Modern Inventions That Are Actually Old

Summary

Stuff You Missed in History Class

Episode Title: Modern Inventions That Are Actually Old
Hosts: Holly Fry & Tracy V. Wilson
Published: May 6, 2026

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Episode Summary

Main Theme and Purpose

In this episode, Holly and Tracy explore three everyday items or technologies often thought to be modern inventions, revealing how each actually dates much further back in history. Through engaging stories and historical deep dives, the hosts challenge the “present-tense hubris” that assumes certain inventions are unique to the recent past. The episode’s aim is to illuminate just how advanced and inventive ancient societies were, offering surprising and delightful details about the true ages of things like vending machines, breath mints, and disco balls.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Heron of Alexandria and Ancient "Modern" Machines

[02:26 – 13:23]

• Background on Heron (Hero) of Alexandria:
  • First-century scientist/engineer; described as Greek and/or Egyptian.
  • Famous for writings on mathematics, mechanics, geometry, and practical inventions.
• Mathematical Influences:
  • Credited for popularizing the division of a circle into 360 degrees (Babylonian origin).
  • “If you've ever used the idiom that someone has made a 180-degree turn... you can thank Heron, at least in part.” — Holly Fry [04:50]
• Work on Machines & Engineering:
  • Wrote “Mechanica” (on levers, friction discs—precursors to transmissions), “Dioptera” (surveying instruments), and “Metrica” (geometry formulas).
  • “His math writings included...the basics of the kinds of drives that would be described as transmissions today.” — Tracy V. Wilson [05:55]
• Heron's “Pneumatics” and Automata:
  • Describes devices powered by gas, water, and steam, centuries ahead of practical industrial use.
  • Eolipyle (Hero’s Engine): An ancient steam engine.
    • “He was essentially onto the idea of airflow and air mechanics...” — Holly Fry [08:37]
    • Modern versions are recreated today, but Heron's version had the water in a base cauldron and used steam to spin a suspended sphere [10:02].
    • Initially a ‘toy’—no practical application at the time, but a clear forerunner to steam engines [10:31].
  • Ancient Vending Machine (“Sacrificial Vessel”):
    • Dispensed holy water upon coin insertion—a coin tipped a lever and opened a valve for water to flow [12:35].
    • “This vessel looked sort of like a samovar...and its intent was to dispense holy water at temples.” — Tracy V. Wilson [12:35]
    • Next significant vending machine: London, 1880s [13:23].
  • Holly notes the wonder of technology lying dormant: “It could have completely changed the world if they had been like, I bet we could apply this to a vehicle.” [10:56]

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2. Breath Mints: Not as Modern as You Think

[15:24 – 22:52]

• Mint as a Plant and Its Ubiquity:
  • Grows everywhere; hard to trace its precise origin; used globally since antiquity.
  • “If you look it up, you will find texts that say that it originated in any number of areas...” — Holly Fry [15:24]
• Pliny the Elder’s Accounts:
  • Mint mentioned as food, remedy, aromatic table decoration, and breath freshener.
  • Notable quotes:
    • “Wild mint, cat mint, endive and pennyroyal will grow even without cultivation.” — Pliny via Tracy V. Wilson [16:13]
    • “Leaves of wild mint are kept dried and reduced to a fine powder as a remedy for poisons...” — [17:27]
    • “The very smell of mint reanimates the spirits, and its flavor gives a remarkable zest to food...” — [17:43]
• Breath Mints in Ancient Egypt:
  • The Ebers Papyrus (~1550 BCE) included recipes for “mouth pills”—tablets made from pleasant-smelling herbs and honey, sometimes used as air fresheners and then as edible mints.
  • “[The recipe] is also worthwhile to make mouth pills out of them to make the smell of the mouth agreeable.” — Holly Fry quoting the Ebers Papyrus [21:20]
  • Ingredients included myrrh, elderberries, cypress resin, calamus; mint not specified, but likely included in later centuries.
  • Calamus, one ingredient, is actually toxic and psychoactive—“maybe it just made people think their breath smelled better.” — Tracy V. Wilson [22:08]
  • By Pliny’s time, mint had become a common oral freshener in Europe and the Mediterranean.

