© Getty Images

Henry Ford (1863-1947) -

Ford started out as an inventor when he was only 13 years old, fixing watches for people in his community. To do so, he invented his own tools. He used nails, knitting needles, and even parts of a corset to make instruments like screwdrivers and tweezers.

© Getty Images

George Washington Carver (1864-1943) -

Known for his agricultural inventions, Carver also invented a cosmetic cream. He described it in the patent as a "vanishing cream of any desired or usual tint." It was made of peanuts, contained salicylic acid and perfume, and had powder added for color.

© Getty Images

Henry Ford and George Washington Carver -

Ford and Carver collaborated on the soybean car. It was made with 14 panels of plastic that had been created out of soybean and other crops. It was presented in 1941, but World War II interrupted its momentum.

© Getty Images

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) -

Leonardo da Vinci designed a few inventions that he didn't create in real life, like the scuba suit. He hoped it would help with naval attacks.

© Getty Images

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) -

He also designed a huge crossbow, which could fire large objects like bombs. Surprisingly, da Vinci also sketched a robotic knight, filled with gears and wheels, in 1495.

© Getty Images

Thomas Edison (1847-1931) -

Known for the invention of the lightbulb, Edison once said, "I have gotten a lot of results! I know several thousand things that won't work."

© Getty Images

Thomas Edison (1847-1931) -

One of his lesser-known invention was a vote-recording machine that he wanted to incorporate into legislative voting processes. Edison also invented an electric pen and a talking doll.

© Getty Images

Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) -

In 1898, pigeon enthusiast Nikola Tesla wowed the crowd at an exhibition in Madison Square Garden with a four-foot-long (1.2 m), battery-powered, remote-controlled boat.

© Getty Images

Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) -

Tesla controlled the boat with a propeller and rudder, and even flashed its light using radio signals. At the time, not many people knew about radio waves, and the attendees were impressed.

© Getty Images

Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) -

After President James Garfield was shot in 1881, doctors struggled to locate the bullet. Alexander Graham Bell then made an electromagnetic device with a handle and a telephone receiver that was supposed to alarm when the field was interrupted by metal. He used the device on Garfield twice, but never found the bullet.

© Getty Images

Alexander Graham Bell and Casey Baldwin (1882-1948) -

Bell (pictured) and Baldwin created the hydrodrome boat, which was a 60-foot (18.28-m) long boat that traveled at 70 mph (112 kmh). Fins under the boat helped it move at that unprecedented pace. Bell hoped it would eventually lead to an aircraft that could lift off from the water.

© Getty Images

Lewis Latimer (1848-1928) -

Bell wasn't the only person involved in the invention of the telephone. Latimer was a colleague of Bell's, and drafted the patent that he filed for the device. An inventor in his own right, Latimer patented a bathroom for a train and an early version of an air conditioner.

© Public Domain

Hedy Lamarr (1914-2000) -

Most people remember the actress and inventor for co-inventing a device that manipulated radio frequencies. However, Lamarr also invented an effervescent tablet that transformed flat water into a carbonated drink.

© Getty Images

Clarence Birdseye (1886-1956) -

Birdseye is best known for creating the processes that allow for the entire frozen food industry to exist. With hundreds of patents, one was for a harpoon gun, which didn't recoil after you shot it.

© Getty Images

The Wright Brothers -

In addition to being airplane innovators, the Wright Brothers created bicycles called the St. Clair and the Van Cleve. In the early 20th century, they took a St. Clair and added wing-like parts to it.

© Getty Images

James Watt (1736-1819) -

Watt is best known for his work on the steam engine and for giving his name to a unit of power, but he also patented a copier in 1780. The technique involved two pages. You'd write on the top page, then use the device to press it against a thinner, see-through page.

© Getty Images

James Watt (1736-1819) -

The ink would get transferred to the second page in reverse, which is why you wanted it to be translucent.

© Getty Images

Joy Mangano (1956-) -

Known for the Miracle Mop, Mangano also invented Performance Platforms, a type of sneaker with a platform heel that’s supposed to tone leg muscles. She's also behind Huggable Hangers: thin, velvet hangers that fit very closely together.

© Getty Images

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) -

When Benjamin Franklin was 11, he created wooden paddles to attach to his wrists, which he hoped would make him swim faster. They worked, but they were too heavy and tired him out.

© Getty Images

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) -

In the mid-1700s, Franklin saw someone playing what were basically wine glasses with their fingers. So he created an instrument out of the concept: the armonica. It had 37 glass bowls, painted different colors for each note. It was played by pressing a foot pedal to spin the bowls, which were touched with wet fingers.

© Getty Images

Lizzie Magie (1866-1948) -

Magie famously invented Monopoly as an anti-capitalist game known as The Landlord's Game. This was before Charles Darrow stole the idea and sold it to Parker Brothers. But she'd actually previously worked with Parker Brothers, and they actually released her card game Mock Trial in 1910.

© Getty Images

Charles Babbage (1791-1871) -

Babbage was a major early computer pioneer who also suffered from double vision. He invented the first ophthalmoscope, which involved using a mirror to reflect light into a patient's eye.

© Getty Images

Charles Babbage (1791-1871) -

The device also had an opening that a doctor could look through to see the inner eye. Babbage ended up abandoning the idea because the doctor he was working with wasn't convinced about the value and function of the device.

© Getty Images

Mária Telkes (1900-1995) -

Hungarian-American Telkes was an important solar energy power innovator during the '40s at MIT. But, in the '70s, she also had a part in another innovation: a type of air conditioner that used salts to store cool air at night. This would then keep a place cooler during the warm part of the next day, which conserved power.

© Public Domain

Maria E. Beasley (1836-1913) -

Beasley is best known for her inventions that improved barrel-making. But she also had a few lesser known inventions. For instance, foot warmers, a bread kneader, and a device that prevented trains from derailing.

© Public Domain

Flossie Wong-Staal (1943-2020) -

Wong-Staal was the first person to clone and then genetically map HIV, which led to successful HIV testing. In her work with the virus, she also invented a "molecular knife," an enzyme that could cut through the genetic information in cells.

© Public Domain

Margaret E. Knight (1838-1914) -

While working at a paper bag company during the 19th century, Knight invented a device that mechanized the bag-cutting and -folding process. A year before she died, The New York Times reported that "at the age of 70 [Knight] is working 20 hours a day on her 89th invention," having already created a robe clasp, a numbering machine, and a "dress shield" to keep things from staining clothes.

© Public Domain

Marian Croak (1955-) -

Marian Croak has over 100 patents related to voice-over Internet. One of her patents includes the process that gets used when someone donates to charity over text message.

Sources: (Mental Floss) (Business Insider) 

See also: Inventors who came to regret their inventions

© Getty Images