Ohio IT Clearinghouse - IT Innovations in Ohio History

The Ohio IT Clearinghouse is a statewide resource to promote heightened awareness of computer science and information technology as education and career paths, and to promote better computing skills and increased IT knowledge among the employees and students in the state. The Ohio IT Clearinghouse is a project of the Ohio Learning Network, funded by the Ohio Board of Regents.

Invented Here!
IT innovations created in Ohio

Ohio has a long tradition of creative innovation in a wide variety of fields and endeavors. Information and communication technologies are no exception. Here is a sampling of some of the more significant events and developments in Ohio's 200+ year history.

Date	Location	Names	Innovation	Details
1835	Cincinnati	Richard Clayton	First air mail delivery	Accomplished by balloon, in a trip from Cincinnati to Waverly Ohio.
February 5, 1861 (pat issued)	Cincinnati	Samuel D. Goodale	Peep show machine	Based on a stereoscope, it was called the Mutoscope. Operated by hand, pictures were placed facing the viewer around the rim of a wheel that rotated toward the viewer. As the wheel turned, the images whizzed by providing a movie-like effect, more than 20 years before Edison perfected a movie projector based on a singular roll of film.
1867	Cincinnati	Samuel Spahr Laws	Tickertape machine	Laws was a gold broker with a need for faster information flow. The stock ticker was first used in the New York Stock Exchange in 1867.
1869	Cleveland	Elisha Gray, Enos Barton	Western Electric opened	Premier manufacturer of electrical and ultimately electronic parts, specializing in telegraphic and telephone equipment
1876	Cleveland	Elisha Gray	Invents telephone	Gets patent application to the patent office an hour after Alexander Graham Bell files his own application. Bell gets the patent. Gray spends the rest of his life in bitter dispute.
1879	Dayton	James J. Ritty	Incorruptible Cashier (first cash register)	Inspired by a device he saw on a steamship while crossing the Atlantic after a trip to Europe, Ripley used the idea of a revolving counter to build a machine that would register cash receipts, and keep totals. Each iteration proved more accurate in its record-keeping, but he could not make the business of selling the devices work. The National Cash Register Company - lead by James Patterson - took over the company in 1884.
1881	Cleveland	Albert Michaelson, Edward Morley	Established the value of the universal constant C, the speed of light	Known to history as the "Michaelson-Morley experiment," it took place at the Case Institute of Technology (now Case Western Reserve University). The speed of light was calculated at 186,282 miles per second. The constant became a key constituent of Einstein's thinking and the determination in his introduction of Special Relativity in 1905, that the speed of light is, indeed, a universal constant.
May 4, 1884	Marietta	W.C. Gurley	First photograph of a lighning flash	Photographer worked at the Marietta Observatory - the bolt was about 3 miles away.
May 22, 1900 (pat issued)	Toledo	Allen de Vilbiss Jr., deVilbiss Scale Company	Automatic computing pendulum scale	Company produced a number of innovations in scale & weighing technology. Created a model with an automatic indicator controller for bring the hand to a quick stop.
March 10, 1903 (pat issued)	Cleveland	Harry Christian Gammeter	Multigraph	First duplicating machine intended to simply the reproduction of documents, used either ribbon or ink. First sales were made starting December 12, 1902 by the American Multigraph Sales Co.
1905	Cincinnati		First outdoor phone booth
1911	Cincinnati	George Hill Lewis	Radio license	First license granted to an individual
1914	Ohio		Largest phone company in US	After consolidating all the state's disparate telephone companies into the Ohio State Telephone Company, it stands as the largest consolidation of independent telephone companies in the US.
August 5, 1914	Cleveland	Alfred A. Benesch	Electric traffic signals	Red and green lights with buzzers were installed at the corner of Euclid Avenue and E. 105th St. Benesch was the Safety Director for Cleveland, the manufacturer was the American Traffic Signal Company.
1923	Cleveland	Garrett A. Morgan	Automatic traffic signal	Inventor Morgan, an African American, sold the rights to this inventions for a reported $40,000 to General Electric. He added the yellow light to signify "caution." He also invented gas masks and an inhaler that was used in tunneling and other underground environments.
June 10, 1924	Cleveland	Graham McNamee, Calvin Coolidge, Charles Dawes	First political convention to be broadcast on radio.	Although the results of the 1920 election were among the landmark first broadcasts, by 1924, the art and science had grown to cover the more mundane aspects of public life. McNamee was the announcer for the 15-station network (from Boston to Kansas City) of the National Broadcasting Company. The nominee was Coolidge - running for re-election after stepping into office on the death of Warren G. Harding - and his running mate Dawes.
