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How 5 Young Americans’ Inventions Changed the World
As soon as European colonists settled in North America, individuals of all backgrounds and areas of expertise began developing a host of revolutionary devices and resources. They upgraded already-made products or created entirely new concepts that improved technology, enhanced society, and greatly improved people’s lives. Although not as well-known as their adult counterparts, many youths were also transforming the US with their ideas. Here are five adolescents who developed their innovations at an early age and then went on to create new ideas as adults.
1. Margaret Eloise Knight: Introducing Textile Mill Safety Measures
Margaret E. Knight posing in her experiment room for the Boston Sunday Post, 1912. Source: Wikipedia
Born in York, Maine, in 1838, Margaret Eloise “Mattie” Knight loved creating new gadgets. She always played with woodworking tools instead of dolls and made unusual kites and sleds for her brothers. Knight once said that dolls never interested her. She did not understand the sense of embracing hard porcelain figures with unemotional faces. Knight’s father unexpectedly died when she was 12 years old, and she began working at a cotton mill to financially support the family. Soon, she was actually applying her self-learned engineering skills.
Child labor at textile mills. Source: Wikimedia Commons
This was the beginning of the American Industrial Revolution when goods were being made by machines rather than by hand. Textile mills at that time did not follow designated safety standards and were extremely dangerous. Many workers, including young children, were often seriously injured without any labor laws.
When Knight actually saw a metal-tipped piece of a thread shuttle fly off a loom at high speed and pierce a laborer, she quickly focused on her first invention. She designed a shuttle restraint system, which protected workers from errant parts. This innovation soon became the standard for many textile factories countrywide. As she was too young to understand the patenting system, Knight never received compensation for her invention. However, she remedied this mistake with future innovations.
Patent of model paper bag machine. Source: Creative Commons
In the mid-1860s, Knight began working for the Columbia Paper Bag Company in Springfield, Massachusetts. Up until the early 1900s, people carried their personal items in containers such as wicker baskets and burlap bags. With the rise of manufacturing, companies started mass-producing paper bags. These bags, however, were V-shaped paper cones that did not hold many goods. Through her work at the paper factory, Knight once again recognized additional ways to improve the existing manufacturing processes. Her newly designed automated system not only fed, cut, and folded paper but also enlarged and squared the bottom of the bag.
The new process greatly enhanced design and uniformity. The practical flat-bottomed bags were much easier to pack and held many more items. Similar bags are still used today to carry groceries or, in a smaller size, to pack lunches. This time, Knight applied for a patent. However, Charles Annan, a worker in the machine shop, claimed the idea was his.
When the two went to court, he said that a woman “could not possibly understand the mechanical complexities of the machine.” Knight showed her original blueprints to the judge and quickly won the case. She then co-founded her own paper bag company in Hartford, Connecticut. During her lifetime, Knight patented over 25 items, including a machine that cut soles for shoes to an actual compound rotary engine. In her 1914 obituary, she was called the “female Thomas Edison.”
2. Samuel Caldwell Colt: Creating the World’s Best-Known Firearm
Samuel Caldwell Colt engraving by John Chester. Source: Wikimedia Commons
Samuel Caldwell Colt was born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1814. When working at his father’s mill and a neighborhood farm, he greatly enjoyed taking mechanical items apart and seeing how they worked. This was especially true with firearms. Colt soon began reading any materials he could find about guns and gun powders and liked fascinating his friends with pyrotechnics and underwater explosions. In his teens, he began experimenting with a new type of revolver that could shoot six times in a row without reloading. This was a major advancement over the present firearm with only one or two barrels. He patented this newly developed revolving chamber pistol in 1836. From then on, the name “Colt” became closely associated with the term “firearms.”
Yet, this was only one reason why Samuel Colt’s name is so well known throughout history. He opened a factory and became one of the first American industries to manufacture firearms in interchangeable parts. This process allows one part to fit into a variety of different devices. It greatly increases efficiency by reducing the time and skill needed for assembly. Interchangeability is an important historic advancement that has since benefited many industries.
Over time, Colt actually designed 15 different revolver models. The guns were originally associated with American expansion into the West. Over time, they became a critical need for US military actions ranging from the Mexican-American War in 1845 and into WWI and WWII. At the start of the Civil War in 1861, Colt quickly focused on the Union Army’s needs. The most effective firearms were the .36 caliber M1861 Navy revolver, which changed from a round to an octagonal barrel, and the well-known M1860 Army revolver. Today, the Colt Manufacturing Company in West Hartford, Connecticut, continues to produce pistols, revolvers, and rifles.
