Frank Joseph Zamboni never played a second of professional hockey, but he was still inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 2009 for his vital contributions to the sport.
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Category: American Inventor Series
American Inventor Series: Garrett A. Morgan, a Son of Slaves Who Invented the Traffic Signal
Garrett A. Morgan was born on March 4, 1877 in Claysville on the outskirts of Paris, Kentucky to two former slaves. He was one of eleven children and his family was forced to live in a segregated portion of the city, so Morgan left for Cincinnati, Ohio at the age of 14 in search of better opportunities.
Read the full storyAmerican Inventor Series: Benjamin Banneker, a Black Tobacco Farmer Who Surveyed the Nation’s Capital
Benjamin Banneker was much more than just an inventor. As a mathematician, astronomer, landowning farmer, writer, and surveyor, Banneker was one of the most influential African Americans alive during America’s infancy.
Read the full storyAmerican Inventor Series: Hobie Alter, the Henry Ford of Surfing
Hobart “Hobie” Alter was born on October 31, 1933 in Ontario, California, though his family owned a summer home in Laguna Beach where he developed a passion for water sports.
Read the full storyAmerican Inventor Series: George Henry Corliss, the Man Who Powered the Industrial Revolution
George Henry Corliss’ steam engine powered the Industrial Revolution and solidified steam as the superior source of power over waterpower.
Read the full storyAmerican Inventor Series: Mary Anderson, Inventor of the Windshield Wiper
On August 14, the Northwest Ohio Classical Academy (NOCA) opened in Toledo for the 2019-20 school year. It is the culmination of five years of effort on behalf of a group of parents who were not satisfied with the current school options available to them.
Read the full storyAmerican Inventor Series: Glenn Hammond Curtiss, the ‘Fastest Man on Earth’
Bicycles, motorcycles, blimps, and planes – Glenn Hammond Curtiss was “always eager for speed” and “obsessed with the idea of traveling fast,” according to an autobiography Curtiss wrote with friend Augustus Post. Before the age of 30, Curtiss received the informal title of “fastest man on earth” for his motorcycle races.
Read the full storyAmerican Inventor Series: Dave Goode, Skiing Pioneer
Michigan native David Goode launched one of the country’s most successful snow and water ski companies in 1975 when he was just 19 years old. He was a member of the U.S. downhill ski team at the time, but his career was sidetracked by an ankle injury.
Read the full storyAmerican Inventor Series: Josephine Cochrane, Inventor of the Dishwasher
Josephine Cochrane, born March 8, 1839, was born in Ohio but spent most of her adult life living in Shelbyville, Illinois as the wife of a wealthy politician named William Cochran. Josephine spelled their name with an “e” at the end to give it some extra pizzazz.
Read the full storyAmerican Inventor Series: The Wright Brothers
How do you tell the story of the brothers who gave mankind the gift of flight? The men who realized ancient man’s distant dream of taking to the sky? It’s a daunting task, but luckily other gifted historians have attempted to tell their story.
Read the full storyAmerican Inventor Series: Cyrus McCormick, the Man Who Freed America from Famine
Cyrus Hall McCormick was born in 1809 on his father’s rural farm tucked between the Blue Ridge and Allegheny Mountains in an America that was still developing “beyond the struggle for food.”
Read the full storyAmerican Inventor Series: Harvey S. Firestone, Ohio Farm Boy Turned Tire Tycoon
Harvey S. Firestone was born on December 20, 1868 in Columbiana, Ohio to a family of farmers who had resided in the region since the early 19th century. He was an Ohio farm boy who went on to become one of the greatest industrialists of the modern world.
Read the full storyAmerican Inventor Series: Margaret E. Knight, the ‘Lady Edison’
Margaret E. Knight, born in York, Maine in 1838, preferred a “jack-knife, a gimlet, and pieces of wood” to dolls as a young girl. Her amateur woodworking skills made her sleds the “envy of the town’s boys” while her kites were famous throughout the community, according to Henry Petroski’s account of the young inventor in The American Scholar.
Read the full storyAmerican Inventor Series: William H. Miner, Inspiration for Rural Americans
William H. Miner was born during the Civil War and died during the Great Depression. He was orphaned at the age of 10 after the death of his father and his only son died a week after birth. He nonetheless exhibited an “unswerving optimism, iron will, dogged determination, meticulous management, and supreme self-confidence,” according to Miner biographer Joseph C. Burke.
Read the full storyAmerican Inventor Series: Thomas Alva Edison, Father of the Modern World
Thomas Alva Edison, born February 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio, was fired from two jobs before the age of 18 for causing explosions in his places of work.
Read the full storyAmerican Inventor Series: William Harley, Motorcycle Icon
Two kids from Milwaukee with a dream of attaching an engine to a bicycle were the unlikely founders of one of America’s most iconic companies: Harley-Davidson.
Read the full storyAmerican Inventor Series: Benjamin Franklin, American Printer
Before anything else, Benjamin Franklin was a printer. It’s difficult to imagine now, but printing was a strenuous trade in Franklin’s time, requiring late hours, heavy lifting of various lead types, and long shifts operating the manual presses. Franklin, however, loved to read, which suited him well in his career as a printer.
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