Sold as Dacron, it also makes sailboat sails, and it is blended with natural fibers to give cloth that combines the properties of both.

Chrome tanning, the method behind most modern leather, takes about a day, while one belt maker's vegetable-tanned hides take about 40 days.

The Oxford English Dictionary dates the word sweater to 1882, when it meant a woolen vest worn in rowing to sweat off weight.

Incense has been used as a clock, because a coil or stick burns at a steady pace.

Eminence, a Kentucky speaker maker, uses over 360,000 magnets each year.

The first large-scale use of indium was coating bearings in World War II aircraft engines.

The forerunner of the exercise treadmill was built to diagnose heart and lung disease, at the University of Washington in 1952.

The 1868 Whirlwind used a belt-driven fan cranked by hand.