Design History
Welcome to the Design History page where you will find Designers and inventors you will possibly never have heard of but you will be quite familiar with their products. Design history is such a varied area;
From Architecture, Product Design, Furniture Design, Engineering and Fashion
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Simple designs or complicated and intricate ones, they all started as an idea or concept for the designer or inventor. We take design and everyday products for granted not appreciating the thought process and hard work involved in taking an idea all the way to a fully functioning end product. The many pitfalls in just getting it to the manufacturing point, the highs and lows of knock backs associated with getting it to market, not to mention the amount of money sometimes needed to get it all the way to market.
I have dedicated this page to the designers and inventors who have made a difference to our every day lives and many cases without these inventions our safety would be compromised.
Marie Van Brittan Brown - invented and designed the first home security system in 1966
Marie was born in Jamaica, Queens, New York 1922 and invented the very first home security system with her husband, Albert.
It included security cameras microphone and speaker!
The system used a camera that could slide into and look through peepholes in her front door and the camera’s view would appear on a TV monitor in her home so she could see any potentially unwanted guests from another room and make the decision as to whether she wanted to open the door, or not.
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She put other features into the system too, a microphone so that she could speak to anyone at the door, she also included a remote latch which meant she didn’t need to actually go to the door she could simply open it from wherever she was in the house. Interestingly Marie included a button to contact the police directly (I suppose this was a panic button of some kind) and they would be alerted to an intruder on her premises. She and her husband took out a patent for the system in the same year, and were awarded the patent three years later in 1969.
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Marie invented the system for domestic use but as it was so effective businesses started to use it, The modern home security systems are pretty much based on her invention but I think we view it as a new technology. I’m learning that ‘new’ isn’t really a thing, an awful lot of ‘new’ designs are redesigned or developed from an older original design or concept.
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When interviewed Brown was quoted as saying, “a woman alone could set off an alarm immediately by pressing a button, or if the system were installed in a doctor’s office, it might prevent holdups by drug addicts.”.
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Marie was a nurse and her husband a qualified electrician with two children, and they had abnormal working hours. Their daughter became a nurse as well as creator of her own inventions.
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Albert worked away a lot which meant Marie spent a lot of time alone at home and unfortunately never felt particularly safe when Albert was away, but even more scary was the fact that when she did report a potential crime (this is in the mid 60’s and she was black and so she likely didn’t call unless she really felt the need to) the Police weren’t reliable or sympathetic and hardly ever responded when she did call.
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Marie got so disheartened by this she created the first home security system, total genius!
As usual, an invention born out of need in response to what was lacking and what a lot of us now consider a necessity not a luxury.
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In this case, a suitable response from the Police was lacking, an all too familiar story we now realise from that time.
I didn’t realise it had been around in that format for so long, but I have a system like that around my home thankfully. I for one am grateful for that invention and the fact I can listen in or view footage from my home security system using my phone is brilliant!
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Considering how many people use them in their homes now, it’s hard to believe it was invented over 50 years ago, and disappointing that we are only just embracing it as an everyday piece of home security and not just a business tool. It’s also a shame that we don’t generally get to know who invents things like these, we take the technology for granted but it’s a genius idea and executed brilliantly.
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Marie is one inventor I’d have liked to have known more about at Art College.
Margaret Calvert & Jock Kinneir – Designed the British road signage 1958
Calvert had only just graduated when Kinneir asked her to assist him on the Gatwick Airport signage project, and not long after came the commission from The Anderson Committee to design a completely new road sign system for the UK's new motorways.
The signs were to be designed for driver’s benefit, hence were supposed to deliver clear and concise information that could be read at speed.
A specific brief for a specific purpose, problem solving is what designers are all about!
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They developed a typeface which included upper and lower case letters for the signs (Sans Serif), the new signage system had the full support of the Anderson Committee, Colin Forbes and modernist Herbert Spencer but it was heavily attacked by the traditionalists (there’s always some who try and block change).
