Did you know that earmuffs were actually invented by someone? Well, why not - everything that we have and use has first been thought of by someone, and then turned into a functional product.

15-year-old Chester Greenwood was ice skating one day in his hometown Farmington, Maine in the year 1873 when he had a thought of covering his ears with something warm and fluffy. It probably was a bit cold that day! He went in and asked his grandmother to sew tufts of fur between loops of wire - and voilà - earmuffs!

Later on Chester improved upon his original idea, patented the invention, and provided jobs for quite a few people in the Farmington area for almost 60 years. Well, Chester didn’t exactly invent earmuffs - some versions of them had been around - but he made such a big improvement on them that he got it patented. And the improvement was a v-shaped swivel hinge that kept earmuffs tight to the ear - just the way they are today! Farmington still celebrates its most inventive son - for this and his many other inventions - each year in December on Chester Greenwood Day.

Chester Greenwood Day 2016 in Farmington, ME