Other Inventions and Innovations
Henson obtained a number of patents in widely varying areas. Major patents include:
- Lace-making decoration, 1835
- Lightweight steam engines, 1841
- Flying machine, 1843
- T-handled safety razor, 1847
Henson invented the modern form of the razor, the 'T' shaped safety razor, and patented it in 1847: "the cutting blade of which is at right angles with the handle, and resembles somewhat the form of a common hoe." While a major improvement on the previous form of safety razor, an additional improvement was needed to make safety razors common. In 1901, Gillette combined Henson's T-shaped safety razor with disposable blades, and produced the modern razor.
Henson published a pamphlet on Astronomy in 1871 suggesting that the solar system formed from cold dust and gas, and discussed how it could condense into meteors and comets, and further condense into planets, moons and the sun, in the process heating up. He also discusses how this would lead to the planets orbiting in the ecliptic and rotating in the same general plane.
Henson created inventions in other areas as well. Among them were ice-making machines (1870), fabric waterproofing, and cistern-cleaning. He patented and submitted a proposal for an improved low-recoil breech-loading cannon design to the US Navy in 1861; it was rejected as impractical.
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Famous quotes containing the words inventions and/or innovations:
“In America the geography is sublime, but the men are not; the inventions are excellent, but the inventors one is sometimes ashamed of.”
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“By such innovations are languages enriched, when the words are adopted by the multitude, and naturalized by custom.”
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