June's Famous Devonian

June’s famous Devonian is John Gay (30 June 1685 – 4 December 1732) who was born in Barnstable. He is most famous as being the author of The Beggar’s Opera, a work distinguished by good-humored satire and technical assurance.[1] John Gay is credited with the first success of the ballad opera genre.[2]

John Gay. [3]

Gay attended the Grammar School in Barnstable and upon leaving school he was apprentices to a silk mercer in London. Disliking the work, Gay left the merchant to work briefly for Arthur Hill, who became manager of a theatre company. In 1712, in his late twenties, Gay was a secretary to the Duchess of Monmouth and even worked as a secretary to Lord Clarendon.[4] His first important poem, Rural Sports, appeared in 1713. This is a ‘descriptive and didactic work’ in two short books dealing with hunting and fishing, but containing also ‘descriptions of the countryside and meditations on the Horatian theme of retirement’.[5]

The Beggar's Opera. [6]

The Beggar’s Opera was produced in London on the 29^th January 1728 by John Rich at Lincoln’s Inn Fields Theatre and ran for 62 performances. Narrated by the beggar himself, it is a story of thieves and highwaymen and centers around love triangle between the highwayman Macheath, his fence's daughter Polly and the jailer's daughter Lucy (who is pregnant with his child). It was intended to ‘mirror the moral degradation of society and, more particularly, to caricature the prime minister Sir Robert Walpole and his Whig administration’.[7] It soon became very popular and throughout the Eighteenth Century and was staged ‘just about everywhere in the English speaking world where room could be found to put up a stage’.[8]

''Sure men were born to lie, and women to believe them!''

John Gay (1685-1732), British dramatist. Lucy, in The Beggar's Opera, act 2, sc. 13.

Gay lost most of his money after investing in the disastrous South Sea Stock, leaving behind £6,000 when he died. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Life is a jest, and all things show it.
I thought it once, and now I know it.
(John Gay's self-written epitaph).[9]

[1] Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Academic Version, ‘John Gay’, 2012. [Online] Available from: www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/227376/John-Gay. (Accessed 26/05/12).

[2] Eighteenth Century English Website, ‘The Beggar’s Opera’, 2002. [Online] Available from: www.umich.edu/~ece/student_projects/beggars_opera/. (Accessed 26/05/12).

[3] Wikipedia, ‘John Gay’, 2012. [Online] Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gay. (Accessed 26/05/12).

[4] Eighteenth Century English Website, ‘The Beggar’s Opera’, 2002. [Online] Available from: www.umich.edu/~ece/student_projects/beggars_opera/. (Accessed 26/05/12).

[5] Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Academic Version, ‘John Gay’, 2012. [Online] Available from: www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/227376/John-Gay. (Accessed 26/05/12).
[6] Daily Post (London, England), Wednesday, February 14, 1728; Issue 2620.

[7] Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Academic Version, ‘John Gay’, 2012. [Online] Available from: www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/227376/John-Gay. (Accessed 26/05/12).

[8] Winton, C. (1993) John Gay and the London Theatre, The University of Kentucky Press, Lexington, KY : 169.

[9] The Contemplator’s Short History of John Gay and the Beggar’s Opera, 2012. [Online] Available from: www.contemplator.com/history/johngay.html. (Accessed 26/05/12).

---

June Inventions

On the 4^th June 1963 patent No 3,091,888 was granted to six-year-old Robert Patch for a toy truck.[1] The idea was to create a toy truck which could be easily assembled and disassemble by children and could change into different types of truck. Kind of like a modern Transformers toy.

Truck Patent Image. [1]

The 9^th June 1953 saw the patent for the manufacture of soft surface cured cheese granted, No 2,641,545.[2] This was developed by John Kraft and it was not the first time Kraft had been involved with cheese. In 1903 L.J Kraft started a wholesale cheese business in Chicago, selling cheese from the back of a horse drawn wagon, by 1914 their first cheese factory in Illinois opened and within a year the factory had began producing cheese in tins.[3] These cheese tins were provided for the armed forces during World War 1. 1950 saw the production of Kraft Deluxe process cheese slices, which were the first commercially packaged processed cheese.[4] The year of 1952 saw Cheez Whiz, a pasteurised processed cheese spread, come onto the market.[5] However, the 1953 soft surface cured cheese patent, as mentioned above,  focused on making the separation of the soft cheese from the exterior easier, as ‘few customers eat both the mould pad and the soft interior’.[6] The difficulties in separating the two parts of the cheese is ‘naturally of considerable annoyance to the consumer, as well as an ultimate waste of edible cheese’.[7]

Cheese Patent Image. [2]

Now something which the majority of us will have in our homes...medicine bottles. It is the child lock top which we are looking at here. Patented on 5^th June 1984 the ‘Safety Cap for Medicine Bottle’ No 4,452,364 was granted to Ronald Kay.[8] Originally the device served as a detection device to see whether medicines had been tampered with, ‘efforts are being made to seal the contents such that a purchaser would easily be able to detect whether or not tampering had occurred’.[9] This kind of device has also kept children safe as well, as the lock cap creates a barrier to them.

---

[1] Google Patents, ‘3, 091, 888’, 2011. [Online] Available from:  www.google.com/patents?id=JV5oAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA1&dq=3,091,888&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=2#v=onepage&q=3%2C091%2C888&f=false. (Accessed 12/05/12).

[2] Google Patents, ‘No 2, 641, 545’, 2011. [Online] Available from: www.google.com/patents?id=OqZvAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA1&dq=2,641,545&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=1#v=onepage&q=2%2C641%2C545&f=false. (Accessed 12/05/12).

