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American Inventors
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We Americans are a creative, inventive lot. Through
the years we have invented countless products that have improved the quality of life, and benefitted humankind in the
process. Unfortunately, some of our inventions have been responsible for evil, death and mass destruction and could,
possibly, destroy humankind and the world in which we live. Here, gentle reader, are but a few of the inventions and
inventors of products, both good and bad, beneficial and destructive, for which Americans are responsible. I will be
updating this page on a regular basis, so please check back often.
*Air Bags - Inventor: General Motors; Debut:
1973 - The air bag is an automotive passive restraint device designed to instantly inflate when the car is in a collision.
The bag prevents passengers from being thrown into the steering wheel or windshield. Air bags will deploy if a car is
traveling between 9 and 16 MPH at the time of a collision.
*Air Conditioning - Inventor: Willis
Haviland Carrier; Debut: 1902 - The earliest air-conditioning installations were in department stores and movie theaters.
People wanted the same comfort for their homes and, in 1924, home air conditioning units hit the market.
*The Airplane - Inventors: Orville &
Wilbur Wright; Debut: 1903 - The Wright Brothers' airplane was not really the first flying machine. It was, however,
the first machine to allow controlled flight by man.
*Amazon.com - Inventor: Jeff Bezos;
Debut: 1995 - Amazon was launched by Jeff Bezos in 1995 in a garage. It is well known all over the world as the Web
place to go for books. It also sells music, clothes, computers, etc.
*Anesthesia - Inventor: Dr. Horace Wells;
Debut: 1845 - The invention of anesthesia brought about the end of surgical pain. It has been called the most important
invention of the past 2,000 years. It has evolved to the point where one of the most important doctors in surgery is
the anesthesiologist.
*The Artificial Heart - Inventor: Dr.
Robert Jarvik; Debut: 1982 - One of the most important medical breakthroughs was Dr. Jarvik's artificial heart. In 1982,
it was installed in dentist Barney Clark, who lived 112 days with Jarvik-7 replacing his human heart. Today, thanks
to Dr. Jarvik's invention and improvement over the original artificial heart, recipients can expect a much longer life span.
*The Assembly Line - Inventors: Ransome
Eli Olds & Henry Ford;Debut: 1901 (Olds); 1913 (Ford) - The Oldsmobile was the first American automobile assembled on
an assembly line, so Ramsome Olds should get first credit for the assembly line, when he first implemented in 1901, but it
was Henry Ford, in 1913, who first used the conveyor belt assembly line in his Michigan plant, which laid the groundwork for
the completely automated assembly systems. Ford's production process fully assembled a Model T in one hour and 33 minutes.
*The ATM - Inventors: Luther George
Simjian & Don Wetzel; Debut: 1939 ((Simjian); 1968 (Wetzel) - Simjian and Wetzel are both credited with designing and
inventing what was to become the modern ATM, but it was Chemical Bank that launched the first ATM service in 1969 when they
installed a machine at its Rockville Center, New york, branch.
*Bar Codes (The UPC--Universal
Product Code); Inventors: Joseph Woodland & Bernard Silver; Debut: 1949 (patent granted on October 7, 1952) -
A bar code consists of 12 numbers separated by double lines at the beginning, middle and end of the sequence. A laser/optical
scanner reads the pattern of the numbers and instantly identifies the item and its correct price.)
*The Bifocal Lens; Inventor: Benjamin Franklin;
Debut: 1775 - Bifocals combine convex and concave lenses and correct both nearsightedness and farsightedness.
*Blue Jeans; Inventors: Levi Strauss &
Jacob Davis; Debut: 1873 - Blue jeans were originally invented as work pants and primarily sold to the gold miners in California
who needed sturdy pants. Today, blue jeans can be a fashion statement, availabe in a wide array of colors, and are sold
everywhere in the world.
*The Brassiere; Inventor: Mary Phelps Jacob;
Debut: 1913 - Mary designed the first bra using nothing but two silk handkerchiefs and some pink robbon. She fashioned
two cups out of the handkerchiefs, and used the ribbon to tie them.
