Ripley's Believe It or Not by Ripley’s Believe It or Not! for July 23, 2013
July 22, 2013
July 24, 2013
Transcript:
Mary Anderson (1866-1953) invented the windshield wiper in 1903 but never made a dime from it. In medieval Europe barbers performed brain surgery! The sailbike was patented in the USA by K. Michael Borzage in 1988.
More From Ripley's Believe It or Not
Templo S.U.D. over 11 years ago
Didn’t barbers also practice dentistry?
deepstblu over 11 years ago
“Just take a little off the top…of the frontal lobe.”
roscoedog55 over 11 years ago
Neighbor had to sue a major car company to get credit for his invention of the variable speed windshield wiper. You should see his summer home on Torch Lake, Michigan. Takes you a few minutes to boat past his frontage.
alan.gurka over 11 years ago
Back in the days before malpractice lawsuits, if a barber slipped while cutting his client’s hair, he could always claim that he needed the surgery anyway. Thus inventing the “unnecessary surgery” procedure.
alan.gurka over 11 years ago
Just kidding!
Stephen Gilberg over 11 years ago
I recalled this the other day when I saw a barber pole with a blue stripe as well. “What, you’ve served royalty?”
potrerokid over 11 years ago
Royal blood was supposedly BLUE ( as in bluebloods )!!!
gocomicsmember over 11 years ago
The surgery that barbers performed may have included “brain surgery” but I would imagine it was relatively rare. Also, you should dismiss all thoughts of the kind of brain surgery done these days. Back then, the only kind of surgery that had anything to do with the brain was trephanning (cutting a hole in the skull to relieve pressure on the brain from, e.g., a concussion).