Salute to Women Inventors | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[Music]. welcome to stuff you should know a. production of iHeart. Radio hey and welcome to the podcast I'm. Josh and there's Chuck and Jerry's here. too and we're just going to play a. rousing version of Yankee doodled Andy. or something like that in the background. of this um stirring episode you got a uh. Piccolo no I'm just going to go like. this.

I'll record a track. of and we'll play that on a loop. underneath us talking Jerry said she can. do it with editing great I'm sure this. would be an alltime great. Okay the reason I want to do that is. because as I was reading this I I was um. what's the word I'm looking for I'm. toying with enthus that's not it that. sounds like the opposite of how I feel. it is inspiring but also housing mhm.

like it's just cool that there's this un. um well in in a way it's not cool it's. cool to discover the this whole group. this whole cadra of inventors that just. are overlooked that's the uncool part. they've been overlooked for so long but. there's a bunch of women inventors here. in America and around the world. presumably but we're just talking about. American ones today um that really made. some amazing contributions and. especially at first for the first. significant amount of time they really.

had an uphill battle to get their. invention like out there because of just. how generally mistreated women were yeah. absolutely uh here's a fairly horrifying. stat because it was not that long ago. but in the late 20th century uh only. about 10% of all patents were awarded to. uh women and their inventions and um. we're going to talk about some of the. reasons uh before we get going on. highlighting some of these great. inventions and some of these great women. but uh one reason obviously is just uh a.

lot of times if you were a woman and you. had an invention you had to file it uh. at least the patent under your husband's. name or your brother's or your father's. name or any man in your life that was. willing to sign on the dotted line. saying yeah that's my idea because um. you can't you can't Grant uh. intellectual property or a patent to my. sister or wife or daughter yeah remember. in the Widow's episode we talked about.

coverture which was a a woman was either. essentially an extension of her father. while she lived with her parents or her. husband after she got married and could. not she had no property rights and if. you have no property rights you can't. own intellectual property and therefore. you can't put you can't have a patent on. anything because that by definition. gives you intellectual property and that. was a huge deal um for a while in. addition to that because women were just. generally mistreated they also didn't.

have access to schooling or education. especially technical education that. would kind of help those who were. already inventive by nature to actually. like Blossom yeah and what incentive is. there too if you if you know that you. can't get a patent for something it's. going to dull your inspiration to go out. and try and invent something to begin. with because what's the point I mean. sure there's a point to inventing things. because you might make the world better. but I think a lot of the drive for.

invention is uh also to do with like. money having something in your name and. making money on it yeah. absolutely yeah but yeah having. something in your name I think is a more. sentimental way to put it for sure but. it does it does deter it and I'm sure. that was part of the whole thing I mean. at the very least it women weren't seen. as a group that needed that should be. encouraged to pursue these kind of. things if not actively discouraged and. some women face that um there was. actually I didn't know about this but at. the sen CF Falls convention and then the.

suffrage movement that followed um there. were a couple of competing groups that. were like we really need to put all of. our time and effort behind suffrage like. giving women the right to vote that. needs to be our Focus we need to stay. laser focus on that because that's. important that's the one you think of. when you think of the women's rights. movement of the 19th century but there's. other group economic feminists that were. like hey you can have all the Voting. Rights you want in the world but but if. you don't have the the any means of.

being self-sufficient if you need to be. it doesn't it doesn't add up to a hill. of beans I think that was their slogan. yeah there was a woman named Charlotte. Smith who um like you said she was like. you know if we want to make real. advances then how about and she. eventually came to the invention part of. it but yeah how about property rights. and intellectual property rights and. then starting in 1875 she really focused. in on inventors and invention and. getting patents uh and getting the.

patent office to just simply. recognize the fact that women were. starting to get patents was uh took nine. years uh it was in I believe. 1879 she moved to DC started uh hassling. the patent office to say hey here's all. I want just give me a list of women. inventors period I think he could. Inspire other women we could publish it. so if he could just put together that. list you got the list put it together.

for me and they said sure 9 years later. uh they came back with um women well I. think she packaged it but uh women. inventors to whom patents have been. granted and in 1888 uh she published it. 500 copies worth and that I'm sure was a. big game changer as far as like Hey look. it's happening it's possible you can do. it yes and while that did kind of open. up the floodgates two women inventors. see being like I can do this there is.

