Q&A
Who invented earmuffs?
• SHORT ANSWER
An American teenager had a stroke of inspiration and the world was all ears
• LONG ANSWER
Although it is unlikely that Chester Greenwood was the first to cover the ears with something warm, he patented his design and so is remembered as the inventor of the modern earmuff. Not bad for a 15 year old. A boy with sensitive ears and allergies to the wool caps or scarves everyone wore in the cold, Greenwood asked his grandmother in 1873 to mock up an idea that came to him while ice skating: pads of beaver fur or flannel (the stories differ) attached around the ears by a band of wire.
That was only the beginning. Within a decade he had a factory producing tens of thousands of his improved ‘Champion Ear Protectors’ a year, and his hometown of Farmington became known as the ‘earmuff capital of the world’ when he started supplying the US Army in World War I. To this day, the state of Maine celebrates ‘Chester Greenwood Day’ every December.