3. Francis William Epperson: Producing a Frozen Treat on a Stick
Francis William Epperson enjoying his invention. Source: Find a Grave
Sometimes, inventors spend many years creating and implementing their new products or processes. Other times, innovations come about in a very brief period of time or even a fluke and arise without the inventor giving the item any thought. Francis William “Frank” Epperson of Oakland, California, was just 11 years old in 1905 when he accidentally made a new frozen novelty.
For a snack, he had mixed some sweet soda powder and water in a glass. By chance, he left the drink with a wooden stirrer on an outside table overnight. It was a cold evening, and Epperson found a treat waiting for him in the morning. Here was a perfect example of an unexpected invention!
Epperson called his new snack “Episicle,” and it quickly became a hit. At first, he sold the new concoction throughout his neighborhood and at the beach. He finally received a patent in 1925. His children convinced him to appropriately call the snack a “popsicle.”
Roller Exhibit #3 “Popsicle – A Drink on a Stick.” Source: National Archives
Epperson sold the rights to his patent to the Joe Lowe Company in New York, and the frozen dessert quickly became a nationwide hit. The first popsicles were single treats on wooden birch sticks; each sold for only five cents. Later, the company began putting the frozen delight on two sticks so children could share them with each other.
The company was sold several additional times and eventually became part of Good Humor, ice cream, and novelties. Over time, the popsicles expanded into Fudgsicles, Dreamsicles, and Creamsicles. In addition, other companies called them other names, like fruit bars and ice pops. Still, the term “popsicle” continues to be used in a generic fashion, like “Kleenex” and “Xerox.” Hundreds of millions of these popsicles are enjoyed every year, with 30-plus flavors. The absolute best seller is orange.
4. Chester Greenwood: Protecting Human Ears Against the Cold
Chester Greenwood wearing earmuffs. Source: Sun Journal
Human ears have always been sensitive to the bitter cold, yet the type of earmuffs often worn today in cold weather were not actually made until the late 1800s. Earmuffs are a strap or band that fits over the head with a cushion or cup at each end to cover the ears. In 1873, in Farmington, Maine, 15-year-old Chester Greenwood was ice skating when he thought of this new way to keep his ears warm. He asked his grandmother to sew layers of fur for the end of two wire loops.
The New Bonnet by Francis William Edmonds, 1858. Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Although Greenwood successfully used the earmuffs to keep himself warm, he did not realize the importance of his invention until four years later. He then improved his prototype using a steel band and named them “Greenwood’s Champion Ear Protectors.” His 1877 patent soon became an important item of outerwear, including special designs for WWI soldiers. By the mid-1930s, 400,000 pairs were being manufactured a year.
Chester Greenwood in his earmuffs. Source: Smithsonian Open Access
Similar to other inventors, Greenwood continued to develop additional new products. These included a folding bed, a wide-bottom tea kettle, and a design for a shock absorber still used in airplane landing gear. He also owned a bicycle business and launched his town’s first telephone system. Greenwood earned the title “Inventor for the Ordinary Man,” and Farmington became the “Earmuff Capitol of the World.” Today, the historic Greenwood & Company building still stands in his hometown, and everyone enjoys the annual Chester Greenwood Day parade and events.
5. Benjamin Franklin: Serving as an Inventor and Statesman
Benjamin Franklin. Source: National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC
A list of young inventors cannot be written without including Benjamin Franklin, one of America’s most famous creators. In fact, this important statesman actually announced his first invention in 1717 when he was only 11 years old. Of all things, he designed swimming fins!
Franklin, who loved swimming, developed these fins for his hands rather than his feet, as is done today. In his article “The Art of Swimming,” he wrote, “I made two oval pallets, each about ten inches long, and six broad, with a hole for the thumb, in order to retain it fast in the palm of my hand.” The final design looked like an artist’s pallet.
Benjamin Franklin’s swim fins. Source: University of Pennsylvania Almanac
During his lifetime, Franklin made scores of inventions, including bifocals, the glass harmonica, and the Franklin Stove. His lightning rod became well known for protecting buildings from dangerous sparks of electricity. However, Franklin never patented any of his innovations. He said the items should be used freely by everyone.
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