like a a path for me here to take toward. inventing um there were women who did. have patents in their name prior to this. it was just extremely. rare oh yeah I mean well there were uh. how many were there did I thought there. was a list here uh yeah the only one. that I've come across I never saw the. list of women inventors to whom patents. have been granted um but I did see one I. think the first American woman to earn a.

patent and her name was named Mary Dixon. keys k i s yeah she was the first one. about 90 years earlier but uh it. supposedly took four clerks 10 days to. put this list together so uh you know. that was a great thing that Charlotte. Smith did she had a a vision that this. could be a game changer and it seems. like it probably was yeah she was like. you can't hide the truth any longer with. your walrus mustaches and your arm. guarders give me that list and they did. so should we have highlight some of.

these These are pretty great yes let's. do that uh well let's take a break after. this first one maybe because okay I want. I'm eager to talk about uh Marie Van. Brittain Brown she was uh awesome she. was born in 1922 in Jamaica Queens uh. New York City an African-American woman. who worked as a nurse and uh often times. was working you know late night shifts. coming and going at odd hours uh her. husband Albert Brown was a an. Electronics technician he had odd hours.

of work too so how that chicks out is a. lot of times uh Marie Van Brittain Brown. would be at home or come home late at. night um be a little worried and you. know what was a rough neighborhood at. the time as to who may become a knocking. on her door so she. invented uh along with her husband's. help a what ended up being kind of the. first closed circuit TV system and home. security system in the 1960s yeah it's. pretty amazing um it was a bunch of.

different systems that they put together. to create this one complete system. pretty much out of the box it was like a. complete Security System um but they. really had to work with a lack of. Technology at the time like um there was. no way to pan the video camera that the. whole thing was based on so instead they. had four separate peep Pooles and you. could raise or lower the camera to the. correct people depending on the height.

of the person on the other side I find. that ingenious great idea um I said CCTV. so there were television monitors uh. this camera fed into these monitors so. the idea is that you didn't actually. have to go to the door and even looking. through a peephole um can be dangerous. if someone knows you're just on the. other side of the door at that peephole. they can uh they can get. you that's what it says in the patent. application that's what it said so uh. she had a a remote control that would.

let her unlock the door from a distance. away and an emergency button a distance. away that would alert uh the police or. Security in the apartment building uh. you had these four PE Pooles the sliding. camera and uh two-way microphones so she. could actually say like who's you know. basically what we have now with like. ring doorbells and Nest doorbells yeah. um she thought of this idea and her. husband helped her pull it off in 19. what 66. yeah and the idea of just how ubiquitous.

this has become this is like such a. commonplace everyday thing now um is. kind of a testament to to what she. invented because at the time this was. completely revolutionary there was. nothing like this at the time and she. and her husband just invented it from. Whole cloth and um I think they got. patent number 3, 48237 that was the US Patent for their. closed circuit television security.

system that's right uh she also got an. award from the national scientist. committee uh she was recognized in the. times the paper of record um sadly she. passed away in 1999 at the age of 76 but. uh it was such a good idea that uh 32. subsequent patent applications. referenced her original invention and. their patent application so yeah in. other words great idea yes. indeed uh you want to take that break. now let's let do it okay we'll be right.

[Music]. back all the stop you should know. [Music]. [Music]. [Music].

okay Chuck so up next we're going to. talk about a woman named Josephine. Cochran who um kind of bucked the trend. of inventors and was a wealthy socialite. and supposedly the origin of her. invention the dishwasher um the first um. actual useful dishwasher came from um a. dismay that her servants washing her um. Fine China that had been in her family. since the 17th century um that it was.

getting chipped and so at first she's. like give me that I'll do this and then. she was like oh doing the dishes really. sucks there's got to be a better way and. she put it off to the side for a while. uh but then her husband died and left. her in her family in debt and she. decided to bring that idea off of the. shelf and invent her way out of debt and. that's exactly what she did yeah for. sure uh you mentioned this was the first. sort of really practical usable. dishwasher uh there had been other. attempts but you know they were a little.

clunky uh literally clunky they were the. kind of thing where like you turn a. crank on the side and the dishes are. jumbling around break yeah well they. would break and Chip and she was like. this this is my original problem is that. I have chipped dishes here yeah so why. don't we do something uh mechanical uh. that you don't crank and move those. dishes around she very smartly at least. for her because she was making something. for herself she measured her dishes and. made sure that each compartment fit the.