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3. The Disco Ball – The “Myriad Reflector” Predates Disco

[22:52 – 33:29]

• The Myth of the Modern Disco Ball:
  • Though associated with the 1970s, mirrored balls date to late 19th and early 20th centuries.
• Early Documentation and Patent:
  • First rumored mention: 1897, Charleston, Massachusetts Electricians Union party (unconfirmed in primary sources).
  • [23:51] “Even when Wiesty was still a kid, there was a mention of a mirror ball in a trade paper...”
• Louis Bernard Wiesty: Patentee of the ‘Myriad Reflector’
  • Filed for patent Feb 12, 1916; granted Feb 6, 1917.
  • Patent described as: “a myriad reflector comprising mirrors mounted to form a polyhedron bounded by a convex system of plane faces... to produce myriad reflections when light rays from an extraneous source are thrown thereon.” — Tracy V. Wilson [26:12]
  • Wiesty aimed to prevent copycats by patenting mirrored reflectors in non-spherical as well as spherical forms.
  • The description was notably poetic:
    • “The object of my invention is to produce a myriad reflector...to produce a scintillating and spectacular effect.” — Wiesty, quoted by Holly Fry [27:13]
• Spread of the Myriad Reflector:
  • Wiesty set up a company producing and leasing these for dances and municipal celebrations.
  • Newspaper ads and articles from 1917 onwards describe the dazzling effects; featured at major venues and balls.
    • “During the Grand March, the hall was darkened and from a Myriad Reflector sparks of every color were flying over the ceiling, making a most dazzling and wonderful scene.” — Piqua Daily Call, quoted by Tracy V. Wilson [28:45]
    • “Transforms a hall into a brilliant fairyland of flashing, changing, living colors, a marvel of kaleidoscope charm.” — Great Falls Leader, [30:21]
  • The rotating motor was a later patent (applied 1924, granted 1928), and became synonymous with the disco effect.
• Later History:
  • Wiesty’s family ran the company after his death (1933), closing in 1945.
  • Omega National Products (Louisville, KY) dominated disco ball production by the 1970s disco craze, though many other manufacturers joined later.
  • Holly, self-admitted “magpie,” proclaims “You can't put enough mirror stuff on things for me. I love it. I'm obsessed with it.” [33:29]

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On Historical Bias:
  • “Often that is the result of...present tense hubris, where we can't imagine another time or culture needing or inventing the things that we use today.” — Holly Fry [02:26]
• On Missed Opportunities:
  • “It could have completely changed the world if they had been like, I bet we could apply this to a vehicle.” — Holly Fry, imagining Heron’s eolipyle being utilized early [10:56]
• Wiesty’s Literary Patent:
  • “The device is an immense globe, 27 inches in diameter, completely covered with more than 1,000 special made mirrors. When spotlights are thrown on the rotating ball, the reflections... are multiplied into a dazzling, dancing, indescribable lighting effect that is simply immense.” — Great Falls Leader, quoted by Tracy V. Wilson [30:21]
• Playfulness and Enthusiasm:
  • “You can't put enough mirror stuff on things for me. I love it. I'm obsessed with it.” — Holly Fry [33:29]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 02:26-03:41| Introduction & modern inventions being older than assumed | | 03:41-13:23| Heron of Alexandria: mathematical legacy, eolipyle, and the ancient vending machine | | 15:24-22:52| History of breath mints: ancient Egypt to Pliny the Elder | | 22:52-33:29| The disco ball: origins, patents, and cultural rise |

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Tone and Language

The episode is witty, approachable, and brimming with genuine curiosity. Holly and Tracy blend historical rigor with playful speculation and personal asides, creating an inviting atmosphere for listeners who may not be familiar with the topics. Technical explanations are made accessible, and quotes from historical sources are delivered with enthusiasm and context.

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This episode is a delightful reminder that so much of what we think of as characteristically modern—the vending machine, the breath mint, and even the disco ball—has roots stretching deep into human history. The hosts’ passion for the inventive spirit across the ages makes this a must-listen (or must-read summary) for curious minds.

Transcript

[Tracy V. Wilson]

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[Holly Fry]

Welcome to Stuff youf Missed in History Class, a production of iHeartradio. Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly Fry.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

And I'm Tracy V. Wilson.

[Holly Fry]

I will talk about the genesis of this episode on Friday's episode. Cause it's very silly, but it was born, like so many of our topics, out of just seeing something and asking offhandedly, when was that invented? Which I do a lot. This led me to look that up and it came as a surprise regarding its timing and I wanted to talk about that thing. But I also knew that that was not a meaty enough topic for a whole episode So I decided I would group it with some other inventions that were made well before I would have thought, and probably most people would have thought. There are so many things in our modern world that people presume are fairly recent inventions that aren't. We talk about things like that all the time, and often that is the result of, like, what I call this sort of present tense hubris, where we can't imagine another time or culture needing or inventing the things that we use today. But I feel like the three things that we're talking about in this instance seem, at least to my mind, pretty valid in presuming that they are more modern than they are, in part because they all have close associations with the recent past. One of them, the thing that inspired this episode, is one of my favorite inventions of all time.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

So for the first thing we're going to talk about, we have to go all the way back to the early Common Era and a scientist known as Heron of Alexandria. Some texts give his name as Hero. He's sometimes described as being Egyptian because he lived in Alexandria. Other times he's described as Greek. Some accounts list both. He was likely born in Greece. He lived at a time of Greco Roman dominance throughout the Mediterranean, and Egypt was a Roman province. But all of the accounts agree he was very, very smart. He was well educated.

