SATURDAY, MAY 17, 2014

Today is Saturday, May 17, the 137th day of 2014. There are 228 days left in the year.

1620 ― First merry-go-round seen at a fair (Philippapolis, Turkey)

1792 ― 24 merchants form New York Stock Exchange at 70 Wall Street

1845 ― Rubber band patents

1846 ― Saxophone is patents by Antoine Joseph Sax

1884 ― Alaska becomes a U.S. territory

1916 ― British Summer Time (Daylight Savings), first introduced

1946 ― President Truman seizes control of nation's railroads to delay a strike

1960 ― First atomic reactor system to be patented, J.W. Flora, Canoga Park, Calif.

1961 ― Castro offers to exchange Bay of Pigs prisoners for 500 bulldozers

1989 ― Vincent Van Gogh's ``Portrait of Dr. Gachet" auctioned for $825 million