October 16, 1928 (pat issued)	Nela Park	Marvin Pipkin, Incandescent Lamp Dept, General Electric Company	Electric light bulb with frosting inside	Frosting improved diffusion of the light, previous models had the frosting on the outside - this improvement enabled the bulbs to last longer, did not weaken the structure of the glass making up the bulb.
October 8, 1929	Cleveland	William Green, Trow Sebree	Airplane automatic pilot	First used on a flight from Cleveland to Pittsburgh
1946	Columbus	John Kraus	Helix antenna	A particularly efficient type of antenna now standard on communications satellites.
1949	Columbus	Chaster Carlson, Battelle Memorial Institute	Xerography	Carlson brings his rough process for electrostatic reproduction to Battelle, which takes on the challenge to refine the process into a commercializable product. In 1959, Carlson's company - now named Xerox Inc. - introduces the first consumer copier made with the technology, the Xerox 914. A further innovation was the business model used to market the product, enabling buyers to acquire it for a small lease plus the cost of copies, instead of having to spend large amounts of dollars to buy the machine outright.
March 1, 1951	Ohio		Answering service based on telephone service	Ohio Bell offered the first such service - messages were recorded in 30-second time limits recorded on a cylinder - 20 messages per cylinder. The service cost $12.50 per month and $15 to install.
April 1, 1955	Toledo	Fleetwood Corporation	Large screen televisions, up to 9 by 12 feet	Receivers were 4 feet high, 2 feet wide and 3 feet deep, weighed 400 pounds. Mounted on casters for easier mobility. Deisgned for closed-circuit broadcasts in ballrooms and other large meeting spaces
1959	Cincinnati		First plastic credit cards	Durable but individual portable proof of account created and issued by 6 department stores in Cincinnati.
November 3, 1964	Hamilton County (Cincinnati)		First electronic ballot counting for a Presidential election	This first is shared with Orange Co California, and Contra Costa Co California. System used was the Coleman Vote Tally Systems. Votes were counted at the rate of 600 per minute, and results were wired immediately to a central counter at the County Registrar's office.
1967	Dayton	Phil Donahue	Modern TV talk show	Phil Donahue created the format used for dozens of shows produced since, featuring all talk, controversial guest, interaction with guests in the audience and calls received by phone and piped into the studio. First guest was Madalyn Murray O'Hair - the famous Atheist. Jerry Springer - another innovative talk show host/producer - is another Ohio personality, former mayor of Cincinnati.
1968	Columbus	Fred Kilgour	Ohio Computer Library Cooperative	Now known as OCLC, the non-profit organization evolved from a service center for libraries to a singular world-wide resource including the WorldCat database, comprised of more than 50 million records of library holdings all over the world.
1970	Columbus		First 24-hour ATM	At what is now a branch bank outside the Kingsdale Shopping Center in Upper Arlington, the claim is made that the first 24 hour machine dispensing cash was installed and made available to customers.
June 26, 1974	Troy	Sharon Buchanan	Bar code scanner for retail stores with UCC code	Making History: On June 26, 1974, Sharon Buc
December 1, 1977	Columbus	Qube	First interactive cable television system	Established the principle of using cable tv as a medium for interactive communications. Part of the Time Warner Cable system in Columbus, the service created programming that were precursors for basic-service movie channels, MTV, and home shopping. The service was not expanded due to high costs, but was in fact very popular and had high subscription rates. (for more, see When Cable Went Qubist, http://www.media-visions.com/itv-qube.html)
July 29, 1978	Canton		Instant replay for football	During a Hall of Fame game, officials first reviewed a ruling on a play captured on videotape and played back during a break in the game. Philadelphia Eagles beat Miami Dolphins, 17-3.
1979	Columbus	Jeffrey Wilkins	First consumer online service	CompuServe - which began as a time-sharing service for insurance companies - initiates its online service for personal computer owners. Modem speeds are commonly 110 baud (about 1 10,000th of today's broadband data rates). CompuServe introduced chat ("CB Simulator"), the concept of a "forum" (combining communication tools around a subject theme), operated the first electronic mall/e-commerce service, facilitated consumer access to professional databases and distance learning, created the GIF - a format that enabled pictures to be posted efficiently online - and was an early experimenter with cable and satellite distribution methods.
1986	Cleveland		First Free-Net	The Cleveland Free-Net, providing free access to the online world, and then the Internet. Started as a service of Case Wetern Reserve University.
1989	Cleveland		First all-optic campus computer network	Built at Case Western Reserve University.
1999	Brooklyn		First ticket for cell-phone use while driving	First traffic ticket for what might be called "driving distracted."