Extrait du livre American Inventors & Innovators
Contents The Innovative American 6 Early American Inventions: Native Americans 8 Innovative Colonists 10 Inventions that Shaped the Nation 12 Mothers of Invention: Female Innovators 14 An Innovative Heritage: African American Inventors 16 Innovation on the Move 18 Sending a Message 20 Industrial Revolutionaries 22 Healthy Advances 24 Cooking Up Progress 26 The Innovation of Comfort 28 Above and Beyond 30 A Sporting Chance 32 Wearing It Well: Clothing Innovations 34 Digital Visionaries 36 Playtime! 38 Entertaining Ideas 40 Young Innovators 42 Glossary 44 Index 45 Looking for cool and interesting stuff? Watch for WOW facts on the pages of every World of Wonder book!
The Innovative American Americans have always been a group of creative problem solvers, whether they walked a quiet forest path or the information superhighway. Innovation What is innovation? Innovation is all about trying something new. It can be a new invention, or it can just be a new way of doing things. Since the very beginning, America has been one of the most innovative places around. Often called the "melting pot" of the world, people have come to America from distant lands, and together, they have created some pretty useful stuff. "Necessity, the Mother of Invention." Plato (427-347 B.C.) When someone needs something it is called a necessity, and when we need something badly enough we invent new things (inventions) or new ways of doing things (innovations). From the Stone Age to the Digital Age , mankind has been searching for ways to improve the world around him. Dreams into Action The only limit to innovation is your imagination. Some people call it "blue sky" thinking when you dream up new ideas. And if you can dream it and you're willing to work hard enough, almost anything is possible! So read on, dream on, and maybe one day you will become a famous inventor like the men, women and kids in this book! It's True! - Sticking to It! - Spencer Silver worked on inventing a super strong glue. Unfortunately, it was super weak (in other words, NOT very sticky). But a co-worker, Arthur Fry, took the weak glue and put it on the back of paper, creating a multi-million dollar invention called Post-it notes. That's what you call stick-to-it-ivity! Inventors and Innovators come in all shapes, sizes, ages, colors and backgrounds. Sometimes they create things to make work easier, faster, or just plain fun - like when Arthur Gildersleeve wanted to encourage kids to drink more healthy stuff like milk and juice. He bent a straw to make it fun, inventing the Crazy Straw in 1936! Famous Firsts - One Rock-in' Creation! - One day Gary Dahl jokingly complained to his friends how messy pets were and how his pet rock never made a mess. His friends thought it was so funny that he decided to write "The Pet Rock Training Manual" and sold it with a rock. Within months, he was selling over 10,000 Pet Rocks a day.
Early American Inventions: Native Americans Kayak The kayak was invented by the Inuit Peoples (sometimes called Eskimos) in the Arctic regions of North America. Kayaks (which means "hunter's boat") were made of animal skins stretched over wooden frames. They made it possible for people to travel across icy waters to hunt seal, walrus and fish. Today, kayaks are used for a variety of purposes, but mostly for recreation. Snowshoes Though primitive shoes for traveling in the snow have been found in Asia, the snowshoes used by most people today were created by the original American inventors ≠ the Eastern First Peoples. Made of bent twigs with leather laces, snowshoes grew out of a need to travel across the deep snows of winter to hunt and gather food. It's True! - Z Force - While kayaks are used mostly for fun today, during World War II a group of Australian & English Special Forces soldiers (named Z Force) paddled their kayaks in secret missions to destroy Japanese ships in Singapore! Toboggan Toboggan comes from the Algonquian word "odabaggan." It was also invented by the Eastern First Peoples to help carry food and supplies over the snow. Known as the hunter's sleigh, toboggans were made from strips of wood or whalebone bound together with a long, flat bottom and a curved front end. Today, toboggans are used mostly for thrilling rides down snowy slopes. Lacrosse Lacrosse can truly be called the first American sport (sorry, baseball came much later). It was created by Indian tribes in New York and Ontario (Canada). Different villages or tribes would play against each other. They passed a 3-inch ball to their t s rue teammates with special sticks until they shot the ball into a small goal. The Mohawks called Mohawk it "the little brother of war" because it was a great way to practice battle skills. And the playing field was huge! The goals could be a few hundred yards to miles apart with no out-of-bounds! Sometimes they played from sunrise to sunset. Whew! What a tough game! It's True ! - You Call it Lacrosse, We Call it... - Choctaw - "stick ball" Eastern Cherokee - "little war" Mohawk - "little brother of war" Onondaga - "men hit a rounded object" Ojibwa - "bump hips" Famous Firsts - "Give Me a Pair of Bear Paws!"