The Oliver Typewriter Company had begun operating in 1895, with its headquarters on the ninth floor of a building on the corner of Clark and Randolph Street in Chicago. In 1896, manufacturing moved from Iowa to Woodstock, Illinois, when the City of Woodstock donated a vacant factory once used by the Wheeler and Tappan Company on the condition that the Oliver Typewriter Company remain there at least five years. Manufacturing was divided into six departments: type bar, carriage, assembly, tabulators and adjustment, inspection, and an aligning room. The company's headquarters moved to the Oliver Building, now a Chicago landmark on the National Register of Historic Places, when it was completed in 1907.
Starting in 1899, the company established sales networks by encouraging customers to become local distributors. This method of marketing relied on word of mouth and emphasized sales made directly to neighbors (door-to-door) and, after 1905, sales on credit. In response to increased competition in the late 1910s, however, the company eliminated its network of local salesman and used the resulting savings in commissions to reduce the typewriter's $100 ($1,400 in 2017) price by half. Sales increased and, at its peak, the company's labor force of 875 was producing 375 machines daily.Some time ago, I was with one of my grandchildren and ran across a photo of a typewriter. On a whim, I ask my grandson if he knew what the machine was. He had no idea and had never seen a typewriter in his life. An interesting experience for someone who learned how to type on a typewriter that was not much different than this one.
Eureka's role as the central financial point for the district ensured its survival. It housed business establishments, including the second-ever JCPenney store (then called the Golden Rule Store), financial institutions, local and county governmental buildings including Eureka City Hall (1899) and a Juab County Courthouse (1892), various churches, and the meeting places for numerous labor, social, and fraternal organizations. Mining entrepreneurs such as John Q. Packard, John Beck, Jesse Knight, and Walter Fitch Sr. were important figures in Eureka and Tintic history. In 1979, Eureka was placed in the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Tintic Mining District Multiple Resource Area, recognizing the importance of remaining buildings and sites.We are seeing just such a change today with many of the large department stores, such as J. C. Penny, struggling to stay in business. Tomorrows abandoned stores may be today's malls.
Silver City is a ghost town located at the mouth of Dragon Canyon on the west flank of the East Tintic Mountains in northeast Juab County in central Utah, United States. It was a silver mining town approximately 90 miles (140 km) south-southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah. This area was considered part of the Tintic Mining District and also produced bismuth, copper, gold, and lead. Settlement began with the first mining strikes here in 1869. Silver City was inhabited until 1930 after the mines ran out. Jesse Knight, known as the "Mormon Wizard" for his ability to find ore easily, decided to build a smelter in Silver City because it had the flattest ground in all of the Tintic Mining District. Silver City had several mines in 1890, but the mines hit water and were abandoned. Now there is nothing left other than a few holes where mines were, and a number of tailings piles.It is interesting how quickly the desert takes over and the cement walls of the smelter take on the patina of the desert. When I view something as strange as this ruin spread over acres of land, I have a tendency to view the entire subject as an abstract. Here, the walls of the smelter have lost their identity as a human artifact and have become organic.
Over one thousand polypore species have been described to science, but a large part of the diversity is still unknown even in relatively well-studied temperate areas. Polypores are much more diverse in old natural forests with abundant dead wood than in younger managed forests or plantations. Consequently, a number of species have declined drastically and are under threat of extinction due to logging and deforestation.The article goes on to explain shelf fungi,
Bracket fungi, or shelf fungi, are among the many groups of fungi that comprise the division Basidiomycota. Characteristically, they produce shelf- or bracket-shaped or occasionally circular fruiting bodies called conks that lie in a close planar grouping of separate or interconnected horizontal rows. Brackets can range from only a single row of a few caps, to dozens of rows of caps that can weigh several hundred pounds. They are mainly found on trees (living and dead) and coarse woody debris, and may resemble mushrooms. Some form annual fruiting bodies while others are perennial and grow larger year after year. Bracket fungi are typically tough and sturdy and produce their spores, called basidiospores, within the pores that typically make up the undersurface.I have always been fascinated by fungi, especially shelf fungi and mushrooms. I often wonder how different my life might have been had I pursued my interest and become a mycologist instead of an attorney. This is an area of study where a person could really make some major contributions.
By the late 19th century, many American workers were paid in cash. Putting together packets with precisely the right bills and coins was a tedious task. In the 1890s, Edward J. Brandt, a cashier at the Bank of Watertown in Watertown, Wisconsin, invented a machine that could dispense change automatically.
The machine dispenses change in amounts between 1 cent and 99 cents. It has eight channels across the front, three for pennies, one for nickels, two for dimes, one for quarters and one for 50-cent pieces. Above and behind the channels is an array of 99 plastic keys, numbered from 1 to 99. Pressing another key, marked "5," releases five pennies. On the right are keys marked 10, 25, 25 and 100 that give change for these amounts. The entire coin holder can be removed from the mechanism for storage of coins. Pushing down a key moves a bar that pushes coins from a channel into a compartment with a trap door at its base. Pushing the trap door back releases change into the hand.
A mark on the front and the back of the machine reads reads: BRANDT AUTOMATIC CASHIER. A mark on a brass plate on the back of the machine reads: PATENTED (/) JULY 11, 1899. . . (/) DEC. 12, 1916 (/) 48184 93421 10014 PATENTS PENDING (/) T.M.Reg.U.S.Pat.Off. (/) Brandt Manufacturing Company (/) WATERTOWN, WISCONSIN. The serial number, marked on the right side at the front, is 22446.Brandt’s machine received medals at the 1900 Universal Exposition in Paris and the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. This example dates from the 1920s.However, I took the photo myself in the Augusta (Georgia) Museum of History. This example does date from the 1920s.
