Imagine that you are at the grocery store, what is the first thing you grab? A grocery cart! This helpful item makes shopping easier, but this hasn't always been around. Like the shopping cart there are several other everyday items that were invented by people living in Oklahoma!

Without these wonderful people we would not have several everyday items including; yield signs, voicemails, shopping carts, parking meters, space suits, irrigation machines, or the electric steel guitar.

Who Invented the Yield Sign?

In 1950, Tulsa native, Clinton Riggs invented the shape of the yield sign. Riggs is not credited for the meaning behind the sign, just the shape and colors of it. Clinton Riggs was a Tulsa police officer and Oklahoman Highway Patrolman. How many times a day do you see a yield sign? Yeah thats right, too many to count. Without him we would not have such a great traffic system!

Who invented Voicemails?

Gordon Matthews from Tulsa, Oklahoma is credited for the invention of "voice message exchange" or voicemail. Matthews graduated from the University of Tulsa and patented his invention of the voicemail on February 1, 1983. Matthews voice mail system is not what voicemails are like today. His first voicemail system for 3M required 64 telephone lines, 114 Intel 8086 microprocessors and four refrigerator-sized 200-megabyte hard drives. It cost 3M $500,000.

Who Invented the Shopping Cart?

The Shopping Cart holds a firm place today in the United States. Can you imagine shopping without one? How would you hold all your stuff? That exactly what inventor Sylvan Goldman was thinking when he invented the shopping cart. Goldman wanted to improve business and make shopping easier so he invented a two tiered shopping cart with two baskets in 1937. Although people did not automatically start using the carts, by 1940 the shopping cart had become a staple in American shopping. We have this Oklahoman to thank for making grocery shopping easier!

Who Invented the Parking Meter?

The worlds first parking meter was installed on July 16, 1935 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It was known as Park-O-Meter No. 1 and it was installed on the southeast corner of what was then First Street and Robinson Avenue. Although the inventor of the parking meter is not an Oklahoma native, we still claim him as if he was. Originally from New Mexico, Carl Magee was the inventor of the parking meter and wanted to find a way to reduce automobiles crowding around the downtown district. Can you believe that the first parking meter only cost a nickel an hour!

Who Invented the Pressurized Space Suit?