Today In History – August 9 – Alva Fisher Receives US Patent For Electric Washing Machine

10

Like

48 BC Caesar’s civil war: Battle of Pharsalus – Julius Caesar decisively defeats Pompey at Pharsalus and Pompey flees to Egypt.

378 Battle of Adrianople: Goth army defeats Roman forces under Emperor Valens

681 Bulgaria is founded as a Khanate on the south bank of the Danube, after defeating the Byzantine armies of Emperor Constantine IV south of the Danube delta.

1173 Construction of the Tower of Pisa begins, and it takes two centuries to complete

1253 Clare of Assisi’s rules confirmed by Pope Innocent IV for Clare’s Order of Poor Ladies

1329 Quilon the first Indian Diocese erected by Pope John XXII and Jordanus appointed the first Bishop

1483 Opening of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican

1559 Willem of Orange becomes viceroy of Holland, Zealand and Utrecht

1596 Henry van Cuyk becomes bishop of Roermond

1638 Jonas Bronck of Holland becomes 1st European settler in Bronx

1655 Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell divides England into 11 districts

1666 Rear Admiral Robert Holmes leads a raid on the Dutch island of Terschelling, destroying 150 merchant ships in the Vlie estuary, and pillaging the town of West-Terschelling, an act later known as “Holmes’s Bonfire”.

1673 Dutch under Admiral Cornelis Evertsen de Jonge recapture NY from English; regained by English in 1674

1726 Netherlands signs Covenant of Hannover

1757 English Fort William Henry, NY, surrenders to French & Indians troops

1778 Captain James Cook reaches Cape Prince of Wales, Bering Straits

1790 Robert Gray’s Columbia Rediviva returns to Boston after 3 year journey, 1st American ship to circumnavigate the Globe

1803 1st horses arrive in Hawaii

1803 Robert Fulton tests his steam paddle-boat on the River Seine, France, but it sinks

1810 Napoleon annexes Westphalia as part of the First French Empire

1815 Napoleon Bonaparte sets sail for exile on St Helena on board British ship the Northumberland

1829 “Stourbridge Lion” locomotive goes into service

1830 Louis-Philippe formally accepts crown of France, following abdication of Charles X

1831 1st US steam engine train run (Albany to Schenectady, NY)

1841 Erie boat in Buffalo NY catches fire; 242 die

1842 US-Canada border defined by Webster-Ashburton Treaty

1848 Austria & Sardinia sign cease fire

1848 US Barnburners (anti-slavery) party merges with Free Soil Party nominating Martin Van Buren for president

1849 Hungarian Republic crushed by Austria & Russia

1854 American transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau publishes “Walden”

1855 Battle of Acapulco during Mexican Liberal uprising

1859 Otis Tufts patents the first passenger elevator in the US

1862 Battle of Cedar Mountain [Slaughter’s Mountain], fought in Culpeper County, Virginia, Confederate victory (US Civil War)

1862 Berlioz’ opera “Beatrice et Benedict” premieres in Baden-Baden, Germany

1863 Skirmish at Calfkiller Creek, Tennessee – Union troops attack Confederate scouts

1864 Siege of Fort Morgan, Alabama, by Union forces begins (Confederates surrender 23 August)

1877 Henry Morton Stanley’s party reaches Boma, Congo, after 999 days, losing half of the 228 members.

1890 First 44 Javans arrive in Suriname to work 5 years on sugar plantations

1893 1st US bowling magazine, Gut Holz, published in New York

1898 Rudolf Diesel of Germany obtains patent #608,845 for his internal combustion engine, later known as the diesel engine

1900 1st International Lawn Tennis Challenge, Boston, MA: Dwight Davis & Holcombe Ward beat Ernest Black & Herbert Roper Barrett 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to give US an unassailable 3-0 lead over British Isles

1902 Edward VII of Great Britain crowned King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, succeeding his mother Queen Victoria

1904 Libanus McLouth Todd of Rochester, New York patents his check-writing machine, the Protectograph designed to protect against check forgers

1905 Ty Cobb’s mother Amanda kills her husband after mistaking him for a burglar

1907 1st Boy Scout camp concludes at Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, Southern England

1908 Tour de France: French road cyclist Lucien Petit-Breton successfully defends his title beating François Faber of Luxembourg

1910 Chicago resident Alva Fisher receives US patent for an electric washing machine

1914 German U-15 was sunk by the British cruiser, H.M.S. Birmingham

1915 British attack at Chanak Bair at Gallipoli during WWI

1915 British naval officer David Beatty is confirmed in the rank of vice-admiral

1917 Canadian Parliament passes the Compulsory Military Act which is opposed by many French-Canadians from Québec

1918 Reds manager Christy Mathewson suspects Hal Chase of taking bribes to fix games, and suspends him “for indifferent play”

1920 Bulgarian & allied Peace of Neuilly-sur-Seine goes into effect

1923 NY State Golf Association formed