Police officer William L. Potts invented the stoplight in 1920. He created the 3 light and 4 sided stoplight to help direct traffic. He used the colors red, yellow, and green. Green means go, yellow means proceed with caution, and red means stop. Back in 1868 before they had this stoplight, police officers had to stand in the street with lanterns. Back then, red meant stop and green meant caution. They had no yellow. The new stop light did not need officers to stand with it. Potts knew he needed to invent a new idea because new cars were being made in the United States.
I chose this topic because I though that it was interesting on how they made the stoplight. Also, it was interesting because William L. Potts was from Detroit, Michigan. My thoughts on this topic is that it was a very helpful invention for the United States. This helped prevent accidents and give officers a break from standing in the street all day with a lantern in their hand. This did effect the daily life of an average American because it help guide them through a busy street with more ease than before. Also, it was used for many different types of vehicles like wagons.
http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/trafficlight.htm
This website discusses William L. Potts and his achievements along with his stoplight invention.
http://observatory.designobserver.com/entry.html?entry=8627
This website discusses the design of the new stoplight.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_light
This website basically discusses the colors of the lights and the meanings of them.
To help you remember this information about stoplights you can play stoplight games on the internet to help you understand the colors and what the police men had to go through before the stoplight was invented.
I chose this topic because I though that it was interesting on how they made the stoplight. Also, it was interesting because William L. Potts was from Detroit, Michigan. My thoughts on this topic is that it was a very helpful invention for the United States. This helped prevent accidents and give officers a break from standing in the street all day with a lantern in their hand. This did effect the daily life of an average American because it help guide them through a busy street with more ease than before. Also, it was used for many different types of vehicles like wagons.
http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/trafficlight.htm
This website discusses William L. Potts and his achievements along with his stoplight invention.
http://observatory.designobserver.com/entry.html?entry=8627
This website discusses the design of the new stoplight.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_light
This website basically discusses the colors of the lights and the meanings of them.
To help you remember this information about stoplights you can play stoplight games on the internet to help you understand the colors and what the police men had to go through before the stoplight was invented.