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The old road sign system had been proven to be inefficient by Spencer when he drove up and down the country trying to follow the signs.
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Eventually in 1958 the road signs were tested on the Preston Bypass and as a result the British Government formed the Worboys Committee. Sir Walter Worboys was the chairman of the committee and was given the task of reviewing the whole network of road signs throughout Britain.
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Margaret and Jock redesigned the British road signs in the 1950's to simplify and unify the road signs in the UK, other countries subsequently took on board a lot of the design features from Calvert and Kinneir for their own road signage.
Calvert is behind the simple and easy-to-understand pictograms based on pre-existing European warning signs.
These pictorials included the signs for crossing of livestock animals, schoolchildren nearby was illustrated through a girl leading a boy by the hand this pictogram was inspired by a photograph of Margaret and her brother, taking the outline and making it a solid block image.
Over time the signage has been modified in line with modern road users’ needs but the basic model has stayed the same.
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BUT Calvert and Kinneir’s design is still at its core.
Garret Morgan – Traffic Light system 1923 – Gas Mask – Breathing apparatus for Firefighters
With only a very basic school education, Garret, the son of a slave became an inventor of several significant inventions which we take for granted today, including the first traffic light system, an improved sewing machine and the modern Gas mask.
Garret's most influential invention was his traffic light system. Without his invention, drivers across the nation would be directed by a two-light system, which was not as safe.
Garret was the first black person in Cleveland, Ohio to own a motor car and whilst driving witnessed a severe car accident at a junction in the city. This led him to rethink the current traffic light system by adding a “yield” (Amber) component, warning oncoming drivers of an impending stop.
He took out the patent for the creation in 1923, and it was granted to him the following year. safe.
Garret was successful in his previous inventions and went on to invent the first breathing apparatus to be used in fires. Unfortunately because Garret was black, the Fire department in the US would not use it. They only agreed to use it after Garret and his brother went into a burning building and safely rescued two people.
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No Fire department would go near a product designed and invented by a black man which undoubtedly cost lives, including fire fighters lives. Such racism led to Morgan and his brother risking their own lives to demonstrate how effective his invention was.
Frederick McKinley Jones 1893 - 1961 – The Refrigerated truck 1940
If your fridge has any produce from your local grocery store, then you can thank African-American inventor Frederick McKinley Jones. Jones took out more than 60 patents throughout his life, including a patent for the roof-mounted cooling system used to refrigerate goods on trucks during extended transportation in the mid-1930s.
When World War 1 began, Frederick joined the army.
While he was a soldier he learnt about electricity and electronics and afterwards he worked on a farm mending all the farm machinery.
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In the early 1930’s Jones heard about a man who had lost a lot of money, but this man owned a truck and used to transport food from farms to the markets and shops. Back then, the only way to keep food cool was to put huge big blocks of ice in the truck.
This man had had to throw a whole truck full of chicken away because the ice had melted and the chicken had gone rotten. Frederick decided to invent a machine that would keep the truck cool without the use of block if ice.
In 1949 he received a patent for his air cooling system for trucks. During his lifetime, he invented 40 different types of refrigeration equipment.
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Frederick became a refrigeration expert, and many scientists and engineers wanted to work with him.
The American Government asked him for advice on the refrigeration problems they had.
On any motorway today, you will see food trucks transporting food to shops, these trucks are refrigerated to keep the food cool or frozen so that when we buy it from the shops it is still fresh and good to eat.
Elijah McCoy – The Oil-Drip Cup 1872
The Automatic Engine Lubricator (The real McCoy)
This Prolific Inventor is the reason we have the phrase “The Real McCoy”.
There are many stories about how we got this phrase but there was only one Elijah McCoy.
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The inventor held 57 United States patents, mostly related to the railway and most were not headline-making inventions outside the field of steam engines.
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Like many other black inventors, McCoy faced racism and exclusion in his work. Despite this his career was lengthy and successful.
