The Man Behind The Traffic Signal
It was Morgan's experience while driving along the streets of Cleveland that led to his invention of a traffic signal device. The first American-made automobiles were introduced to U.S. consumers not long after the turn of the century. It was not uncommon for bicycles, animal-powered wagons and new gasoline-powered motor vehicles to share the same streets and roadways with pedestrians. According to tradition, it was after witnessing a collision between an automobile and a horse-drawn carriage that Morgan became convinced that something should be done to improve automobile safety. The Morgan traffic signal was a T-shaped pole unit that featured three hand-cranked positions: Stop, Go and an all-directional stop position. This third position halted traffic in all directions to allow pedestrians to cross streets more safely. Its one advantage over others of its type was the ability to operate it from a distance using a mechanical linkage. Morgan sold the rights to his traffic signal to the General Electric Corporation for $40,000. On 10 December 1868, the first traffic lights were installed outside the British Houses of Parliament in London, by the railway engineer J. P. Knight. They resembled railway signals of the time, with semaphore arms and red and green gas lamps for night use. The gas lantern was turned with a lever at its base so that the appropriate light faced traffic. Unfortunately, it exploded on 2 January 1869, injuring the policeman who was operating it. The modern electric traffic light is an American invention. As early as 1912 in Salt Lake City, Utah, policeman Lester Wire invented the first red-green electric traffic lights. On 5 August 1914, the American Traffic Signal Company installed a traffic signal system on the corner of 105th Street and Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio. It had two colours, red and green, and a buzzer, based on the design of James Hoge, to provide a warning for colour changes. The design by James Hoge (USPTO # 1251666 Sept. 22, 1913) allowed Police and Fire stations to control the signals in case of emergency. The first four-way, three-colour traffic light was created by police officer William Potts in Detroit in 1920. In 1923, Garrett Morgan patented a traffic signal device, although it was not a precursor of the modern traffic light. Ashville, Ohio claims to be the location of the oldest working traffic light in the United States, used at an intersection of public roads until 1982 when it was moved to a local museum. The first interconnected traffic signal system was installed in Salt Lake City in 1917, with six connected intersections controlled simultaneously from a manual switch. Automatic control of interconnected traffic lights was introduced March 1922 in Houston, Texas. The first automatic experimental traffic lights in England were deployed in Wolverhampton in 1927. Ampelmännchen pedestrian traffic signals have come to be seen as a nostalgic sign for the former German Democratic Republic. The color of the traffic lights representing stop and go are likely derived from those used to identify port (red) and starboard (green) in maritime rules governing right of way, where the vessel on the left must stop for the one crossing on the right. Further reading: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_signal#History en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garrett_Morgan PLEASE DO NOT REPORT THIS VIDEO. I KNOW I'VE UPLOADED THIS VIDEO WITHOUT PERMISSION, BUT PLEASE, I UPLOADED THIS VIDEO FOR EDUCATION PURPOSES ONLY, AND I DON'T GAIN ANY PROFIT FROM THIS. PLEASE, DON'T BE A JERK THAT ALWAYS INTERUPT OTHERS WHILE THEY ARE HAVING FUN. THANK YOU.
