Invention

Where does Ski chairlift come from?

The world's first ski chairlifts opened in 1936 at Sun Valley, Idaho. A railroad engineer, Jim Curran, designed them by swapping the hooks of a banana-loading conveyor for chairs.

Source: en.wikipedia.org ↗

More Inventions

Invention

Bristle toothbrush

📍 China

Brushes with stiff hog bristles set in bone or bamboo handles were being used in China centuries before William Addis began mass-producing toothbrushes in England around 1780.

Invention

Snowboard

📍 Muskegon, Michigan, USA

In 1965 Sherman Poppen of Muskegon, Michigan, made the 'Snurfer' (snow + surfer), a binding-free board most consider the snowboard's direct ancestor.

Invention

Panama hat

📍 Ecuador (Montecristi to Cuenca)

Panama hats are woven in Ecuador from toquilla palm straw. They got the wrong name because travellers, including Gold Rush prospectors crossing the isthmus, bought them in Panama. UNESCO listed the weaving craft in 2012.

More from North America

Game

Water skiing

📍 Lake City (Lake Pepin), Minnesota, USA

In 1922 Ralph Samuelson, aged 18, became the first recorded water skier, on Lake Pepin at Lake City, Minnesota. After trying barrel staves and snow skis, he made his own skis from pine boards and was towed by a motorboat.

Word

Anorak (the word)

📍 Greenland

Anorak comes from Greenlandic anoraq, a hooded, waterproof jacket. English adopted it in 1924, and by the 1980s British slang also used it for a socially awkward nerd.

Game

Volleyball

📍 Holyoke, Massachusetts, USA

Volleyball was invented in 1895 by YMCA instructor William G. Morgan in Holyoke, Massachusetts, as a gentler alternative to basketball. He first called it “mintonette”.