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Braille

When he was just 3 years old, Louis Braille suffered a serious eye injury that rendered him blind on one side with an infection that spread and blinded the other one as well. After almost a decade of struggling with the slow system of tracing his finger over raised letters, Braille was 12 when he learned of a silent communication method that was created by the French military. In 1824, after he had simplified it, the braille writing system was born.

Almost 2 centuries later, the braille system was revolutionized by another young mind. Twelve-year-old Shubham Banerjee created a braille printer called the Braigo that was much more affordable and attainable than the alternative.

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The Walkie Talkie

In 1996, 5th-grader Richie Stachowski invented a device that allowed people to talk to each other underwater. Its success led Richie to expand his product line under a company he called Short Stack with a new lineup that included the Scuba Scope and the Bumper Jumper Water Pumper. Three years later, at just 13, Richie sold Short Stack to a San Francisco-based toy company for what was speculated to be millions.

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Christmas Lights

Before the invention of electric lights, many people decorated Christmas trees with actual candles, which, combined with dead branches and dry needles, isn’t the best thing for fire safety. Once people became more used to electricity by 1971, 15-year-old Albert Saducca had the idea to create affordable Christmas lights that his parents’ novelty lighting company could produce. Thanks to Albert, neighborhoods at Christmastime are lit up with all kinds of colors.

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Earmuffs

Chester Greenwood loved to ice skate on frozen ponds during the icy cold Maine winters but a wool allergy prevented him from keeping his ears warm with a wool hat. Tired of having his cold ears cause him to go inside early, Greenwood asked his grandmother to sew flaps of flannel or beaver fur onto some wires that he could bend around his head. A decade later, Greenwood was the owner of an earmuff factory that produced 50,000 of them a year. 

P.S. Chester Greenwood Day is the first Saturday in Decembe, celebrate accordingly.

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Superman

On one hot summer night in 1934, restless teen Jerry Siegel looked at the moon and thought of an idea for a science fiction story. He jotted down his idea and took it to his artist friend Joe Shuster in the morning so he could draw up some sketches. Four years later, they found a publisher and now Superman is the most recognizable superhero character in the world.

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Trampoline

Teenage gymnast George Nissen and his coach created a “bouncing rig” that helped him generate enough power and height to do a back somersault. The contraption was originally made out of scrap steel and tire inner tubes but the platform was later adapted into a portable version he called the “trampoline.”

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Transforming Toy Trucks

In 1962, 5-year-old Robert Patch put together a couple of shoe boxes and some bottle caps to create a vehicle that could transform into a dump truck, a flatbed, and a box truck. His father, who was a patent attorney, saw potential and applied for a patent in his son’s name. Patch was six by the time the patent was granted, making him the youngest patent holder ever at the time.

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Makin’ Bacon

We all remember the Makin’ Bacon kitchen gadget from the 90s right? Well, the invention was the brainchild of 8-year-old Abbey Fleck. Abbey was helping her parents make breakfast when they ran out of paper towels to sop up the grease. She got the idea to hang the bacon strips like laundry and let the excess fat drip off. Her dad created a successful prototype out of plastic hangers and dowel rods and Abbey has sold 2.7 million Makin’ Bacons through Walmart alone.

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The Snowmobile

On New Years Eve in 1922, Quebec native Joseph-Armand Bombardier surprised his family when he mounted the engine of a Ford Model T to 4 runners with a handmade propeller on the back. The contraption traveled more than half a mile across the snow before it stopped. The 15-year-old continued to perfect his invention over the years and by 1959 his tinkering resulted in the Ski-Doo, the first ultralight snowmobile model.

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Swim Flippers

In the early 1700s, an 11-year-old Ben Franklin was obsessed with swimming. He realized that he could cut through water more easily if he had more surface area to push through it with. He made handheld swimming fins out of oval planks and cut out holes for his hands. This would be just one of his many, many inventions to come.