[3] Kraft Foods, ‘History’, 2008. [Online] Available from:  www.kraftfoodscompany.com/About/history/index.aspx. (Accessed 12/05/2012).

[4] Inventors, ‘The History of Kraft Foods’, 2012. [Online] Available from:  www.inventors.about.com/od/foodrelatedinventions/a/kraft_foods_2.htm. (Accessed 12/05/12).

[5] Inventors, ‘The History of Kraft Foods’, 2012. [Online] Available from:  www.inventors.about.com/od/foodrelatedinventions/a/kraft_foods_2.htm. (Accessed 12/05/12).

[6] Google Patents, ‘No 2, 641, 545’, 2011. [Online] Available from: www.google.com/patents?id=OqZvAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA1&dq=2,641,545&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=1#v=onepage&q=2%2C641%2C545&f=false. (Accessed 12/05/12).

[7] Google Patents, ‘No 2, 641, 545’, 2011. [Online] Available from: www.google.com/patents?id=OqZvAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA1&dq=2,641,545&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=1#v=onepage&q=2%2C641%2C545&f=false. (Accessed 12/05/12).

[8] Google Patents, ‘No4, 452, 364’, 2011. [Online] Available from: www.google.com/patents?id=xGw5AAAAEBAJ&pg=PA4&dq=Safety+Cap+for+Medicine+Bottle+ininventor:ronald+ininventor:kay&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false. (Accessed 12/05/2012).

[9] Google Patents, ‘No4, 452, 364’, 2011. [Online] Available from: www.google.com/patents?id=xGw5AAAAEBAJ&pg=PA4&dq=Safety+Cap+for+Medicine+Bottle+ininventor:ronald+ininventor:kay&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false. (Accessed 12/05/2012).

Mystery Item No 5

So this month’s mystery item is a mini first aid kit. Again sorry for the bad quality of the pictures, I didn't realise until I uploaded them :(

The museum's item

Whilst I can’t tell you where the item came from, it would have been useful to have on you. Our kit contains a box of sterilised dressing made by S, MAW, SON & SONS, LTD. In 1814 Maw purchased a surgical plaster factory at Whitecross Street in London, and soon began manufacturing surgical instruments and various medical and pharmaceutical products.[1] The bottle contains Gentian Violet, which is thought to have been introduced by the German pharmacist George Grübler.[2] This is a dye which has antiseptic properties to it.

Another view 

Depending on their use, first aid kits can contain many different items and can be contained in many different things, such as our metal tin example. The term 'first aid' was first used in 1878, as a combination of ‘first treatment and ‘national aid’.[3] Before this many different ways of treating injuries occurred. Prehistoric man would have had their own ways of dealing with problems, witchdoctors would have had their own strategies and ways of dealing with injuries would have been passed down by word of mouth. This meant aid could be given by someone who wasn’t a trained professional. First Aid in warfare was a very important aspect. In 1099, religious knights were trained in medical care and organised the Order of St. John to specifically treat battlefield injuries, ‘in other words, although these knights were considered laypersons, they were formally trained to provide first aid’.[4]

In 1890 Johnson & Johnson invented the invented Johnson & Johnson’s First Aid Cabinet.[5] It was in 1885 that Robert Johnson invented the first ready-made surgical dressing, he believed that ‘sterile wound dressings could lessen the chance of infection in surgical wounds, thereby speeding healing’.[6] The company went on the produce medicinal plasters and ready-made, antiseptic surgical dressings, ‘these products were the early forerunners of the Johnson & Johnson RED CROSS First Aid Brand gauze pads, covers, tapes, and other first aid items now used and recommended by doctors throughout the world’.[7]

Patent for Surgical Dressing. [8]

The museum also has other fist aid kits, varying in size, date and purpose. The image below shows the various supplies found in a 1943 first aid kit. 

---

[1] COSGB, ‘S. Maw, Son & Sons Ltd.’, (2010). [Online] Available from:  www.cosgb.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/s-maw-son-sons-ltd.html. (Accessed 22/04/12). 

[2] Conn, H.J. (1992) ‘An Investigation of American Gentain Violets Report of Committee on Bacteriological Technic’, Journal of Bacteriology, 7(5) : 529.

[3] Medicine.Net, 'First Aid: From Whitchdoctors & Religious Knights to Modern Doctors', 2005. [Online] Available from: www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=52749. (Accessed 22/04/12).

[4] Medicine. Net, ‘First Aid: From Witchdoctors & Religious Knights to Modern Doctors’, 2005. [Online] Available from: www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=52749. (Accessed 22/04/12).

[5] Johnson & Johnson, ‘First Aid’, 2012. [Online] Available from: www.jnjcanada.com/brand-template.aspx?id=11. (Accessed 22/04/12).

[6] Johnson & Johnson, ‘Timeline’, 2012. [Online] Available from: www.jnjredcross.com/timeline-of-innovation. (Accessed 22/04/12).

[7] Johnson & Johnson, ‘Timeline’, 2012. [Online] Available from: www.jnjredcross.com/timeline-of-innovation. (Accessed 22/04/12).
[8] Google Patents, 'No 582, 926', 2011. [Online] Available from: www.google.com/patents?id=HGVaAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA1&dq=dressing+ininventor:robert+ininventor:johnson&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=1#v=onepage&q=dressing%20ininventor%3Arobert%20ininventor%3Ajohnson&f=false. (Accessed 22/04/2012).

Mystery Item No 5

I know you have all been desperate to see Junes mystery item, so here it is. Get your guesses in, its up for one week only and good luck!!