Brum’s bells and whistles
QUESTION I recently heard Birmingham described as the ‘hotbed of invention’. What products were invented there? Birmingham was at the heart of Britain’s industrial revolution, and many of today’s essential household items were invented or improved in the city.
The creative environment was fostered by the Lunar Society Of Birmingham, a dinner club and learned society, so called because they met during the full moon, so they could walk home safely in the absence of street lighting. it included industrialists, natural philosophers and intellectuals, who met regularly between 1765 and 1813.
They fostered an intellectual and cultural movement called the Birmingham or midlands Enlightenment, which aimed to improve society by pushing the boundaries of science. This put Birmingham at the forefront of the industrial revolution.
The list of Birmingham’s inventors is many and varied; in 1875, Birmingham toolmaker Joseph hudson made the first whistle. replacing the handkerchiefs previously waved by referees to attract players’ attention, it made its debut in 1878 at the English Football association Cup second round game when nottingham Forest beat Sheffield 2-0.
in 1883, hudson invented and manufactured the first police whistle, and officers no longer had to rely on hand rattles. in 1884, he created the famous acme Thunderer, the first pea-whistle whose shrill sound carried over long distances and high noise levels. J. hudson and Co (Whistles) Ltd is still in business today.
in the late 18th century, Birmingham joiner John heard invented a standalone cooking range or stove capable of roasting, boiling and baking. Smoke and fumes were carried off by a flue pipe leading to the chimney. Earlier stoves didn’t have flues and had to be in a hearth under the chimney.
in 1828, Josiah mason improved a cheap, efficient slip-in nib that could be added to a fountain pen, making Birmingham the centre of the pen-manufacturing industry.
John richard Dedicoat invented the bicycle bell in 1877. Dedicoat, an apprentice of James Watt, went on to become a bicycle manufacturer, making and selling the Pegasus bike.
in 1902, george andrew Darby patented the first electric heat and smoke detector. in 1905, Walter griffiths built the first portable domestic vacuum cleaner, patenting it as ‘griffiths’ improved Vacuum apparatus for removing Dust from Carpets.’ in 1922, arthur L. Large, an engineer at Birmingham firm Bulpitt & Sons, invented the immersed heating resistor, enabling the creation of the electric kettle.
The first Brylcreem product was a pomade created in 1928 by County Chemicals at the Chemico Works in Bradford Street, Birmingham.
in 1960, heart surgeon Leon abrams of Queen Elizabeth hospital, Birmingham, fitted the first variable- pace heart pacemaker, which he had designed with electronic engineer ray Lightwood.
Adrian Duncan, Dudley, West Mids.
QUESTION Epilepsy was once called the ‘falling sickness’. What other colloquial names for illnesses were there? COMMON illnesses often had colloquial names. a good example is syphilis, known as French pox, lues, bad blood, great pox, morbus gallicus, naples disease and the Spanish disease.
malaria was known as ague, congestive fever, marsh fever, paroxymal fever and remitting fever. Typhus was malignant fever, jail fever, hospital fever, ship fever, putrid fever, brain fever, bilious fever, spotted fever, petechial fever, camp fever and camp diarrhoea.
Diphtheria, an acute and often fatal infectious disease of the upper respiratory tract, was putrid fever, membranous croup and bladder in throat. yellow fever was the american plague, bronze john, stranger’s fever and yellowjacket. There are many other examples. Poor circulation was a flux in humour, influenza was the grippe or grip, apoplexy was paralysis due to stroke, meningitis was brain fever, tetanus was lockjaw, severe diarrhoea was the bloody flux, and a rupture or hernia was a bursten. There were a number of diseases which are no longer found, such as trench mouth, painful ulcers found along the gum line, caused by poor nutrition and poor hygiene, St Vitus’s dance or viper’s dance — a condition whose symptoms were rapid complex jerking movements, and St anthony’s fire — a condition where parts of the skin were bright red in appearance. many diseases were recorded on death certificates whose description is now uncertain, such as: blue lung, black thing, broken compensation, corn rage, Egyptian dropsy, great white plague, hectical complaint, meridian’s disease, putrid flux, shaded birth, simple smiling Jesus, trench nephritis and white liver. Geraldine Cox, St Ives, Cornwall.
QUESTION What is the origin of the term ‘shooting yourself in the foot’? FURTHER to the earlier answer, the cowboy origin is quite possible.
if the Colt Peacemaker revolver is carried with all six chambers loaded, the hammer complete with firing pin will be resting on a live round. When saddling or unsaddling your horse, the stirrups are normally crossed over the saddle.
it was common for a stirrup to dislodge and fall on the hammer of the pistol carried in a holster on a cowboy’s belt. When the steel stirrup landed on the hammer of the pistol it would fire, and the bullet would be discharged downwards.
i know this because it happened to a friend of mine, Jim Fleming. a gunsmith living in Oklahoma, he shoots regularly and takes part in cowboy re-enactments and shooting contests with live ammo.
he had a stirrup fall on the hammer of a Colt he was wearing while unsaddling his horse. The gun fired and the bullet tore through his leg and finished up in his foot. The stable was miles from a hospital and he drove himself there, injured leg and all.
at the hospital the police were called, and it was necessary to convince them of how the accident had happened.
Jim assures me that this was a common injury when health and safety was unheard of. he now carries his Colt with only five chambers loaded so the hammer is resting on an empty chamber. Steve Cousins, Brough, East Yorks.