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Today in Engineering History: Three-Position Traffic Signal Patented

By Megan Crouse | November 20, 2015

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Inventor Garret Morgan. Image credit: Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons

On this day in 1923, inventor Garrett Morgan received a patent for the first three-position traffic signal.

The first traffic signal, installed in London in 1868, had only two positions – “stop” and “go.” Morgan’s stop signal, inspired by and first put into effect on the crowded streets of Cleveland, gave drivers a “third position” signal to warn them to slow down. The signal was T-shaped, with the warning bars – today’s yellow light – displayed on the cross bars.

The blueprints for Morgan’s traffic signal. Image credit: Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons

Morgan also invented an early gas mask, for which he received a patent in 1914. This design is credited with saving several lives after a tunnel explosion under Lake Erie, and was modified for use by the US Army in World War I.


Filed Under: Infrastructure

 

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