Lawn Mower, Stud Finder, HeaterBefore the 1830s, keeping your lawn trimmed required a scythe, a sickle or, yes, even hungry sheep. The real horsepower came with invention of the internal combustion engine. It started a buzz all over the country and suddenly the pride of having a well-kept lawn was no longer just for the wealthy. Next, for as long as people have lived in these four-sided structures we call houses, they've wanted to hang things from the walls, but finding the wooden stud in the olden days was a tricky proposition. In the 1970s, inventors working for Stanley tools devised an electronic method for finding wall studs. It measured the density of the material it was placed against and when it moved past a stud, the reading would change. Finally, over the centuries, heating your home normally fell on the broad shoulders of the family fireplace. Though it's great to sit next to a roaring fire on a rainy day, they were not effective at keeping the whole house warm. By heating a tremendous amount of air all in one location, then blowing it into rooms by way of pipes, buildings could be warmed more efficiently than ever before. This system posed less of a fire hazard and was so effective it's the basis for the furnaces in our homes and buildings today.
