Random Fact – Weather
This is the day when, in 1870, the United States Weather Bureau made its first observations. It was not called the Weather Bureau back then because it was part of the U.S. Army Signal Corps. In the beginning, reports were telegraphed from 24 locations around the U.S. and the first national weather report was born.
Random Fact – Automobile
The first U.S. patent for an automobile was issued on this date, in 1895, to George B. Selden. Selden had actually invented the automobile much earlier than his rival, Henry Ford. Selden held off filing his patent while he tried to find backers and had not gotten either the money or the patent when other people started building automobiles. His patent did garner funding from a few manufacturers, but Henry Ford refused to pay him, claiming that his Model T was not based on Selden’s design.