The next time it is cold, perhaps it will be wise to put on a coat and then grab a pair of earmuffs. It’s something that Chester Greenwood made possible and it has proven to be one of the greatest inventions to keep those loved ones warm on cold or wind-chilly days.

Chester Greenwood was born in 1858 in Farmington, Maine. He was a bright young man and smart enough to recognize that he had invented something others could use. The idea came to him one day while he was ice skating. He thought up a great plan for what is known today as earmuffs.

Once he shared with his grandmother his idea, she reportedly followed her grandson’s plan and decided to sew together fur tufts between wire hoops. Greenwood would later patent another version where the design would call for metal bands.

While Chester was only fifteen when he first thought up the idea of the earmuff, he would go on to carry over 130 patents while he was alive. His abilities and inventions allowed him inclusion in the Smithsonian Institute’s Fifteen Outstanding American Inventors.

Chester Greenwood had various life accomplishments. He was the owner of a bike shop and was instrumental in bringing telephone communication to the Farmington area of Maine.

Today, there is actually a Chester Greenwood day in Farmington. The locals celebrate his life by honoring him with a parade on the first Saturday in the month of December.

Chester Greenwood will always be remembered as the inventor of the earmuffs but he tackled other projects too during his lifetime including the mechanical mousetrap and a whistling kettle with the spring steel rake wide bottom. He was also a machinist.

Chester Greenwood died in 1937.