29 January

January 29 1886 – Karl Benz Patents the Gasoline-Driven Automobile

January 29 1886 – Karl Benz Patents the Gasoline-Driven Automobile4 (80%) 1 vote More than a decade after opening an “Iron Foundry and Machine Shop,” Karl Benz made the breakthrough he had been hoping for: a four-stroke engine powered by gasoline. After attaching his invention to a two-person carriage, Benz received a patent for a “vehicle powered by a gas engine” on January 29, 1886. The car was born. Throughout his twenties, Benz bounced around Germany in search of the best means to apply his education as a mechanical engineer. Unable to fit in with any company, he joined with a partner to form a small factory in the city […]

January 29 1737 – Thomas Paine, is born in Thetford, England

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January 29 1737 – Thomas Paine, is born in Thetford, England2 (40%) 1 vote On January 29, 1737, the radical anti-slavery thinker, pamphleteer, and visionary, Thomas Paine was born at Thetford in Norfolk, England. He was born into a Quaker family to a poor corset maker called Joseph. Paine studied at the local grammar school but was soon forced to become his father’s apprentice. Unable to take to his father’s trade, he became a sailor. After a short and unsuccessful stint at the sea, he soon returned to Kent and took up the role of an excise officer in Lincolnshire. After spending some time in London, Paine started to work […]