November 24 1874: American farmer Joseph Glidden was awarded a patent for the first barbed wire. 1903: The first patent for an automobile electric self-starter was issued to Clyde Coleman of NY City. 1916: Prolific inventor Sir Hiram Maxim, who developed the Maxim (machine) gun, died. 1963: Lee Harvey Oswald, the man accused of murdering President Kennedy the day before, was shot to death in a Dallas police station by Jack Ruby. 1971: D.B. Cooper parachuted from a Northwest Airlines 727 with $200,000 and was never captured or found. 1998: AOL announced its acquisition of Netscape and a strategic partnership with Sun Microsystems. 2005: Round-the-clock drinking in pubs in England and Wales became law. | 
