An image from Chester Greenwood’s 1877 patent application for “Ear-Mufflers”
I write about innovators in Maine all the time. However, they’re almost always of the 21st Century variety.
So it was nice to see a reminder this morning from my colleague Shannon Bryan over at mainetoday.com that we Mainers have a long succession of innovators to celebrate.
In this case, Shannon reminds us that March 13 marks the 138th anniversary of the day in 1877 when Chester Greenwood, a Farmington native, was awarded a patent (No. 188,292) for “Ear-Mufflers” — which we now, of course, call earmuffs. He was only 19 at the time.
Greenwood didn’t come up with the idea of covering his ears from the cold, but he did create a novel way to construct earmuffs with a spring to allow the muffs to remain pressed against the ears. Head over to Shannon’s post to read his original patent application.
Thank you, Shannon. “Ears to you” for helping us celebrate this early Maine innovator and reminding us that March 13 is an earmuff-iversary to remember.
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