One day in 1952, in my hometown of Watertown, N.Y. near the Canadian border, a milkman approached a local chemist with a problem: Whenever milk spilled in his truck, it would sour and produce a disagreeable odor.
He sought help from the right man –Julius Samann, a German Jew who had fled the Holocaust for Canada, where he studied fragrant compounds in pine needles before moving to Watertown.
Samann quickly hit upon a solution for the milkman: By infusing blotting paper with scented pine oil, he came up with the first car air freshener. It proved immensely marketable, especially when he shaped each one into a little pine tree like the ones we see even today hanging from rear-view mirrors. They are still manufactured in Watertown.
It’s the merest coincidence that New York City inventor Walter Hunt, who patented another modest item in 1849, was a former resident of Watertown.
Owing a friend $15, Hunt pondered what he could invent quickly to pay it back. He twisted a short length of wire to make a spring-like coil, attached a protective clasp to one end, and Voila! He had created the safety pin.
Hunt sold his humble patent for $400, paid off his debt, and never made another dime from it, while others turned it into fortunes..
In our complex era of artificial intelligence, smartphones, and reuseable space rockets, it’s comforting to contemplate the low-tech inventions that never made history books as did the telegraph, telephone, and electric light bulb.
Simpler creations – one of which debuted just a few weeks ago – make our lives more pleasant in the subtlest of ways.
To appreciate the latest innovation we must ponder: Ketchup.
No one can deny that the Heinz Corporation in 1992 moved humanity forward when it developed the squeezable, upside-down ketchup bottle, which releases its contents without needing sharp whacks.
Earlier this month, Heinz did it again with a ketchup-bottle “Love Lid” that allows us to dial up the perfect squirt for burgers.
The cap has three settings: “Like,” “Love,” and “Crazy Love,” depending on exactly how much ketchup one wishes to relish.
The company says its innovative lid lets us customize every squeeze, “Whether you’re dipping fries, drizzling a hot dog or generously topping a burger.”
A Heinz spokesperson said earlier this month, “People have deeply personal rituals around how much ketchup they squeeze, and we celebrate every one of them.”
Heinz hasn’t yet confirmed a year-round rollout for the new lid, which is currently available under a limited grilling-season promotion. But (tongue only partially in cheek), I say it’s one more small step toward elevating Homo sapiens.
And don’t just take my word for it: In 1952, presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson said Americans value not complexity, but the simple, everyday items that brighten our daily lives.
“You know,” he said, “you really can’t beat a household commodity – the ketchup bottle on the kitchen table.”
Stevenson lost that year to Dwight Eisenhower, but his advice was sound – especially for politicians in our own time who lose track of our basic wants and needs.
Gerry Goldstein (gerryg76@verizon.net), a frequent contributor, is a retired Providence Journal editor and columnist.
