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Albert Jones and the invention of corrugated cardboard

Our subject for today is corrugated cardboard.

It was on this day, 19 December* back in 1871 that New Yorker Albert Jones received the first US patent for corrugated paper board, which he proposed as a packing and shipping material. A similar form of paper corrugation had been patented years earlier, in 1856, in England, where it was used as a liner for tall hats, but Albert Jones’ patent was the first that specifically proposed it as an improved packing material.

Corrugated cardboard - simple and clever, like all the best inventions.(© All Rights Reserved)
Corrugated cardboard – simple and clever, like all the best inventions.
(© All Rights Reserved)

Jones’ original patent was for a single-face corrugation, that is, a sheet of corrugated paper lined on one side with flat cardboard paper. Oliver Long soon updated and expanded the Jones patent by patenting corrugation with lining on both sides – basically the standard cardboard packing box as we know it today.

It took a while for the concept to catch on, but by 1890 corrugated cardboard boxes were in general use. It was initially used for packaging breakable material like glass and pottery, and by the mid-20th century it had become cheap enough to be used for packing fruit and fresh produce, reducing the bruising of the fruit going from the farm to the market.

Eventually, corrugated cardboard has become so commonplace that it is pretty much ubiquitous as the preferred material for boxing and packing. In fact, it’s really hard to imagine a world without it, isn’t it?

*Some sources say the patent was issued on 20 December, but most seem to agree on 19 December being the correct date.

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Celebrating Edwin Armstrong, the man who gave us FM radio

It’s the birthday today of American engineer and inventor Edwin Howard Armstrong (18 Dec 1890 – 1 Feb 1954). In case the name doesn’t ring a bell, he is the guy who laid the foundation for much of modern day radio and broadcasting electronics.

Among other things, Armstrong invented the continuous wave transmitter, the regenerative circuit and the superheterodyne receiver. He also invented frequency modulation (FM) radio transmission. Basically, radio electronics as we know it would not have existed if it wasn’t for his fundamental contributions to the field. Some commentators have gone so far as to call him “the most prolific and influential inventor in radio history”.

Modern electronics owe much to the genius of Edwin Armstrong.(© All Rights Reserved)
Modern electronics owe much to the genius of Edwin Armstrong.
(© All Rights Reserved)

Armstrong fought a long and frustrating battle with his former employer RCA over the invention of FM radio. RCA also claimed the invention, and won the patent battle for the technology. RCA’s ownership of the key FM patents meant that Armstrong could not claim any benefits from the widespread adoption of FM radio in the USA. This sad development left him emotionally broken and financially ruined and contributed to his suicide in 1954. What makes the story even more depressing is that Armstrong posthumously won most of his patent lawsuits against RCA, making him a very rich, dead man. His wife, Marion McInnis, used the money from the patents to establish the Armstrong Memorial Research Foundation, with which she was involved until her death in 1979.

It remains one of life’s cruel misfortunes that, as a result of corporate legal wrangles, a brilliant individual like Edwin Armstrong was never able during his lifetime to get the recognition he so richly deserved.

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Sophus Lie and the secret mathematical code

Today we celebrate the birthday of one of the great names in mathematics, Norwegian Sophus Lie (17 Dec 1842 – 18 Feb 1899). Lie made fundamental contributions to the theories of algebraic invariants, continuous groups of transformations and differential equations. Two concepts, Lie groups and Lie algebras, have been named after him.

Beyond being a great mathematician, Lie was, for a short while, also mistakenly considered to be a great spy. He was in Paris during the outbreak of the 1870 French-German war, and decided to leave France for Italy. Before he made it to the Italian border, however, the French arrested him as a German spy.  Reason being, they found his mathematics notes, and thought these were secret, coded messages.

A stack of papers with weird notes and symbols - can you blame military security for thinking they just arrested a super spy!?(© All Rights Reserved)
A stack of papers with weird notes and symbols – can you blame military security for thinking they just arrested a super spy!?
(© All Rights Reserved)

It was only after the French mathematician, Gaston Darboux, intervened and confirmed that the notes was in fact legitimate mathematics, that Lie was released.

Based on this experience, Lie decided that perhaps it was safer to return home and continue his work in the Norwegian town of Christiania, where he had originally studied mathematics.

The moral of the story, I guess, is that if you plan on travelling through a war zone with your math notes, keep them plain and simple, or keep them very well hidden!