dishes very well and stayed in place uh. like I said I don't know that she had. the idea that this was going to be a big. Mass marketed product yet she was just. trying to solve her problem and she had. a motor a motor powerered wheel above a. boiler uh spraying soapy water on dishes. and got it patent on December 28th. 1886 yes and can't you just imagine the. person who came up with that hand crank. dishwasher demonstrating it you can just. hear all the dish Breaking Inside. they keep cranking it they're like I'm.

sure they're fine and I think that's. just what it sounds like when they're. being washed it rarely happens that way. um so the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. the White City where The Devil in the. White City is set um that was a huge um. kind of like uh introduction of women. inventures in the United States to the. world and um Josephine Cochran was one. of them she debuted her dishwasher at. the 1893 World's Fair and actually won a.

World's fair award so I abbreviated this. um I and I don't remember exactly how it. goes but it has to do with mechanical. construction durability and adapted to. its line of work oh great so she knocked. out all four of those. boxes or else to put briefly best Mech. construct durable and adapt to its line. of work end quote looks strange on a. trophy but hey she earned it uh she.

earned it and this little company that. she established ended up uh becoming. Kitchen Aid um it was after she died in. 1913 but hey pretty pretty big feather. in the uh in the the old burial cap I. guess um hotels and restaurants were the. first ones to use it because uh even. though it was super handy um as a thing. houses didn't have hot water heaters. that could kind of stay in that level of.

output at the time so you had to have. these big giant Bowlers and uh boilers. and hotels and stuff that could handle. that but her time would come uh by the. 1950s when those hot water heaters got. better uh the home dishwasher became a. pretty great thing and yeah I think. anyone who. ever has lived in a small apartment or. is apartment searching a dishwasher was. always very high at the top of my list. because you didn't always get. them uh yeah so hats off Josephine.

Cochran you know you go to sometimes. you're inent a vacation house they got. two of those things oh yeah like two. dishwashers like full siiz dishwashers. yeah if you were in like a house on the. beach where you know they want those. houses to sleep like 20 people I gotta. sure uh they'll have like sometimes two. stoves two dishwashers or two sets of. washers and dryers and stuff it's pretty. amazing we got one of those ones that's. like one fullsize washer but broken into. two drawers so you can run your dish. dishwasher like pretty frequently oh.

yeah yeah yeah I like that it works. really well yeah I like them too uh and. we can thank Josephine Cochran for that. she originated that in a a pretty direct. way I wonder who came up with the drawer. style I don't know I just don't know. yeah do you want me to look it up no. that's okay okay good uh because we're. going to talk about diapers right yeah. we're going to move on to an inventor. named Maran donov.

who um has a bunch of inventions to her. name but the one that she's most famous. for is um uh disposable diapers that's. right uh you know a lot of times. necessity is a mother of invention and. um at the time Mary and Donovan was. working at home um as a homemaker and. this is after graduating from college. and working for Vogue magazine and after. inventing things even as a kid. I think in elementary school she came up.

with a tooth powder that improved dental. hygiene so Mar and Donovan just had one. of those inventor brains right uh but. while she was uh working as a as a mom. and at home she was putting her little. babies down right after she changed that. diaper for a little nappy time and that. baby would just be so happy they would. pee all over the place and with those. cloth diapers at the time that you. safety pinned that would leak out onto. the bed sheets so now she's got a a wet.

baby or poopy baby and you've got a wet. or poopy diaper and then you have wet or. poopy sheets and that is no good and she. said there's got to be a better way yeah. and at the time there were something. called rubber pants already which is. like a a diaper made of really um thick. material that didn't breathe so you. would just pee yourself and your. neglectful parent would leave you to. wallow in your own urine and get diaper. rash because that stuff wouldn't leak. out. yeah I think they went over the diaper.

it was like a little pair of pants. exactly yeah and but it would keep it. would prevent those leaks from happening. but that didn't mean you didn't still. pee yourself so you would get diaper. rash as a result yeah they probably cut. off some circulation to the the calf and. that's right the waistline yeah and then. they would take you out in one of those. death strollers that we were raised in. right and you'd spend some time on the. jungle gym that was also related to. death because not only were there like. Rusty edges there also hornets nests in.

