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“Utah will yet become the treasure-house of the nation,” said President Abraham Lincoln in 1862. His comment referred to Utah’s mines, which offered the nation and world a striking variety of minerals and precious resources.
Lincoln's vision has proved true in more ways than the copper, gold and silver found in abundance in our state.
Some of Utah’s most impressive treasures haven’t been the native minerals and gems, but the people who have called Utah home. A handful of the more interesting and significant inventions of our time have been mined from some of Utah’s finest minds. Consider the impact of the following six inventions panned from the Beehive state.
Browning Firearms
Morgan, Utah, lays claim to one of the most famous firearms companies in the world, Browning Firearms. John Moses Browning, who has been called the “father of modern firearms,” was born in Ogden, Utah.
“Many of the guns manufactured by companies whose names evoke the history of the American West-Winchester, Colt, Remington, and Savage — were actually based on John Browning’s designs,” writes History.com.
Browning invented the lever action rifle (the widely recognized Winchester 30/30 design), the pump shotgun, the Colt .45 semi-automatic handgun and the slide enclosure for a pistol barrel and firing mechanism.
The odometer
While a form of the odometer has been found as early as the Roman era, it is an early Utah pioneer, William Clayton, who is credited for an invention that records the distance a vehicle travels.
While crossing the plains in 1847, Clayton employed a tool, then termed a roadometer to help track their 2,000-mile trek from Independence, Missouri, west writes TrueWestMagazine.com.
The roadometer was affixed to the wagon wheel and numbered the revolutions of the wheel as the wagon journeyed.
The flying plastic disc, aka Frisbee
Walter Frederick "Fred" Morrison invented the flying disc which was later commercialized by the Wham-O company, as what is popularly called the Frisbee. Morrison, of Richfield, Utah, created the idea in 1937, with his wife, Lu, out of a game of toss with first a popcorn lid and then a cake pan. The popcorn can lid easily dented, so he resorted to cake pans which flew better and were more easily found in the homes of the day.
Morrison and Lu went on to form a little business selling "Flyin' Cake Pans" on the beaches of Santa Monica, California.
Related article: 6 amazing inventions that came from Utah
Utah is known for a lot of things, but most people aren't aware of how many modern-day inventions actually came from the Beehive State. Here is a list of six amazing inventions that wouldn't exist without innovative Utahns.The Graphical User Interface
University of Utah alum, Alan Kay, is famous in the computer world for his work on object-oriented programming and for the concept of a graphical user interface (GUI), reports ComputerHistory.org.
The GUI is the tool your computer utilizes that allows you to easily navigate through the desktop of your computer with icons, folders, apps, and a recycle bin. It is also the interface that allows the use of a computer mouse.
Kay is most known for the Dynabook, a portable, personal computer concept akin to today’s tablets and laptops. “Every modern portable computer reflects elements of the Dynabook concept,” writes Time.com.
The world’s first computer graphics company
Evans & Sutherland, the world’s first computer graphics company, is aptly named after its creators, two former University of Utah computer science professors, Ivan Sutherland and David Evans, according to ComputerHistory.org.
Sutherland, dubbed the “father of computer graphics” by Invent.org, revolutionized the field of computer graphics with his highly-interactive program, Sketchpad.
“The genesis of a multibillion-dollar industry, Sketchpad pioneered the way for human-computer interaction; it was the forerunner of the graphical user interface (GUI) programs found today in all computers, gaming devices, MP3 players, and smartphones,” writes Invent.org.
The collaboration between Evans and Sutherland led to the creation of highly-advanced computer graphics technologies that span the globe. Evans & Sutherland created Digistar, the world’s leading digital planetarium system for planetariums and interactive theaters worldwide.
Adobe software and the PDF
John Edward Warnock of Salt Lake City, is best known for his development of Adobe software and as the co-founder of Adobe Systems Inc., the American multinational computer software company.
Born in a state of pioneers, Warnock is a pioneer in his own right, revolutionizing the field of graphics, publishing, web and electronic document technologies. In 1991, Warnock designed a system he termed "Camelot" that would later become the popular file-format, Portable Document Format.