[Holly Fry]

He.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

He understood and wrote about mathematics and mechanics from all over the Mediterranean and Mesopotamia. We don't have a whole lot of biographical information about him, though he's believed to have been born sometime early in the first century. We know he was alive in the year 62 because he mentioned an eclipse in his writing that's known to have taken place that year. Everything else we know about Heron is what he recorded in his writings. He wrote a lot about mathematics and mechanics, but nothing autobiographical.

[Holly Fry]

Yeah, if you look up the dates associated with his life, they are all over the map. There are people that will put his date of birth at around the year 0 or 1, and other people that will put his death at around 100. And I'm like, it's possible, but not super probable at this point in time that he could have lived through the entire first century. But in any case, his work is influential in our lives in a number of small ways. For example, if you've ever used the idiom that someone has made 180 degree turn in changing their position or their opinion on something, you can thank Heron, at least in part. The idea of a circle being divided by 360 units known as degrees, actually originated in Babylonia, which used a base 60 system for mathematics. But Heron is credited with adopting it and teaching it widely in the technical school he founded in Alexandria and writing about it in his books. But beyond that, his own work predates a lot of similar work, often by hundreds of years.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

His math writings include Mechanica, which included information about the workings of levers and how they can be used to bear loads as well as velocity and the use of friction disks to create variable ratios. These these disks are the basics of the kinds of drives that would be described as transmissions today. They can transfer torque to rotating parts at variable speeds depending on the ratio selected inherent. All of this information was intended to help architects manage building projects by providing them ways to more efficiently transport and lift heavy loads in construction.

[Holly Fry]

His book Dioptera is essentially a manual for measurement. It includes descriptions of various measuring instruments, including a diopter. It also included a method to measure distance traveled by a wheel. A lot of this book is about how to measure distance in the interest of land surveying purposes.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Herron's three volume work, Metrica was all about geometry. It covered topics like the measurement of geometric figures. There are formulas for using the lengths of a triangle's sides to calculate its area and a method for finding the square root of a non square number.

[Holly Fry]

Metrica was actually lost for a very, very long time. This book was mentioned in the writings of Eutocius of Ascalon, who lived in the late 5th and early 6th centuries. But its contents were a mystery. Then in the 1860s there was a mention of an 11th century manuscript in a library in Constantinople in that might contain some of Heron's writings. But this wasn't a library just anybody could visit. There were hoops to jump through just to get permission to enter. It wasn't until 1896 that German archaeologist and head of the Royal Museum of Berlin, Richard Schone, was able to identify that a copy of Metrica was indeed contained in that manuscript. Schonna's son Hermann published the first critical edition of metrica in 1903.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Heron wrote other books and even more have been attributed to him that are almost certainly not his work. But the book that's most germane today is Pneumatics. In that work he describes a variety of mechanical devices featuring so many concepts we might think of as fairly modern. Gas power, water power, steam power, atmospheric pressure and pumps among others. But the section related to today's topic is Automata. He offers a little bit of multi entry for this episode because he invented a lot of things that were far, far ahead of his time. Yeah.

[Holly Fry]

He also, just to avoid confusion, did also write another book called Automata. But the things we're talking about are in this book, Pneumatics. And the first one that we're going to talk about is the Eolipyle, which is today sometimes also called a hero motor, named after him. So Herron had concluded that air is elastic and that it consists of particles that move relative to one another. He was essentially onto the idea of airflow and air mechanics, although he didn't have it all figured out. And these were concepts that Irish chemist Robert Boyle was still working to understand when he created what is often credited as the first functioning air pump in the mid-1600s. And Heron's understanding of airflow and how it could be impacted by heat led him to develop a rudimentary steam engine.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

The Eolipile is something that modern teachers and hobbyists recreate all the time. But there's a slight difference in the way that these modern versions function compared to the one that Heron described in pneumatics. Modern variations often consist of a hollow sphere filled with water, which is suspended over a heat source by two arms. As that water heats up, the steam is released through two short arm like valves on the sphere's equator, and that causes it to rotate. So this is a rudimentary steam turbine that creates a rotary motion.

