Historical evolution of

products and sketches

Mid term submission
Prerna jha BD/20/2184
F&LA SEM 4
Nail cutter
● A nail clipper (also called nail clippers, a nail trimmer, a
nail cutter or nipper type) is a hand tool used to trim
fingernails, toenails and hangnails.
● Nail clippers are usually made of stainless steel but can also
be made of plastic and aluminum.
● Two common varieties are the plier type and the compound
lever type.
● The nail clipper consists of a head that may be concave or
convex. Specialized nail clippers which have convex clipping
ends are intended for trimming toenails, while concave
clipping ends are for fingernails.
● The cutting head may be manufactured to be parallel or Levers of a compound-lever
clipper; purple triangles denote
perpendicular to the principal axis of the cutter. Cutting heads the fulcra
that are parallel to the principal axis are made to address
accessibility issues involved with cutting toenails.
● Filings for finger-nail clippers include, in 1881, those of Eugene Heim and Celestin Matz,in 1885 by
George H. Coates (for a finger-nail cutter), and in 1905 by Chapel S. Carter with a later patent in
1922.
● Around 1913, Carter was secretary of the H. C. Cook Company in Ansonia, Connecticut,] which was
incorporated in 1903 as the H. C. Cook Machine Company by Henry C. Cook, Lewis I.
● Cook, and Chapel S. Carter.Around 1928, Carter was president of the company when he claimed,
about 1896, the "Gem"-brand fingernail clipper was introduced.
● In 1947, William E. Bassett (who started the W. E. Bassett Company in 1939) developed the
"Trim"-brand nail clipper, using the superior jaw-style design that had been around since the 19th
century, but adding two nibs near the base of the file to prevent lateral movement, replacing the
pinned rivet with a notched rivet, and adding a thumb-swerve in the lever.
History of Nail cutter

The first United States patent for an improvement in a finger-nail clipper was filed in 1875 by Valentine
Fogerty and in the United Kingdom, Hungarian inventor David Gestetner. Other subsequent patents
for an improvement in finger-nail clippers are those in 1876 by William C. Edge, and in 1878 by John
H. Hollman.

● Before the invention of the modern nail clipper, people would use small knives to trim or pare their nails.
Descriptions of nail trimming in literature date as far back as the 8th century BC.
● The Book of Deuteronomy exhorts in 21:12 that a man, should he wish to take a captive as a wife, "shall
bring her home to [his] house, and she shall shave her head and trim her nails". A reference is made in
Horace's Epistles, written circa 20 BC, to "A close-shaven man, it's said, in an empty barber's booth,
penknife in hand, quietly cleaning his nails."
 A variety of nail clippers; the clipper on the left is in
the plier style; the centre and right clippers are in the
compound lever style
Razor (top) and nail cutter with bone
handle (bottom) found in a grave of the
Hallstatt culture (c. 6th–8th centuries BC)

1902 advertisement from Good

Housekeeping for Carter's nail cutter,
Roman nail clipper made of bronze, 3rd produced by the H. C. Cook Company
to 4th century AD. of Ansonia, Connecticut
Vacuum flask

● A vacuum flask (also known as a Dewar flask, Dewar bottle or thermos) is an

insulating storage vessel that greatly lengthens the time over which its contents
remain hotter or cooler than the flask's surroundings.
● Invented by Sir James Dewar in 1892, the vacuum flask consists of two flasks,
placed one within the other and joined at the neck.
● The gap between the two flasks is partially evacuated of air, creating a
near-vacuum which significantly reduces heat transfer by conduction or
convection.
● Vacuum flasks are used domestically, to keep beverages hot or cold for
extended periods of time, and for many purposes in industry.
History of vacuum flask
● The vacuum flask was designed and invented by Scottish scientist Sir James
Dewar in 1892 as a result of his research in the field of cryogenics and is
sometimes called a Dewar flask in his honour.
● While performing experiments in determining the specific heat of the element
palladium, Dewar made a brass chamber that he enclosed in another
chamber to keep the palladium at its desired temperature.He evacuated the
air between the two chambers, creating a partial vacuum to keep the
temperature of the contents stable.
● Through the need for this insulated container James Dewar created the
vacuum flask, which became a significant tool for chemical experiments and
also became a common household item. The flask was later developed using
new materials such as glass and aluminium; however, Dewar refused to
patent his invention.
Gustav Robert Paalen, Double 1930s "Thermofix" vacuum flask Some varieties of designs of vacuum
Walled Vessel. Patent June 27, flasks
1908, published July 13th 1909
● The German men who discovered the commercial use for the product
named it Thermos, and subsequently claimed both the rights to the
commercial product and the trademark to the name. In his subsequent
attempt to claim the rights to the invention, Dewar instead lost a court case
to the company.
● The manufacturing and performance of the Thermos bottle was significantly
improved and refined by the Viennese inventor and merchant Gustav
Robert Paalen, who designed various types for domestic use, which he also
patented, and distributed widely, through the Thermos Bottle Companies.
● Over time, the company expanded the size, shapes and materials of these
consumer products, primarily used for carrying coffee on the go and
carrying liquids on camping trips to keep them either hot or cold. Eventually
other manufacturers produced similar products for consumer use.The name
later became a genericized trademark after the term "thermos" became the
household name for such a vacuum-insulated container for liquids.