32 in his pocket and possessed endless enthusiasm.
His started his career trying to sell Wrigley's Scouring Soap, which was produced in his father’s factory. Wrigley offered free gifts to merchants to increase sales, knowing that such freebies would induce his customers to promote Wrigley's soap. One of these freebies was baking powder. When baking powder proved to be more popular than soap, Wrigley switched over to the baking powder business.
One day in 1892 Wrigley got the idea of offering two packages of chewing gum with each can of baking powder. The decision proved fateful, with the gum eventually overtaking the baking powder in popularity. Wrigley responded by reorienting the company to manufacture chewing gum.
Wrigley took his products to the Chicago Expo and soon people around the world had his gum in the palm of their hand. The company currently sells its products in over 180 countries and operates more than 10 factories.
Q: Where did the phonograph come from?
A: The phonograph (gramophone) was the most common device for playing recorded sound from the late 1870s until the late 1980s. This was yet another invention was brought to the world by Thomas Edison.
The phonograph was developed as a result of Edison's work on two previous inventions, the telegraph and the telephone.
It had two needles: one for recording and the other for playback. When people spoke into the mouthpiece, the sound vibrations were marked on the cylinder by the recording needle. This cylinder phonograph was the first machine capable of recording and reproducing sound.
The first-generation phonograph was shown at the Paris Expo in 1878. Edison set up his Edison Speaking Phonograph Company in January of the same year and had his invention patented on Feb 19. Then-US President Rutherford B. Hays also invited Edison to present his invention at the White House.
The phonograph established the foundation for proceding inventions such as videotape recorders.
Q: When did motor vehicles first appear?
A: Daimler’s wire-wheel car was the first automobile shown at a World Fair, in this case the 1889 Paris Expo. The first vehicle to use four wire-wheels, it was taken to the expo by Gottlieb Daimler. A new V-type engine was installed capable of firing 600 rounds per minute, which created the equivalent of 2 horsepower. Daimler’s invention was considered a key milestone in the development of the automobile.
Seventeen years later, the first car museum was founded for the Milan Expo in 1906, effectively taking the world into a new era.
