Famous inventions that weren’t original ideas -

While history is full of famous inventors and scientists who are often credited as heroes, there's one thing they wouldn't want the public to know, and that's the fact that great breakthroughs don’t happen thanks to a single, lone genius. The truth is that in almost every case, they were just the first person to improve upon an existing design before the final stage, which then achieved mass appeal.

From the popular board game Monopoly to the iconic light bulb, take a look at the most significant inventions that weren’t original ideas after all.

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Intermittent windshield wipers -

In 1963, engineering professor Robert Kearns built the first intermittent windshield wiping system, which he filed a patent for the following year. However, eager to monetize his idea, he approached Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors.

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Intermittent windshield wipers -

All three rejected his pitch, but nonetheless replicated the technology in their vehicles. Infuriated, Kearns sued the trio and was eventually awarded damages after a complex legal battle, which lasted for more than a decade.

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Light bulb -

You've probably heard that Thomas Edison invented the light bulb. The truth is the American innovator lifted ideas from other inventors. Part of the concept came from Canadian inventors Henry Woodward and Matthew Evans, who sold Edison their light bulb patent after they failed to secure financial backing.

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Light bulb -

Edison also drew heavily on Joseph Swan's (pictured) designs for carbon filament electric lighting, which had been published in the Scientific American magazine. As Swan had filed a patent before Edison, the British inventor sued him and won.

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Monopoly -

One of the best-selling board games of all time, Monopoly is often credited as the invention of Charles Darrow.

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Monopoly -

However, left-wing feminist Lizzie Magie invented The Landlord's Game in 1904, to promote the idea of land tax and caution. Darrow took the idea and sold it to the Parker Brothers in 1935. It took 40 years before the company admitted Magie was the real brains behind it.

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Jack Daniel's -

In 2016, Jack Daniel's revealed that an enslaved person from Africa was instrumental in creating the recipe for its famous whiskey. The formula and process were previously attributed to Reverend Daniel Call, a white Lutheran minister from Lynchburg, Tennessee.

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Jack Daniel's -

In reality, a man called Nathan "Nearest" Green, who was actually Call's slave, taught him how to produce the drink. There are no known photographs of Nearest Green, but pictured is his son George Green seated left next to Jack Daniel (center).

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Sewing machine -

Isaac Merritt Singer is widely credited with inventing the modern sewing machine. However, he actually took the design, including its key lock stitch component, from another sewing machine pioneer: Elias Howe.

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Sewing machine -

And Howe, in turn, took the idea of his design from inventor John Fisher. Unlike Fisher, however, Howe patented his machine and sued Singer. Howe ended up winning his case and was awarded payments, and a share in Singer's profit. Fisher, on the other hand, got nothing.

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Movie projector -

Thomas Edison was also accused of appropriating the movie projector. First demonstrated by Charles Francis Jenkins (pictured) and Thomas Armat, the duo were unable to finance the manufacturing of the product, and eventually sold the idea to the Kinetoscope Company.

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Movie projector -

The company then turned to Thomas Edison for funding. Later credited as the sole inventor, Jenkins and Armat were erased from the product's history.

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Facebook -

In 2002, Harvard students Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra created Facebook's precursor called HarvardConnection, later ConnectU. In 2003, their classmate Mark Zuckerberg was hired to get the social networking site up and running.

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Facebook -

However, Zuckerberg had other plans, and created his own social network, thefacebook.com in 2004. Convinced Zuckerberg had plundered their intellectual property, they sued, and walked away with a settlement of US$65 million in 2008.

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Laser -

Columbia University grad student Gordon Gould came up with the first practical way of creating the laser in 1957. But because he lacked a working model, he thought he wouldn't be able to patent it and held off from doing so until 1959.

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Laser -

In the meantime, colleagues from his lab had filed their own patents for the technology, clearly having stolen the idea. A legal battle ensued, which went on for 30 years. However, in 1987, the rightful inventor of the laser was awarded 48 patents, and millions of dollars in royalties.

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Lego -

Lego's founder Ole Kirk Christiansen got the idea for his company's trademark toy in 1946 after he was shown a demo of a plastic molding machine by Kiddicraft. The British firm launched its Bri-Plax Interlocking Building Cubes in the 1940s.

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Lego -

While Christiansen improved on the design, Lego bricks are basically a copy of Kiddicraft's. Its boss, Hilary Fisher Page, died before realizing Lego was potentially infringing on his copyright.

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Telescope -

Galileo Galilei is regarded by many as the inventor of the telescope. However, despite being the father of observation astronomy and modern physics, he didn't invent the telescope. It was actually Dutch spectacle maker Hans Lipperhey.

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Telescope -

Lipperhey came up with the first telescope in 1608 and even tried to obtain a patent, but it wasn't granted. Galileo didn't waste any time building his own take on the telescope, essentially stealing the basic design.

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Radio -

Universally acknowledged as the inventor of the radio, Guglielmo Marconi won a joint Nobel Prize for his efforts in 1909. This must have enraged Nikola Tesla, who claimed Marconi used 17 of his patents to develop the device.

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Radio -

Despite the fact Tesla had already been granted patents in the US in 1900, and Marconi's own patents had been denied because of the overlap, in 1904 the US Patent Office reversed their decision and awarded Marconi the patent. Tesla tried to sue, but didn't have the money for it.

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Telephone -

If you're thanking Alexander Graham Bell for the telephone, then you're thanking the wrong guy. Italian Antonio Meucci was actually the first to showcase the innovation. He also tried to patent the device several years before Bell, who even worked in the same lab.

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Telephone -

Meucci attempted to license his telephone, but was rejected by the likes of the Western Union Telegraph company. The patent caveat expired, and he died before he could sort things out.

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Elevator -

Some credit Elisha Otis for the invention of the elevator. But that's not entirely true. During the Industrial Revolution, elevators were invented, using either steam or electric engines, which pulled up elevators with ropes. However, ropes have a tendency to break.

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Elevator -

So what Otis actually invented was the safety brake, which would stop the elevator from crashing. It would be activated by sudden falling when a rope broke. This started to prevent many deaths.

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Television -

You may have heard that the television was created by Vladimir Zworykin (pictured) for the RCA electronics company. But it was actually invented by Philo Farnsworth. It turns out that Farnsworth invented the television in 1927, and three years later Zworykin visited his laboratory and stole the idea.

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Television -

After a decade-long court battle, RCA eventually lost the initial court case and appeal. Farnsworth received royalties from RCA, but he never became wealthy.

Sources: (Idea to Value) (Thrive Global)

See also: Brilliant inventors who were killed by their own creations

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