the end of every single one of those. that's right so uh all you have to do is. not vibrate those things and you're fine. this Hornets are going to stay in place. yeah if you just hang from the monkey. bars without moving dead still like a. bat you'll be fine so she said nuts to. all this ran and grabbed a shower. curtain cut it actually to size and was. like this isn't just a big pair of. rubber pants and so did. uh on the outside of the cloth diaper.

added some snaps so you didn't need. those safety pins and all of a sudden. you had your cloth diaper that could fit. inside of a a. fitted uh shower curtain. basically yeah I I think that's what she. started out with was a shower curtain. but she landed ultimately on something. like nylon parachute material it could. generally keep leaks in but it was much. more breathable and so this is not. necessarily the disposable diaper this.

is the thing that led to the disposable. diaper she marketed and called it um. boers to her they looked like boats I. looked at these things I did not see it. but that's what they were called it's a. catchy cute little name and what it was. was like a an improved rubber pants or. rubber like diaper cover because you. still use the cloth diaper in there but. it would prevent leaks but it was. breathable enough that it didn't cause. diaper rash so this caught the attention. of a lot of people apparently it started.

being sold at sax Fifth Avenue in. 1949 um and the kiko Corporation came a. knocking and said we'll give you $1. million for this idea and um Maran just. laughed all the way to the bank yeah cuz. she said you know what that's 1949 and. these two dopes podcast about me in 2024. MH that's going be like 13 million bucks. yeah which is pretty sweet for yeah a. woman who just invented something out of. necessity yeah I mean it meant she was. rich immediately uh she got a patent for.

those boers. 1951 and then went to work on what you. were talking about the disposable paper. diaper and did that and it worked uh. pretty well but it wasn't a big. Commercial Success because uh the diaper. industry didn't get behind it cuz they. were like hey you know this is pretty. good but all that really is doing is. keeping you from having to wash cloth. diapers over and over and we don't see. the value in that right it's an. unnecessary convenience yeah get back to.

work exactly uh it took 10 years and. finally Proctor and Gamble saw the the. um usefulness in this and came up with. pampers and the um the landfills of the. world just shuddered in expectation. that's right uh some other I said that. Mari and Donovan also invented some. other stuff too she invented something. called the Zippity Do very cool very. cool so it's like an elastic extension. that you put onto a zipper so that you. can zip your own dress much more easily.

yeah there's also something called the. big hangup I love that which came out in. the late 60s or 70s based on the um font. used in the advertisement but it. essentially took your clothes and turned. them the opposite way that you would. normally hang them from a hanger so you. would hang like a a rack from the the. the what is the thing that you hang the. hangers on in the closet the rail the. pole the rod the rod thank you. and you would take those clothes and.

turn them the opposite way so you could. fit more clothes front to back and side. to side it was an enormous space saving. measure yeah I mean it was basically a a. a grid like a metal grid and you could. hang anything so it ed paper or not. paper clips clothes pins right so you. could hang your your belts you could. hang a hat you could hang a pair of. boots you could hang whatever you wanted. what else and and more lots of things. but the point is this one grid could. hold like four pair of pants two pair of. boots seven belts are you sure you can.

hold a pair of boots up with some. clothes pins that's what the ad said all. right they must have been lightweight. boots back then like maybe they're. talking about like Aladdin shoes yeah. well I think it speaks to the clothes. pins too sure they're not like these. woke clothes pins these days so one. other thing about Mary and Donovan if. you weren't already smitten with her. enough uh at 41 she went back to school. and received a degree in architecture. from Yale and then used it to design her. own house in Connecticut. amazing.

agreed should we take another break yeah. I think it's time all right we're g to. come back and talk about grocery sex. right after. [Music]. this all the St you should know. [Music]. [Music].

