Inventor facts for kids

Thomas Edison in his laboratory

Karl Benz

An inventor is a person who makes new inventions, devices that perform some kind of function. The devices are mostly electrical or mechanical. Someone that invents new ideas or methods on how to do things may also be called an inventor. Inventors can receive a patent.

Many inventors make small changes to old inventions. For example, people have invented new ways to make clocks over history. Early clocks were sundials, later clocks used water, and pendulums. Modern clocks are often electronic. Other machines such as vehicles are made of many inventions.

Famous inventors

• Nikola Tesla invented the alternating current motor, Tesla coil and many other things.
• Michael Faraday, scientist, discoverer of electromagnetic induction, inventor of the electric motor, founder of electromagnetism.
• Thomas Edison, inventor of the phonograph and many other things.
• John Kemp Starley, many improvements to bicycles.
• Karl Drais, inventor of the Laufmaschine ("running machine") the first bicycle.
• Guglielmo Marconi (1874 – 1937) pioneer of radio communication.
• Alessandro Volta, inventor of the battery.
• Gottlieb Daimler, inventor of the first four-wheel successful car.
• Karl Benz, inventor of the first successful car.
• George Stephenson (1803 – 1859) inventor of the improved locomotive.
• James Watt, inventor of the improved steam engine.
• Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, inventor of the first car (propelled with steam engine).
• Nikolaus August Otto, inventor of the first internal-combustion engine.
• Richard Trevithick, inventor of the locomotive.
• Rudolf Diesel, inventor of the diesel engine.

Famous female inventors

Photograph of Dr. Virginia Apgar

Annie Minerva Turnbo Malone (August 9, 1869—May 10, 1957), American businesswoman, inventor and philanthropist

• Marion Donovan, created a reusable, impermeable diaper cover, which led to the invention of the disposable paper diaper.
• Ruth Graves Wakefield, pioneered the first chocolate chip cookie recipe
• Mary Anderson, the inventor of what became known as the windshield wiper.
• Margaret A. Wilcox, the inventor of the car heater.
• Eldorado Jones, devised an airplane muffler in 1919.
• Sarah Mather, patented he first underwater telescope.
• Annie Turnbo Malone, developed and manufactured her own line of non-damaging hair straighteners, special oils, and hair-stimulant products for African-American women.
• Margaret E. Knight, the inventor of machines to produce flat-bottomed paper bags.
• Josephine Cochrane, invented the first successful hand-powered dishwasher.
• Sarah Boone, made improvements to the ironing board.
• Alice H. Parker, designed the first gas furnace that was powered by natural gas.
• Bette Nesmith Graham, the inventor of the correction fluid.
• Ruth R. Benerito, invented wash-and-wear cotton fabrics, which allow for more wrinkle-free and durable clothing.
• Virginia Apgar, the inventor of the Apgar score.

Images for kids

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  'BUILD YOUR OWN TELEVISION RECEIVER.' Science and Invention magazine cover, November 1928

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  Alessandro Volta with the first electrical battery. Volta is recognized as an influential inventor.

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  Thomas Edison with phonograph. Edison was one of the most prolific inventors in history, holding 1,093 U.S. patents in his name.

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  A rare 1884 photo showing the experimental recording of voice patterns by a photographic process at the Alexander Graham Bell Laboratory in Washington, D.C. Many of their experimental designs panned out in failure.

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  Eric M. C. Tigerstedt (1887–1925) was known as a pioneer of sound-on-film technology. Tigerstedt in 1915.

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  Railways — probably the most important invention in land transport. (Railway station in Bratislava, Slovakia)

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  U.S. patent

See also

In Spanish: Invento para niños