This Day in Geek History: November 1
1848
First railway bookstall is opened at the Euston station, in London by W.H. Smith.
1879
Thomas Edison patents the electric lamp.
1884
Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is adopted universally at a meeting of the International Meridian Conference in Washington, DC. The International Date Line is then drawn up and the twenty-four time zones are created.
1887
Eleven years after the phone was invented, the first differentiation between day and night long distance rates goes into effect, with night rates in most, but not all, instances lower than day rates.
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John L. Loud of Weymouth, Massachusetts is granted the first US patent for a ballpoint pen. (US No. 392,046) The pen uses a revolving spherical marking point held in place by three smaller anti-friction bearings, which are held in place in turn by a spring-loaded rod. The pen was designed to be used on rough surfaces unsuitable for the nib of a traditional fountain pen. Fifty-seven years later, the first mass-produced pens would be sold at