[Music]. all right we promised talk of grocery. sacks and you might be thinking well did. someone invent the grocery sack and was. that person a woman and why is that a. big deal because it's just a bag no. that's not what we're going to tell you. uh we're going to tell you what a. historian name Henry Petroski told you. in an article called the evolution of. the grocery bag mhm uh and a woman named. Margaret Knight who was another one of.

these kids who is inventing things from. a very very pre age yeah she um got a. job at 12 at a loom or a a fabric. Factory textile mill that's what they. call yeah cotton mill and when you're. using um when you're weaving using a. loom in an industrial setting there's. these little torpedo heavy wooden. torpedo things with with the steel tip. on the end that you use to basically.

separate the fibers as you're we weaving. and the whole thing moves very fast and. if you lose your grip on it that thing. that is called a shuttle can go flying. and injure your neighbor at the next. Loom right yeah um so Mary and Knight. got a job at one of these Mills saw this. that how dangerous this could be and. before she turned 13 invented a way to. prevent steel tip flying shuttles from. flying off of the Loom and injuring. somebody that became distributed.

industrywide at all textile mills it. became like a standard part of any Loom. she wasn't even 13 yet yeah also. pre-teen the age of 12 she got a patent. for a device that um automatically just. stops an industrial machine if something. gets caught up in it so I mean that. every industrial machine on the planet. now stops when your arm gets caught or. when something goes wrong and something.

gets caught in the Machinery they all. stop and that is because of Margaret. Knight yep uh so we finally after years. and years of of this of coming up with. great ideas and implementing them she's. like I should start to look into. patenting these things um and she got a. job ultimately at Columbia Paper Bag. company spring in Springfield. Massachusetts and this is where her. greatest patent came along um there were. paper grocery saacks already but they. were kind of envelop like they didn't do.

the job very well like you know when you. buy a greeting card and they put it in. that bag that doesn't really do anything. it's just an envelope it's like a cover. for your greeting card to go home with. okay yeah you know what I'm talking. about sure okay that's what grocery bags. were like paper grocery bags and she. said we can do way better than this if. we just make a square bottom grocery. sack it'll stand up on its own and as. you put stuff into it the weight will be. distributed and you can carry so much.

more stuff yeah people were putting. canned goods in uh basically envelopes. like total morons like total morons she. came along and not only figured out that. that was a good idea figured out how to. do it in 1870 she built a wooden machine. that would cut and glue fold and glue. these things and manufacture them uh she. was working on a heavier dutier. prototype made out of iron and some jerk.

comes along and bald face steals her. idea yeah like he had seen this thing. before his name was Charles Anan a Ann. an and he had seen it a few months. earlier went to file a patent she filed. a claim against him a patent. interference suit and he was like. there's no way that this lady came up. with this thing and she came into court. with just reams of the most detailed. Blueprints and spelled out exactly how. and when she invented it and they went.

you're wrong and she's right buddy yeah. that thie in SOB Charles Anon I couldn't. see anything about what became of him. aside from losing that patent suit um. and something he should have gotten some. sort of come up B he shouldn't have just. been let off the hook for like you said. bald face stealing an idea or an. invention that shouldn't be unpunished. you know but I guess we'll have to go. dig them up and have a talking to with. them that's the best we can hope for at. this.

time we can bisch his name I guess I. guess we kind of are but we're not Bing. I think B merching indicates a certain. level of like exaggeration or you know. oh okay I know that I I'm that's just my. interpretation I don't know if it's. correct or not I've never read the. definition so you're probably right so. she won that patent claim and and one of. the device the patent for the device in. 1871 and went on to be awarded um more. than 20 Pat in her lifetime so amazing.

again yeah way to go Margaret KN boo. Charles Anon. boo so uh let's move on to the windchill. wiper because this is a a pretty fun one. um it was a woman from Alabama her name. was Mary Anderson born in. 1866 long long time ago long before the. car came along MH she was visiting New. York City and she was on the uh I guess. they were they were street cars. and she was like these guys are driving.

around in rain and snow with their their. head out the side window cuz they can't. see they look like Ace fentura Pet. Detective and they would have to stop. and get out and wipe the snow off of the. Charley windshield like every so often. that was part of the trip that was part. of driving a trolley at the time and she. said there has to be a better way so she. took this experience back to Alabama and. she invented the first windshield uh. wiper essentially um it was pretty.

clever as a matter of fact yeah she said. this thing wipes windshields I just. don't know what to call. it so there was a spindle right so like. um kind of like a spool but with a point. on it sticking out of the windshield and. attached to it was a arm with a squeegee. on it and the other side of the spindle. that went into the car was attached to a. cord that had a handle in the car and. when you pulled the handle it operated. this spring mechanism that made that.

windshield wiper go back and forth and. it would reset and then the next time. you needed to clear off your windshield. you just pulled it no stopping no. getting out no sticking your head out of. the car like Ace Ventura it could all be. done within the car and um in I think. very short order Cadillac I think 10. years after she got the patent for this. Cadillac started making windshield wiper. standard on their cars starting in. 1922 so that was all Mary Anderson yeah.

