New Jersey Inventors & Technology

    NJ Inventors  

Simon Lake, Samuel Colt, Thomas Edison, and John Roebling.

Please help me add your favorite inventors and their connection to New Jersey.

Send links and stories to Susan Ditmire.

"The Argonaut Jr." was built in 1894,
 by Simon Lake 
and demonstrated at the Atlantic Highlands by Sandy Hook.

Click on picture to follow link to History of Submarines on PBS site.

In 1895, the Lake Submarine Company of New Jersey was formed and built "The Argonaut".
In 1898, it became the first submarine to make a successful voyage on the open sea

He continued to design and build innovative submarines, more then 100 were used by the allies in WWI.

       Samuel Colt

The Colt Gun Mill

In 1836, Colt built his first plant in Paterson, N.J., then one of this country's fastest-growing manufacturing centers. Sam Colt's uncle, a successful local businessman, was willing to help young Sam form the company. At age 22, Sam Colt was the firm's chief salesman and new-business promoter.

This first attempt at manufacturing Colt's revolver, did not meet with much success. 

In 1842, the Paterson company, known as the Patent Arms Manufacturing Co., closed; auctioned much of its equipment; and began bankruptcy proceedings.

"Abe Lincoln may have freed all men, but Sam Colt made them equal." This post-Civil War slogan would have been music to Sam Colt's ears had he lived long enough to hear it

     Samuel Colt">From the "History of Colt."

       Thomas Alva Edison in West Orange, New Jersey

Edison National Historic Site

       John Roebling

Biography -- Washington Augustus Roebling
Civil War Engineer and Professional Civil Engineer
From Smithsonian Civil War Studies

NJ Advances in Technology

Nail House Museum (1814) - Bridgeton
Once the office of the Cumberland Nail and Iron Company

Patterson - The City of Industry

Check out the new public information posting:

THE HISTORY OF THE NEWARK SEWER SYSTEM*

*Your organization has been identified by the New Jersey Historic Preservation Office (NJHPO) as a recipient of the enclosed public document, The History of the Newark Sewer System. (link to letter)