Ohio is a quiet giant of invention. Count down five tech firsts that came from the Buckeye State — from the cash register and the electric traffic light to the airplane the Wright brothers built in Dayton — plus two bonus picks you probably use every day.
#5: Electric car starter (Dayton, 1911)
Early cars had to be started with a hand crank. Charles Kettering built an electric starter in Dayton. It debuted on the 1912 Cadillac — just push a button. Cranking could kick back and break a driver’s arm.
#4: Electric traffic signal (Cleveland, 1914)
Busy corners used police officers waving their arms. Cleveland switched on an electric signal in 1914. Red and green lamps told drivers when to go. A buzzer warned that the light was about to change.
#3: Cash register (Dayton, 1879)
A Dayton saloon owner kept losing money from the till. James Ritty patented a cash register in 1879. It showed every sale and kept a running total. He called it the “Incorruptible Cashier”.
#2: First barcode scan (Troy, 1974)
A grocery store in Troy, Ohio made history in 1974. A pack of chewing gum was the first item ever scanned. A laser read the stripes and rang up the price. That pack of gum is now in the Smithsonian.
#1: The airplane (Dayton, 1903)
Two brothers ran a bicycle shop in Dayton. Orville and Wilbur Wright designed and built the Flyer there. In 1905 they mastered controlled flight over a Dayton pasture. They taught themselves — neither one finished high school.
Bonus Picks From Ohio
Pull-tab can (Dayton, 1959). Ermal Fraze forgot a can opener at a picnic. Back in Dayton he invented a can that opens by hand. Soon you could open a soda or soup with one pull.
The GIF (Columbus, 1987). Those looping animated pictures started in Columbus. Steve Wilhite created the GIF format at CompuServe in 1987. He said it’s pronounced with a soft G — like “jif”.
Tech From Every State
This is part of my Tech From Every State series: the top tech inventions and firsts from each of the 50 states, told with simple animations. Watch the whole series on YouTube and subscribe to The Tech Ranch so you don’t miss your state. Short on time? Here’s the quick Short version.
Did we miss something invented in Ohio? Tell me in the YouTube comments — and give the video a thumbs up if you learned something.