absolutely it was more like 20 years but. still was the first it was the first. thing to roll off the line is something. you didn't have to ask for uh what do. they call those. options yeah it wasn't an option it was. standard that's 19 years later uh and. she also um would go on to um build and. manage an apartment building in. Birmingham made some good money doing. that and said I'm going to California. and she went out to uh Fresno and.

operated a cattle ranch in a Vineyard. yes in her later years unfortunately. though on the way out there she got a. punch in the nose and it started to flow. she thought for a second that she might. be sinking but she made it out. okay oh. man uh it's on the tip of my. tongue uh lead Zeppelin okay okay it was. one of those it was like it was rattling. in my head and I heard it and I heard. it oh God that's frustrating when those. never you know I'm glad that it came.

then I just saw this uh this weather. person who does the weather on the news. sure and I guess is a Pearl Jam fan and. inserts Pearl Jam lyrics into his. weather report oh yeah on the rig it was. pretty fun what news National local I. think it was a local news I didn't catch. the city uh I mean maybe Seattle oh got. so you saw this on like uh like the. internet yeah yeah it was on the. internet I wasn't just watching the news. I didn't know if you were like talking.

about an Atlanta news person I'm like. why aren't you telling everybody who no. no no no I don't as we know I don't. watch the local news but what I do enjoy. occasionally on tour MH is watching. local news wherever I am if it happens. to be on sure I don't seek it out but. it's kind of fun when you hear about you. know's going on that happen nearby. exactly a car wreck in Boston very. fascinating right everyone was okay. though that's good. that's usually how it pans out on the.

news uh can we talk about car heaters. yeah Chuck I think this might be the. last one. right I think so okay well let's talk. car heaters because Margaret Willcox. Margaret a Wilcox my apologies invented. the car heater as you know it today the. car heater decades before there was such. a thing as cars why yeah she invented. the car heater for Railway cars because. when she came along and and reached I. think her late 20s this would have been.

the 1850s. 1860s rail travel was still pretty um no. frills for most people like you see that. one rail car that the millionaire has. and it's like all outfitted in beautiful. like velvet and there's oil lamps and. everything um most people's experience. was nothing like that and in fact um. especially during uh cold like cold. months and cold climates you would be. freezing in the railway car and Margaret. Wilcox once stood up and said enough.

enough of being cold let's get warm. everybody and they said invent it. Margaret and she said I will I'll be. right back they said what is warm even. we forgot uh this is in Chicago so you. know she had plenty of experience in the. cold I cannot imagine how cold it was oh. man I mean it's like now but maybe. colder mhm with. no break no heat you just stayed cold. yeah I mean people's roofs collapse in.

Chicago in the winter because it gets so. snowy and that would indicate it gets. pretty cold yeah absolutely so she's. like hold on a minute I know that. they're shoveling coal up there those. guys are sweating up there in the engine. room MH we're freezing our Tuk us off. back here what do we got to do to get. some of that heat back here and. shockingly no one had ever thought of. that the fact that there was Heat on. board that train right in Spades and all.

you had to do was send it back to the to. the uh what do you call them Passenger. cars yeah so that's essentially what she. did she figured out how to pipe engine. heat back to the. passengers there were some problems with. this invention uh the the train car. heater one was there was no way. whatsoever to regulate this heat I mean. I imagine you could open the windows. when you needed to but it would just get. hotter and hotter and hotter in the rail.

car um and that was kind of a problem. but I think it was still preferable to. the. cold yeah and uh now is where I. introduce you to my first car as a. 16-year-old m talked about it before. 1968 Volkswagen Beetle sure and if you. ever Rod those old Volkswagens you know. they had heat that I like to refer to as. the ankle burners right I remember that. same concept as Margaret wilcox's heat. idea those vws would just pump heat. straight from that rear engine out these.

little vents on the floorboard right by. your ankles and there was at least in. the 68 that I had there was no way of. regulating it I think at a 75 later on. that had like a little lever that you. could you know bring in a little bit of. the cool air too it just open the. passenger door yeah exactly but I had a. hole in my floorboard too so that help. that yeah I'm sure you said that and I'm. sure when you've told me that before I. told you that my dad had a hole in his. floorboard of his Malibu when we were. kids so reckless just sit there watch.