- Just like modern shoe styles, different snowshoes were introduced by tribes trying to fulfill their needs. Alaskan : Created by Intuit peoples (Eskimos), Alaskan snowshoes are around five feet long. They have upturned noses similar to modern snow skis which allow them to slide easily. They were often used to break trails for sled dog teams. Michigan : These snowshoes looked like long tennis racquets. The shoes were very effective for carrying heavy loads of deer, elk or buffalo since they allowed the weight to be spread out over a large area. Unfortunately, the long tails often got caught on things and made turning around very difficult. Ojibwa : Created by tribes near Manitoba (Canada), these shoes had pointed noses and tails. They were much shorter and wider than the Alaskan or Michigan, allowing the wearer to travel over all kinds of terrain. They even allowed the wearer to walk backwards with ease...well, as easy as it can get in deep snow. They even allowed the wearer to walk backwards with ease...well, as easy as it can get in deep snow. Bear Paw : Oval-shaped, these shoes were made mainly for quick and easy travel over the snowy hills.
Innovative Colonists While the bells of Liberty were ringing throughout the land, a revolution of innovation was just beginning. Benjamin Franklin While Franklin was responsible for helping form a new type of government, he spent much of his life coming up with new inventions that we still use today. In his day, Franklin saw many buildings damaged by lightning, so he came up with a metal rod or "lightning" rod (1749) to channel the raw electricity safely to the ground. (Of course, he was also famous for flying a kite in a storm to prove his theories about electricity.) He also found that he could combine his normal eyeglasses with his reading glasses. He did this by cutting both lenses in half and blending the two halves into a single frame - thus creating bifocals (1760s), a style of eyeglasses still in use today! Making practical improvements to everyday life was Franklin's hallmark. He found ways to improve streetlamps, musical instruments (inventing the glass armonica in 1761), and the postal system (he was the first postmaster). He also created a wood stove that provided more heat with less wood (the Franklin stove in 1742). He even constructed a foot-operated fan for his reading chair! You could also call him one of the original American conservationists. He once wrote a witty letter about an "economical project" to save energy and reduce the need to burn as many candles or oil lamps. His idea was very similar to something we call Daylight Savings Time today. As Ben said in his famous book, Poor Richard's Almanac, "A penny saved is a penny earned." No wonder we find this thrifty inventor on the face of the $100 bill! It's True ! - Glad to Share - Benjamin Franklin never patented any of his inventions. His philosophy ? "As we benefit from the inventions of others, we should be glad to share our own...freely and gladly." Eli Whitney The "father of American technology," Whitney came up with a machine to separate the fibers and seeds of the cotton plant - the cotton gin (his landmark invention created in 1 793). It made processing cotton much easier and led to a boom in the cotton industry that made America a major cotton supplier to the world. Yet Whitney had other ideas such as the first mass-produced interchangeable gun parts. His method soon started the American factory system and opened the door to the Industrial Revolution. Oliver Evans An ambitious young man, Evans apprenticed himself to a wheelwright (someone who made wagon and carriage wheels) at 16 years old. Later, he created an invention that many colonists used, including George Washington - the first automated flour mill (1787). Evans even came up with a design for a refrigeration machine in 1805 (though he never actually built the machine -another inventor did that 30 years later). His greatest contribution to America may have been the invention of the high-pressure steam engine. This innovation would be used to power a variety of vehicles including Evans' own steam carriage, the "Orukter Amphibolos" - the first true horseless carriage or automobile. Thomas Jefferson Jefferson was not only America's 3rd President (whose face can be found on the U.S. $2 bill and the nickel), but he was a busy inventor as well. The swivel chairs we use today got their start when Jefferson created a new kind of chair with a seat that could spin around. Then he put the chair to use as he wrote the Declaration of Independence. And though he shared Ben Franklin's ideas about sharing inventions, he felt protecting inventions would actually encourage creative minds to make more helpful devices and systems. So he helped pass the first U.S. patent law in 1790. The law made it illegal to copy someone's invention without their permission One of Jefferson's more historic inventions was the spy decoder wheel. It was known as the Jefferson disk or "wheel cipher" (1795). The cipher was a series of wooden disks on a spindle that allowed the user to code and decode secret messages. His invention was so helpful that it was even used in World War II!
