The world is a dynamic and changing place as it is driven by the needs of its inhabitants. As it has been said, Need is the Mother of Invention. As such, I have compiled a partial list of Canadian inventors whose inventions have changed our way of living on a day to day basis.

Imagine a world without zippers, McIntosh apples (that is, the edible one), basketball, green garbage bags, insulin, electric light bulbs, instant replays and hundreds of more items and processes.

We have all benefited from the creativity, ingenuity, courage, and strength of the inventors of our past, present and future who have, and will, shape the world that we live in. It is their ability to dream, to create, to forge and to carry out their passion that unites them. And we, as a society, have reaped the benefits of this.

A deep hearted “Thank you” for the inventors from around the world.

 

Date Unknown  Lacrosse

First Nations People

The official Canadian game of summer

 

1796  McIntosh Apple

John McIntosh

An edible fruit

 

1833  Screw Propeller

John Patch

Ship's propeller

 

1838  Newsprint

Charles Fenerty

 

1842 Compound Steam Engine

Benjamin Franklin Tibbetts 

 

1846  Kerosene

Doctor Abraham Gesner

 

1851 Andromonon

Thomas Turnbull

Three-wheeled vehicle

 

1854  Odometer

Samuel McKeen

 

1856  Potato Digger

Alexander Anderson

 

1857  Railway Sleeper Car

Samuel Sharp

 

1857  Undersea Telegraph Cable

Fredrick Newton Gisborne

 

1858  Air Conditioned Railway Coach

Invented by Henry Ruttan

 

1859  Automatic Foghorn

Robert Foulis 

Steam foghorn

 

1862  Green Ink

Thomas Sterry Hunt 

Currency ink

 

1869  Half-tone Engraving

Georges Edouard Desbarats and William Augustus Leggo

 

1869  Rotary Railroad Snowplow

J.E. Elliott

 

1874 Electric Light Bulb

Invented by Henry Woodward who sold his patent to Thomas Edison

 

1876 Automatic Machinery Lubricator

Elijah McCoy (the “Real McCoy” was coined after him)

Lubricating cup

 

1876  Telephone

Alexander Graham Bell

 

1878  Standard Time

Sir Sanford Fleming

 

1878  Telephone Handset

Cyril Duquet

 

1879  Rubber Shoe Heels

Elijah McCoy (Patent)

 

1882 Electric Cooking Range

Thomas Ahearn

 

1882 Separable Baggage Check Tags

John Mitchell Lyons

 

1883 Electric Streetcar

John Joseph Wright 

 

1889  Gramophone

Alexander Graham Bell and Emile Berliner 

 

1890 Electric Car Heater

Thomas Ahearn

 

1890  Bromine

Herbert Henry Dow

The process to extract bromine

 

1891  Basketball

James Naismith 

 

1892 Acetylene

Thomas L. Wilson

Production process

 

1892 Calcium Carbide

Thomas Leopold Willson

Production process

 

1892  Light Bulb Leads

Reginald A. Fessenden

Nckel and iron alloy

 

1896  Superphosphate Fertilizer

Thomas L. Wilson

 

1897 Lawn Sprinkler

Elijah McCoy

 

1900 Creed Telegraph System

Fredrick Creed

Pocess to convert Morse Code to text

 

1900  Wireless Radio

Reginald A. Fessenden

 

1903  Portable Film Developing System

Arthur Williams McCurdy invented in 1890 and then sold the patent to George Eastman

 

1904 Acetylene Buoy

Thomas L. Wilson

 

1904  Radio-Transmitted Voice

Reginald A. Fessenden

 

1907  Canada Dry Ginger Ale

John A. McLaughlin

A carbonated beverage

 

1908  Hydrofoil Boat

Alexander Graham Bell and Casey Baldwin

 

1908  Marquis Wheat

Sir Charles E. Saunders

 

1908  Robertson Screw

Peter L. Robertson

 

1909  Bowling – 5 Pin

T.E. Ryan

A sport

 

1910 Chocolate Nut Bar

Arthur Ganong

First nickel bar

 

1913  Railway Car Brake

George B. Dorey

 

1913  Zipper

Gideon Sundback

 

1915  Gas Mask

Cluny Macpherson

 

