F I R S TP R E V857NEXTLAST

My Selfless FogBay Research
As we discovered in a previous post, the television was invented in San Francisco. But another claim to 'Greatest City Ever' comes from the fact that the beer keg tap was also invented here. In 1910 San Franciscan Richard Spikes created and patented the now ubiquitous bar device. Spikes, an African-American engineer would later develop a number of other innovations such as the automatic car gear shift, the turn signal, and an improved transmission system.

Not all his inventions were as well-known. Among his less famous creations were a horizontally swinging barber chair, a combination milk bottle opener and cover, a self-locking billiard cue rack, and an automatic shoeshine chair. In 1962 while developing the automatic safety brake Spikes began to lose his eyesight, so naturally he invented a drafting machine for blind people. Let me now offer up a toast to Richard Spikes. Cheers.
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