Chester Greenwood supposedly had larger than normal ears. He enjoyed ice skating at his home in Farmington, Maine, but didn’t enjoy the cold ears that went along with the sport. He found hats to be ineffective in protecting his ears, and he didn’t like scarves. There were other ear warming devices available at the time, but Chester didn’t care for the way they were attached. So, at age 15, he came up with his own design for “An Improvement in Ear-Mufflers,” which consisted of two cloth circles connected by a metal strip that ran over the top of the head. Chester applied for, and received, a patent for his invention, Number 188292. He was only 18 at the time, on March 13, 1877.
After receiving the patent, Chester then threw himself into producing his invention, starting out by hand, but later creating nineteen different machines to mass-produce the ear mufflers. From 1880 to 1884, production increased from 1,700 pairs to over 50,000 units. On January 19, 1884, the Lewiston Evening Journal published an interview with the young inventor. “Necessity is the mother of invention and that is how I came to study out this little ear-protector,” said Mr. Chester Greenwood…It was truly a necessity with me, to protect my ears when obliged to be out in severe weather…This naturally led me to the thought of devising some protection for the ears which would be at once handy and not cumbersome, and still efficient.” Jack Frost is no respecter of persons, continues the article, but Mr. Greenwood’s invention pretty thoroughly circumvents the designs of J. Frost as far as ears are concerned…
Of course, there were more than just Chester’s designs floating around. In 1858, an ear, chin and cheek muff was patented, that fit beneath the chin and fastened over the ears. An 1875 version also fastened beneath the chin, this time with elastic bands. In 1877, an “ear-slipper” was devised. It also had bands below the chin, as did an 1881 version of the ear muff.
Greenwood didn’t stop inventing with the ear-muff. He invented four other contraptions before his death at the age of 78. He invented an improved advertising matchbox in 1882 and a wood-boring machine in 1914. In 1928, Greenwood patented an improved teakettle, and his last invention, in 1936, was for a metal rake whose tines could be removed and replaced if broken.
Your characters probably never heard of Chester Greenwood, but they might have worn his improved ear-muffs. The over-the-head construction was far more convenient and easier to don and doff than previous versions of the protectors.
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