But apparently his âsinkerâ made quite an impression on Warden. Like many other guys trying to hang on to a big league job, Ribant was clever in finding a way to get hitters out, conventional or otherwise. His âsinkerâ turned out to beâ¦the âspitballâ. Now the idea behind a âspitterâ is not some wet, gooey mess, but rather to create a âheavyâ spot on the baseball, thereby causing it to have greater wind resistance and sink dramatically when it gets to within a few feet of home plate.
When Benjamin Franklin invented his mechanical version of the instrument in 1761, he called it the armonica, based on the Italian word armonia, which means harmony. The unrelated free-reed wind instrument aeolina, today called the  harmonica , was not invented until 1821, sixty years later.
Woodwinds. Woodwind instruments like the clarinet, oboe, flute and saxophone all have distinct backgrounds and different times at when they came into existence. While the clarinet first appeared in Islamic and Asian countries 700 years ago, the oboe was a French instrument that was first used in the court of Louis XIV.In the 18th century it became a popular solo instrument that was mainly used by famous composers such as Bach and Telemann.The saxophone was invented by Adolph Sax in 1841 after he had worked on perfecting the bass clarinet. The flute was developed more than 1,000 years ago in ancient Asia.hile the clarinet first appeared in Islamic and Asian countries 700 years ago, the oboe was a French instrument that was first used in the court of Louis XIV. In the 18th century it became a popular solo instrument that was mainly used by famous composers such as Bach and Telemann.