A revolutionary patent
The first electric motor was patented on Feb. 25, 1837. Built by Vermont blacksmith Thomas Davenport, this amazing device used currents from batteries to move electromagnets mounted to a wheel opposing a fixed set of permanent magnets, creating circular motion. Davenport first developed the motor in 1834, but it was so advanced that patent examiners couldn’t understand it, and his initial application was rejected. It was only after constructing multiple working models and earning major scientific endorsements that the patent office granted his application.
Unfortunately, Davenport was simply too far ahead of his time. Primitive batteries couldn’t power intense industrial processes in the 1800s, and Davenport never found financial success with his motor. It was not until the mechanism was reversed — generating power from steam or water instead of using it from batteries — that the system began to catch on. Electric generators began powering modern electric motors in the late 1800s, and the mechanical world Davenport envisioned from behind his anvil finally began to take shape.
Annie get your gun
On Feb. 25, 1836, Samuel Colt received the first U.S. patent ever issued for a revolving gun, commonly known as a revolver. Although earlier attempts had been made to manufacture firearms with cylindrical ammo chambers, Colt’s marriage of the percussion cap (precursor to today’s bullet cartridges) with the revolver made it easier to fire and more reliable, and he is now credited with making its mass production commercially viable.
Colt became one of America’s wealthiest men by the time he died in 1862 as a result of his revolver developments. His company was one of the first to use an assembly line, and Colt also employed innovative advertising and marketing tactics that would be familiar to any corporate brand manager today, such as the product placement and the celebrity endorsement.
Revolvers have since been superseded by semiautomatic pistols in military and law enforcement, but this style of firearm remains popular among both recreational shooters and collectors. Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:SWHC) was the first to produce modern-style bullet cartridge revolvers, and remains a major manufacturer of revolvers to this day. Sturm, Ruger & Company (NYSE:RGR) also manufactures a variety of revolvers, though none of them has the cachet of either a classic Colt or an iconic Smith & Wesson.
A history of gas taxes
Oregon implemented the first per-gallon gas tax on drivers on Feb. 25, 1919. It was only $0.01 per gallon, which worked out to about 4% of the purchase price of a gallon in those days, and was quickly followed by taxes in other states. By the end of the following decade, every state had instituted gas taxes, with the intent of using these funds for road improvements. The federal government eventually implemented a national gas tax in 1932. At this point, there were perhaps 25 million passenger autos on American roads, but the need for road improvement was undoubtedly necessary as the number of motorists continued to grow.
Today, the average of all state and federal gas taxes across the United States comes to nearly $0.50 per gallon, with diesel fuel taxed at approximately $0.55 per gallon. Americans used about 134 billion gallons of gas in 2011, which resulted in approximately $67 billion in taxes for federal and state governments.
The birth of (really) big steel
United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X) was born on Feb. 25, 1901, in one of the greatest mergers in business history. Powerful financier J.P. Morgan brought together three major steelmakers — Andrew Carnegie’s Carnegie Steel Company, the Federal Steel Company, and the National Steel Company — and a number of smaller producers, at a cost of nearly $500 million to create a titanic steelmaker valued at $1.4 billion. It was the world’s first billion-dollar corporation, eclipsing even John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil monopoly.
