Who Invented Jeans? | eHow
Who Invented Jeans?
Blue jeans are a fashion staple and a common part of our lives today. It's difficult to imagine a world without them. Jeans have had their own history and growth, even before becoming one of our cultural icons.
The word "jeans" has two possible sources. The first source is Italian. "Genoese" was the term used to describe the Italian sailors from Genoa who wore heavy blue cloth in the 17th century. The other comes from French, "serge de Nimes," which was a type of heavy cloth from Nimes (the word "denim," stems from this) that was especially used for hard labor in England during the 19th century.
Jacob Davis, an immigrant from Riga, Latvia, was a tailor to some of the workers in Reno, Nevada. He designed clothing, made repairs and experimented with materials, particularly "duck" and "denim." He had one customer who had problems with durability, so he added rivets. The pants worked and became popular. He got worried about a patent and looked for help.
Levi Strauss was a successful immigrant from Germany, running a trade business in San Francisco, California. He knew Jacob Davis because he sold Davis cloth for his tailoring. Davis came to him with his "jeans" idea, and he agreed to pay for the patent if they split the profits 50/50. Official "waist overalls with rivets" were patented in both their names.
Levi Strauss thought the term "jeans" was an improper name, and the word "jeans" didn't truly catch on until the rebel teens of the 1950s embraced them to match their leather jackets. They eventually started to be called "Levi's 501 jeans" (the number of the last patent). The Levi-as-inventor legend was born.
Jacob Davis had a cigar store and a brewery that were both unsuccessful and was a tailor for horse blankets when he had the idea for the first riveted jeans.
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Did You Know?Till the 19th century, 'computer' was a term for people designated to do the 'computing'! The history of computers, in the literal sense as 'computing machines', can be stretched back to abacuses, slide rules, and other similar calculators of the ancient world. The first programmable computer was created by Charles Babbage (December 26, 1791 - October 18 1871) in 1833.Due to his invaluable invention, Babbage (shown in the adjoining image) is considered the Father of the computer.The image shows Babbage's creation.Charles Babbage's father, Benjamin Babbage, was a rich businessman. Thus, young Charles went to many prestigious schools and was home-tutored before he went to Holmwood Academy in Enfield. This is where his romance with mathematics began.Later, he went to Peterhouse, Cambridge for further studies. At Peterhouse he studied analytical philosophy and continued studying mathematics. He never graduated with honors, and was conferred an honorary degree in mathematics without examination.
Apart from being a gifted mathematician, Babbage was also a philosopher and an avid amateur cryptographer. He was also reported to be heavily influenced by the Indian system of logic.Babbage noticed that the calculations made by the human 'computers', especially regarding logarithms, were often incorrect. This gave him the idea of a machine capable of doing the calculations, intrinsically without the human margin of error. Ada Lovelace, who helped Babbage program his machine, is considered as the first computer programmer in the world. The image shows a man punching cards to be used to program the loom. Interestingly, the history of programming itself doesn't begin with Babbage's 'Analytical Engine'. The first programmable device in the world was actually a loom! Invented by Joseph Marie Jacquard, the Jacquard Loom was the first ever programmable machine. The programming in both, the Jacquard loom and Babbage's computer, was done through punched cards. Babbage also invented a mechanical forerunner of the printer as the output device for his machine.The numerous input, output and peripheral devices attached to modern computers were not part of these early designs. They were invented by the following scientists:
✎ Monitor (Cathode Ray Tube): Allen DuMont (1931)
✎ Mouse: Douglas Engelbart (1963)
✎ QWERTY Keyboard: Christopher Sholes (1867 - on typewriters)
✎ Scanner: Giovanni Caselli / Edouard Belin (1858 / 1913)
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