[Holly Fry]

But in Heron's original version, that water is actually contained in a base vessel. He describes it as a cauldron with a fitted lid that the ball is suspended over. From that cauldron are two tubes. These are the ones that the sphere is suspended with, but they're hollow tubes that carry steam from the cauldron as it's heated and into the sphere, from which builds up until it releases that steam through the equatorial valves, and that's what results in the spinning motion.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Similar mechanics would not be implemented for practical use until the 17th century. But Heron's machine had no practical use. It was not intended for any type of job. It was built as an exploration and examination of the effects of heat and air and steam combining. And in the first century, it was considered nothing more than a fancy toy. There just was not a vision of how this technology could be used.

[Holly Fry]

Yeah, I kind of think of it as like the mechanical desk toys that executives might have on their desks. Like, this is neat. Look, it spins when I heat it up. But it could have completely changed the world if they had been like, I bet we could apply this to a vehicle. The other Heron invention, which is similar in concept to modern machines and really is the focus of like the precursor to. To a modern machine. In terms of the context of this episode is called in his book sacrificial vessel, which flows only when money is introduced. This was a very rudimentary vending machine, and here is how Herod described it. If into certain sacrificial vessels a coin of five drachms be thrown, water shall flow out and surround them. Let the example diagram be a sacrificial vessel or treasure chest having an opening in its mouth and in the chest. Let there be a vessel containing water and a small box from which a pipe conducts out of the chest. Near the vessel, place a vertical rod about which turns a lever widening into the plate, parallel to the bottom of the vessel, while at the extremity is suspended a lid which fits into the box so that no water can flow through the tube. This lid, however, must be heavier than the plate, but lighter than the plate and coin combined. When the coin is thrown through the mouth, it will fall upon the plate and preponderating, it will turn the beam and raise the lid of the box so that the water will flow. But if the coin falls off, the lid will descend and close the box so that the discharge ceases.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

More simply, this setup had a plate attached to a lever that would tilt just enough to open a valve that allowed water to flow out. The coin would slide off the plate as it tilted, and once it fell off, the lever would return to its original position, closing the valve. This vessel looked sort of like a samovar. That's a metal urn used to make and serve tea. And its intent was to dispense holy water at temples. He also created another vessel that would dispense wine as water was poured into a separate compartment. But as the water dispenser was strictly transactional with money, it's more of a true vending machine. The next big step in vending machines did not happen until London, 1880s. Yeah.

[Holly Fry]

Coming up, we're going to talk about a very ancient invention intended to make the world a more pleasant smelling place. But first, we will pause for a sponsor break.

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[Holly Fry]

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[Holly Fry]

For a lot of people today, it is very normal to have a small tin or other container of breath mints in their bag or pocket. But breath mints are very far from new. The herbs in the mint family, which is lemiakiae, are, as anyone who's ever grown one, very hardy perennials. It is, in fact, harder to control them than to get them started outside. They will often appear to die back completely in cold temperatures and then pop up anew in warm weather. And they spread like crazy because of their very assertive nature as a plant that spreads easily and because it grows almost anywhere. The origin of mint the plant seems to be completely unclear. If you look it up, you will find texts that say that it originated in any number of areas, including Asia, the Mediterranean, Europe and Africa.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Mint has been used in a lot of cultures as part of food traditions and for its fresh, bright aroma. Pliny the Elder, who lived in the first century, had a lot to say about mint in his writings. The Natural History this isn't precisely what we're talking about today in terms of invention, but we are going to read a number of quotes from that writing to illustrate just how commonly mint was used and for a wide range of purposes. Pliny knew how easy it was to grow mint, noting wild mint, cat mint, endive and pennyroyal will grow even without cultivation.

[Holly Fry]

That isn't the only mention of its hardiness in the Natural History. Pliny also writes, quote, the mint that is used in the dishes at rustic entertainments pervades the tables far and wide with its agreeable odor. When once planted, it lasts a considerable length of time. It bears too, a strong resemblance to pennyroyal, a property of which is, as mentioned by us more than once, to flower when kept in our larders. So this also suggests that even when you're not taking care of mint as a cultivated plant, it can and will still grow on its own.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Pliny rights of mint being used as an antidote for poison. Quote, Leaves of wild mint are kept dried and reduced to a fine powder as a remedy for poisons of every description. Spread on the ground or burnt, this plant has the effect of driving away scorpions.

