1794 – 1st US textile machinery patent granted, to James Davenport, Philadelphia.
1849 – In New York City, James Knox Polk becomes first serving US President to have his photograph taken (by Mathew Brady)
1867 – Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection & Insurance Co issues 1st policy.
1987 – A.G. Bell & Elisha Gray apply separately for telephone patents Supreme Court eventually rules Bell rightful inventor.
1899 – US Congress begins using voting machines.
1912 – 1st US submarines with diesel engines commissioned, Groton, Connecticut.
1924 – Thomas J. Watson renames the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) as International Business Machines (IBM).
1931 – The original “Dracula” film starring Bela Lugosi as the titular vampire, is released.
1939 – Victor Fleming replaces George Cukor as director of film “Gone With the Wind”
1951 – Sugar Ray Robinson defeats Jake LaMotta & takes middleweight title.
1963 – US launches communications satellite Syncom 1.
1965 – 7th Daytona 500: Fred Lorenzen wins (141.539 MPH)
1967 – “Respect” single recorded by Aretha Franklin (Billboard Song of the Year 1967)
1971 – Richard Nixon installs secret taping system in the White House.
1978 – 1st “micro on a chip” patented by Texas Instruments.
1988 – 49th PGA Seniors Golf Championship: Gary Player
1991 – “The Silence of the Lambs” film based on the book by Thomas Harris, directed by Jonathan Demme and starring Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins, is released (Best Picture 1992)
1998 – Authorities in the United States announce that Eric Robert Rudolph is a suspect in an American abortion clinic bombing.
2008 – Northern Illinois University shooting: a gunman opened fire in a lecture hall of the DeKalb County, Illinois university resulting in 24 casualties; 6 fatalities (including gunman) and 18 injured.
2013 – Oscar Pistorius, a South African amputee sprinter, is charged with the murder of Reeva Steenkamp.