American Inventors

With the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, a new nation was invented where anyone with enough hard work and determination could attain their dreams. his promise of opportunity not only !rought in a stream of immigrants seeking a !etter life, !ut also led to the development of countless new inventions designed to make everyday living easier. Alexander Graham Bell- Inventor of the Telephone hough he was !orn in "cotland and spent some time in #ntario, $le%ander &raham 'ell didn(t actually start inventing until he settled in 'oston and !ecame an $merican citi)en. $nd it(s a good thing he did, !ecause without &raham 'ell we wouldn(t have one of our most valued inventions* the telephone. With !oth a mother and a wife who were una!le to hear, inventor $le%ander &raham 'ell took an active interest in the deaf. +ike his father, he taught deaf people and worked as a speech therapist. In fact, he first developed his phonautograph invention, a device that draws vi!rations from the human voice, to help deaf students visuali)e sound. ,ventually, this invention would evolve into what we now know as the telephone. $le%ander &raham 'ell made the first speech transmission through his telephone invention on -arch 1., 1/76 0three days after he received his patent1, and soon after introduced the device at the World(s fair. #f course, &raham 'ell wasn(t the only one working to develop this technology at the time one of the others was telegraphy titan Western 2nion. $ll in all, the 'ell 3ompany was forced to defend over 6.. legal challenges to the invention(s patent. $nd, with $le%ander &raham 'ell(s convincing testimony, the company won each and every one. John Moses Browning- Inventor of the Semi-Automatic Shotgun With over 4. million firearms !ased on his designs, 5ohn -oses 'rowning is one of $merica(s most accomplished weapons inventors. 'rowning invented and patented the gas6operated return mechanism for rifles, which eliminated the need to load each shot !y hand. With his invention, every time a person pulled the trigger a new round could !e fired. he son of a -ormon gunsmith, inventor 5ohn -oses 'rowning developed a keen understanding of guns from an early age. In 1/77, 'rown received his first patent for his !reech6loading, single6shot rifle, and upon the death of his father, he and his !rother took over the family !usiness. 2ltimately, 5ohn -oses 'rowning(s inventions helped revolutioni)e the firearms industry in $merica with some of the country(s most commercially successful guns including the lever6action repeating rifle, semi6automatic shotgun, .88 cali!er rifle, the 'rowning 1717 .4. cali!er and -8 .9. cali!er machine guns 0-&s1, and the 'rowning $utomatic :ifle 0'$:1. ;erhaps his most famous weapon, the '$: was adopted !y the military and famously used !y soldiers in World War I. Willis arrier- Inventor of Air onditioning If someone made a list of everyday inventions that $mericans <ust couldn(t live without, Willis 3arrier(s invention might !e at the top. Without 3arrier(s invention, movie theaters, sports arenas and working environments would !e a lot less comforta!le, and how could anyone sleep during those hot summer night= In case you haven(t guessed, 3arrier is the inventor of air conditioning. Inventor Willis 3arrier was an engineer from the east coast 0not the deep south as one might e%pect1, who started out working for a

