The hand-cranked ice-cream freezer was invented by Nancy Johnson of Philadelphia in 1843: a bucket of ice, a paddled cylinder inside and a crank.
Before that it was beaten by hand for hours. She sold the patent for $200.
More amazing facts
- 1841 · 1848 Russia's fort in California was bought by John Sutter — the man whose sawmill started the Gold Rush.
- 1843 The first computer program was written by Lord Byron's daughter in 1843, about a century before the first computers.
- 1843 · 1876 The fax machine is 33 years older than the telephone.
- 1844 In May 1844 Morse sent the first telegram from Washington to Baltimore; ten days later the last pair of great auks was killed in Iceland.
- 1844 Heinrich Heine coined 'Lisztomania' in 1844.
- 1844 · 1846 Anaesthesia was inspired by party tricks.