21 August: Venetian blinds

This date in 1841, the Venetian blind was patented by John Hampton of New Orleans, Louisiana. 10 things you didn’t know about Venetian blinds.

1. Venetian blinds are a type of window covering made up of horizontal slats connected by cords or tapes, allowing them to be adjusted for Light control and privacy.

2. Despite the name, they didn’t originate in Venice. In fact, the ancient Egyptians used a precursor to the blinds we use today, by tying reeds together, and in ancient China they did the same thing with Bamboo.

3. They are called Venetian blinds because Venetian merchants first introduced them to Europe, most likely from Persia. Venice at the time was a trade hub, so the name derives from the traders who made them popular.

4. They were called “Les Persienes” in France. France was the destination of choice for many freed Venetian slaves, who went into the business of shipping blinds to France.

5. The patent issued in 1841 was for the device that changed the angle of the slats, which is still used today.

6. In 1982, Atari produced a joke video “game” called Venetian Blinds, which was never intended for public release but eventually did find its way into game collections. Essentially, the game consists of the player raising and lowering a Venetian blind using the joystick. When the blinds are raised, they reveal a detailed sunset behind a green valley. Bad Game Hall of Fame stated that it was "honestly something of a stretch to even call it a 'game.'"

7. Venetian Blind is a 1959 suspense novel by the British author William Haggard about a rich Englishman with a second home in Venice, who is in the negative gravity business, and the plot revolves around him trying to uncover a traitor who is leaking the secrets of negative gravity to the Germans.

8. Venetian blinds are actually a death trap. Between 1996 and 2012, 184 children in the US were strangled by them.

9. One of the largest orders for Venetian blinds ever placed was to the Burlington Venetian Blind Co., of Burlington, Vermont, which supplied blinds for the windows of the Empire State Building in New York City.

10. Other common types of Window blind include panel blinds, which originated in Japan, and roller blinds, which consist of fabric wrapped around a roller.

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