invent things. They invent to make things better or easier to use, …€¦ · or easier to use, or just for fun. Sometimes they even make discoveries. Read on to find out about some

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by Valerie Wyatt

Have you ever been unhappy with the way

something works, or wanted to improve it?

Then you understand why inventors like to

invent things. They invent to make things better

or easier to use, or just for fun. Sometimes they

even make discoveries. Read on to find out

about some of the best Canadian inventions.

1937Snowmobile

Hydrogen-fuelled vehicles

1993

1970IMAX™ movies

Computer animation

1929Frozen food

Light bulb1874

Robertson screwdriver

1908

Jolly Jumper™1910

Insulin1921

Biodegradable plastic

1971

Canadarm1981

Flexible suit1986

BlackBerry™1999

Lacrosse1500s

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1874: The light bulbThe next time you flick on a light, say thank you to Torontonians Henry Woodward and Matthew Evans. Their light bulb was big and clunky and didn’t work all that well, but it did pave the way for the light bulb we use today.

1937Snowmobile


1993

1970IMAX™ movies

Computer animation

1929Frozen food

Light bulb1874

Jolly Jumper™1910

Insulin1921


1971

Canadarm1981

Flexible suit1986

BlackBerry™1999

Lacrosse1500s

1500s: The game of lacrosse

First Nations people along the St. Lawrence River invented lacrosse. The game was played to mark important events and helped to train young warriors. A single game might involve hundreds of players and last up to three days.


1908

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1910: Jolly Jumper TM baby seatHow do you keep babies happy and out of trouble? Olivia Poole remembered how babies were looked after on the reserve where she grew up, and she came up with a hanging baby seat that bounced.

Brad Johnson, New Westminister, BC

1937Snowmobile


1993

1970IMAX™ movies

Computer animation

Light bulb1874

Jolly Jumper™1910


1971

Canadarm1981

Flexible suit1986

BlackBerry™1999

Lacrosse1500s

1908: The Robertson screwdriverP.L. Robertson got tired of having his screwdriver slip out of the slot in the screw. He invented a new system—a screw with a little square hole and a screwdriver that fit snugly into it. No more slipping.


1908

1929Frozen food

Insulin1921

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1921–22: InsulinUntil Dr. Frederick Banting and his assistant Charles Best came along, diabetes was a killer disease. They discovered insulin, a natural substance that diabetics (people with diabetes) lack that helps break down sugar. When insulin is given to diabetics they live longer, healthier lives.

Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Dr. Frederick Banting (right) and Charles Best

1929: Frozen food Today, everything from pizza to peas comes in frozen form. But in 1929, there was only one frozen food—fish. The inventor was Archibald Huntsman of Halifax. He called his frozen fish Ice Fillets.

1937Snowmobile


1993

1970IMAX™ movies

Computer animation

1929Frozen food

Light bulb1874

Insulin1921


1971

Canadarm1981

Flexible suit1986

BlackBerry™1999

Lacrosse1500s


1908

Jolly Jumper™1910

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1937: The snowmobileJoseph-Armand Bombardier was just 15 when he invented his first snow machine. The model looked like a cross between a sled and an airplane (it had a propeller on the rear) and was powered by an old car engine. Later models looked like a bus on skis. In 1959, Bombardier created the modern Ski-Doo® snowmobile as we know it today.

An early B7 Bombardier snowmobile, 1938

Musée J. Armand Bombardier www. museebombardier.com

1970: IMAX TM

moviesGo to an IMAX™ movie and you will find a screen up to eight storeys high. It has to be big because IMAX™ movies are huge. Invented by Graeme Ferguson, Roman Kroitor, and Robert Kerr, IMAX™ makes viewers feel like they are in the movie, not just watching it.

1937Snowmobile


1993

1970IMAX™ movies

Computer animation

1929Frozen food

Light bulb1874


1908

Jolly Jumper™1910

Insulin1921


1971

Canadarm1981

Flexible suit1986

BlackBerry™1999

© C

hris

Luc

as

Lacrosse1500s

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1970: Computer animation

Making animated characters move used to be a lot of work. Every single movement had to be drawn by hand. Then Nestor Burtnyk came up with a better idea. In his system, only the main actions were drawn. The computer filled in the rest. A

ssoc

iate

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ess

1971: Biodegradable plasticDr. James Guillet was “green” long before most people were concerned about the environment. He invented a plastic that breaks down in sunlight and disappears 50 times faster than ordinary plastic.

1937Snowmobile


1993

1929Frozen food

Light bulb1874


1908

Jolly Jumper™1910

Insulin1921


1971

Canadarm1981

Flexible suit1986

BlackBerry™1999

1970IMAX™ movies

Computer animation

Lacrosse1500s

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1981: CanadarmImagine an arm longer than a city bus with a lasso at the end. That’s the Canadarm, a robotic arm that astronauts use to load and unload spaceships and to help with repairs. Invented in Canada in the 1970s, it was first tried out in space in 1981, and it was a hit.

The Canadarm at work during a Space Shuttle mission.

1986: Flexible suit for deep-sea divers

Dr. Phil Nuytten loves deep-sea diving. To avoid the crushing water pressure down deep in the sea (about 300 metres), he invented the Newt Suit. Aside from being tough, it has flexible joints to let the diver reach and bend.

1937Snowmobile


1993

1970IMAX™ movies

Computer animation

1929Frozen food

Light bulb1874


1908

Jolly Jumper™1910

Insulin1921


1971

Canadarm1981

Flexible suit1986

BlackBerry™1999

Cou

rtes

y N

ASA

/JPL

-Cal

tech

Lacrosse1500s

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1993: Hydrogen-fuelled vehicles There’s no need for gasoline with hydrogen cars and buses. They run on hydrogen fuel cells. What’s a hydrogen fuel cell? It’s a battery-like power source that can run on different fuels, not just diesel fuel or gas. And best of all, there’s no smelly emissions—just water vapour. The first hydrogen bus was developed by Ballard Power Systems, a company in Burnaby, British Columbia.

1937Snowmobile


1993

1970IMAX™ movies

Computer animation

1929Frozen food

Light bulb1874


1908

Jolly Jumper™1910

Insulin1921


1971

BlackBerry™1999

Lacrosse1500s

1999: The BlackBerry™Pick up e-mail, surf the Internet, make a phone call—you can do it all on a Canadian invention called the BlackBerry™. It’s the brainchild of Research in Motion, a wireless device company, and it’s a huge hit with people on the go.

Canadarm1981

Flexible suit1986

Documents

invent things. They invent to make things better or easier to use, …€¦ · or easier to use, or just for fun. Sometimes they even make discoveries. Read on to find out about some