WASHINGTON, Oct. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:
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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17: ELECTRIC BLANKETS
Profile America — Wednesday, October 17th. As the weather gets colder, a bulky package will be taken out of closets in many homes across the country — where it has been stored since spring. Inside is an electric blanket, and homeowners will be testing their memories to make sure it's hooked up correctly. For thousands of years, people used handmade woolen blankets to ward off the cold — and started their evening's rest with either a bed warmer filled with coals from the fire or a hot-water bottle. Now, we take the easy warmth of electric blankets for granted. The first such blanket went on sale on this date in 1946 in Petersburg, Virginia, at a cost of $39.50. Today, electric blankets are part of the more than $2.5 billion electric housewares industry. Profile America is in its 16th year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.
Sources: Kane's Famous First Facts, 4265
440 International Calendar of Events, Those Were the Days
2007 Economic Census, NAICS 335211
Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotions of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on a monthly CD or on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the "Newsroom" button).
SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau
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