January 13 : It is the capacity to develop and improve their skills that distinguishes leaders from followers.

On this day, 13 Jan....

1840 - A postal scale was registered by R.W. Winfield, of Birmingham. This “candlestick” pattern of spring scale was introduced at the same time as the penny post. (R.W. Winfield & Co. was a large manufacturer of brass bedsteads, cots, sofas, chairs gas fittings, chandeliers and general brassfounder's items).

1854 - The first U.S. patent for an accordion was issued to Anthony Faas of Philadephia.  Faas claimed two improvements. First, he combined with the diatonic scale of the large keys two other scales. His second improvement consisted in providing the accordion with a sound-board, for the purpose of producing more strength, fullness and resonance of tone with the instrument.

1863 - The first U.S. patent for a chenille manufacturing machine was issued to William Canter of New York City, who made the first such machine in the U.S. (Chenille is a tufty, velvety cord or yarn, used for trimming furniture and made into carpets or clothing.  Chenille is the French word for caterpillar whose fur the yarn is supposed to resemble).

1906 - 1st radio set advertised (Telimco for $7.50 in Scientific American) claimed to receive signals up to one mile.

1908 - Henry Farman, an English-born Frenchman, flew the first one-kilometre circuit, winning the Grand Prix de Aviation and its 50,000 franc purse. The entire flight lasted 28-sec, and covered the prescribed kilometre. (Although the Wrights may have accomplished this at an earlier date, this was the first such flight in front of official witnesses).

1930 - "Mickey Mouse" comic strip 1st appears.

1942 - The first use of an ejection seat to save a pilot was made at the height of World War II. Helmut Schenk, a German test pilot, required its use when his Heinkel 'He 280' refused to separate from the tow aircraft due to the cable release mechanism icing up. As a precaution, Schenk ejected and landed safely.

1957 - The Wham-O Company developed the first frisbee. A representative of the company got the idea for the product when he saw some truck drivers from the Frisbee Pie Co. of Connecticut showing Yale students how to throw pie pins in the air.

1967 - Samachar Bharti inaugurated in New Delhi.

1976 - The first machine for reading printed matter aloud was given its first public demonstration, by its inventor, Raymond Kurzwell. Using a camera with a computer, pages of printed matter could be scanned, the letters analysed, and reproduced in synthesized English speech at 150 words per minute.

Born

1938 - Shivkumar Sharma, famous Santoor player.

1949 - Rakesh Sharma, first Indian cosmonaut (Soyuz T-11) to go in space.

1978 - Ashmit Patel, actor.

RIP

1974 - Saraswatibai, famous music expert and classical singer.

1985 - Madan Puri, actor.

2013 - Rusi Surti, cricketer. (Rusi Framroze Surti played in 26 Tests from 1960 to 1969.

You may have known....

Earth's moon looks rather dead and inactive. But in fact, moonquakes, or "earthquakes" on the moon, keep things shook up. Quakes on the moon are less common and less intense than those that shake Earth.