Who invented the incubator?

Do you know who invented the incubator? Spoiler alert: it wasn’t a chicken! But seriously, let’s take a look at the history of this wonderful device. From its humble beginnings to its modern glory days.

The Early Days

Believe it or not, incubators have been around for centuries (yes, I said centuries). Farmers used to use fire-heated boxes made from tin and wood to keep eggs warm. Not exactly high-tech but it got the job done. These primitive contraptions were pretty unreliable though and often resulted in low hatch rates.

It wasn’t until the 1800s that things started getting more serious. A Frenchman named Jean Baptiste Becquerel developed an improved design using steam heat and ventilation that increased hatch rates substantially. This guy was definitely ahead of his time.

Enter Dr Lionels

Fast-forward to 1878 when an English physician named Dr Lionels came up with what he dubbed “The Egg Hatching Machine”. Sounds like something out of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory if you ask me.

Dr Lionels’ machine was essentially a wooden box lined with zinc and filled with straw where poultry farmers could place their eggs for hatching. It also had ropes attached to manually rotate the eggs so they wouldn’t stick together inside their shells.

Fun fact: Strangely enough, these machines were advertised as being able to ‘prolong staleness’. I don’t know about you but personally I don’t want anything prolonging my stale jokes!

Coolidge Comes Along

So we’re now into the early 1900s and an American inventor by the name of Lyman Byce Coolidge is working on developing his own version of Dr Lionel’s invention which utilizes electricity instead of manual labor (finally!).

Coolidge went above and beyond too – he incorporated a fan to circulate air, as well as a thermostat to regulate temperature. His model was such an improvement on previous designs that it became the foundation for today’s modern incubators.

Modern-Day Incubation

Fast-forward once again to modern times and you’ll find incubators that are capable of hatching not only chickens but also quail, ducks, turkeys (oh my!), geese and even ostrich eggs!

Today’s models have all sorts of bells and whistles like digital displays showing humidity levels and turning timers, fully automatic egg turning functions (as if those ropes weren’t efficient enough!) and alarms letting you know when your chicks are ready for action.

Some top-of-the-line models come with additional features including solid-state thermostats which don’t produce fumes or noise – perfect for the backyard chicken-enthusiast (cluck cluck!). And let’s not forget about LED lights because hey, everyone knows baby animals love nothing more than some mood lighting!

The Takeaway

Who knew that what started out as a tin box filled with fire would evolve into these fancy-schmancy high-tech devices? So there you have it folks – now when someone asks you who invented the incubator you can spit out names like Becquerel (pronounced ‘beck-ker-el’ just in case anyone cares) Coolidge without batting an eye. Or just impress them by knowing how stale jokes should never be prolonged… hey we take knowledge where we can get it right?!

Feature Benefit
Digital display Easy visual reference
Automatic egg turning Less manual labor required
Solid state thermostat Fume & Noise free
LED Lights Practical AND fun lighting

Hopefully reading this has helped fill in some gaps about this cracking invention (I know.. I’m sorry) – chicken keepers and egg-solutions merchants alike are grateful to those pioneers who got it started all those centuries ago.

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