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Staining the seas at the Boston Tea Party

It’s quite an uncanny coincidence, but a day after International Tea Day, we have the commemoration of the Boston Tea Party, a political protest by a group called the Sons of Liberty, in Boston, Massachusetts. The protest was aimed against the tax policy of the British government and the East India Company that controlled all the tea imported into British colonies.

British colonies had long rebelled against taxes imposed by the British Parliament, claiming they had no obligation to pay. Parliament ended up retracting the taxes, but kept a duty on tea. While this meant tea would be cheaper to the colonies than before, the duty that was still charged was seen as a statement by Parliament that it retained the right to tax colonies, and this resulted in widespread reaction.

When three tea ships from the East India Company arrived in Boston, a furious reaction followed. On 16 December 1773, 7000 locals gathered at the wharf where the ships were docked. It was insisted that the tea ships should leave the harbour without paying the required customs duty, but the Collector of Customs would not release the ships before they paid their duties. This stalemate pushed events to a head, and by early evening a group of about 200 men in disguise gathered on a nearby hill, marched to the wharf, boarded the ships and proceeded to turn Boston Harbour into a giant teacup by dumping all the crates of tea from the three ships into the harbour.

The Boston Tea Party - more than a storm in a teacup!(© All Rights Reserved)
The Boston Tea Party – more than a storm in a teacup!
(© All Rights Reserved)

The act of defiance was initially simply known as “the destruction of the tea”, and only started being referred to as the Boston Tea Party some 50 years later, when newspapers started referencing the event as such. Two books released in the 1830’s, “Traits of the Tea Party” and “A Retrospect of the Tea-Party”, cemented the name in popular culture.

From the Boston revolt, action spread to other colonies, with cities such as New York, Charleston and Annapolis also experiencing tea dumped off ships or burned in protest. Over the years the Boston Tea Party became a symbol of protest to many political activists.

Personally, I am just curious what all the tea dumped in the harbour did to the local marine population?  Given the range of suggested health benefits of tea that I mentioned yesterday, I can just imagine there must have been some fish swimming around with extremely strong cardiovascular systems and super immunity!

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Celebrating your favourite brew on International Tea Day

Today, 15 December, is International Tea Day, observed mainly in the world’s tea producing countries in the East (Vietnam, Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, India) and Africa (Kenya, Malaysia, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi) . This is the day when even the coffee lovers among us should acknowledge that other beverage that many, many people enjoy so much.

In fact, after water, tea is said to be the most widely consumed beverage in the world. While its exact origins are unknown, tea drinking was first recorded in China, as early as the 10th century BC. It remained an oriental delicacy until it was first imported to Europe by Portuguese explorers in the 16th century. The habit of tea drinking hit Great Britain around 1660, but only gained widespread popularity with the Brits around the 19th century, from which point they pretty much claimed it as part of their national culture.

Have a cup of green tea, and drink to your health.(© All Rights Reserved)
Have a cup of green tea, and drink to your health.
(© All Rights Reserved)

One of the great things about tea is the wide range available. ‘Standard’ tea, made from the tea plant, Camellia sinensis, is available as green tea (made with the unfermented tea leaves) or black tea (made by post-fermented leaves). The tea plant is also used to produce white tea, oolong tea and pu-erh tea. Then there are all the so-called herbal teas – chamomile, mint, rooibos, rosehip and more. All teas have distinctive flavours; different types of tea can be blended together, and all the teas can be blended with various other additives – herbs, citrus skin, and much, much more.

Chemically, tea is filled with bioactive chemicals – amino acids, vitamins, caffeine, flavinoids, polysaccharides – which have been associated with a range of health benefits, including protection against cancer and cardiovascular disease. Green tea, in particular, appear to have significant protective effects against a range of cancers.

Tea may also boost your immune system and increase your metabolism.

Pretty impressive – maybe I should swop more of my daily coffee shots for some health-boosting tea beverages!

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Lyle’s golden syrup – turning waste into gold

Today we celebrate the birthday of Abram Lyle (14 Dec 1820 – 30 Apr 1891), Scottish ship owner, sugar refiner, and the man who gave the world Lyle’s Golden Syrup.

Starting his career in the shipping industry, Lyle later started supplying casks to ship Caribbean sugar and molasses. This got him into the sugar business, starting the Glebe Sugar Refinery with some partners. One of the by-products of the sugar cane refining process was a treacle-like syrup that usually goes to waste, but with the help of chemist Charles Eastick, Lyle found a way to refine it further to make a preserve, called golden syrup.

