American Inventors

Although inventions have happened all throughout history and in almost every corner of the world, some of the more innovative have been the American inventions that have taken place. For instance, there was the American Industrial Revolution inventions that shaped this country and helped to shape the entire world. Here is a little bit about American inventors and inventions, along with what they have done in order to change the world in which we live.

The patent office opened in 1790 in the United States in order to allow individuals to stake their claim to any inventions which they came up with. During that time, the patent office has given over 6 million patents for American inventors and inventions. Some of the more active time that the patent office has seen came about as a result of the American industrial revolution and inventions that really fueled the second half of the 19th century.

One of the most famous of the American inventors has got to be Eli Whitney who patented the cotton gin during the 1800s. This rather simple machine helped to separate the fibrous cotton from the seeds of the plant. This was something that was unable to be done by any means except by human hands up until this particular time. Eli Whitney owns this prestigious spot in history but lost interest and faith in the patent system when the United States Congress refused to renew his patent. Although he came up with many more inventions after this, none of them were registered.

There were also some very famous African American inventors on the scene. One of the more notable of these is George Washington Carver who devised a way of rotating crops so that the soil would not be depleted of its nutrients. He worked extensively with crops, such as peanuts and even turned down a job which paid a salary of over $100,000 per year, a figure which would be well over $1 million by today's standards.

Here's something that is interesting. One of the more notable American inventors and inventions is that of Henry Ford and the automobile. Believe it or not, Henry Ford did not invent the automobile as it had already been invented in Germany sometime before. He did, however, developed the model T. Ford which revolutionized the automobile industry worldwide. He is also credited with coming up with the idea for a moving assembly line and implementing it. This type of assembly line was one of the more interesting American Industrial Revolution inventions and it is still being used in many factories, even today.

We wouldn't necessarily consider an airplane that only stayed in the air for 12 seconds and flew 120 feet to be a success. Nevertheless, this airplane which was devised by brothers named Orval and Wilbur Wright, took to the skies on December 17, 1903 and became the first successful flight of an airplane, worldwide. From this humble beginning, came the modern-day form of transportation that so many of us now take for granted.

Finally, we could not mention American inventors without speaking about Alexander Graham Bell. Not only did this man invent the telephone, he also invented a number of other things that we may not even take into consideration. This includes such things as the metal detector and some work on hydrofoil machines. The next time you hear your phone ring, you can thank Mr. Bell.