15 Incredibly Important Things You Probably Didn’t Know Were Invented In Pennsylvania
Everyone in the U.S. knows about the famous Philadelphian Benjamin Franklin, who gave us a ton of inventions, but what other inventions hail from Pennsylvania? Read on to discover some creations made Benjamin Franklin and more…
1. The first ferris wheel was invented by Pittsburgh bridger-builder, George Ferris, in 1892 for the Chicago World's Fair.
A ceremony and plaque on Smithfield Street celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first Nickelodeon, which opened in June 1905. The plaque, replaced with one honoring the Nickelodeon's founder, has a few inaccuracies: the two moving pictures it mentions were produced at least two years after the Nickelodeon opened and the title of one film is given as "The Battled Burglar" -- the correct title is "The Baffled Burglar."
4. George Blaisdell certainly did not invent the first lighter, but he did found the Zippo Manufacturing Company in 1932. The Zippo lighter has become the premiere lighter in America.
11. Perhaps Benjamin Franklin's most famous creation is the lightning rod, which he created in 1749. History remembers him for the infamous kite experiment which led to this invention.
13. In 1859, the Heinz company in Pittsburgh created the world's first packaged condiments, and to this day is the world's leading distributor of ketchup as well as the country's most global food producer.
15. The world's first soda pop was sold in Philadelphia in 1807 and was named Nephite Julep. Ironically enough, flavor was added to carbonated water because people wanted to drink it for health benefits, but didn't like the taste.
Maybe you can be the next ingenious Pennsylvania inventor, or maybe you can just share what you already know– tell us in the comments if you know of anything else that hails from our home state.
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