*Brillo Pads; Inventor: Milton B. Loeb;
Debut: 1915 - Brillo Pads were originally developed to clean aluminum cookware, but it wasn't long before it was discovered
they had countless other uses, as well.
*Caller ID; Inventor: Carolyn Doughty (for
Bell Laboratories); Debut: 1982 - Caller ID is now offered by almost every telephone service in America and it has been a
boon to the privacy-minded and the stalked.
*The Can Opener; Inventors: Ezra Warner
& William Lyman; Debut: 1858 (Warner), 1925 (Lyman) - In 1858, Ezra Warner created the first true can-opening device -
a tool that looked like a bent bayonet. William Lyman's invention in 1925 was the first to use a rotating wheel, but
fit only one size can. This was soon corrected, and this rotating opener is the one used today.
*The Cash Register; Inventor: James Ritty;
Debut: 1879 - In 1879, 43-year-old tavern keeper James Ritty invented the "Incorruptible Cashier", the first mechanical cash
register, making a point of stating that it could not be "corrupted". Ritty's machine used paper tape, hole punchers
and a recording dial to keep track of transactions.
*The CAT (Computerized Axial Tomography) Scan;
Inventor: Robert S. Ledley; Debut: 1975 - The CAT scan revolutionized our ability to see inside the human body and is now
used routinely for everything from diagnosis to radiation therapy mapping.
*The Chocolate Chip Cookie; Inventor Ruth
Wake field; Debut: 1930 - Ruth Wakefield owned and operated the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachustts, when she first invented
the chocolate chip and then used her new creation to invent the chocolate chip cookie. (No wonder they're called Toll
House Cookies.) A personal note: In my opinion, chocolate chip cookies are the world's greatest invention. But
I wonder how the cavemen devloped without having a chocolate chip cookie to munch on? How did our Founding Fathers write
the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence without chocolate chip cookies? How did anything of substance happen
before 1930 without the sustence of chocolate chip cookies?
*CNN; Inventor: Reese Schonfeld & Ted
Turner; Debut: 1980 - CNN defined a new model for television news: the 24-hour news cycle.
*The Collapsible Ironing Board; Inventor
Sarah Boone; Debut: 1892 - African-American inventor Sarah Boone took a narrow wooden board, fit a padded cover to it, and
attached hinged legs to its bottom so they could be collapsed when not in use. Her collapsible ironing board, patented
on April 26, 1892, was the ancestor of our modern ironing boards. Today, collapsible ironing boards are maed of metal
and the legs slide on tracks, but the concept is the same.
*The Contact Lens (plastic); Inventor:
Kevin Tuohy; Debut: 1948 - The first plastic contact lenses were designed to cover only the cornea. Later developments
by Americans, and others, resulted in soft, comfortable plastic lenses that are available today in a wide array of colors,
as well as in bifocal prescriptions, disposable form, extended wear form, and one-day lenses.
*The Cotton Gin; Inventor: Eli Whitney;
Debut: March 14, 1794 - Eli Whitney's cotton gin turned the South into one of the most productive regions in America.
Almost immediately after he first demontrated it, farmers planted untold acres of cotton, and it all needed to be harvested
well before Whitney had a chance to patent and protect his invention. He never made any money from one of the most revolutionary
inventions in agricultural history.
*The Telephone; Credited Inventor: Alexander
Graham Bell, Actual Inventor: Antonio Meucci, Debut: 1876 - Antonio Meucci
invented the telephone, not Alexander Graham Bell. On June 15, 2002, the United States Congress oficially recognized
Meucci as the true inventor of the telephone. Bell received the patent for a telephonic device mere hours before a patent
for a similar device by an inventor named Elisha Gray was filed. Bell most probably stole the idea for the telephone
from designs and drawings by Antonio Meucci that were stored in the laboratory where Bell Worked. The United States
Supreme Court annulled Bell's patent in 1887 on the grounds of fraud and misrepresentation. Between 1850 and 1862, Meucci
developed at least 30 different models of working telephones. He never profitted from his invention and died poor in
1889.
