Hunter, J. H

Portable Weighing Scales

Nov. 03, 1896

Patent No. 570,533

Tomie Louis Gaines was born on November 3, 1922 to Sally Gaines Glenn and Fred Glenn in Hartwell, Georgia. Gaines served in the early twentieth century with the last of the Buffalo Soldiers, the nineteenth century regiments commissioned immediately after the Civil War. Gaines served in World War II from March 1943 to December 1945 with the 27th Cavalry Regiment (Horse) (Colored), 5th Cavalry Brigade, and the 2nd Cavalry Division of the U.S. Army.

James Theodore Holly, a Black American who emigrated to Haiti in 1861, elected bishop of Haiti. He was consecrated in a ceremony at New York's Grace Church on November 8.

Irving C. Mollison, a Chicago Republican, sworn in as U.S. Customs Court judge in New York City.

Larry Holmes was born on November 3, 1949 in Cuthbert, Georgia.

John Baxter Taylor was the first African-American to win an Olympic Gold Medal and the first to represent the United States at an international sporting competition.

At 5’11 and 160 pounds, Taylor was a tall, lanky and swift runner. In his short yet prolific athletic career, Taylor earned forty-five cups and seventy medals.

Following Taylor’s untimely death just a few months after his Olympic wins, Harry Porter, the Acting President of the 1908 American Olympic Team described Taylor as “...more as the man (than the athlete) that John Taylor made his mark.

Quite unostentatious, genial, (and) kindly, the fleet-footed, far-famed athlete was beloved wherever known...As a beacon of his race, his example of achievement in athletics, scholarship and manhood will never wane, if indeed it is not destined to form with that of Booker T. Washington.

Taylor was born on November 3, 1882 in Washington D.C. Sometime during Taylor’s childhood, the family relocated to Philadelphia. Attending Central High School, Taylor became a member of the school’s track team. During his senior year, Taylor served as the anchor runner for Central High School’s one mile-relay team at the Penn Relays. Although Central High School finished fifth in the championship race, Taylor was considered the best quarter-mile runner in Philadelphia. Taylor was the only African-American member of the track team.

Graduating from Central High School in 1902, Taylor attended Brown Preparatory School.

Not only was Taylor a member of the track team, he became the star runner. While at Brown Prep, Taylor was considered the best prep school quarter-miler in the United States. During that year, Taylor won the Princeton Interscholastics as well as the Yale Interscholastics and anchored the school’s track team at the Penn Relays.

On this day in:

1633 Bernardino Ramazzini was born. An Italian physician, he was the first to note the relationship between worker’s illnesses and their work environment. Considered the founder of occupational medicine.

1718 John Montague, 4th Earl of Sandwich was born. (Some sources list November 13). Captain Cook named the Sandwich Islands after him (now known as Hawaii). The Earl is supposed to have invented the sandwich as a quick meal so as not to interrupt his gambling sessions.

1832 Sir John Leslie died. A Scottish physicist and mathematician, he was the first to create ice artificially (freeze water artificially). He used an air pump apparatus.

1841 Johannes Eugenius Bulow Warming was born. A Danish botanist, he was one of the founders of the science of plant ecology.

1863 J.T. Alden of Cincinnati, Ohio received U.S. patent No. 40,451 for an improved method of manufacturing dried yeast. 

1895 The town of Walcott, Minnesota is destroyed by a fire that begins in a flour mill.

1896 John W. Hunter of Tabor, Iowa received patent for a 'Portable Weighing-Scale'

1927 Harrison McCain was born (died March 18, 2004). Co-founder (with 3 brothers) of McCain Foods in 1957 in New Brunswick, Canada.  The company produces 1/3 of the world's french fries.

1952 Frozen peas are added to the list of frozen vegetables produced by Birdseye.

1956 Caesar Cardini died (born Feb 24, 1896 in Italy). Chef and restaurateur in the U.S. and Mexico, he is credited with creating the Caesar Salad at his restaurant in Tijuana, Mexico in the 1920s.

1966 Ingredients are required to be listed on food packages. The first truth in packaging law.

1990 'Ice Ice Baby' by Vanilla Ice was the number one single on the U.S. music charts.