Famous Inventions 11°

FAMOUS INVENTIONS
Madam C.J. Walke

r
, who was born
Sarah Breedlove
in 1867, invented
a hair care
treatment for
Black women.
Thomas Edison is credited with
inventing the first commercially
viable incandescent lightbulb. But
this was just one of his many
inventions. He’s also the inventor of
the Universal Stock Printer, which
was used to synchronize stock
tickers’ transactions, the quadruplex
telegraph, and the phonograph,
among others. During his lifetime,
he was granted more than 1,000 U.S.
patents for various inventions.
Alexander Graha
m Bell
is best known
for being the
primary inventor
of the telephone.
Inventor
Frederick Jones was a
self-taught engineer,
best known for his
creation of portable
refrigeration units.
Nikola Tesla is
credited for the design
of the alternating
current electric system
that’s still used around
the world today.
John Deere is best
known for being an
inventor in the
agricultural space.
Charles Babbage
If you’re reading this on
a computer, you have
mathematician and
inventor Charles
Babbage to thank.
Jan Matzeliger, who was born in
Suriname (known then as Dutch Guiana),
came up with a revolutionary shoe-
making technology. Historically, the
body of a shoe had to be attached to the
sole by hand as part of a process called
lasting. However, in 1883, Matzeliger
invented a lasting machine, which held
the shoe in place and mechanically nailed
the pieces together. It could produce 700
pairs of shoes per day, more than 10
times the number of shoes a person could
complete.
Inventor Charles Goodyear
accidentally discovered the
process of vulcanizing rubber in
1839. He struggled to patent it
before his death in 1860, though
the very successful Goodyear
Tire & Rubber Company was
posthumously named after him
when it was founded almost 40
years later.
Wilbur Wright, along with his
brother Orville, is credited with
inventing the world’s first power-
driven airplane. In 1903, the
brothers succeeded in flying the
world’s first free, controlled flight
of a power-driven airplane for 59
seconds over a distance of more
than 800 feet.
Philo T. Farnsworth created of
the first electronic television.
Along with Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs
was an inventor behind Apple
Computers. As the now-famous story
goes, Jobs and Wozniak started Apple
Computers in Jobs’ family’s garage in
1976, and the work they did there made
computers more accessible and more
affordable for consumers. Jobs left Apple
in 1985, but he returned in 1997 and
revitalized the company, leading to the
creation of products like the iPod and
iPhone.
Along with Steve Jobs, Steve
Wozniak is one of the founders of
Apple Computers and an inventor
of the Apple I computer. Wozniak
also personally invented the next
model, the Apple II computer,
which was a major step towards
Apple’s domination in the personal
computer market. Although he left
Apple in 1985, he continued
working on technologies related to
the universal remote control and
wireless GPS technology.
Eli Whitney invented the
cotton gin, a device that
could take green-seed cotton
and quickly extract the fibers
using a system of hooks,
wires, and a rotating brush.
The inventor of the telegraph, Samuel
Morse also created the communication
method known as Morse code. He
worked with inventor Alfred Vail, and in
1842, the pair demonstrated the
usefulness of their invention at the U.S.
Capitol. A telegraph line between
Washington D.C. and Baltimore was
constructed, and Morse sent out the first
message: “What hath God wrought!”
Inventor Samuel Colt is famous for the
design of the revolving chamber pistol,
which became essential for U.S. forces
during the Mexican-American War. Colt
pistols were also a popular weapon for
soldiers fighting in the American Civil
War, while a different model of the
revolver was used during World War I
and World War II. Colt also pioneered
the first remote-controlled Naval mine
explosive and invented waterproof
cables.
George Carruthers invented the
ultraviolet camera (also called a
spectrograph) and image
converter that provided proof
that molecular hydrogen existed
in interstellar space.
Photography was forever
changed by George Eastman,
who invented the Kodak
camera. His goal was to make
photography more accessible to
the public, and it’s fair to say he
succeeded. He created a gelatin-
based paper film and a device
for coating dry plates.
Granville T. Woods’ work was
instrumental in the development of the
telephone and electric transit systems. He
invented a telephone transmitter—which
was later purchased by fellow inventor
Alexander Graham Bell—and the
induction telegraph, which allowed
people to communicate by voice over
telegraph wires. He also invented a
power pick-up device, which is the basis
for the “third rail” used by electric-
powered transit systems, along with an
improved air-brake system.
Inventor Louis Braille
revolutionized communication
when he created the raised-dot
codes we know as Braille. He was
blinded in an accident when he was
3 years old and went on to attend
the National Institute for Blind
Youth in Paris when he was 10.
Guglielmo Marconi
He was a physicist who invented the

first effective systems of radio
communication. In 1901, he sent and
received the first wireless message
across the Atlantic Ocean, which
disproved a widespread belief that the
Earth’s curvature would pose an issue
in transmitting messages.
Isaac Singer changed the sewing industry
in 1850 when he invented a sewing
machine with a presser foot that could do
900 stitches per minute. Unlike prior
machines, Singer’s gadget was able to
sew continuously on any part of an
object and could do so in curves, rather
than straight rows. In 1857, he teamed up
with Edward Clark, and together they
launched what would become a very
successful business: I.M. Singer &
Company.
If you’ve driven a car today, you
have Karl Benz to thank. He was
the first person to build a car with a
fully integrated internal combustion
engine. He was granted a patent in
1886, and a model of his first car
was sold in 1888. Although his
invention was met with skepticism
at the time, his ideas meaningfully
formed the basis for later versions
of cars and trucks.
Inventor James West is
credited with creating a
device that is now used in 90
percent of all microphones.
Philo T. Farnsworth is famous
for his work on the electric
television, but John Logie
Baird’s work on the mechanical
television came first. In the
early 1920s, Baird started
experimenting with the idea of
transmitting moving images
along with sound.
Video game enthusiasts owe a lot to
Jerry Lawson, who invented the
first home video game system with
interchangeable games. The
Fairchild Channel F was invented
in 1976 by Lawson, who worked at
Fairchild Semiconductor. Without
Lawson’s work, we might not have
systems like Xbox, Nintendo, or
PlayStation.
Carpenter and inventor
John Lee Love pioneered several
devices during his lifetime. Among
them, he patented a portable pencil
sharpener (shown in the sketch
here), as well as a lightweight
plasterer’s hawk with a detachable
handle, used by masons and
plasterers.
Henry Ford was an inventor and
businessman whose work revolved
around cars, or “horseless
carriages” as they were called at the
start of his career. In 1908, he
introduced the Model T, the first car
that was affordable for the average
American. In 1913, he launched the
first moving assembly line, which
decreased the amount of time it
took to build a car and made it even
cheaper to buy.

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FAMOUS INVENTIONS

Madam C.J. Walke

He was a physicist who invented the

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