Inventors and Inventions: A Research Guide
Inventions have changed the way that people live, where they live, and how they work. Many
devices that you can find at school, home, or at work have been invented and at one time never
existed. The creation or invention of that device solved a problem. For example, the garbage
disposal was invented in 1927 by the architect and inventor John W. Hammes who built one for
his wife in 1927. It took 10 years of design improvement before he was able to begin selling his
appliance to the public. Hammes began the In-Sink-Erator Manufacturing Company. However
small or large, inventions have changed the way that we live. The materials listed below will help
get researchers started as they look for information about inventors and inventions. If you need
further assistance, please ask a librarian.
Books
Inventing Modern America: From the Microwave to the Mouse by David E. Brown. Cambridge,
MA: MIT Press, 2002. ISBN: 0262025086.
Profiles thirty-five inventors who exemplify the rich technological creativity of the United States
over the past century including George Washington Carver, Henry Ford, and Steve Wozniak, as
well as lesser known inventors such as Stephanie Kwolek, inventor of Kevlar and Wilson
Greatbatch, inventor of the first implantable cardiac pacemaker.
Mothers of Invention: From the Bra to the Bomb: Forgotten Women and Their Unforgettable Ideas
by Ethlie Ann Vare and Greg Ptacek. New York: Morrow, 1988. ISBN: 0688064647.
Focus on women inventors or women whose ideas were stolen by men. Covers all time periods,
although many 20th-century inventors are represented.
Popular Patents: America’s First Inventions from the Airplane to the Zipper by Travis Brown.
Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2000. ISBN: 1578860105.
Contains more than eighty stories of America’s first inventions, among them the adding machine,
bottle cap, helicopter, and submarine. Each chapter includes a sketch of the invention, a profile of
the inventor, and a fascinating glimpse of how that particular invention has found its way into
American culture.
Web Sites
The American Experience: Technology
www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/technology/
Profiles major technological advances in American. Also publishes a technology time line and
information about forgotten inventors and their inventions.
How Stuff Works
www.howstuffworks.com
Explains in simple words how things work. Search or browse by these topics: computers,
electronics, automobiles, science, home, entertainment, health, money, travel, and people.
Inventors
http://inventors.about.com
This site provides a wide range of information about famous inventors and inventions arranged in
alphabetical orders, computer inventions, a time line and inventions of the industrial revolution.
Also lists women, black, and kid inventors.
The Official Rube Goldberg Web Site
www.rubegoldberg.com
Best known for his invention cartoons, which use a string of outlandish tools, people, plants, and
steps to accomplish everyday simple tasks in the most complicated way.
Time Magazine’s Coolest Inventions
www.time.com/time/2003/inventions/
Includes the coolest inventions in the categories of music and fashion, health and safety, gadgets
and robots, transportation, extreme sports, and light and dark.
Organizations
Lemelson-MIT Program
http://web.mit.edu/invent/index.html
A program that is dedicated to honoring inventors and encouraging tomorrow’s great inventors.
Web site Includes inventors of the week and the Inventor’s Handbook, a worthwhile resource for
budding inventors.
The National Inventors Hall of Fame
www.invent.org
The National Inventors Hall of Fame honors the women and men responsible for the great
technological advances that make human, social, and economic progress possible. Provides brief
synopsis on their lives and inventions.
United States Patent and Trademark Office
www.uspto.gov and www.uspto.gov/go/kids/
Provides a searchable database of inventions patented back to 1790. Kids’ pages include
frequently asked questions, scavenger hunts, and games.
Subject Headings
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inventions—history—18th century
inventions—history—19th century
inventions—United States—history—20th century
inventors—United States—biography
inventrices
technology—history—18th century
technology—history—19th century
women inventors