The softball game (1887)
Indoor baseball, mush ball, playground, "softbund ball," kitten ball. Among Chicago's many contributions to sports — and to company picnics and America culture — was softball. The sport was first...
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The Zipper (1893)
A Massachusetts man wasn't interested in further notoriety, and the Swedish immigrant who picked up the idea in Pennsylvania may have made it better. But Chicago never was shy about...
Mail-order retail (1872)
He'd manned a barrel-factory cutting machine, stacked bricks in kilns, fitted shoes, managed a pair of country stores and then hustled lamps and dry-goods as a traveling salesman. But it...
The vacuum cleaner (1868)
The march of the vacuum cleaner, and its future, was predicated on the questions all new ventures and new products seek to address: How bad is the customer's pain? And...
Dyson CEO channels founder’s creative spirit
To discuss innovation, the CEO of Dyson Ltd. — the U.K. technology company famous for vacuum cleaners, hand dryers and more — wants to demonstrate it. Max Conze picks up...
Speed camera test tests Chicago area drivers’ patience with “Big Brother.”
A day after David Kidwell and Bill Ruthhart's Sunday story on Chicago's new speed cameras -- "Speed camera test nets big haul" -- the comment section on the story is...
Speed camera test tests Chicago area drivers’ patience with “Big Brother.”
A day after David Kidwell and Bill Ruthhart's Sunday story on Chicago's new speed cameras -- "Speed camera test nets big haul" -- the comment section on the story is...
Story, science, and adventure
Science reporter Abby Olena was writing about researchers hunting microplastics in Lake Michigan. The Tribune photo desk separately sought to photograph a flotilla of tall ships inbound for Chicago. As...
Story, science, and adventure
Science reporter Abby Olena was writing about researchers hunting microplastics in Lake Michigan. The Tribune photo desk separately sought to photograph a flotilla of tall ships inbound for Chicago. As...
Story, science, and adventure
Science reporter Abby Olena was writing about researchers hunting microplastics in Lake Michigan. The Tribune photo desk separately sought to photograph a flotilla of tall ships inbound for Chicago. As...