[Holly Fry]

He also comments on its flavorful nature and claims that it has a benefit to milk, writing quote, the very smell of mint reanimates the spirits, and its flavor gives a remarkable zest to food. Hence it is that it is so generally an ingredient in our sauces. It has the effect of preventing milk from turning sour or curdling and thickening. Hence it is that it is so generally put into milk used for drinking to prevent any danger of persons being choked by it in a curdled state. So much yuck about this. Heads up. You cannot keep milk from going bad by adding mint to it. At best, it might for a little while mask the sourness of milk that it is in its very earliest stages of going bad. But also choking on milk that's super curdled just seems like you weren't paying attention. Yuck. Across the board,

[Tracy V. Wilson]

if you are about to give a big smile speech, Pliny suggests drinking mint tea. Quote the juice of mint is good for the voice when a person is about to engage in a contest of eloquence, but only when taken just before. Pliny included a lot of treatments that could be made with mint in his writing. There are 20 remedies that could be made with wild mint and 41 from cultivated mint. And then outside of those, he noted how pleasant it could be simply to eat it. If the air is inhaled by a person when eating peppermint, he will be sensible of a cold feeling in the mouth.

[Holly Fry]

It's the York Peppermint Patty spiel, just with the mint at its base. But Pliny's writing about mint was drawing on cultural knowledge of it that had been circulating for hundreds of years already. And the use that we're focusing on is as a cure for bad Breath, although I will say mint is not called out specifically in what we're about to talk about, but there is this term that's like general herbs available. And we know at the time that mint was growing very readily in this area, so presumably it was one of the herbs included. Even today, there are so many different causes for breath odor that it can actually be hard to identify what the cause is in a given person. Obviously, good oral hygiene can help prevent the growth of bacteria. That's often associated with foul breath. But there are a lot of other causes of bad breath. If you have dry mouth, you're more prone to it, or if your diet includes certain foods, you might have bad breath, even if you're great at brushing and flossing. Various health conditions can also lead to breath that smells less than fresh. And this has been a problem since humans existed. But we are jumping all the way back to ancient Egypt and one of their solutions for yucky breath.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

We talked a bit about dentistry in ancient Egypt in our two part episode on the history of dentistry in May of 2022. In part one of the episode, we discussed how the Ebers Papyrus included information on packing teeth, basically doing fillings, regrowing gum tissue and even putting rudimentary bridge work into the mouths of patients. It wasn't a time where there was no dental care, but that care was not as advanced as the care you would get today. That means that even people who had the means to access dental care were almost certainly going to develop some kind of problem which could result in bad breath. And as we mentioned just a moment ago, there are plenty of other things that can cause breath issues. And the Ebers Papyrus, there was a treatment for that, and that is breath mints invented by the ancient Egyptians.

[Holly Fry]

The actual entry, which to be clear, we obviously only have from a translation, initially begins as an air freshener for the host and that reads as follows. Quote Substances to use in order to make pleasant the smell of the house or of the clothes. Dried myrrh, elderberries, incense, cypress resin of aloes, sebot resin, kalmous from the land tahi in Asia in Akun grain, mastix, styrax, crush, grind, make into one and put on the fire another for the woman to make their out these ingredients according to the other instructions put in honey, cook, mix form into little balls, they shall fumigate with them. It is also worthwhile to make mouth pills out of them to make the smell of the mouth agreeable.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

So basically combine various good smelling things that you might have on hand, cook them in honey and form that into tablets. These probably were not super tasty. And also they don't really contain any mint, at least according to this list. But the mention of calmness is interesting. It is referring to calamus, which comes up in other papyri from ancient Egypt. Commonly it's known as sweet flag. It is toxic and has psychoactive chemical components. So maybe it just made people think their breath smelled better. Definitely a far cry from the many minty options for breath that there are today.

[Holly Fry]

Yeah. So by the time that Pliny was writing several hundred years later, they had figured out that mint could be involved in this whole thing to keep your breath delightful. The next invention we're going to talk about involves very sparkly things. And we're going to get to that right after we hear from the sponsors that keep the show going. On September 24, 1881 in Hamilton, Ohio, which is part of the Cincinnati metro area, Bernard H. Wiesty and Anna M. Goldcamp. Wiesty had a son named Louis Bernard Wiesty, who would grow up to patent One of my favorite things. There is not a whole lot of information about Mr. Wiesty, but he did at some point marry a woman named Florence Bliss Stemball and start a family. Lewis and Florence had two daughters, Helen, born in 1913, and Bonnie, born in 1917.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

But even when Wiesty was still a kid, there was a mention of a mirror ball in a trade paper put out by a Charleston, Massachusetts Electricians Union in 1897. So that's right. We're going to talk about what would later become known as the disco ball. Holly and I each kind of went on a little expedition trying to find this this periodical. Both Mental Floss and Vice say that this periodical carried the write up about the union's annual party where this mirrored ball apparently scattered sparkling light all around the room. We did find a union paper that wrote up this event, but had no mention of a mirror ball in it. So it's possible there was just a different version that came directly from the union rather than like Union Country Wide paper, which is the one that we had found.

