1937 was a while ago. You grandparents might not even have been born yet, although we wouldn’t bet on it. We would bet on the chance that you weren’t born before that year, however. One thing we are sure of, though, is that 1937 was the year our family-owned, fourth-generation propane company was founded in Upstate New York. All those years ago, we started off with a mission to provide folks who were looking for an alternative fuel source with exactly that. We continue to provide propane for home, propane for commercial use, and much more. But no matter how sophisticated our propane services become, you can count on us to never forget about our roots. We were founded with the core principle of exceptional customer service in mind, and each day we seek to show our customers new and old that we are still dedicated to going above and beyond the expectations of our customers. That’s how we turn first-time propane customers into life-long DiSanto clients!

Big-Time Inventions Since 1937!

We bring up the point that we’ve been in business for over three-quarters of a century not because we enjoy tooting our own horn, although singing our own praises from time to time is something we’ve been known to do on this blog space. Rather, we bring it up to make the point that if a business is this old, this family-owned, and this fourth-generational, it means we are doing something right. But because we figure almost none of our readers were around in the 30s, we’d like to help you conceptualize just how much has changed since our founding. Sure, there are smartphones, the internet, and TV, but what else has been invented since our inception? We take a look at some notable 20th and 21st century inventions in today’s blog. We hope you enjoy!

The Computer

Because the radio, airplane, and television were all invented prior to 1937, we’ll start with the wonderful, monstrous computer as our first invention we’d care to highlight. There’s no two ways about it folks, the computer is the single-most significant invention of the 20th century. There isn’t a particular inventor credited with its existence because the computer is the result of many engineers’ work, though Charles Babbage is credited with conceptualizing of the device in the first place. As most all of us are aware, for it’s the medium by which we are able to have a website and blog in the first place, computers are nearly ubiquitous these days. They are involved in all fields and all sectors, from education to business to telecommunication to robotics to military and beyond.

Rockets

Though the first rockets were remarkably invented by the Chinese some three thousand years prior, rockets became more controllable in the 20th century, qualifying them as a functional object of use — able to be used for a variety of purposes. Primarily, though, they were still used as weapons of war. Yet in recent times we’ve been able to visit each planet in our solar system, thanks to the rocket. Without rockets, we’d have no GPS (because we’d have no satellites orbiting earth), no ability to predict the weather, no ability to use cell phones, and no ability to make international calls.

Xerography

Xerography can be defined as “A dry copying process in which black or colored powder adheres to parts of a surface remaining electrically charged after being exposed to light from an image of the document to be copied.” Essentially, xerography allows us to scan and print written images, which has completely revolutionized our ability to communicate with one another over long distances, among many other functions!

Here are a few more 20th century inventions we thought were notable enough to make note of:

• Ballpoint pen
• Nuclear reactor
• Helicopters
• Sun tan lotion
• Synthesiser instrument
• Transistor radio
• Wide-screen cinema
• Microwave ovens
• Tupperware
• Video games
• Satellites
• Lava lamps
• Cardiac pacemakers
• The internet
• Kevlar
• Seat belts
• Disposable contact lenses
• Hep B vaccine
• In vitro fertilization
• Inkjet printers
• Floppy discs
• Personal computers
• MRI scanners!

21st Century Inventions

Seeing as how we are almost a fifth of the way through this century, we might as well list a few inventions of the past twenty years or so. We continue to see technological progress in an unprecedented fashion, so there are quite a few options for us to choose from!

Social Media

It started with MySpace and a few other platforms that didn’t have the legs to make it for the long haul. Facebook, undeniable, has emerged as the giant of all social media platforms, though Twitter has recently carved out a niche as political leaders and even nations themselves have begun to use the platform as an official medium of communication. We are now more connected than ever before, perhaps to a fault. Anyway, social media happened recently, though it seems like we can barely remember what life was like before it took place!

Smartphones

In the same vein, we are now more connected than ever before because almost all of us are immediately accessible at any point in time. The cell phone helped with this, but smartphones sealed the deal. Not only can we be texted or called at pretty much any time (even when you are camping, in many cases), but we can check the score of our favorite team wherever we are at, along with being able to use our favorite social media platforms and other applications at our convenience. It’s great, but it’s also terrifying, as many of us can’t seem to be able to “unplug” whatsoever. That’s another reason we love camping, just be sure you put those phones on airplane mode so there is no chance your communing with nature will be disturbed!

The Plus Pool

The very first Plus Pool exists. But what is a Plus Pool? Just relax, we’ll tell you. It’s a system that exists within a presumably contaminated river, such as the Hudson in New York City, which filters the river the contraption floats in through the walls of the pool itself. This means it’s possible for anyone who wants to swim in clean river water to do exactly that. Remember Kramer from Seinfeld and how he enjoyed his river swims? Now he doesn’t have to worry about that smell. More seriously, though, the filtration system takes out bacteria and other contaminants to make sure that the water is clean to swim in. There are no additives or chemicals involved, and the results are amazing! Let’s get this everywhere!

Consider DiSanto

Propane wasn’t invented in the 21st century, but it’s still one of the cleanest, most efficient, and safest fuel sources around! If you are interested in becoming a DiSanto propane customer, reach out to us today!