A timeline of United States inventions (1890–1945) encompasses the ingenuity and innovative advancements of the United States within a historical context, dating from the Progressive Era to the end of World War II, which have been achieved by inventors who are either native-born or naturalized citizens of the United States. Copyright protection secures a person's right to his or her first-to-invent claim of the original invention in question, highlighted in Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution which gives the following enumerated power to the United States Congress:
In 1641, the first patent in North America was issued to Samuel Winslow by the General Court of Massachusetts for a new method of making salt. On April 10, 1790, President George Washington signed the Patent Act of 1790 (1 Stat. 109) into law which proclaimed that patents were to be authorized for "any useful art, manufacture, engine, machine, or device, or any improvement therein not before known or used." On July 31, 1790, Samuel Hopkins of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, became the first person in the United States to file and to be granted a patent under the new U.S. patent statute. The Patent Act of 1836 (Ch. 357, 5 Stat. 117) further clarified United States patent law to the extent of establishing a patent office where patent applications are filed, processed, and granted, contingent upon the language and scope of the claimant's invention, for a patent term of 14 years with an extension of up to an additional seven years.
From 1836 to 2011, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has granted a total of 7,861,317 patents relating to several well-known inventions appearing throughout the timeline below. Some examples of patented inventions between the years 1890 and 1945 include John Froelich's tractor (1892), Ransom Eli Olds' assembly line (1901), Willis Carrier's air-conditioning (1902), the Wright Brothers' airplane (1903), and Robert H. Goddard's liquid-fuel rocket (1926).
Progressive Era (1890–1919)
1890 Stop sign
A stop sign is a traffic sign, usually erected at road junctions such as a four-way intersection, that instructs drivers to stop and then to proceed only if the way ahead is clear. The idea of placing stop signs at road junctions was first conceived in 1890 when William Phelps Eno of Saugatuck, Connecticut, proposed and devised the first set of traffic laws in an article published in Rider and Driver. However, the first use of stop signs did not appear until 1915 when officials in Detroit, Michigan, installed a stop sign with black letters on a white background. Throughout the years and with many alterations made to the stop sign, the current version with white block-lettering on a red background that is used in the United States as well as emulated in many other countries around the world today, did not come into use until the Joint Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices adopted the design in 1975.
1890 Tabulating machine
The tabulating machine is an electrical device designed to assist in summarizing information and, later, accounting. The results of a tabulation are electrically coupled with a sorter while displayed on clock-like dials. The concept of automated data processing had been born. In 1890, Herman Hollerith invented the mechanical tabulating machine, a design used during the 1890 Census which stored and processed demographic and statistical information on punched cards.
1890 Shredded wheat
Shredded wheat is a type of breakfast cereal made from whole wheat. Shredded wheat also comes in a frosted variety, which has one side coated with sugar and usually gelatin. Shredded wheat was invented in 1890 by Henry Perky of Watertown, New York.
1890 Babcock test
The Babcock test was the first inexpensive and practical test which were used to determine the fat content of milk. Invented by Stephen Moulton Babcock in 1890, the test was developed to prevent dishonest farmers who could, until the 1890s, water down their milk or remove some cream before selling it to the factories because milk was paid by volume.