On July 8, 1776, a 2,000-pound copper-and-tin bell now known
as the “Liberty Bell” rang out from the tower of the Pennsylvania
State House (now Independence Hall) in Philadelphia, summoning
citizens to the first public reading of the United States Declaration
of Independence.

Four days earlier, the historic document had been adopted by
delegates to the Continental Congress, but the bell did not ring
to announce the issuing of the document until the Declaration
of Independence returned from the printer on July 8.

On June 28, 1953, workers at a Chevrolet plant in Flint, Michigan, assembled
the first Corvette, a two-seater sports car that would become an American
icon. The first completed production car rolled off the assembly line two
days later, one of just 300 Corvettes made that year.

The idea for the vehicle originated with General Motors’ pioneering designer Harley J. Earl, who in 1951 began developing plans for a
low-cost American sports car that could compete with Europe’s
MGs, Jaguars and Ferraris.

On June 16, 1884, the first roller coaster in America opens at Coney Island, in Brooklyn, New York. Known as a switchback railway, it
was the brainchild of LaMarcus Thompson, traveled approximately
six miles per hour and cost a nickel to ride. The new entertainment
was an instant success and by the turn of the century there were hundreds of roller coasters around the country.

On June 14, 1951, the U.S. Census Bureau dedicated UNIVAC, the
world’s first commercially produced electronic digital computer.
UNIVAC, which stood for Universal Automatic Computer, was
developed by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, makers of
ENIAC, the first general-purpose electronic digital computer.

These giant computers, which used thousands of vacuum tubes
for computation, were the forerunners of today’s computers.

On June 8, 1948, a hand-built aluminum prototype labeled “No. 1″ became
the first vehicle to bear the name of one of the world’s leading luxury car
manufacturers: Porsche.

The Austrian automotive engineer Ferdinand Porsche debuted his
first design at the World’s Fair in Paris in 1900. The electric vehicle
set several Austrian land-speed records, reaching more than 35 mph
and earning international acclaim for the young engineer.

Ferdinand Porsche
(September 3, 1875 – January 30, 1951)