1920’S Inventions

1. InventIon
s of the
1920’s
By
Megan Deetscreek
and
Sarah Dubin

2. Band-Aid (1920)
Invented by Earle Dickson
Dickson’s inspiration: To help
his accident-prone wife
Invention: A piece of tape
with a small slice of gauze in
the middle.
Company that mass produced
his product: “Johnson and
Johnson”
Dickinson Original Job:
Employed in a company that
made gauze and tape
(“Johnson and Johnson”)

3. The Traffic Light
1920
Invented by William Potts from Detroit
Michigan
Invention: The worlds first 4-way, 3
color traffic light composed of red,
amber and green lights and thirty-
seven dollars worth of wire
Potts’ Original Job: Police Officer
Where the light was located: The
corner of Woodward and Michigan
Avenues in Detroit

4. Invented by Alexandre F. Godefoy
 The first true hair dryer came on the
market in 1920
Interesting fact: The first hair dryer was
a vacuum cleaner, women connected
a hose to the exhaust of their vacuum.
The faults of the original hair dryer:
1. Extremely large
2. Heavy
3. Frequently over heated

5. The Automobile
(1920)
First Model: Ford Model T
Powered: newly powered by gas power
Affects on people: Created more jobs,
better transportation, and cultural changes.
Henry Ford later founded the Ford
Company

6. Lie Detector
1921
Invented by
John Larson
Used in police
interrogation
and
investigation
How it works:
records several
different body
responses
Description: a
series of
different
sensors are
attached to
the body, and
as the
polygraph
measures
changes in
breathing,
blood pressure,
pulse, and
perspiration.

7. Water Skiing 1922
Inveted by Ralph Samuelson of Minnesota
Porposed the idea that if it was possible to
ski on snow than it was possible to ski on
water.
First attempted: on Lake Pepin in Lake
City, Minnesota.
Discovery: Leaning backwards with ski
tips up leads to successful water skiing.
First water ski jump: July 8
th
using a
greased 4' x 16' ramp.
First patented in 1925 by Fred Walter

8. Invented by Leo Gerstenzang
Invention: a piece of cotton wrapped around a
toothpick. Later the toothpick was replaced
with white card board.
Original name: “Baby Gays”
Inspiration: His wife who used the make shift
Q-tips to clean their baby’s ears.
Original Job: started the “Infant Novelty
Company”

9. Frozen food (1923)
Invented by Clarence
Birdseye
Invention: Packaged
food into waxed
cardboard boxes.
Involved a $7 electric
fan, buckets of brine,
and cakes of ice, that
resulted in flash-
freezing
Preserved goods: froze
vegetables, fruits,
seafood, and meat.
Original Job: a fur
trader

10. The Dial Telephone
First appeared in Toronto in 1924
The Handset with mouth piece and
earphone came into use in 1927
By 1929 the phone became widely
used
Range: across town, across canada
or across the sea on a “Pay when
billed”basis.

11. The Loud Speaker (1924)
Invented by:
Chester W. Rice
and Edward
Washburn Kellogg
Sold to consumers
under the name of
“Radiola” in 1926
Superior to
anything
previously
invented by
lowering sound
distortion, and
improving audio
quality

12. Invented by: Edwin Perkins of Omaha Nebraska
Invention: Kool- Aid, originally named “Fruit smack”,
then later named “Kool –Ade” Until the present name
was released.
Original Flavors: Cherry, Lemon-Lime, Grape, Orange,
Root Beer, Strawberry, and Raspberry.
The product was originally a liquid substance (syrup)
however the costly product was very breakable,
leading to the invention of flavored powder ( add water
to)
Perkins Original Job: A Chemist who owned the
company “Perkins Product Company” a business that
sold perfumes and calling cards.

13. Pez Candy
Invented in 1927 in
Vienna, Austria
Edward Haas III was a
candy man that invented
Pez candy
The name Pez came
from the german word,
phefferminz, which
means peppermint
At first, it was a breath
mint for adults, as an
alternative for smoking
Not until the 1940’s Pez
became fruity flavors

14. Dubble Bubble Bubblegum
(1928)
Invented by Walter E. Diemer
Inspiration: playing around with new gum
recipes.
Differences from Normal Gum: Double
Bubble Gum was less sticky and more
stretchy
What was the price? I penny per piece.
Why was Double Bubble Gum Pink?
1. pink was the food coloring available.

15. The End