If you have a passion for inventing you may very well fit in with the list of 13 inventors in this article. Although their inventions might be well known by many of us the inventors themselves are not.
(1) Frank Joseph Zamboni, Jr. (1901-1988)
Inventor Frank Joseph Zamboni, Jr invented the Zamboni, an ice-resurfacing machine, in 1949 in Los Angeles. And here I thought the Zamboni was a Canadian invention, we do like our hockey after all.
(2) George de Mestral (1907-1990)
After having to removing burdock burrs from his clothes de Mestral invented the world famous Velcro and henceforth generations of children never had to learn how to tie there shoes.
(3) George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr. (1859-1896)
Ferris is known for inventing the original Ferris Wheel for the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition.
(4) John A. Miller (1872-1941)
Miller designed over 60 roller coasters and held over 100 patents, many of which were for roller coaster safety devices that are still used today.
(5) John Stith Pemberton (1831-1888)
Pemberton was an American druggist and inventor of Coca-Cola, which in his lifetime was used only for medicinal purposes. I wonder if medicinal purposes meant that you threw a shot of rye and a few ice cubes in it before you drank it.
(6) Joseph-Armand Bombardier (1907-1964)
Canadian inventor and businessman Bombardier invented the first snowmobile in 1958 and has since been making planes, trains and Olympic Torches.
(7) Lonnie G. Johnson (1949- )
Johnson is best known as the inventor of the Super Soaker water gun, but on the side he also worked for NASA for both the Galileo mission to Jupiter, the Mars Observer project and the Cassini Saturn project.
(8) Luther George Simjian (1905-1997)
Simjian is an inventor of numerous devices and holds of over 200 patents. His most famous invention is the ATM, or automatic teller machine. I wonder if he also invented convenience fees…
(9) Marion Donovan (1917-1998)
Donovan is credited with inventing the first waterproof disposable diaper and our landfills have never been the same.
(10) Nolan Bushnell (1943- )
Both the founder of Atari, Inc and Chuck E. Cheese's Bushnell is credited with inventing the first popular video game, Pong, and the world's youth have never been the same.
(11) Ralph Teetor (1890-1982)
An unfortunate accident rendered Teetor blind at the age of five but that didn't stop him from eventually inventing cruise control in 1945.
(12) Ralph Wilford Samuelson (1904-1977)
In 1922 Samuelson was just eighteen years of age when he proposed the idea that if you could ski on snow, then you could ski on water. So naturally he invented water-skiing.
(13) William (Bill) Powell Lear (1902-1978)
Lear, known for founding the Lear Jet Corporation, was also the inventor of the first car radio and developed the 8-track tape.
If you have been playing around with that idea for a new product or way to do something now is the time to act on it. If you don't something about it soon someone else is bound to.
