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Inventions in the Roaring Twenties
The 1920's was a time of prosperity for many Americans and there was access to easy credit which made it possible for people to take advantage of the Inventions in the 1920's. -
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Automobile Industry
In the 1920s, Henry Ford innovated mass-production techniques that became standard, with Ford, General Motors and Chrysler emerging as the “Big Three” auto companies by the 1920s.
The 1920s saw tremendous growth in automobile ownership, with the number of registered drivers almost tripling to 23 million by the end of the decade.
Its effects were freedom of choice that encouraged many family vacations to places previously impossible. It also allowed teenagers to gain more independence. -
Traffic Lights
William Potts, a police officer from Detroit, Michigan, invented the traffic lights. He made his invention by using red, green and amber lights, and wire. The traffic lights were installed for the first time in the region of Woodward and Michigan Avenues in Detroit, United States. -
Band-Aid
Earle Dickson made Band-Aid to tend to the injuries of his wife. Dickson worked in the company, Johnson & Johnson, he told the idea to his boss, James Wood Johnson, who instantly liked it and put Band-Aid into production. -
First US Radio Station
America's first Radio Station was KDKA who were issued with the first ever license on Oct. 27, 1920. In the mid-1920s, a typical radio set cost about $150 -
Hair Dryer
Prior to the 1920s, women used to blow-dry their hair by inserting a flexible pipe in the exhaust of a vacuum cleaner. In 1920, the first hair dryer was invented. Though the machine was not efficient enough and got overheated easily. -
Lie Detector
Lie detector, or polygraph was invented by John A. Larson, a medical student, in California. The device measured the heartbeats and breathing rate of a person in order to check whether the person was lying or not. If the pulse rate and breathing were high, then an alarm would buzz, indicating that the person was lying. -
Drive-In Restaurant
The first drive-in restaurant was Kirby's Pig Stand, which opened in Dallas, Texas, in 1921 -
Audiometer
In the year 1922, American physicist, Dr. Harvey Fletcher invented the audiometer - a device which is used to measure and evaluate hearing loss. -
Automatic Watch
The first self winding wrist watch, with a self-winding mechanism, was invented by John Harwood in 1923. -
Bulldozer
Americans James Cummings and J. Earl McLeod co-invented and built the first bulldozer in 1923. In the following years, bulldozers were widely used to dig canals. -
Insulin
Before insulin, diabetes was often a death sentence. But after testing insulin on diabetic dogs, it succeeded in lowering their high blood sugar. And when they tested a human for the first time, they saved a 14 year old that would have otherwise died of diabetes. In 1923, Frederick Banting and Charles Best were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for finding a cure to the “sugar disease”, or diabetes. -
Cotton Swabs
Cotton swab was invented by a Polish-born American, Leo Gerstenzang, in 1923. Cotton swabs have been used mainly as ear-cleaners. -
Instant Camera
The earliest instant camera, with self-developing film, was invented by Samuel Shlafrock in 1923. -
Cheeseburger
Lionel Sternberger made the first cheeseburger in 1924 -
Advertisement of Band-Aids
In 1924, Johnson & Johnson produced Band-Aid on a massive scale and made Earle Dickson the Vice-President of the company. -
Loudspeaker System
Chester Rice and Edward Kellogg, invented the modern loudspeaker system in 1924 -
Television
Television was invented in 1925 by John Logie Baird. The first experimental Television broadcast in the US. was in 1928. -
Tilt-A-Whirl
In the year 1926, Tilt-A-Whirl was operated at an amusement park in Minnesota. Its inventor, Herbert Sellner, had spent years building it, and once it was completed, it became an instant hit among people. -
Resonator Guitar
A resonator guitar or resophonic guitar is an acoustic guitar whose sound is produced by one or more spun metal cones resonators instead of the wooden sound board. The resonator guitar was invented in 1927 by John Dopyera. -
Bread Slicer
The first automatic commercial bread slicing machine was invented by American inventor and engineer Otto Frederick Rohwedder in 1927. -
Jukebox
The first selective jukebox was introduced in 1927 by the Automated Musical Instrument Company (AMI). A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that will play a patron's selection from self-contained media. -
Ice Cube Tray
Ice cube tray was invented by Lloyd Groff Copeman in 1928. -
Bubble Gum
Bubble gum was invented by an accountant, Walter Diemer. The bubble gum was marketed under the brand name "Dubble Bubble", and according to estimates, its sales exceeded $1.5 million in its first year. -
Advertisement of the Dubble Bubble
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Electric Razor
The first electric razor was invented by Colonel Jacob Schick in the year 1928. It was a revolutionary invention of that time, and was well-received in the market. As one could shave quickly without using soap, or water, electric razors grew in demand quickly. -
Penicillin
Penicillin, one of the widely used antibiotics, was invented by scientist Sir Alexander Fleming after studying bacteria. Since penicillin was not approved by the FDA, it was not popular in those times. Subsequent research studies had been done about the effects of penicillin on various strains of bacteria. It was only after the World War I that people started using penicillin as a life-saving drug. -
Frozen Food
American inventor and entrepreneur Clarence Birdseye offered quick-frozen foods to the American public in 1929. -
Sunglasses
Sunglasses were used by Chinese judges in the fifteenth century, but their intention wasn't to protect their eyes from the glare of the sun. They wore tinted sunglasses to maintain a poker face in the courts. Sunglasses became a rage in 1929, when Sam Foster, founder of the Foster Grant Company, began mass-producing them in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