the world go by under your feet that's. right um so uh Margaret wilcox's idea. was implemented in train cars more. importantly when automobile Engineers. came along and started enclosing cars. cuz you know the first cars were all. open there was no roof yeah as they. started to enclose them they're like we. could control the climate in here we. need some sort of climate control. mechanism and they looked around and. they found Margaret wilcox's patent for. Trans transmitting um engine heat to the.

passenger compartment and over time they. kind of refined it and it got more and. more um Advanced to where now there's. hot coolant that's heated by the engine. that transfers that heat to the cabin. air when you turn the heat on even more. amazingly you can you can adjust the. heat the temperature by let in colder. outside air without even opening your. windows that's right and she got a. patent for this thing uh 1893 she.

received a patent um obviously they were. women were able to get patents by that. point and she was on a pretty short. list at least a. 100 was there 100 yeah remember a 100. women who had uh the list of 100 women. who were inventors that had patents that. the patent office created in 18 was it. called 100 women uh I guess not no. you're right I wonder what the list was. I got to get that list I mean it had to.

be decent size it took four clerks 10. days to compile the list but I don't. they had to go through all the patents. period though to get that list so yeah. yeah who knows I don't know well anyway. she was on that list eventually that's. right or actually that's not even true. either the list came out a couple of. years before she got her patent 5 years. before so it's completely. moot but there is one other mention. about her too that I love she had some.

other ideas that she. patented unfortunately not in her name. because this was before women could have. uh had property rights um for a. combination clothes. dishwasher oh yeah yeah I don't know if. it was the same time maybe the same time. if so that is really gross yeah but it's. still also very clever yeah like you. don't want your you don't want your. champagne glass being washed next to. your BL Lors no especially if they're. soiled because you drank too much.

champagne oh. gosh you got anything else I got nothing. else are you. sure yeah okay uh well since Chuck. affirmed that he has nothing else I. think everybody it's time for listener. man I'm going to call this uh. misunderstanding from episode titles. okay and I should say that we had a uh a. wonderful a young woman in maybe DC I.

think it was DC that said that she was a. bird Enthusiast and that she was all. excited about the cranes episode and. then realized it was construction cranes. mhm that's why we've titled things like. our Nirvana episode I think it was. Nirvana not the band sure so we do stuff. like that we try to be clear but not. always sometimes we're purposely obus. yeah cuz like might want the bird crane. and then be delightfully surprised or. disappointed. right exactly uh hey guys I'm in and out.

but. OG uh all the time stuff you should know. has stayed with me as a weekly listen. ever since I heard the jellyfish EP uh I. consider myself well versed in the. English language and American pop. culture but every now and then titles of. the episodes set me up for quite the. surprise I should probably read the. descriptions for the episodes yes but. I'm going to listen regardless of what's. the point for example hobo signs I. thought it was about handwritten signs. that hitchikers make or someone saying. we'll work for food. or the end is.

messed what I think it was probably. supposed to be the end is near yeah and. it was some weird AI auto correct auto. correct I like the end is mess though. I'm that should be a t-shirt sure I like. that uh to my delight as a ux designer. was about uh iconography and. communication uh even better than those. cardboard signs uh the last episode. about conductors oh I know it's coming. thought it was about train conductors. the tagline What the heck is going on. there was referring to their mindset.

when they're patrolling in the aisle and. train. station like an American equivalent of. the British what's all this. then uh I was also hoping that it was. not about electric conductors because I. really wanted a train episode turned out. I was wrong once thanks for all the. great knowledge that is from uh Morton. lagar in Norway great name Morton thank. you for listening to us all these years. yeah have we done one on just.

trains I don't think so no that seems. like a big big one yeah that was a big. ASMR side too oh sorry everybody. hopefully not misophonia s yeah um yeah. we we we could try to do one on Train. sometimes we just have to figure out how. to condense it yeah can't get into. electric chains I'll tell you that by. God no way uh well if you want to be. like Morton and let us know some.

hilariousness that comes from our titles. or something we said or just something. you thought of we love hearing stuff. like that you can send it to us in an. email to stuff podcast iheartradio.com. stuff you should know is a production of. iHeart radio for more podcasts iHeart. Radio visit the iHeart Radio app Apple. podcasts or wherever you listen to your. favorite shows.