Yummy pancakes, made that little bit extra special with the compliments of Abram Lyle and his wonderful golden syrup. (© All Rights Reserved)
Yummy pancakes, made that little bit extra special thanks to Abram Lyle and his wonderful golden syrup.
(© All Rights Reserved)

Lyle’s golden syrup was sold in tins featuring a drawing of a rotting lion carcass with a swarm of bees, referring to the bible story where Samson was traveling in the land of the Philistines to find a wife. During his journey he killed a lion, and when he later passed the same way he noticed a swarm of bees had started a hive in the carcass, producing honey inside the lion. From this, Samson created the riddle “Out of the eater came forth meat and out of the strong came forth sweetness”, and the last bit of this riddle, “Out of the strong came forth sweetness”, became the slogan for Lyle’s Golden Syrup.

Golden syrup, being made from those sugars that did not crystalise during refinement, consists mostly of glucose and fructose. It is more water soluble than sucrose, and as a result less likely to form crystals, remaining syrupy under normal room temperatures. It is also sweeter than sucrose, so when using golden syrup as a sugar replacement in cooking etc, about 25% less golden syrup is needed to match the sweetness of sugar.

I am always endlessly impressed by people like Abram Lyle: those individuals who look at something that others see as a problem, or as waste – in this case the treacle waste – and instead see it as an opportunity to create something new and original.

With Lyle’s end product being golden syrup, I guess this really is a case of turning waste into gold.

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About clip-on ties, real ties and mathematics

Rumor has it that today, 84 years ago in 1928, some clever folk came up with the concept of the clip-on tie. You know, those ties that look like the real deal, but instead of being tied around your neck just consist of the hanging bit with a permanent knot at the top, which can be attached to your shirt via a little metal clip stuck to the back of the knot.

Try as you might, but a clip-on tie will never have the 'oomph' of a classy, properly tied tie.(© All Rights Reserved)
Try as you might, but a clip-on tie will never have the ‘oomph’ of a classy, properly tied tie.
(© All Rights Reserved)

I’m not sure if it was originally designed for people too lazy to tie a tie, or for people who had difficulty mastering the skill, but it proved to be quite a useful invention. Disabled people can use it without trouble. So can kids. Cops and security personnel wear clip-on ties as a safety precaution – it negates the potential risk of being strangled by your conventional necktie. Similarly, people in factory environments who wear ties are also advised to wear clip-ons – in the unfortunate event that the tie gets caught in a piece of machinery, it will simply clip off, rather than pulling its owner into the machine as well. (Then again, why people in factories would wear ties I have no idea.)

On the downside, clip-ons aren’t exactly haute couture – you are unlikely to get a designer-styled, silk clip-on tie. And a clip-on tie pretty much looks like a clip-on tie – the unique individuality of a slightly unsymmetrical knot is not an option. And of course you cannot go for the cool chic of the ‘loosened tie look’ with your clip-on tie – well, I guess you can clip it on to one side of your loosened collar, but somehow it just ain’t going to have the same effect!

So what does a clip-on tie have to do with science, you may ask? Well, very little, but it did bring to mind a mathematics book by Thomas Fink and Yong Mao, called ‘The 85 ways to tie a tie’ – a book where the authors use concepts from topology and a mathematical representation of knots to prove that a conventional neck tie can be tied in exactly 85 possible ways. The 85 ways are pretty theoretical – apparently only a dozen or so are sufficiently unique and handsome to be sensible candidates for an actual tie knot.

Yes, today is about ties, but as is often the case, the maths are lurking just below the surface!

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Outer space … and the peaceful use thereof

I am sure more than enough blogs today will be denoted to the date 12-12-12, and the significance of this date in numerology, the Mayan calender and who knows what other esoteric contexts.

So, let me rather discuss another event celebrated today – on this day back in 1959, the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs set up it’s Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, also known as COPUOS.

Space - a big topic for an UN subcommittee.(© All Rights Reserved)
Space – a big topic for an UN subcommittee.
(© All Rights Reserved)

The mandate of COPUOS is “to review the scope of international cooperation in peaceful uses of outer space, to devise programmes in this field to be undertaken under United Nations auspices, to encourage continued research and the dissemination of information on outer space matters, and to study legal problems arising from the exploration of outer space.”

While this may seem a bit ‘out there’ to most of us earth-bound human beings, it is quite an interesting concept, and I guess in a way nice that there is at least some body responsible for keeping human extraterrestrial activities in check – we all know what silly things us humans can do with new things and domains that we don’t yet fully comprehend, and where we don’t quite understand the potential consequences of our actions.

