Five Great American Home Improvement Inventions

We want to salute the American tinkerers who helped millions of others tinkerers. Here are five of our favorite American remodeling and home improvement inventions.

1. The Tape Measure

Alvin J. Fellows of New Haven, Conn., may deserve as much credit for his patent-writing creativity as his inventions. In 1868, he received www.todayinsci.com/F/Fellows_Alvin/FellowsTapeMeasurePatent.html the first U.S. patent[/url] for a spring-click mechanical tape measure. He admittedly did not patent the springs that pull back the tape or the clip that locks the tape in place while measuring your widgets. The key to his patent was combining all the pieces of existing technology into one small box that is still often the best way of measuring from Point A to Point B. Strangely, the spring-click tape measure reportedly didn’t replace the folding wooden ruler for about 80 years.

2. Drywall

Drywall was another American invention that didn’t take off for a while. In 1916, the United States Gypsum Company invented drywall, or sheetrock, in essentially its current form — standard sizes of gypsum board with paper facing on either side. Serious builders didn’t buy it. They didn’t think it was as strong or durable as plaster. Drywall only became a standard building material during World War II. A shortage of labor and high demand for building coincided to make quick drywall construction more attractive. When the buildings didn’t fall down, drywall stuck.

3. Phillips head screwdriver

I can’t imagine hanging sheetrock without another American invention. Henry Phillips received patents in 1934 and 1936 for cross-shaped screw heads and screwdrivers. Phillips head screws and screwdrivers were invented for auto assembly lines, which need to automatically drive in thousands of screws. A pointed Phillips driver can lock into a screw head more easily and stays in place better. The new fasteners were in Cadillacs by 1936, and in nearly all American cars by 1940. Today, they are all over our homes — in our drywall, our framing and our appliances.

4. Xeriscaping

I am a little obsessed with Xeriscaping. When many people are admiring homes and architecture, my eye is often first drawn to a diverse landscape of rocks, mulch and cacti. Designing a beautiful landscape around minimal water usage is a contemporary Western American idea. The Denver Water Department is credited with creating the term in 1978. The word combines “xeros,” which is Greek for dry, with landscaping.

5. Daylight Savings Time

Finally, no invention list would be complete without a nod to Benjamin Franklin. In encouraging everyone to spring forward, Franklin gave us an extra hour of tinkering. He didn’t actually create time, but let’s face it, you’re more likely to start checking off your to-do list after work than at 5 a.m.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued 167,000 patents in 2009. Plenty of new American inventions are on the way to your home improvement stores. While you’re there, remember that plenty of companies, including Estwing, and Wright Tool still make their tools in America.

Blog by: Steve Graham