17 Crazy Helpful US Inventions from DIYers, for DIYers

Tony Maglica was born in New York during the Great Depression. He and his mother moved back to her native Croatia while he was a small child. Tony escaped the Communist-ruled country in 1950 and returned to the United States. He started a machine shop and earned a solid reputation for producing high-quality parts for the military and aerospace industries. In 1979, he introduced the Maglite flashlight made from aircraft aluminum. He marketed the flashlights to police and firefighters, who loved them. It turned out that the general public was also more than willing to pay a premium for 'The Cadillac of Flashlights.' Mag Instruments has won many design awards over the years and currently produces dozens of different products, every one of them in the United States. Check out this slick hands-free light hack.

George Kromer (nicknamed 'Stormy' for his blustery temper) was a semipro baseball player, but his future father-in-law insisted he get a real job before marrying his daughter. Stormy joined the railroad and married Ida. In 1903, Stormy was frustrated at repeatedly having his caps blow off his head, so he went home and instructed Ida to sew an ear band onto one of his old wool baseball caps. The next day, all his coworkers wanted one, and the Kromers were in business. The DIY inventions were sewn in such a way that six panels of the cap fabric met at the top, and they became so popular that 'six-pointer' became synonymous with Midwest railroad workers. The Stormy Kromer cap is currently made in Ironwood, MI. Whether you like to tinker in the workshop, build things outside or are a budding mechanic, there are some safety items everyone must have.

In 1910, Duncan Black and Alonzo Decker opened a small machine shop in Baltimore. They began building machinery automated candy dippers, machines that made bottle caps and parts for other manufacturers. While sitting at Al Decker's kitchen table, the two men thought about a lighter and easier-to-use industrial drill. (A Colt automatic pistol lay on the table. Colt was a customer.) Legend has it, they both looked at the gun and had a 'eureka' moment. In 1917, they received a patent for the first 1/2-in. portable electric drill, equipped with a trigger and pistol grip, remarkably similar to the Colt. Factory workers loved the DIY inventions tool and often brought one home to use on their own houses. Black & Decker saw an opportunity and in 1946 introduced the world's first portable drill for consumers. They sold their millionth drill five years later. Make your drill do more than drill holes. These five drill attachments are problem solvers and timesavers. Plus, they will work with cordless or corded drills.

Samuel Nesbitt Maze entered the lumber business in 1848 and sold high-quality cedar shingles. Trouble was, the steel nails of the time didn't last nearly as long as the shingles. So Samuel's son Walter bought a used nail machine to produce zinc nails. At first, they gave these DIY inventions rust-proof nails away to customers who purchased the rest of their roofing materials at Maze Lumber. When the price of zinc skyrocketed in the early 1900s, Maze developed a system for dipping steel nails into vats of molten zinc. These ZINCLAD nails were even more popular with carpenters because they were harder than zinc and still rust resistant. Today, Maze has the world's largest variety of specialty nails, and after 167 years, the lumberyard is still in business! We asked carpentry pros who have spent years pounding thousands of nails to pass along some of the best of what they've learned on the job site.

The classic round Weber grill sort of looks like the bottom of a marine buoy. That's because the first Weber grill DIY inventions were made from the bottom of a marine buoy! George Stephen Sr. worked at Weber Brothers Metal Works in Chicago, which made buoys for the coast guard. In 1952, George had a brilliant idea: He cut the bottom off one of the buoys and added a vent and handle to the top and three legs to the bottom. His neighbors laughed at his contraption at first, but soon wanted one of their own. And so did the rest of the world! Weber grills, made in Illinois, are sold in more than 72 countries. It's no surprise that when most buyers think about getting a new grill they first consider what type of fuel they prefer. So check out our Grilling 101: All About Grill Fuels

Back in the 1950s, light-dimming switches were bulky commercial affairs that generated a lot of heat. Joel Spira, a physicist from New York City, knew he could build better DIY inventions. He worked in a small lab set up in a spare bedroom of the apartment where he lived with his wife, Ruth. In 1959, he was successful at creating a solid-state, rotary dimmer that used less energy, created less heat, and was small enough to fit in a standard electrical box. Almost as impressive, he was able to sell his product in a market dominated by giant manufacturers such as GE and Westinghouse. Joel and his wife incorporated Lutron in 1961. The company now holds more than 2,700 patents worldwide and builds more than 15,000 different products, many in the United States.

Stephen Foster Briggs developed a six-cylinder, two-cycle engine as an engineering student at South Dakota State College. He was eager to bring his engine to market but did not have the resources. Briggs's basketball coach introduced him to Harold Stratton, a successful grain merchant, and a partnership was formed. Unfortunately, Briggs's engine proved too costly to manufacture. Briggs & Stratton did have some success making parts for the fledgling auto industry, and even produced a small car named the Briggs & Stratton Flyer, which sold for less than $150. Eventually, the company focused on small gasoline engines that powered lawn mowers, outdoor power equipment and even some early washing machines. Briggs & Stratton is currently the world's largest manufacturer of air-cooled engines, building more than 9 million engines in the United States each year. Become a DIY master and learn how to repair small engines.

In 1857, a telegraph lineman entered Mathias Klein's shop in downtown Chicago with one-half of side-cutting pliers and asked Mr. Klein to forge him a new half. That half was so good that the lineman returned looking for a replacement for the other half, and the first Klein lineman's pliers were born. The Klein Company profited from being one of the few forges to survive the Great Chicago Fire. The company also grew along with the electrical and telecommunication industries, adding more than 100 varieties of pliers. But the original DIY inventions of lineman's pliers was so popular that generations of electricians called their pliers simply 'Kleins.' Klein Tools Inc. is going strong, still owned and managed by members of the Klein family. Are you in a Bind? Learn tricks for loosening stuck nuts and bolts.

