Today is Friday, August 12, the 224th day of 2011. There are 141 days left in the year.

1851 ― Isaac Singer granted patent for his sewing machine

1877 ― Thomas Edison invents the Edisonphone, a sound recording device

1915 ― ``Of Human Bondage," by William Somerset Maugham, published

1941 ― French Marshal Henri Petain gave full support to Nazi Germany

1953 ― Soviet Union conducts secret test of its first hydrogen bomb

1955 ― President Eisenhower raises minimum wage from $0.75 to $1 an hour

1972 ― Last American combat ground troops leave Vietnam

1974 ― Nolan Ryan strikes out 19 Red Sox

1985 ― Japanese Boeing 747 crashes, 520 die (worst in-flight toll)

1990 ― Iraqi President Saddam Hussein says he is ready to resolve the Gulf crisis if Israel withdraws from occupied territories