The 20th century was a golden age of invention, with dreamers and tinkerers trying to revolutionize the way we lived, traveled, and entertained ourselves. But not every big idea made it past the ...

Solomon McWorter of downstate Barry received the first patent granted to a Black person in the state of Illinois on Nov. 5, 1867. According to the Illinois State Library, U.S. Patent No. 70,451 was ...

For every useful product invented, there are dozens of doozies that rarely make the cut of functionality. Let’s revel in the bizarre inventions of the past for this week’s Throwback Tech. The Isolator ...

Popular Mechanics magazine once featured an invention that claimed to allow drivers to control a car's braking system using only their eyebrows. Rating: True (About this rating?) Images of a unique ...

Before 1900, some tires were little more than rubberized cloth straps, wound to form tires encasing an inner tube. Vulcanized rubber was developed and performed better than its predecessors. It was ...