Some People Don’t Know These 6 Things Came From Utah

When you’re watching a cowboy on a bucking bronc or bull, he’s likely thanking his lucky stars for his one-handed rigging, which is largely responsible for keeping him on the crazed animal. That cowboy has Earl Bascomb, a Utah-born inventor, actor and Hall of Fame cowboy, to thank. Earl invented one-handed bareback rigging in 1928 and his design is still used in rodeos throughout the world today. Earl, who starred alongside Roy Rogers in several movies, also invented the first hornless bronc saddle and first high-cut riding chaps.

John Moses Browning, born in Ogden in 1855, came up with several ground-breaking designs for rifles and handguns. He designed the Colt .45 (M1911), which was used by the U.S. military from 1911 to 1986. He also designed several Winchester lever-action repeating rifles and the pump shotgun. Browning developed several machine guns, including the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR). The U.S. armed forces (and others around the world), use Browning’s automatic rifles today.

Salt Lake City policeman Lester F. Wire invented the first tri-color electric traffic light. The light was installed at the intersection of 200 S. and Main Street in 1912 and was manually operated by a traffic cop who sat near the intersection with a control box.

Nolan Bushnell, born in Clearfield in 1943, invented the game Pong in the early 1970s. Soon after, he created the Atari game system, changing life forever. The next time you notice your kids glued to a screen, playing video games, remember that it all started in Utah.

Philo T. Farnsworth, born in Beaver in 1906, successfully transmitted an image (ironically, the image was a dollar sign), in 1927. Farnsworth was a self-taught inventor — he didn’t even finish high school.

Ice skaters and hockey players can thank Utahn Frank Zamboni for the smooth sheets of ice they enjoy. Zamboni was born in Eureka in 1901. Luckily he was blessed with a really cool last name — can you imagine if it was called something lame like "ice resurfacer?"