Eddie Velo had a problem with turkeys, or rather with the mess they made in his barns. In 1956, Eddie asked Louis and Cyril Keller to build him a loader to help clean out his barns. The mechanical loaders available at the time were too big and unwieldy, so the Kellers built a compact three-wheeled loader and tested it out in Eddie's barns. In 1960, the more familiar four-wheeled M400 was introduced, and skid loaders quickly went from poultry barns to practically everywhere. They're called skid steers because the wheels don't turn to steer. Instead, the wheels on each side rotate at different speeds, which causes a skid. Skid steer loaders come in handy for retaining wall projects!

Russell Gray figured there had to be a better way to lubricate a car on a cold Minnesota winter day. The freezing temperatures made hand-operated grease guns nearly impossible to use. So in 1926 he designed a grease gun powered by air pressure and sold it to service stations and others in the automotive industry. Gray Company Inc. quickly became a leader in the industrial fluid-handling business. The company produced its first paint pump in 1948 and developed the airless sprayer in 1957. This tool revolutionized exterior painting and made Graco a name familiar to every pro painter and many a DIYer. Today Graco makes equipment for a wide range of industries. Its products pump fluids into cars, apply foam insulation to walls and dispense composite resins into molds, they even pump tomato sauce onto pizzas.  

Captain John Ames started manufacturing shovels in West Bridgewater, MA, in 1774, that's before the American Revolution! Shovels were in high demand in the young expanding country, and business was good. During the California gold rush, Ames DIY inventions shovels were so valuable that they were sometimes used as currency! President Lincoln personally asked Oakes Ames (son of Captain Ames) to supply shovels for the Union cause during the Civil War. During WWII, Ames produced armored tank plating, shell casings and 11 million of those familiar folding entrenching tools. In 1928, Ames shovels proved themselves invaluable on Richard E. Byrd's expedition to the South Pole. Now, after 240 years, you'll still find Ames shovels anywhere DIYers dig. Be prepared for upcoming yard work with these 12 innovative, useful tools that make yard work and cleanup easier in any season.

While traveling abroad, Tim Leatherman carried an old Boy Scout knife. He used it for everything from slicing bread to fixing the unreliable car he was traveling around in. The knife was handy, but he kept wishing he had a pair of pliers, so when he got home he designed his first multi-tool. Tim cut pieces of cardboard to make a pattern for the prototype, which he built in his garage. He shopped the tool around to prospective manufacturers without success, so he decided to manufacture them himself. His first sales came through a mail order magazine. He'd hoped to sell 4,000 'Pocket Survival Tools' that first year, but ended up filling 30,000 orders. The Leatherman Tool Group was born. It currently makes more than a million tools each year in Portland, OR.

In 1883, John Michael Kohler coated a large rectangular basin with an enamel powder he'd developed and heated it to 1,700 degrees F. He marketed his DIY inventions to farmers as a water trough and hog scalder and to the regular consumer as a bathtub. The bathtub was a hit and became the first of thousands of bath products the Kohler Company would go on to manufacture. Today the Kohler Company headquarters is in Kohler, WI, and it has more than 50 manufacturing locations, employing more than 30,000 people worldwide. It's one of America's oldest and largest privately held companies. The original ad copy for Kohler's first enamel tub read: 'Cast-Iron Enameled Water Trough and Hog Scalders. (Five Sizes) When furnished with Legs can be used as a bathing tub.' In the market for a bathroom upgrade? Check out these 12 Things to Consider when Buying a Bathtub.

In 1986, Craig Sommerfeld was in the process of building his own home and wanted a way to attach the face frames to his kitchen cabinet carcasses without nailing through the front of them. Being a tool and die maker by trade and a DIYer at heart, he designed and built his own single-hole pocket hole jig. This first 'Craig's Jig' was made from steel and aluminum, and it worked so well that his friends and co-workers encouraged him to build more. He changed the name to 'Kreg' out of modesty and started demonstrating the tool at woodworking shows. The professional cabinet shop folks saw the benefit and were the first to buy the tool, but eventually, a whole lot of us weekend warriors wanted a strong and super-easy way to join wood. Today, Kreg Jig is synonymous with pocket hole joinery. These 34 incredible woodworking tips will help you complete your woodworking projects faster and better than ever before!

Most DIYers have filled a gap in their window trim or caulked around a tub with some sort of DAP product. But their great, great grandparents may have used products from the same company to seal jelly jars. In 1865, Robert Dicks began producing sealing wax in his carriage house in Dayton, OH. Later, he teamed up with George Pontius, in time incorporating under the name Dicks-Pontius Company. Eventually, Robert's son, John Dicks, saw an opportunity in home building and introduced putty and caulk to the company's product lineup. After WWII, the Dicks-Pontius Company was poised to take advantage of the housing boom. They supplied products to builders and carpenters at first and finally to us DIYers. In 1957, the Dicks-Pontius Company merged with Chicago-based Armstrong Company and the name was changed to Dicks-Armstrong-Pontius, 'DAP' for short. Use these caulking tips to get the job right everytime.

In 1953, the Rocket Chemical Company of San Diego set out to create DIY inventions that could prevent rust on equipment in the aerospace industry. On the 40th try, it came up with WD-40 (Water Displacement, 40th attempt). It was first used by Convair to protect the outer skin of Atlas Missiles from rust and corrosion. In 1958, company founder Norm Larsen saw an opportunity to sell to the general public and introduced a retail version of WD-40 in aerosol cans. The public loved the product and still does. WD-40 can be found in four out of five homes in America, and the company currently manufactures more than 1 million cans of WD-40 per week. You already use WD-40 to loosen bolts and stop squeaking hinges, but did you know WD-40 could do these other amazing things around your house?