heating company. In 17.8, 3arrier was given the task of decreasing the humidity in a printing shop where the intense heat was causing the inks to run and !leed. While attempts to create cooling systems had !een attempted many times !efore, none were very successful. 'ut 3arrier managed to solve the pro!lem, inventing a mechanical humidity controller that passed air through a filter, then over coils containing a coolant 0the same !asic design used in air conditioners today1. Increasingly, air conditioning gained in popularity making its way from factories into theaters, department stores and other !usinesses. 'y the end of World War II, air conditioners had even made their way into many $merican homes. !enr" #ord- Inventor of the Moving Assem$l" %ine 3ontrary to popular !elief, >enry ?ord did not invent the automo!ile. While his ?ord -otor 3ompany did produce the vehicle that initiated a new era in personal transportation 0the -odel 1, the invention of the first automo!ile is generally credited to @arl 'en) of &ermany. In fact, >enry ?ord(s most important contri!ution was actually the invention of the moving assem!ly line. ;rior to ?ord(s invention, factory employees would work in groups to !uild one car at a time. 'y installing a moving assem!ly line in his factory, workers instead !egan to !uild cars one piece at a time with each individual responsi!le for a specific <o!. his division of la!or allowed cars to !e produced !oth more Auickly and efficiently. With the addition of the world(s first automatic conveyor !elt, >enry ?ord(s factory in -ichigan was soon producing a car every 74 minutes. ?ord(s assem!ly line invention accelerated the $merican Industrial :evolution, and factories continue to employee the concept to this day. $mong >enry ?ord(s other nota!le accomplishments was increasing the minimum wage for his workers from B8.4C6a6day to B96a6day, while cutting shift lengths from 7 hours to / hours. his wage increase was designed to make automo!iles afforda!le and accessi!le to the common man a dream we now see reali)ed on the roadways everydayD Samuel #&B& Morse- Inventor of the Telegraph and Morse ode +ike a lot of other $merican inventors, "amuel ?.'. -orse was fairly eclectic in his interests. >e was a well6known portrait painter and the first president of the Eational $cademy of Design. >e also ran for office several times, patented three new pumps and studied electricity. 2ltimately, his interests would lead him to his most famous accomplishment* inventing the electric telegraph. Inspired !y a conversation he overheard a!out electromagnetism on a ship ride from ,urope, inventor "amuel -orse conceived the idea for an electric telegraph 0though, un!eknownst to him, the idea was not e%actly new1. he concept of his invention was that pulses of electricity could !e used to communicate information over wires. hough not part of the original design, the invention came to include a dot6and6dash code that used different num!ers to represent the letters of the alpha!et. In time, this newly invented code would !ecome known as F-orse 3ode.F With the aid of some partners, "amuel ?.'. -orse applied for a patent for his new invention and went to work !uilding a prototype. Eot long after, -orse was transmitting ten words per minute with the device at a Eew Gork e%hi!ition. In -ay 1/CC, -orse sent a message 0FWhat >ath &od WroughtDF1 from Washington to 'altimore using the first inter6city electromagnetic telegraph line in the world. "oon after, the telegraph invention would !ecome commonplace across the 2nited "tates and, eventually, throughout the world.

'r& Jonas Sal(- Inventor of the )olio *accine

While there is still no actual cure for ;olio, thanks to inventor Dr. 5onas "alk there is a way to prevent it. 'efore "alk invented the vaccine for ;olio, $merica was forced to live in fear of the infectious viral disease that put ?ranklin :oosevelt in a wheelchair. ;olio attacks the nerve cells and sometimes the central nervous system, which can cause paralysis or even death. $fter !eing appointed head of the Hirus :esearch +a! at the 2niversity of ;itts!urgh in 17C7, Dr. 5onas "alk devoted himself to finding a way to cur! the devastating virus. +ess than five years later, he invented a vaccine and decided to test it out. $fter working successfully on a sample group that included "alk, his wife and their three sons, a nationwide testing of the vaccine was launched in $pril 179C. he impact was dramatic* in 1799 there were 8/,7/9 cases of polio in the 2.". and !y 1797 that num!er had decreased to 9,/7C. "ince he wanted it to !e distri!uted freely to everyone, Dr. 5onas "alk never patented his polio vaccine. hough an oral vaccine developed !y Dr. $l!ert "a!in gained popularity in the early 176.s, "alk(s vaccine is now returning to favor !ecause of its lowered risk factor. oday, in the 2."., cases of polio are e%tremely rare and he World >ealth #rgani)ation hopes the disease will !e eradicated worldwide in the near future. +rville , Wil$ur Wright- Inventors of the Airplane #n Decem!er 17, 17.4, a pair of inventors from #hio named #rville and Wil!ur Wright flew the world(s first airplane. he invention, known as the Wright ?lyer, took to the skies for 18 seconds, flying a distance of 18. feet. hough only five people were there to witness the flight, the invention would eventually !ecome one of the most important of the twentieth century one that would unite people throughout the 2nited "tates and the world. Inventors #rville and Wil!ur Wright took a great interest in flight and invention from an early age. :unning a successful !icycle !usiness afforded the Wright !rothers enough income to follow their dream of inventing a flying machine. What !egan with the design and flight of kites, soon moved into gliders and then more ela!orate aircraft inventions. :elying mostly on trial and error, the Wright !rothers eventually designed a powered airplane with a 186horsepower engine. $fter their successful flight in @itty >awk, E.3. 0an area chosen !ased on its weather patterns1, #rville and Wil!ur Wright went on to develop their invention into the first practical airplane. hey o!tained a patent in 17.6, started their own !usiness 0the Wright 3ompany1 and !egan !uilding and selling more sophisticated airplanes. he Wright !rothers( invention is so technically and culturally significant that the Eational $ir and "pace -useum in Washington, D.3., keeps the Wright ?lyer on permanent display.