This day in history

Some notable historical events that happened today include:

1830 -  Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote the poem "Old Ironsides" in tribute to the frigate the USS Constitution. The Navy was on the verge of scrapping the legendary ship, but public support for saving and preserving it won the military over. It was retired in 1855 and is a floating monument in Boston

1908 -  William Crapo Durant established General Motors (GM) bringing several small automobile manufacturers under a single holding company. This included Oldsmobile, Cadillac, Buick and Oakland

1919 -  Congress granted a federal charter to the American Legion. The service organization is comprised of military veterans 

1940 -  the first peacetime draft in the US became a law when FDR signed the Selective Training and Service Act. It required all men between 21 and 45 to register. When the US entered WWII, the age requirements broadened to 18 to 64. The draft ended in 1973, once again creating an all-volunteer military 

1959 -  Xerox 914 was demonstrated to the public showing an easier way on how to make copies. The inventor Chester Carlson also invented the process called xenography

2011 -  President Barack Obama signed the America Invents Act changing the US patent system. It includes a "first to file" clause, electronic filing incentives and fast track options. The "first to file" clause eliminates the idea of "first to invent" which often led to numerous and expensive lawsuits 

2013 -  Nidhi Bansal became the world record holder for a sticker collection with 102,317 stickers. They started collecting in 2007

Some interesting birthdays include:

Miriam Benjamin (1861) - second African American woman to receive a patent from the US patent office. She invented the Gong and Signal Chair for Hotels allowing customers to alert a waiter that service was needed without waving them down

James Cash Penney (1875) - established J.C. Penney in 1902

Jacob Schick (1877) - received a patent for a dry electric shaver in 1930. He developed it while recuperating from an injury

Karen Horney (1885)

Louise Boyd (1887)

W.O. Bentley (1888) - founded Bentley Motors in 1919, the brand is now owned by Volkswagen AG

H.A. Rey (1898) - created Curious George along with his wife Margret Rey

Marvin P. Middlemark (1919) - invented the "rabbit ears", the dipole antenna for tv. It immediately improved the reception of tvs in the 1950s and 60s

B.B. King (1925)

Maxine Kline (1929)

Elgin Baylor (1934)

David Copperfield (1956)

Orel Hershiser (1958)

Jim Wattier (1965) - part of our own CashWalk community. Loves animals, especially his dogs. The grizzly bear is his favorite animal

Amy Poehler (1971)