[Holly Fry]

Right. We were looking at the bigger one that may have aggregated other articles and may have edited.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Right. In addition to this lack of mention of the mirror ball, in the one version of this Holly and I found there are no photos of whatever this looked like. It is often noted as the first time that a mirrored ball was mentioned in the historical record. If it did look something like today's disco ball, there's no attribution regarding who came up with this decoration, which was at the Christmas party.

[Holly Fry]

Yeah, we also don't know how the one that we know got invented came to be. We have no information about the inspiration behind it, where Wiesty's brain went. You know, what I'd like to do is glue a lot of mirrors on something and throw light on it. But if we sparkly, but if we jump forward in Louis Wiesty's life, there is plenty of newspaper coverage about his patented invention, which he called the myriad reflector. He filed a patent for the device, his myriad reflector, on February 12, 1916, and he was granted that patent almost a year later, on February 6th of 1917.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

The technical portion of this patent at the end of the copy is straightforward, as it would need to be. It's described as quote 1, a myriad reflector comprising mirrors mounted to form a polyhedron bounded by a convex system of plane faces in combination with means for suspending the device so that it may be swung and rotated simultaneously to produce myriad reflections when light rays from an extraneous source are thrown thereon. He also described it a second time in an almost identical way, but specifying that the mirrors could be separated slightly by a non reflective surface. This was a reference to the patent being about the mirrors not necessarily on a spherical shape, but on any shape, quote, to suit the particular requirements, which is a pretty astute way of cutting off copycats for making. And these sort of hanging mirrored reflectors and shapes that were not spheres, trying to patent those too.

[Holly Fry]

But while that wording is legally smart, there is some rather more florid language in the general description that I found rather charming. We see, wrote quote, the object of my invention is to produce a myriad reflector comprising a plurality of reflecting surfaces, the same to be arranged in such a manner that the several reflections shall be projected at varying angles, the device itself being arranged so that it may be rotated or otherwise moved so that the reflections may produce a scintillating and spectacular effect.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

It is scintillating and spectacular.

[Holly Fry]

Oh, he knew the key to my heart I'm a magpie of my soul.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

The exact timing is not clear, but around the time Wiesty got his patent, or shortly thereafter, Wiesty's friend Ben Benny Friedman, who owned a tailor shop, asked Lewis, who went by Lou, if he wanted to use some space in the shop to set up his own venture. And he did. He founded the LB Wiesty Decorating company out of that space. And soon he was getting large contracts to set up parties and municipal celebrations and of course, to sell his Myriad Reflector for those events.

[Holly Fry]

And to be really clear, the Myriad Reflector was a big deal. It was touted constantly in newspapers by ballrooms and entertainment venues that had acquired one as a draw. Reading through newspapers, it seems as though a lot of venues saw it as this way. They were going to reinvigorate their business.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Even before Wiesty's patent was granted, there are mentions of the Myriad Reflector in local papers indicating that Wiesty was already producing them. In January 1917, the Rotary Charity Ball of Piqua, Ohio, which is a town about 80 miles north of Cincinnati, had a write up in the Pequot Daily Call that read in part, quote, during the Grand March, the hall was darkened and from a Myriad Reflector sparks of every color were flying over the ceiling, making a most dazzling and wonderful scene. This was kept up at intervals during the Grand March. This article notes that everything was donated for the ball except the music, so presumably Wiesty made that Myriad Reflector as a donation or loaned it to the event.

[Holly Fry]

A June 13, 1921 ad in the Salt Lake Telegram read, dance to the flash of the Myriad Reflector, and it featured this drawing of five dancing couples beneath a mirrored ball that is scattering light around the room. That drawing is not especially detailed, but it is immediately apparent what it depicts. The accompanying copy reads, the Myriad Reflector, one of the most beautiful electric lighting devices ever seen here in is now an exclusive feature at the Salt Air. You will find it flashing on the big dance floor every Tuesday night. Come tomorrow night and see it. There is also an addendum bit of copy in this ad that has nothing to do with the Mirror Ball, but which is also really charming to me because it says come early enough for a dip in the lake for and in all caps, bathing is superb.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Is superb.

[Holly Fry]

It's like, are you just telling people to be clean or do you really want them to splash about and enjoy your lakeside venue?

