Patent Art Prints

The term "watering pot" was first recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1580. Early versions were made of copper, and contained holes in the...

The origins of the word "photography" comes from Greek, meaning to draw with light. The word camera comes from Latin - “camera obscura” which means...

Checking the photo after snapping it on the camera is called chimping - commonly done when using a digital camera. With analogue cameras, where chi...

The world’s largest camera was built in 1899, commissioned by Chicago & Alton Railway, to take the largest photograph possible of their new tra...

In 1927, the first flash bulbs were produced by General Electric. The first bulbs were made of glass, but were eventually switched to plastic when ...

Even though digital projectors are gradually surfacing, movie theatre preference still overwhelmingly uses analogue projectors. Much of this is dow...

In 1907, the first movie theatre was opened. Prior to this, most movies were shown in traditional theatres. As for top ticket selling movie of all ...

Early cameras filmed at sixteen frames per second, which by today’s standards is incredibly slow. Modern 35mm cameras film at 25 frames per second,...

In 1928, when Walt Disney created Steamboat Willie in 1928, he only had two animators working for him. By the time he created Snow White in 1937, t...

The minimum speed required for a person to process consecutive images as movement, is thirteen frames per second. Old movies, often filmed at only ...

The stereotypical image of a movie director on location, usually includes the lightweight folding chair, and hence often referred to as the directo...

The advancement of technology has made video recording more accessible and affordable. In the mid 1950s, video recorders were sold for around $50,0...

Also called clapperboard, or slate board, they particularly played an important role in filming where the images and sounds were separately recorde...

The oldest surviving terrestrial globe was made in 1492 by Martin Behaim (1459–1537).

Dated ca 2500-2350 BC, on an Egyptian tomb, the first illustration of a cat with a collar was found. By the 12th dynasty (ca 1976-1793 BC) cats in ...

The first stethoscope was invented in 1816 by French doctor René Laënnec. Prior to this invention, physicians would carry out immediate auscultatio...

A single lens microscope was invented in the 1660s by Antony van Leeuwenhoek which was capable of magnifying an object up to 200 times. Micrograph ...

Although today, linen, wool, silk and cotton yarns are mostly used, early sewers used thread made from leather thongs, gut and grasses. It was in 1...

Traditionally, heels were for men. Riding horses required footwear with heels in order to stay in the stirrups - hence the heels on cowboy boots. S...

Isaac Merritt Singer came from humble beginnings. Working in a machine-shop in Boston in 1851, he was given a sewing machine to repair. He construc...

Studies showed that if given the opportunity to select one designer item, handbag would be the item of choice by 22% of women.

During World War II, although cosmetics were rationed, the lipstick was the only cosmetic that was kept in production under Winston Churchill's ins...

Starting with the Hobart Model-H in 1914, followed by the domestic model in 1919, the food mixer has since become a key kitchen item, often the mos...

The craze for the hourglass figure peaked in popularity in the Victorian period when steel boning was used to shape the waist, and when completely ...

With the absence of gears, old fashioned bikes relied on having bigger wheels to propel a bigger push from the pedals for speed. The large wheel al...

Purses and handbags have been a practical necessity, as well as a fantastic fashion accessory which can be traced as far back as the 14th Century. ...

The first fountain pen with a built in reservoir was produced in 1844. The first nibs were made of gold alloys. They were often dipped in a hard me...

Depending on where we are on the globe, some of us are spinning through space at just over 1,000 miles per hour. Those positioned on the equator mo...

Early forks were used in the royal courts of the Middle East going as far back as the 7th Century. By the end of the 1600s, forks in Europe had evo...

Coffee is the second most traded product in the world after petroleum. The Grand Café, in Oxford, is the site where England’s first coffeehouse was...

Show jumping began on July 28, 1868. At the inaugural Dublin Horse Show, where the competition went on for four days, the sport was then known as L...

First established in 1903, Harley-Davidson created their first motorcycle in a humble ten by fifteen wooden shed. Their vision was to create motori...

Until the 1890s, there were no golf bags, and caddies simply tied a strap around the clubs. The word, caddy is derived from the French word “cadet”...

The English inventor Henry Mill had patented a similar machine long ago in 1714, which never seems to have gone into production. The QWERTY keyboar...

Made of lead, early toy trains had no moving parts with only some made with wheels that would actually turn. From around 1875 onwards, with better ...

Ancient civilisations made spoons from materials including wood, bone, rock, gold, silver and ivory. Today, stainless steel is the most common mate...