1902 – Joe Horn and Frank Hardart opened the first US Automat at 818 Chestnut St. in Philadelphia. The waiterless restaurant charged a nickel for most dishes.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1291&dat=20021226&id=vVpUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ko4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=3964,7574304
1931 – Robert Goddard received a patent for rocket-fueled aircraft design (US. No. 1,809,271). Sadly we do not have a lot of rocket-planes in operation.
http://www.google.com/patents?id=pxxBAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4#v=onepage&q&f=false
1986 – The Pittsburgh Supercomputer Center opened to support the National Science Foundation’s NSFNET, which linked five supercomputer centers. NSFNET would eventually allow commercial uses and transition to the open Internet.
http://www.computerhistory.org/tdih/June/9/
Read Tom’s science fiction and other fiction books at Merritt’s Books site.