*The TV Remote Control; Inventors: Eugene Polley
(for Zenith); Debut: 1950 (Zenith), 1955 (Polley for Zenith) - In 1950, Zenith offered the first TV romote control.
It was called the Lazy Bones and it was connected to the TV set by a wire that ran across the living room floor. In
1955, Zenith came out with the Flashmatic, a wireless remote control that worked by sending a beam to four photoelectric cells,
in installed in each corner of the TV cabinet. This was a definite improvement, except if the sun shown on the TV at
just the right angle, the TV tuner would start turning wildly. The Flashmatic was replaced by the Zenith Space Command
remote control. This device used aluminum rods that emitted specific high-frequency sounds when struck by a trigger-like
device. In the 1960s, transistor technology became available, and Zenith began manufacturing smaller, lighter, battery-controlled
devices that could create the ultrasound frequencies needed to control the tuner. Ultrasound remotes were the state
of the art for more than two decades until the 1980s, when infrared technology became available. Infrared is the universal
standard today, and electronics manufacturers have greatly expanded the remote control's capabilities.
*The Typewriter; Inventor: Christopher
Latham Sholes, Debut: 1867 - Prior to the late 1800s, all the great books that existed had been written in longhand.
Sholes, a printer and editor, invented the first true typewriter in 1867, using an old telegraph key and a flat plate coated
with carbon. The letters could not be spaced and the paper had to be positioned by hand. The first typewriter
patent was issued on June 23, 1868, and, within a few years, the rights were bought by the Remington gun-making company.
*The Vacuum Cleaner; Inventor: John S.
Thurman; Debut: 1899 - The first vacuum was gasoline powered. After inventing his "pneumatic carpet renovator", Thurman
went door-to-door in a horse-drawn cart, providing a carpet vacuuming service in St. Louis, Missouri. He charged $4
per visit, which would be close to $100 in 2004 dollars.
*WD-40; Inventor: Norm Larsen; Debut: 1953
- "WD-40" stands for "Water Displacement, 40th attempt". Before it was perfected, there were 39 prior versions of the
petroleum-based lubricant that did not pass muster. WD-40 was first used to protect the exterior of the Atlas missile,
and was mainly manufactured for the aerospace industry. In 1958, it was packaged for consumer use.
*Windows Operation System; Inventor: Douglas
Engelbart (for Microsoft); Debut: 1983 - Engelbart originally invented Windows for computers in the 1960s, at Stanford Research
Institute. It was put into development for mainstream application in the 1970s and Apple was the first to use it for
its personal computers. The Macintosh was the first computer to use the Windows interface. The system was purchased
by Microsoft and patented under the "Windows" name. Several new versions have since been developed and released over
the years.
*Windshield Wipers; Inventor: Mary Anderson;
Debut: 1903 - The first windshield wipers were invented in 1903, patented in 1905, and initially used only on streetcars.
By 1915, they were standard equipment on all automobiles. Anderson never sold her idea, and never profited from from
her invention.
*The Yellow Pages; Inventor: Reuben H. Donnelly; Debut:
1886 - The term "yellow pages" was not used commercially until 1886 when Reuben H. Donnelly published a directory of business
names and phone numbers, organized categorically, exactly as the book is published today.
*The Zipper; Inventors: Whitcomb Judson
& Gideon Sundbach; Debut: August 29, 1893 - When Whitcomb Judson invented the zipper, he did not call it a zipper, he
called it a "clasp-locker". In 1913, Gideon Sundbach, a Swedish-American, made some improvements to the clasp-locker
and created the zipper as we know it today. The name "Zipper" was created by the B.F. Goodrich Company in 1923, based
on the sound the clasp made when it was opened and closed: Zip.
* Excerpted from the book "American Firsts (Innovations, Discoveries,
and Gadgets Born in the U.S.A.)", by Stephen J. Spignesi, ©2004 by Stephen J. Spignesi. Used without permission, but
with the best of intentions.
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