1915  Helium from Natural Gas

Sir John Cunningham McLennan

Process to Extract

 

1919  Fathometer

Reginald A. Fessenden

An early form of sonar

 

1922  Insulin

Fredrick Banting, J. J. Macleod, Charles Best and James Collip

Extraction and Production Process

 

1922  Variable Pitch Aircraft Propeller

Walter Rupert Turnbull

 

1925  AC Radio Tube

Edward Samuels Rogers

 

1925  Snowblower

Arthur Sicard

 

1925  Wirephoto

Edward Samuels Rogers

 

1927  Television System

Reginald A. Fessenden

Television system (patent)

 

1927 Quartz Clock

Warren Marrison

 

1928 Electric Organ

Morse Robb

 

1930  Baby Pablum

Drs. Alan Brown, Theodore Drake, Frederick Tisdall

Perfect baby cereal

 

1930  Road Lines

John D. Millar

 

1931  Plexiglas

William Chalmers

Polymerized Methyl Methacrylate

 

1934  Television Camera

F. C. P. Henroteau

 

1937 Electron Microscope

Eli Franklin Burton, Cecil Hall, James Hillier, Albert Prebus

 

1940  Paint Roller

Norman Breakey of Toronto

 

1941  Anti-Gravity Suite

Wilbur Rounding Franks

High altitude suit for jet pilots

 

1942   Walkie Talkie

Donald L. Hings

 

1945  Music Synthesizer

Hugh Le Caine

 

1949  Avro Jetliner

James Floyd

Commercial jetliner design (North America)

Test flight:  August 10, 1949

 

1950  Garbage Bag

Harry Wasylyk

Green polyethylene bag

 

1950 Heart Pacemaker

Dr. John A. Hopps

 

1953  Synthetic Sucrose

Dr. Raymond Lemieux

 

1955  In Game Replays

George Retzlaff and CBC Hockey Night in Canada

Instant replay in sporting events

 

1957 Analytical Plotter

Uno Vilho Helava 

3D map-making system  

 

1957  Automatic Postal Sorter

Maurice Levy

200,000 letters per hour

 

1957  Poutine

Fernand Lachance

A classic culinary delight (French fries, cheese curds, gravy)

 

1957  Tuck-Away-Handle Beer Carton

Steve Pasjac

 

1958  R-Theta Navigation System 

J.E.G. Wright

 

1958  Snowmobile

Joseph-Armand Bombardier

 

1959  Jolly Jumper

Olivia Poole

Baby's jumping delight

 

1960  Bone Marrow Compatibility Test

Barbara Bain

Process

 

1960  Goalie Mask

Jaques Plante

 

1962  Instant Mashed Potatos

Edward A. Asselbergs

Dehydrated potato flakes

 

1964  Plunge and Push Bra

Louise Poirier at Wonderbra

Revolutionary bra

 

1965  Stereo-orthography Map Making System

T.J. Blachut and Stanley Collins

 

1966  Rotary Blow Molding Machine

Gustave Côté

Plastic bottle maker

 

1967 Agrifoam Crop Cold Protector

D. Siminovitch & J. W. Butler

 

1968  IMax Movie System

Grahame Ferguson, Roman Kroitor, and Robert Kerr

 

1970  SlickLicker 

Richard Sewell

For cleaning oil spills (patent)

 

1971  Prosthetic Hand

Helmut Lucas

Electric prosthetic

 

1971  UV-degradable Plastics

Dr. James Guillet

 

1972 Computerized Braille

Roland Galarneau 

 

1972  Polypump Liquid Dispenser

Harold Humphrey

 

1974  Safety Paint

Neil Harpham

Highly reflective paint

 

1974  Tone-to-Pulse Converter

Michael Cowpland

 

1979  Trivial Pursuit

Chris Haney and Scott Abbott

Memory and history board game

 

1983 Film Colourization

Wilson Markle

 

1984 Abdomizer

Dennis Colonello

Informercial exercise  

 

1986  Able Walker

Norm Rolston

A walker (patent)

 

1986  Silicon Chip Blood Analyzer

Imants Lauks

 

1989 CPR Mannequin 

Dianne Croteau

 

1991  Access Bar

Dr. Larry Wang

Fat burning bar (patent)

 

1994  JAVA

James Gosling

Software programming language