Inventions that Shaped the Nation As America grew and expanded over a vast continent, inventions were needed. These inventions spanned the miles of rugged frontier bringing needed information, supplies and order to the wild new territory. Commercial Steamboats Though Robert Fulton did not invent the steamboat (William Henry created the first one in 1763...which promptly sunk), he is often called the father of steam navigation. Strangely, he started out as an artist and even exhibited some of his work in London at the Royal Gallery. Then he decided to turn his efforts to more practical works such as designing submarines called "diving boats" for both the French and the British Navy. He even designed the first practical submarine, the Nautilus, for Napoleon Bonaparte. He also designed some of the first "torpedoes" and successfully blew up a 300-ton ship in a field test. The idea of building a steamboat was always on his mind. It's True! - A Painter? - Fulton got his start as a portrait painter, painting famous people including fellow inventor Benjamin Franklin. After months of building models and changing the design, Fulton finally built his ship. It was called The North River Steamboat (later named The Clermont). It had dual-paddle wheels, luxury sleeping compartments, and a saloon. Though many people made fun of his flat-bottomed boat design, labeling it "Fulton's folly," the inventor had the last laugh when his ship became a successful business running up and down the Hudson River. Before long, many steam ships moved people and supplies on nearly every river in America. Transcontinental Railroad Like most innovators, Theodore Judah had a dream: to build a railroad across America to California. When people heard his idea, they began to call him "Crazy Judah." Still, he believed trains that could cross the mountains and prairies would allow people to travel west safely and would make a lot of money. Though many people turned him down, Judah convinced four businessmen in Sacramento to invest in his idea for a railroad over the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Of course, that was just the beginning. Later, he convinced the U.S. government to pass the 1862 Pacific Railroad Act, which made the construction of the first transcontinental railroad possible. However, six years before the railroad was completed, Judah traveled by ship to New York and caught yellow fever in Panama along the way. He died before the railroad was finished - a trip that future travelers would take by train, thanks to Mr. Judah. Colt Revolver As a young boy of 11, Samuel Colt read of the "impossible" tasks of Robert Fulton and others. When he heard soldiers talk about how hard it would be to create a gun that would shoot five or six times, Colt decided to be an inventor. He set out to make the "impossible" gun the soldiers described. Though he wasn't the first to create a revolver, Colt's pistol was the weapon that "won the West." It allowed settlers and lawmen alike to fire multiple shots without reloading, which often made the difference between life and death. Colt was also the first to mass-produce thousands of guns using an assembly line process. Telegraph & Morse Code Samuel Morse never set out to be an inventor, but an artist. After schooling in London, England, he was commissioned to paint portraits of famous people such as President James Monroe, inventor Eli Whitney, dictionary maker Noah Webster, and the Marquis de Lafayette. Later, he even tried his hand at early photography, training the future Civil War photographer, Matthew Brady. But during a trip home from Europe, Morse heard about experiments with electricity and his creative mind began to spin. The result? The single wire telegraph (1840) that used electrical pulses to send messages. The new invention used Morse's own code (Morse code) for each letter of the alphabet. The first message, "What hath God wrought?" was sent from Washington D.C. to Baltimore, MD, and soon telegraph lines connected the country and the world.