A cypress knee is a distinctive structure forming above the roots of a cypress tree of any of various species of the subfamily Taxodioideae. Their function is unknown, but they are generally seen on trees growing in swamps. Some scientists have thought they may help in oxygenation to the tree's roots or assist in anchoring the tree in the soft, muddy soil.Technically, they are called pneumatophores. Here is a further description of their development.
Pneumatophores are erect roots that are some form of upward appendage or extension of the underground root system. Because these roots are exposed at least part of the day and not submerged underwater, the root system can obtain oxygen in an otherwise anaerobic substrate.This particular article, entitled, "Guide to the Mangroves of Singapore, How Plants Cope in the Mangroves, further explains:
In Bruguiera and Ceriops the horizontal roots growing just below the soil surface periodically grow vertically upwards then immediately loop downwards to resemble a bent knee. By repetition, a single horizontal root develops a series of knees at regular intervals.
The aerial portions (knees) of these roots help in aeration of the whole root which because it spreads so widely, improves anchorage in the unstable mud.I have always been impressed with the adaptation of plants to the dry deserts of the world, I guess I am learning about areas that have a little more water.
One of the most fascinating things i found out about pine trees is their reproductive methods. Unlike most trees which flower in order to reproduce, conifer trees (all trees that produce cones for reproduction) actually have two different kinds of cones, males and females. The male cones, which are much smaller than female cones, are responsible for spreading mass amounts of pollen to the wind. If you are a Pennsylvania native, you have no doubt walked outside in the spring only to find everything covered in a thin layer of yellow dust.
This is pollen released from the male cones looking for unfertilized female cones. As for the females, they begin as hard, tightly compacted cones with unfertilized seeds safe between closed scales. When the female cones begin growing, the scales open up slightly to allow the males pollen to reach the seed and begin the fertilization process. The scales close back up, and for the next three years they remain closed as the seeds inside grow and reach maturity. After three years, the fully grown female pinecones re-open and allow the fully grown seeds to be taken by the wind or animal in order to find soil in which it can germinate and grow into a pine tree sprout.When we saw these male pinecones, we also saw that our car was covered with pollen. I picked one of these up off of the ground and showed it to my two-year-old granddaughter and ask her what that was. Although she was only two years old she immediately said that it came from a pine tree. Some of us notice what is going on around us and others do not.
This US Civil War cannon was officially a Model 1857, light 12 pounder gun, popularly called a "Napoleon." Napoleon's were the most common and preferred canon of the Civil War by artillery men of both sides.
The 12 pounder designation means that an iron cannonball for this canon would weigh 12 pounds. Napoleon's were employed at ranges of up to 2000 yards.
The muzzle markings number 96, 1862 A. M. Co., 1223, and A. B. D. Tell us that it was the 96th gun made in 1862 by the Ames Manufacturing Company, that it weighed 1223 pounds and was accepted for the U.S. Army by ordinance officer Alexander B Dyer.The canon is located on the campus of Augusta University in Augusta, Georgia.
Located on 1100 acres with 14 miles of biking and hiking trails, and just minutes from downtown Augusta, Phinizy Swamp Nature Park offers visitors the chance to see a variety of wildlife such as Blue Heron, Red-Shouldered Hawk, Otter, Alligator and the elusive Bobcat in their natural setting. Visitors can experience the thrill of hearing Kingfisher and the chorus of a thousand Tree Frogs, or delight in the myriad of summer Dragonflies.
An average adult American alligator's weight and length is 360 kg (790 lb) and 4.0 m (13.1 ft), but they sometimes grow to 4.4 m (14 ft) long and weigh over 450 kg (990 lb). The largest ever recorded, found in Louisiana, measured 5.84 m (19.2 ft). The Chinese alligator is smaller, rarely exceeding 2.1 m (6.9 ft) in length. In addition, it weighs considerably less, with males rarely over 45 kg (99 lb).
The botanist Thomas Nuttall said he named the genus Wisteria in memory of Dr. Caspar Wistar (1761–1818). Questioned about the spelling later, Nuttall said it was for "euphony," but his biographer speculated that it may have something to do with Nuttall's friend Charles Jones Wister, Sr., of Grumblethorpe, the grandson of the merchant John Wister. (Some Philadelphia sources state that the plant is named after Wister.) As the spelling is apparently deliberate, there is no justification for changing the genus name under the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature. However, some spell the plant's common name "wistaria", and is decisively for the "wistaria" spelling.
Genetic analysis shows Callerya, Afgekia and Wisteria to be each other's closest relatives and quite distinct from other members of the tribe Millettieae. Both have eight chromosomes.We are very impressed with the flowers but, of course, we do not have to control its growth in our yard in Utah.
The Smith Premier Typewriter Company was established in 1886 by brothers; Lyman Cornelius Smith, Wilbert Smith, Monroe C. Smith and Hurlbut Smith who were born in Lisle, New York
Eldest brother, Leroy Smith, invented the Peerless typewriter in 1891, which "greatly resembled" the Smith-Premier. It had the same double keyboard with 76 characters and also had "blind type" so the typist could not see what was being printed.This rather dilapidated example of the typewriter was found in the Augusta Museum of History.
