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Found 42 Stories
Single red urethane skateboard wheel, with the words “Cadillac Wheels Da Kine” molded into it. Da Kine is derived from a Hawaiian word meaning “the best.”
Blog

How Frank “Captain Cadillac” Nasworthy Re-invented the Wheel

Frank Nasworthy’s development of skateboard-specific urethane “Cadillac Wheels” revolutionized the sport in the 1970s and beyond.

Metal button with image of Smokey the Bear’s head and the words “Help Smokey Prevent Forest Fires” around the outer edge
Blog

Mother Nature and Invention

Many inventions make our time in nature more enjoyable.

Don Featherstone posing with plastic pink flamingos on a lawn
Blog

The Making of the Iconic Plastic Pink Lawn Flamingo

A look at the ersatz bird that became a barometer of taste.

Beyond Bakelite book cover
Lemelson Center Books

Beyond Bakelite: Leo Baekeland and the Business of Science and Invention

The changing relationships between science and industry in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, illustrated by the career of the “father of plastics.” Published in the Lemelson Center Studies in Invention and Innovation book series with MIT Press.

Computer-generated drawing of a swimmer in a LZR suit in the water, legs and arms extended.
Blog

The Impact of Invention on Sport

A look at the Speedo LZR Racer, an invention that made too big of a splash.

9 figures from US Patent 50,359, awarded to John Wesley Hyatt, Jr., in 1865. Figures 1 through 7 and 9 are circular, detailing different parts of the composition of the ball. Figure 8 shows the plug that runs through the core of the ball.
Blog

Imitation Ivory and the Power of Play

How nineteenth-century Americans' love of billiards paved the way for synthetic plastics . . .

Tennis racket used by Althea Gibson
Blog

Exploring Sports and Innovation at the Lemelson Center

“It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.” This often paraphrased quote inspired me to think about the “how” in terms of sports and innovation.

Copper scepter with Grooved Shaft and Four Horned Animal-Head Finials.
Invention Stories

Concerned About Inequality? Blame the Ancient Coppersmiths

Did mastery of metallurgy open the door to ancient, and thus modern, inequality?

DO Try This at Home!

Make a Polymer

Be inspired by the work of Kevlar© inventor Stephanie Kwolek with this How-To guide to making your own polymer!

Trek bike with carbon fiber frame
Beyond Words

Podcast: Jim Colegrove Develops Carbon Fiber Bicycle Frames

Trek Bicycle senior composites manufacturing engineer Jim Colegrove describes the evolution of carbon fiber frames at Trek.

Art Fry, Inventor of the Post-It
Beyond Words

Podcast: Art Fry's Invention Has a Way of Sticking Around

The Post-it® Note is the invention everyone thinks they could have done, but here's the guy who did.

Stephanie Kwolek in her lab
Invention Stories

Innovative Lives: Stephanie Kwolek and Kevlar®, The Wonder Fiber

A chemist testing new synthetic polymers at DuPont in the 1960s, Stephanie Kwolek discovered a substance that weighs very little but is strong and stiff beyond anyone's imagination. A few years later, her invention—Kevlar®—is used to make bullet-resistant vests and helmets, saving thousands of lives.

Logo for the Modern Inventors Documentation database, showing a stylized head with words like creativity and innovation written on different parts of the brain
Archives

Everette Lee DeGolyer, Sr. Papers, 1900-1950s

Inventor Name DeGolyer, Everette Repository DeGolyer LibraryP. O. Box 750396Southern Methodist UniversityDallas, TX 75275-0396214-768-3231http://smu.edu/cul/degolyer/index.htm

Logo for the Modern Inventors Documentation database, showing a stylized head with words like creativity and innovation written on different parts of the brain
Archives

Richard Steele Papers, 1948-1963

Inventor Name Steele, Richard

Logo for the Modern Inventors Documentation database, showing a stylized head with words like creativity and innovation written on different parts of the brain
Archives

Archibald Johnston Papers, 1894-1923

Inventor Name Unknown

Logo for the Modern Inventors Documentation database, showing a stylized head with words like creativity and innovation written on different parts of the brain
Archives

Irving Crane Papers, 1927-1950 (bulk 1935-1945)

Inventor Name Crane, Irving

MIND database logo for non-Smithsonian archival materials
Archives

Julian Avery Papers, 1938-1983

Inventor Name Avery, Julian

Logo for the Modern Inventors Documentation database, showing a stylized head with words like creativity and innovation written on different parts of the brain
Archives

Bob Winston Oral history Interview, 2002

Inventor Name Winston, Bob

Logo for the Modern Inventors Documentation database, showing a stylized head with words like creativity and innovation written on different parts of the brain
Archives

Vanda Sendzimir Videotapes, 1985-1996

Inventor Name Sendzimir, Vanda

Logo for the Modern Inventors Documentation database, showing a stylized head with words like creativity and innovation written on different parts of the brain
Archives

Leo H. Baekeland Papers, 1863-1968

Inventor Name Baekeland, Leo

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