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Born to former slaves, Emilia and George McCoy from Kentucky who had escaped to Canada on the underground railroad, Elijah was educated in Edinburgh, Scotland and when he eventually went back to the States he worked for the Michigan Central Railroad.
Although McCoy was educated as an engineer, the discriminatory management of the railroad thought a black man couldn’t be an engineer and was hired to work in the boiler room of trains as a fireman.
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In 1872, McCoy invented and patented an automatic oiling device for the moving parts of steam locomotives, colloquially known as the “oil-drip cup.”
The device was soon taken on by the railroads, steamship engineers and many others who used large machinery.
Like all brilliant designs it wasn't unnecessarily complicated and so it was easy for competitors to reproduce. However, McCoy’s device was an original development and, apparently, had the best reputation which may well have been how the phrase “the real McCoy" became popular.
He established his own company for his own inventions in 1920 but in 1922 he was seriously injured in an accident that also killed his wife. He died in 1929 after suffering financial, physical and mental problems.
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In more recent years, McCoy’s crucial contribution to the Rail and Motor engineering industry was honoured when he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, and when a patent office in Detroit was named after him.
The Lightbulb!
One lightbulb, so many inventors
Joseph Swan invented the Light Bulb January 1879
Thomas Edison invented the light bulb in October of 1879
Although Thomas Edison invented the light bulb in October of 1879 Joseph Swan invented the very same thing in January of the same year in England.
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He even gave a public demonstration in Sunderland 10 months before Edison in the U.S released his design.
He also patented his idea ten years before, this would have enabled Swan to file and subsequently win a court case for patent infringement in the UK.
Was an American inventor and patent draftsman. He invented an evaporative air conditioner which was an improved process for manufacturing carbon filaments for light bulbs, he also designed an improved toilet system for train carriages.
In 1884, he joined the Edison Electric Light Company as a draftsman and wrote the first book on electric lighting.
The Humble Toothbrush
William Addis – Toothbrush 1770/1780
The toothbrush you are familiar with today was invented sometime between 1770 and 1780 by William Addis.
The idea came to him whilst in jail for causing a riot, as a designer I can relate, ideas pop into your head at the strangest of times.
He knew that using a rag with soot and salt to clean teeth was completely useless and resolved to develop an easier solution.
I’d love to have known what other oddities were going on in his head he sounds interesting.
He actually founded the manufacturing company Wisdom that still makes them to this day.
Sarah Boone
The inventor of the modern ironing board
The Humble Ironing Board...
How did that become a thing!?
A basic product we all take for granted and will probably have never given a second thought as to how or why it was invented.
African American inventor Sarah Boone (1832 – 1904) Obtained a US patent 473,563, on April 26th 1892 for her improvements to the ironing board.
Sarahs hinged ironing board was designed to improve the quality of ironing the sleeves and bodies of women's clothing, it was very narrow, curved, and made of wood. It's shape was such it easily fit a sleeve and was reversible, so ironing iron both sides of the sleeve was very easy to do.
Until Sarah's ironing board, women used the kitchen table or a board propped up on chairs to do their ironing.
Boone is reported to be the second African-American woman to be given a patent.
Born into slavery, Sarah was denied an education but her grandfather home schooled her enabling her to pursue a career in Dressmaking.
She married a free Black man (James Boone) and as a result was given her freedom too.
Alessi
Giovanni Alessi Anghini founded the Alessi firm in 192 Giovanni was a sheet metal worker who set up a foundry at Omegna in order to produce tableware in copper, brass, and nickel silver which was then electroplated.
By 1924 the Fratelli Alessi Omegna company was making coffee pots and trays as well as small household items. This was the forerunner to the Alessi brand we know today.
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His designs have become synonymous with modern day living and encapsulate William Morris's ethos of having nothing in your home which you do not find to be both beautiful and useful.
Alessi's design are iconic and a brand which is know for it's 'look' and quality of products.
