TIM MAGUIRE

On this day in 1836, Connecticut-born gun manufacturer Samuel
Colt (1814-62) received a U.S. patent for a revolver mechanism
that enabled a gun to be fired multiple times without reloading.

In Hartford, Connecticut, Samuel Colt built the world’s largest private armament factory. The factory was not only the largest, it was the
world’s most advanced manufacturing facility.

On February 25, 1964, underdog Cassius Clay, age 22, defeated champion Sonny Liston in a technical knockout to win the world heavyweight boxing crown. The highly anticipated match took
place in Miami Beach, Florida. Clay, who later became known to
the world as Muhammad Ali, went on to become the first fighter
to capture the heavyweight title three times.

Then & now: Cracker Jack and its signature sailor mascot have
evolved over the years.

One of the oldest American forms of junk food, the Cracker Jack was invented
and trademarked in 1896 when the brothers who formed F.W. Rueckheim &
Bro., mixed molasses-flavored, caramel-coated popcorn and peanuts together.

Fredrich William Rueckheim

   
Louis Rueckheim
           

Today,January 19, celebrates all of the different ways the corn-based treat      
popcorn can be enjoyed savory or sweet, caramelized, buttered or plain.

The Popcorn Board, a non-profit started in 1998, says Americans consume
13 billion quarts of popcorn a year, more than any other country in the
world.

Louis Braille (January 4, 1809 – January 6, 1852)  

Braille was a French educator and inventor of a system of reading and
writing for use by the blind or visually impaired. His system remains
virtually unchanged to this day, and is known worldwide simply as
braille.

ED DANAHUE

Thomas Edison gave his first public demonstration of incandescent lighting to an audience in Menlo Park, NJ. on this day in 1879.

The Pennsylvania Railroad Company ran special trains to Menlo Park on the
day of the demonstration in response to public enthusiasm over the event.

Although the first incandescent lamp had been produced 40 years earlier, no inventor had been able to come up with a practical design until Edison, after
countless tests, developed a high-resistance carbon-thread filament that
burned steadily for hours and an electric generator sophisticated enough to
power a large lighting system.

Thomas Edison’s greatest contribution to the modern industrial world came
from his work in electricity. He acquired 1,093 patents in his lifetime and
died in 1931 at the age of 84.

The 1879-Thomas-Edison -Longines-Wittnauer-
Bronze-Commemorative-Medal.

Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins is 81 years old today.

Welsh actor Anthony Hopkins is best known for his portrayal
of the ingenious serial killer Hannibal Lecter in The Silence
of the Lambs (1991), a role that won him the Academy Award
for Best Actor. He has also played roles in The Mask of Zorro 
(1998), and Nixon (1995). He turned to TV in 2016 upon landing
a starring role on HBO’s Westworld.

Anthony Hopkins portraying Hannibal Lecter from The Silence
of the Lambs.