Today in Tech History – Feb. 19, 2014

In 1856 – Professor Hamilton L. Smith of Gambier, Ohio received the first U.S. patent for the tintype photographic picture process. It described a method for “the obtaining of positive impressions upon a japanned surface previously prepared upon an iron or other metallic or mineral sheet or plate by means of collodion and a solution of a salt of silver.”

In 1878 – Thomas Edison received a US patent (No. 200521) for the phonograph. His first recording was of “Mary Had a Little Lamb” spoken into a large horn which transmitted vibrations to a needle that cut the recording on a hand-rotated cylinder.

In 2002 – Odyssey, the first of six current operational Mars vehicles began its mission to map the planet.

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