Today in history

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Ezra Daggett and Thomas Kensett of New York City patented a canning process to preserve salmon, oysters and lobsters.

Thomas Edison’s first village electric lighting system using overhead wires began operation in Roselle, NJ.

The first film reviews appeared in “Variety” magazine.

Howard Hughes set a transcontinental air record. He flew from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds.

The U.S. federal government relinquished control of the nation’s railroads after the settlement of a wage dispute.

Sixty-eight percent of all TV sets in the U.S. were tuned to CBS-TV, as Lucy Ricardo, of “I Love Lucy,” gave birth to a baby boy.

U.S. President Eisenhower allowed a filmed news conference to be used on television (and in movie newsreels) for the first time. Philadelphia comedian, Ernie Kovacs, did a halfhour TV show without saying a single word of dialogue.

At the Charles Manson murder trial, the Beatles’ “Helter Skelter” was played.

IBM announced a loss of $4.97 billion for 1992. It was the largest single-year loss in U.S. corporate history.

In New York’s Time Square, the first WWF restaurant opened.

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft was launched. The mission was the first to investigate Pluto. In Scottsdale, AZ, the original Batmobile for the TV series “Batman” sold at auction for $4.6 million. It was the first of six Batmobiles produced for the show.