On this day in 1946, John Petrie of the Petrie-Lewis Company filed a patent for his mechanical blooming rose bush. It really was an automaton, made of metal. The mechanism was controlled by a tube of sand in the flowerpot; when the sand was released it allowed a weight to drop at a precise speed and real roses to be slowly pushed into view through the foliage. The trick was a popular P&L product, and a feature of Dante’s Broadway show in 1940.