[Tracy V. Wilson]

That autumn, the Great Falls leader of Great Falls, Montana, drummed up excitement for its annual Fall Opening Odeon Ball by sharing with readers that a Myriad Reflector had been procured for the event and it also explains what it is. Quote the Myriad Reflector is something new in the amusement world and had heretofore been used only in such places as the Marigold Gardens of Chicago, Hotel Astor in New York City, Cave hall of St. Louis, Schubert's Winter Garden of New York, and like places. The Myriad Reflector is a novelty that transforms a hall into a brilliant fairyland of flashing, changing, living colors, a marvel of kaleidoscope charm. The result is thousands of small reflections dancing, changing, chasing after one another into every nook and corner. What's interesting here, too, is that after giving this sort of romantic descriptor, the Great Falls leader explains exactly how this effect is created. The device is an immense globe, 27 inches in diameter, completely covered with more than 1,000 special made mirrors. When spotlights are thrown on the rotating ball, the reflections of the mirrors are multiplied into a dazzling, dancing, indescribable lighting effect that is simply immense. It's funny that the write up says it's indescribable right after it went to great lengths to describe.

[Holly Fry]

Made me think of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Kubla Khan and like, writing this whole poem and then being like. And then I was woken up and I could never describe what I experienced. It's like, maybe you just did. You just did. I read it. Other newspapers had similar features that talked about Wiesty's mirrored marvel. The timing of the patent really could not have been better, as the Roaring twenties offered exactly the right cultural atmosphere to embrace all of that sparkle. And many of these write ups mentioned that it had a small motor that turned it to keep the reflected lights moving and dancing. That rotator motor wasn't part of the original patent, and Wiesty didn't apply for a patent on the motor until several years after the examples that we've been quoting in 1924. That patent wasn't actually granted until March 13, 1928, at which point he had been including the motor on his setup for the better part of a decade.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Louis wiesty died on April 10, 1933, at his home on Wayside Avenue in the Mount Washington neighborhood of Cincinnati. In the years after his death, his wife, Florence, ran the family business with the help of their daughter Helen. The business struggled, but made it through the Great Depression and was even hired to decorate Crossley Field for the all star game in 1938. But after Helen got married and started a family, Florence couldn't keep things going by herself and the business shuttered in 1945.

[Holly Fry]

Yeah, there's an interesting write up about its closing. That kind of has that, you know, social norm line about, well, Helen had a baby, so she's just domestic now. She can't work. It's like, oh. After the Weesey Company closed, the main producer of reflective mirrored balls was Omega National Products, which operated out of Louisville, Kentucky. It was making an estimated 90% of them when the disco craze hit and made them super popular. Omega still exists today, although a lot of other manufacturers have entered the market since the 1940s. Yeah, today if you go to a craft store, you can buy mirrored pumpkins, mirrored kitty cats, mirrored anything you can think of in a variety of colors. I wouldn't know. I don't know. I don't own any of those. I own all of those. I have a disco cat. You can have people make giant disco skeletons. I mean, one woman did her own as a craft project and it's beautiful. One of those giant yard skeletons. You can't put enough mirror stuff on things for me. I love it. I'm obsessed with it. I'm also obsessed with listener mail. Here's one okay from our listener Jane who writes hi Holly and Tracy. I've been a long time listener. I honestly don't remember when I started listening. I know it was sometime in undergrad, maybe even my senior year of high school. I'm nearly 30 now and I know in the grand scheme of things it's not old. But my brain is fuzzy on remembering things I did yesterday and I've always wanted a reason to send a note about something. Listen, I feel like after we all lived in our homes, mostly through the early part of COVID memories got real weird for everybody. It doesn't matter your age. I just think like time became a flat circle. Jane continues. There have been so many somethings as I am listening through the backlog of episodes. I think I'm finally into 20. Started a re listen like 3 years ago from the very beginning of the podcast and it's taken me forever to get back to present day. There have been so many subjects, especially the 2025 episode about the Library of Congress. She shares her connection to it and I'm not gonna read that part cause I don't want it to be too identifying of her personal information and the most recent cranberry episode I had to pull over on my way home because the cranberry episode nearly made me pee my pants. And I will tell you why

[Tracy V. Wilson]

this

[Holly Fry]

