Top 10 Great Canadian Inventions

Top 10 Great Canadian Inventions

05-01-2012

They say necessity is the mother of invention. And we, laid-back Canadians have been behind some of the greatest inventions in the world. However, studies show that two thirds of Canadians are unaware of the homegrown inventors and inventions that helped to change our world. Let's change that and continue to innovate.

1. Light bulb

Who invented the light bulb? If you said Thomas Edison, you're wrong. Canadian Henry Woodward invented it. Between 1873 and 1874, Woodward with the help of Toronto innkeeper Matthew Evans, invented a glass bulb with an enclosed carbon filament and nitrogen gas. It was patented in 1874. But that's where it ended because they didn't have enough money to produce and sell their own invention. one year later they sold the patent to (drum roll please) Thomas Edison.2. Steam engine travel

The Real McCoy is much more than a ubiquitous North American catchphrase; it's a self-lubricating cup that allowed the metal joints of a train to be automatically oiled as it worked (patented in 1872). This was one of the 57 U.S. patents that Canadian-born Elijah McCoy created. McCoy revolutionized steam engine travel and quickly became a leading expert in the field of thermo-dynamics.

3. Insulin

Frederick Grant Banting was born in Alliston, ontario in 1891.
The doctor and trained lawyer developed an interest in diabetes during his late twenties. And, in 1922 he went on a mission to improve the lives of diabetics. At the University of Toronto, along with, then medical student, Dr. Charles Best they began the work that would lead to the discovery of insulin.

4. Basketball

Long before there was Linsanity, there was James Naismith. Born in 1891, in Almonte, ontario, and educated at McGill University,the Canadian physical education teacher invented basketball at Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts.

5. Actar 911

In 1989, Dianne Croteau and her and partners, Richard Brault and Jonathan Vinden invented Actar 911. Actar 911 is a mannequin used to teach Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR). CPR is used to save people suffering from cardiac arrest.


6. Washing machine

Washing clothes has been around since the beginning of time but in 1835 James Brown, a famous Canadian inventor invented the drum washing machine. The drum washing machine had a hand-powered spinner that agitated water and removed dirt from clothes. In fact, it's very similar to the modern washing machines we use today.

7. IMAX

Long before the global box office successes of films like The Dark Knight and SpaceStation 3D, IMAX had its humble beginnings at Expo '67 in Montreal, Quebec. Back then, four Canadian visionary entrepreneurs (Robert Kerr, Graeme Ferguson, Bill Shaw and Roman Kroitor) designed a new projection system that used a single powerful projector, instead of the multiple projectors in use at the time. The outcome was the revolutionary IMAX motion picture projections system.

8. Instant potato flakes

Mashed potatoes have been around for centuries, but Canadian scientist Dr. Edward Asselbegs created the modern mashed potato in 1962. Asselbegs patented his invention as "Preparation of dehydrated cooked mashed potato."

9. Pacemaker

Manitoba-born Wilfred Bigelow was the Canadian heart surgeon who developed the pacemaker and used hypothermia in open heart surgery. A pacemaker monitors how fast the heart beats and the rhythm in which it beats. It also provides electric stimulation when the heart stops beating or beats too slowly.

10. Wonderbra

In 1914, a New York woman sought to make her life more comfortable by taking two handkerchiefs and a pink ribbon and created an over the shoulder boulder holder. But according to legend, French-Canadian Louise Poirier, truly gave women the upper hand against gravity with her invention of the Wonderbra (Canadelle, 1964). The Wonderbra has 54 engineering elements that work together to lift and support the bust, and in some cases, cause traffic accidents. Wonderbra took the U.S lingerie and undergarment market by storm with its skyrocketing sales, which surpassed the $3-billion mark by the late 90s.