The 1920s was a significant decade for many reasons. For starters, women were finally able to vote in a presidential election. The decade also brought with it a vast array of advances in technology and medicine. Personally, I was interested in learning more about those advances. Therefore, I took the time to discover just a few of the items that were introduced during the decade. Here’s a cursory look at a few of them:
Talkies
The first movies to have sound made their appearance in the 1920s. The first two movies were Director Alan Crosland’s “Don Juan” (1926) and “The Jazz Singer” (1927). However, there were major differences between the two. “Don Juan” did not make full use of the technology. It only utilized music and sound effects whereas “The Jazz Singer” utilized those things and dialogue. Both films utilized single channel sound. Surround sound wouldn’t appear in movies until much later. The first one was released in the 1940s courtesy of Walt Disney and Bell Labs.
All of the men that utilize electric razors to keep their whiskers at a minimum also owe a debt of gratitude to 1920s inventors. That’s because the first electric razor hit the marketplace at that time. It was created by a U.S. Army Lieutenant by the name of Colonel Jacob Schick. Over the years, he went on to introduce additional new products to American consumers including Teflon coated razor blades.
Electric Phonographs
All electric phonographs were another item to make it into the homes of Americans living in the 1920s. At the time, one of the companies that made them was Victor-Victrola. Although the technology to make the machines had been around since 1913, many Americans continued to use the hand-crank versions. Reasons why the electric versions were initially shunned by the masses were related to the limited availability of electricity, its cost and people’s fear of the unknown. However, in the 1920s consumers attitudes started to change, prices for the products dropped and the availability of electricity increased.
One of the products that emerged by the end of the decade was a combination phonograph and radio. Both items were placed inside a wooden console that was designed to be the entertainment center of the period. I was able to see one up close thanks to my grandparents. Even though the electrical components no longer worked, they kept their console in their living room well into the 1980s. As a child, they would let me play with its knobs.
Tetanus Shot
The first tetanus shot also appeared in the 1920s. It was first used by the military in 1924. By the 1940s, it was combined with the pertussis and diphtheria shots to create the Tdap and the DTaP vaccines. It is one of several vaccinations that are currently required for enrollment in American schools.
Source: Personal Experience
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