is like if you put this line in an email I'm gonna keep reading. My beloved grandmother who still lives in the in law apartment of my parents house has never been able to cook. I think she's one of the reasons I had such a hard time trying new foods as a kid because as her favorite grandchild at that time, a whole podcast on its own of how my grandmother determines who is her favorite grandchild and why at any given moment if I said I wanted to try something, she'd make it. The problem with this is she would somehow change the texture of foods that are really hard to mess up. I remember she made steak one time and called it rare. It was as hard as a hockey puck and gray all the way through, but she tried. She also somehow managed to roast a bell pepper into rubber. I don't know how she managed that, but it was legitimately inedible. But now I have a nightshade sensitivity and I can't have them anyways. But my favorite memories of my grandmother and her inability to cook always come at Thanksgiving. She has, for my entire almost 30 years, insisted on cooking something for Thanksgiving, and somehow my mother has managed to get it down to two things. Homemade cranberry relish and her homemade saltine stuffing or dressing. I'm not really sure the difference. My family calls it both. My family calls it both too. Most people stuffing as if it's cooked in the bird dressing if it's in a tray or a dish that you put in the oven. She would process them both through a food mill that I am fairly certain has survived since the 1880s. It's my goal to find it one and confirm this. The problem is now her memory is starting to go and she can't remember where she left it last. I've never had the cranberry relish, but my sister loves it more than the canned jelly, which I also dislike but wish I didn't listen. It's great in cocktails. It's made with fresh squeezed orange juice, but bottled is fine too, just not the concentrate from the freezer section. We did that one year and it was vile to smell. I don't think anyone ate it. And cranberries, not frozen that have been passed through the food mill. And then you mix the juice and let it sit at least overnight and it becomes a deep red, almost purple slop. This smells wonderful. If I could make it a candle, I would. I won't go into detail about her stuffing because she's not been allowed to make it in years. And outside of saltines and celery, I couldn't tell you what was in it. She mentions that raisins might be in it, which makes me make a face. But you know, everybody's got their own taste. But I do know that her stuffing is the reason I refused to try it again until I was 25. I love this idea. There's some more in this email, but I'm not gonna read the whole thing. I was fascinated because I'm like, you don't have to do anything to the cranberries to make cranberry sauce. You literally just put em on the stove, a little water and they get smooshy gooshy on their own and fall apart and become delicious. We all know that I love cranberries. I find this fascinating. So the idea of like soaking them overnight is interesting. And for people that maybe don't have a heat source or like anything's going wrong in their kitchen, that might be an option. I might test this just to see how it works. Anyway, I'm fascinated, Fascinated I tell you. Cause I imagine the acidity of the orange juice would break down the cranberries enough that it would work just fine if they sat long enough.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah, I have made a homemade cranberry sauce type recipe before that has included a little orange juice.

[Holly Fry]

But they often do.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

That was like what was in the recipe. I didn't really think through the chemistry.

[Holly Fry]

Yeah, they often do. I tend to leave the we're off on a slight tangent, but come with me. I tend to leave the citrus part out because I really just like the cranberry flavor and I throw a little vanilla in so it tastes almost even though there's no dairy in it, it has like an almost custardy taste because of the smoothness that it develops. Listen, I'm into it. However, here's the most important part of this email. Pet Tax three beautiful, beautiful kitties. First is Princess Jane. Says she has many names most unsuitable for broadcast, but my partner and I call her that most and it fits the bill. She's 16, probably part Norwegian forest cat and I've had her since she was since I was 12. A great birthday surprise to come home. And her, she's so beautiful and so pretty. And listen, I love a mature lady kitty. Very I love mature kitties in general. Next is my baby boy Gizmo. He's five. He loves to be next to people but hates when you touch him first. His favorite way to be pet is body slamming himself into your shins. And lastly, my goopy girl Gadget who is four. She is tiny and wee and would wear my skin just to snuggle closer. My favorite part about her is she doesn't know how to yowl, but she does know how to squeak. These babies are so sweet. I love a little cat face. One of them is a very funny picture of her tiny kitty right up close to their nanny cam that they put in there. And then Jane signs off with thank you so much for all you do. And I can't wait to catch up on the podcast. Also, I didn't know y' all were on Netflix. Yep, we sure are. So if you want to sit and watch it, you can. If you don't want to listen and only have audio. But anyway, thank you Jane. Thank you for sharing your kitty cats sharing your family's cranberry story. Listen, not everybody has good cooks in their family. I was lucky to have many good cooks in my family. Not everybody does. There were often times when I would go to other kids houses and be like what is happening at your home? Mm, this is not delicious. If you would like to write to us Share a family Recipe do you remember that turkey meatloaf recipe we had years ago?

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Vaguely.

[Holly Fry]

I have it still. I've made it several times. That was really good. I don't remember who sent it to us offhand, but I have it shoved into a cookbook notebook somewhere upstairs. If you wanna share a family recipe, a picture of your kitty cats, a picture of anything else that you delight in, a picture of a disco ball, however, you might use it in your home. That sounds great to me. You can do [e-mail] if you want to look at the show notes to see the research that we did for this or any of our episodes. Those are [e-mail] if you would like to subscribe to the show and you haven't done that yet, you can do that on the iHeartRadio app or anywhere you listen to your favorite podcasts.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Stuff youf Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.