Mothers of Invention: Female Innovators Men weren't the only ones to come up with some innovative ideas. The contribution of female inventors has a long history in America. In fact, in 1809 Mary Kies created a unique process to weave silk and thread into straw hats. She was the first woman to be awarded a patent for her new idea. And she wouldn't be the last. Margaret Knight Known as the "Female Edison," Knight patented her first invention at the age of 30. She went on to patent nearly 90 inventions including textile and shoe-making machines. In 1871, she invented the first square-bottomed paper bag machine (until then, paper bags were more like envelopes)! Ironically, when workmen were installing her machine at a factory, they refused to listen to her advice. They said, "What does a woman know about machines?" If only they knew. Stephanie Kwolek With a bachelor's degree in chemistry, Kwolek (working for chemical giant DuPont) came up with a new fiber called Kevlar. Woven like tiny spider webs, Kevlar is so strong it can stop bullets. It is used as body armor for the military and police. It is also used in everything from bike frames to tornado shelters! It's True! - A Woman's Touch - Catherine Greene, wife of Revolutionary War General Nathanael Greene, gave the idea for the cotton gin to a mechanical handyman who rented a room from her. His name? Eli Whitney. Grace Hopper Known by many as "Amazing Grace," Hopper believed computer programming could be written in English. She came up with the computer source language, FLOWMATIC, which she later helped develop into COBOL (which stands for Common Business Oriented Language) while she worked for the U.S. Navy. She was also the third person (and first woman) to program the Harvard Mark I computer (also called the IBM ASCC), one of the first computers in 1944. In later years, Hopper attained the rank of Rear Admiral. In 1969, she was awarded the first ever Computer Science Man-of-the-Year Award from the Data Processing Management Association. And in 1973, she became the first person from the United States (and the first woman) to be made a Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society. Amazing! Famous Firsts - A Vision-ary Woman - Patricia Bath was the first female African-American doctor to get a patent for a medical purpose. Her device? The Cataract Laserphaco Probe. Her Invention helped people with cataracts regain their vision. (Cataracts are a cloudy area on the lens of the eye which makes it hard to see clearly.) Rose Totino Born the daughter of Italian immigrants, Rose Totino knew that hard work was the key to success. So when a banker wouldn't give her and her husband a loan to start their pizza business, she baked a fresh pizza and brought it to the banker. He was convinced! Soon Totino's Italian Kitchen opened in Minneapolis, MN, offering take-out pizza. But her dream was to offer frozen pizzas that people could take home and cook anytime. So she experimented for years, and in 1979, finally came up with a pizza dough for frozen pizzas that didn't taste like the "cardboard" dough of other companies. Today, as a result of her hard work, Totino's is one of the best-selling frozen pizzas on the market!
An Innovative Heritage: African American Inventors Until the abolition of slavery, only free black inventors were allowed to patent their creations. Many did not since being famous could also stir up prejudice. Still, African-American inventors bravely continued to dream and filled America with innovative ideas. Sarah Breedlove McWilliams Walker a.k.a. Madam C.J. Walker Sarah Breedlove McWilliams Walker, better known as Madame Walker, was the daughter of former slaves. Her parents died when she was seven, and her husband died when she was 20. She then left her native Louisiana and went to St. Louis, Missouri, where she began selling her homemade beauty products (make-up, hair creams, etc.) door-to-door. People liked her products so much she had to keep hiring more and more people to sell them. Soon there were over 3,000 people working for her. She became the first African-American business woman to become a self-made millionaire. As she got older, she retired among the wealthy in a spacious home on the Hudson River next to business tycoon, John D. Rockefeller. Granville T. Woods Known as the "Black Edison," Granville Woods created a number of inventions to improve electric railway cars. He even invented a system for letting a railroad engineer know how close his train was to other trains. Alexander Graham Bell's company bought one of his inventions, and even Thomas Edison offered Woods a job, but... he declined. He liked inventing and working for himself. Garrett Morgan After trying to rescue some men trapped in a smoky, Cleveland, Ohio, tunnel under Lake Erie, Garrett Morgan invented a gas inhaler to help rescuers breathe in smoke-filled places. Though racial prejudice made it tough for him to sell his invention, the U.S. Army used the inhaler as gas masks for soldiers in World War I. Firefighters today use a similar breathing device to help them safely enter burning buildings. George Washington Carver George Washington Carver was definitely an uncommon man. Born the son of slaves, he rose up to become one of the great agricultural innovators of the South. He took a crop, the peanut, that was once only used to feed pigs and found 325 uses for it. He also found 118 uses for sweet potatoes. Strangely, he only patented three of his discoveries. His reason? "God gave them to me," he said, "How can I sell them to someone else?" - George Washington Carver - "When you can do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world." It's True! - The Real McCoy - Elijah McCoy earned more than 50 patents, but the most famous one was the McCoy lubricator. It was a cup that poured oil through a small tube to help machine ball bearings roll smoothly. Others tried to copy his invention, but everyone wanted the real thing or "the real McCoy!"