The idea for the committee came up shortly after the launch of the first artificial satellite in 1958, right at the time when human interest (among both the scientific community and the general public) in outer space started seriously picking up, and about a decade before the first moon landing. Starting with 24 members, the committee has since grown to 71 members, making it one of the largest committees in the UN. Personally, the mind boggles when I look at the member list – you have to ask yourself what some of these countries could possibly contribute to the discussion on outer space. But then again, it is surprising what some countries spend their national budgets on…

Actually, thinking about it, perhaps it’s not strange that COPUOS is such a big committee. Space is, after all, a pretty big topic.  In the words of Douglas Adams: “Space is big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the drug store, but that’s just peanuts to space.”

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Celebrating mountain life on International Mountain Day

Today, 11 December, is International Mountain Day. This is an awareness creation opportunity to focus attention on the giants in our midst, the mountains of the world. What makes this year special is that it is the tenth anniversary of the International Year of Mountains, 2002.

Mountains are a critical part of our ecosystem – whether we live at sea level or up in the highlands, our lives are connected to the mountains, in more ways than we may be aware.

Mountains cover approximately a quarter of the earth’s surface. They are key for collecting freshwater, they support a rich diversity of fauna and flora (in climates ranging from tropical rain forests to permanent ice and snow), they impact on our weather and climatic conditions, and they are home to more than a tenth of the world’s population. Yet, as stated on the Food and Agriculture Alliance of the United Nations‘ website, “environmental degradation, the consequences of climate change, exploitative mining, armed conflict, poverty and hunger threaten the extraordinary web of life that the mountains support.”

The Drakensberg mountain range between South Africa and Lesotho - home to many, source of ecotourism and important influence on the climate of the region.(© All Rights Reserved)
The Drakensberg mountain range between South Africa and Lesotho – home to many, source of ecotourism and important influence on the climate of the region.
(© All Rights Reserved)

International Mountain Day supports sustainable mountain development, promoting environmental sustainability of mountainous regions, and also mobilising resources to improve the livelihood of mountain communities. To this end, the theme for 2012 is ‘Celebrating Mountain Life’. People living in mountainous areas often face treacherous physical conditions – avalanches, landslides, earthquakes, eruptions, and floods. While they have adapted to the conditions, employing low-impact, risk-resilient land-use systems, they often remain politically and economically marginalised, lacking access to basic health and education services. Sustainable mountain development is key in improving the livelihood of the isolated communities living in the mountains. Achieving this requires a holistic, integrated approach taking into account water, biodiversity, tourism and infrastructure development.

While I am unsure what we as individuals can really do to contribute to this cause, at least a day like International Mountain Day reminds us of the importance of these splendid landforms, and should at least increase our appreciation and understanding of the complexity of the political, economical and environmental issues faced in sustainable mountain development.

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Melvil Dewey and the classification of knowledge

Today is the birthday of Melvil Dewey, the American librarian and educator, and inventor of the Dewey Decimal System of library classification. In memory of Melvil Dewey, today is the Dewey Decimal System Day.

The Dewey Decimal System, or Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) is a numerical system of library classification first proposed by Dewey in 1876. Since its inception, the classification has been revised and expanded through 23 editions, the latest issued in 2011. Basically the system provides a framework within which a library book is assigned a ‘DDC number’ that unambiguously locates it in a specific space of shelving in the library, making it easy to find and return to its proper place.

For every subject, there's a Dewey classification number - in this case, environmental pollution.(© All Rights Reserved)
For every subject, there’s a Dewey classification number – in this case, environmental pollution.
(© All Rights Reserved)

The Dewey system classifies all books into 10 basic categories:

  • 000 – Computer science, Library and Information science & general work
  • 100 – Philosophy and psychology
  • 200 – Religion
  • 300 – Social sciences
  • 400 – Language
  • 500 – Science
  • 600 – Technology
  • 700 – Arts
  • 800 – Literature
  • 900 – History, geography & biography

While fiction books can also fit into the Dewey system (in the 800s), most libraries reserve the system for non-fiction works, rather classifying fiction using a basic alphabetic author-based system.

The Dewey system is used by no less than 200 000 libraries in more than 135 countries. It’s main competitor is the American Library of Congress Classification, which is more complex, but does have the advantage that it allows for the addition of new categories, which makes it more future-proof. The Library of Congress Classification is, however, very US-centric, and despite its increased adaptability it has been much less widely adopted than the Dewey system.

To what extent Dewey’s Decimal System will be able to continue remaining relevant as the knowledge landscape changes remains to be seen, but there can be no doubt that Melvil Dewey made a huge contribution to the classification and accessibility of knowledge the world over. And that must be a good thing.