Key American Inventions- what's missing from the list?

[GON]

Recentley came across a "list" of key American inventions. List looked slim in the past few decades. I suspect key inventions are missing.

Any BITOGers know of some key inventions missing from the list?

 

[97prizm]

Soft drinks, bourbon.

 

[97prizm]

Space shuttle, flight breaking the sound barrier. Stealth technology.

 

[scoot]

Scotch tape , 1930 3m engineer

 

[rszappa1]

Electric traffic light....Cleveland OH..

 

[ArrestMeRedZ]

Can't believe y'all missed the most important invention of the 20th Century:

Post-its, Silver/Fry, 3M, 1980

 

[Nukeman7]

Microwave Oven - 1945 - Percy Spencer (Raytheon)

 

[y_p_w]

Space shuttle, flight breaking the sound barrier. Stealth technology.

Stealth was a concept from the Soviet Union. They weren’t the first to make a practical invention though.

 

[y_p_w]

I was thinking interchangeable parts, but apparently that preceded Eli Whitney, who produced muskets with such parts.

 

[mccandish]

Scotch tape , 1930 3m engineer

The 3M motto - Manufacture by the mile, sell by the inch.

Microwave Oven - 1945 - Percy Spencer (Raytheon)

True....but...

 

[Gyro Gearloose]

SR-71

 

[dubber09]

Tariffs.

 

[LongTime_Lurker]

Motor oil.

 

[4WD]

Tariffs.

Hamilton was big on them in 1789. Most of the other threads have mirrored ideological lines - and they are thinly disguised at best here …

 

[gman2304]

Willis Carrier is generally credited with inventing A/C. I say at least once every summer that if Willis Carrier were here I’d kiss him!

 

[CKN]

I would suggest the book-"How We Got to Now" (Six Innovations that made the modern World) by Steven Johnson.

For example-the Printing Press paved the way for Microscopes-read by the book.

 

[Escape08]

Oil filter by Purolator

 

[Boomer]

Dog biscuits.

 

[GON]

Lots of thought-provoking replies. I concur the microwave should be added to the list.

I am not sure the Space Shuttle is a match, as I am not sure the Reusable Orbit Rocket is a match. The reason is the those two inventions currently have very little impact on 99.9% of the world's population. One hundred years from now both the Space Shuttle and Reusable Orbit Rocket may have a mind-blowing impact on the world's population- but not as of this moment.

Love 3M products and can't imagine painting without 3Ms blue painters' tape. But I am not sure 3M products align with key U.S. inventions.

One invention I think might be a match for the list is buttonless smartphones (Steve Jobs). I can't think of a single product that has changed the U.S. so drastically over the past two decades than buttonless smartphones.

 

[97prizm]

The fortune cookie. Straight up American invention.